If you’re researching apple cider vinegar as a weight loss aid, you’re certainly not alone. Apple cider vinegar is believed to increase metabolism and help with digestion by increasing the production of digestive acids.
Does drinking apple cider vinegar for weight loss work? Apple cider vinegar is popular for its purported health benefits. It has been used as both a food preservative and medicine for hundreds of years.
The most common uses include as an alternative medicine treatment for conditions such as high cholesterol and diabetes. Apple cider vinegar may also be used as a weight loss aid, but there’s little evidence it will be effective.
Weight loss diet with apple cider vinegar: ACV is supposed to be a magical elixir that dissolves fat off of your body while also helping you lose weight, but is it? In short, probably not.
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What Is Apple Cider Vinegar?
Apple cider vinegar has been used for thousands of years as a health tonic and even a medicinal remedy. It is made by crushing apples and allowing the sugary juice to ferment into an alcoholic liquid.
After a few days, this liquid is then further processed to create apple cider vinegar by adding beneficial bacteria that turn the alcohol into acetic acid.
Apple cider vinegar is primarily made up of acetic acid, but it also contains trace amounts of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, including:
Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Capsules
According to the manufacturer, Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar Capsules provide many benefits—and it’s all thanks to the acetic acid found in vinegar.
Acetic acid has been clinically proven to help in many ways—it helps to reduce the absorption of carbohydrates, causes our bodies to burn more fat as fuel, and helps provide a feeling of fullness, which aids with weight control and maintaining healthy cholesterol levels.
There are even studies that claim it can help prevent heart disease and strokes! While we can’t speak from personal experience about those claims, there’s no doubt that vinegar is a versatile ingredient that adds a tangy deliciousness to foods.
It’s an easy addition to many dishes and great in salads, dressings, and marinades.
Potential Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar may seem like a new fad, but it’s actually been around for thousands of years. The earliest traces of the vinegar date back to the Hittite Empire in Turkey, where it was used to preserve food and treat various ailments.
Hippocrates (often considered the father of Western medicine) also prescribed apple cider vinegar for its antibacterial qualities.
Apple cider vinegar is made from crushed apples that are fermented with yeast. It is then pasteurized, filtered, and left to age for six weeks to three years before it is bottled and sold.
In addition to providing a tangy flavor to salad dressings and marinades, apple cider vinegar is believed to have several benefits:
Weight Loss Diet With Apple Cider Vinegar: Does It Work?
As our culture becomes more health-conscious, we see an increase in a number of trends and products that are often touted as simple solutions to weight loss.
This is why it seems like everywhere we look these days, there’s a new fad diet or superfood associated with weight loss. In fact, one of the most popular diet trends right now is drinking apple cider vinegar (ACV) for weight loss.
Apple cider vinegar’s purported health benefits are wide-ranging, from relief from an upset stomach to the common cold, to the more lofty claims of curing cancer and preventing heart disease. It is also said to help with weight loss in two ways: by speeding up the metabolism and reducing appetite.
There are various claims about the efficacy of apple cider vinegar for weight loss and other health concerns, but there is little scientific research to back them up.
Source: Mayo Clinic
Apple cider vinegar has been shown to lower blood glucose levels in diabetics and may have other beneficial effects on health, but it hasn’t been proven to help with weight loss and may even cause issues with digestion.
If you want to use apple cider vinegar as a dietary supplement, consult your doctor first.
Is Apple Cider Vinegar Safe?
Although apple cider vinegar is a popular folk remedy, it’s important to know that it’s a potent substance that can have side effects. Store-bought apple cider vinegar is usually 5% acidity, so it’s definitely more acidic than water (at 7% acidity).
Despite its name, apple cider vinegar is not made from apples—instead, it’s made from fermented apples. It’s used in cooking and as a supplement for its supposed health benefits, which include weight loss and lowering blood sugar.
Just like any other product you put in your body, apple cider vinegar can interact with certain medications or supplements.
For example, the website Drugs.com warns that using apple cider vinegar along with diuretics (which increase urination) or insulin (a hormone involved in regulating blood sugar) can cause serious side effects.
Source: Drugs.com
Because of its acidity, drinking too much may also damage tooth enamel and lead to stomach ulcers and heartburn when consumed regularly over long periods of time. It also contains alcohol, so people who are trying to avoid alcohol should be careful about using it.
If you’re looking to incorporate apple cider vinegar into your diet, we suggest consulting with a doctor first—especially if you’re on any medication or considering taking supplements along
How to Drink Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight Loss in 1 Week
You may have heard that apple cider vinegar (ACV) is a great weight loss tool. According to some research, it could help you lose weight by decreasing the amount of fat your body stores.
However, most of the time, the claim that ACV helps people lose weight comes from people who sell the stuff or from bloggers who are trying to promote their own nutrition plans. You shouldn’t believe every claim you read on the Internet!
If you’re still curious about using ACV for weight loss, read on for a more detailed explanation of how to do it.
In a glass of water or juice, dilute 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in 8 ounces of water or juice (we recommend orange or grapefruit). Drink this concoction first thing in the morning, before a meal, if possible. Repeat this process every 2 hours until bedtime (around 6 small doses).
If you like your drinks fizzy and flavorful, add 1/2 teaspoon of natural stevia extract per dose. You could also try adding 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon per dose to add some flavor without adding calories. Don’t like stevia? Add a squeeze of lemon or lime into your glass instead.
Apple Cider Vinegar Diet
The apple cider vinegar diet is a weight loss diet that advocates drinking 1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 30 ml) of apple cider vinegar (ACV) daily, mixed with water, to achieve the touted benefits.
Proponents of the diet claim that consuming ACV helps them lose weight and curb cravings for sweets and fatty foods and that it can also help regulate blood sugar levels.
If you can stomach the taste and want to support your body’s natural detoxification process, this may be a good option for you.
However, many of ACV’s purported benefits aren’t supported by science—the scientific evidence that does exist suggests that ACV may actually contribute to weight gain, not weight loss.
Takeaway: If you want to lose weight, drink a glass of water with your meal instead.
How to Use Apple Cider Vinegar to Lose Belly Fat
Apple cider vinegar has been touted as a weight-loss aid, but the evidence to support this claim is sketchy at best. According to proponents, you should take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a glassful of water and drink it first thing in the morning.
The reason that you’re supposed to take it right away is that the pectin in the vinegar will absorb water and swell up, creating a feeling of fullness, which in turn will make you eat less throughout the day.
Most of the research done on vinegar has been performed on animals or cells in a test tube. There have been no double-blinded studies done on humans as far as we can find, so we really only have one side of the story.
And that one side is actually pretty consistent—most people who try this do not see any significant results.
Wine vinegar seems to be the most effective for weight loss purposes, but if you’re reading this article, you may not want to use it as it is quite acidic.
Conclusion
Apple cider vinegar (ACV) is a popular ingredient in many weight loss regimens because of its purported ability to help the body burn fat. The idea behind it is that ACV increases your metabolism, which in turn increases the rate at which your body burns calories.
There are also several other related claims out there—that it can help regulate blood sugar levels, reduce bloating and water retention, prevent the growth of yeast and fungus, and even cure heartburn.
In theory, it makes sense. Vinegar contains acetic acid, so it’s entirely possible that drinking a glassful of water mixed with some vinegar in the morning would have some effect on anyone’s metabolism.
ACV is supposed to be a magical elixir that dissolves fat off of your body while also helping you lose weight, but is it? In short, probably not.
