Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar, that wonderful old-timers home remedy, cures more ailments than any other folk remedy -- we're convinced! From the extensive reader feedback we've received over the past 6 years, the reported cures from drinking Apple Cider Vinegar are numerous: allergies (including pet, food and environmental), sinus infections, acne, high cholesterol, flu, chronic fatigue, candida, acid reflux, sore throats, contact dermatitis, arthritis,and gout. One reader reported that a shot of ACV saved him from going to the emergency room for heart pain. Apple Cider Vinegar also breaks down fat and is widely used to lose weight. It has also been reported that a daily dose of apple cider vinegar in water has soaring blood pressure under control in two weeks!
If you can get over the taste of apple cider vinegar, you will find it one of the most important natural remedies in healing the body.
Apple Cider Vinegar is also wonderful for dogs, cats, and horses. It helps them with arthritic conditions, controls fleas & barn flies, and gives a beautiful shine to their coats!
pH BALANCE:
It's suggested that Apple Cider Vinegar has such curative abilities because it causes one's pH levels to become more alkaline.
Ted, our Bangkok, Thailand contributor tells us, "Apple Cider Vinegar in itself is alkaline because of its "ash" content, which means if the apple cider vinegar was burned, what is left over becomes ash. When you check for the pH of that ash and dissolve it with water, the content is alkaline. Whenever our body digests anything, it undergoes oxidation, which is similar to burning and the end result is that you can determine whether the end product was alkaline or acid. Apple Cider Vinegar has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral properties, primarily coming from the malic acid and acetic acid portion of the vinegar. Apple cider vinegar acts as a buffer in the body because the acetic acid reacts with base or acid compounds to form an acetate, therefore rendering them chemically bioavailable for the body's utilization. Additionally, Apple Cider Vinegar can reduce the toxicity of certain compounds by converting the toxin into an acetate compound, which is less toxic. This is why they are ideal for insect bites and certain skin allergies. While Apple Cider vinegar in itself is considered alkaline, a chemically pure vinegar (acetic acid) is neither acid nor basic forming as it leaves no ash as the entire portion, when burned evaporates completely. Ted"
If you are going to try apple cider vinegar for allergies, or even to prevent sickness, we suggest you do an investigation of your own by buying a pH test kit at a local pharmacy, garden nursery, or even pool supply store. You can use these kits or pH strips to test your urine to see if you are more alkaline or acid during an allergy attack, virus or bacterial infection. Once you ascertain your pH levels, you can adjust adjust your dosage of Apple Cider Vinegar accordingly.
If you live in a highly polluted area like we do (Los Angeles) where allergies and sinus infections are rampant, your system may better balance itself with a small dose of apple cider vinegar each day. Ultimately we suggest you experiment with a kit to find the pH balance your body functions optimally at. Want to know more about pH?
From what we have read repeatedly on the internet, scientists have measured ninety different substances in apple cider vinegar such as thirteen types of carbolic acids, four aldehydes, twenty ketones, eighteen types of alcohols, eight ethyl acetates etc. It also contains important minerals, trace elements and vitamins as well acetic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid, enzymes, amino acids as well as roughage in the form of potash and apple pectin.
Apple Cider Vinegar contains minerals and trace elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, chlorine, sodium, sulfur, copper, iron, silicon, fluorine. An alternative to drinking apple cider vinegar may be to take potassium supplements, as potassium is known to absorb excess fluids (ie, mucous) in the body. Drink lots of water if you take potassium supplements so you don't get dehydrated! Potassium, by the way, lowers high blood pressure.
Apple Cider Vinegar's vitamin content includes Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, Provitamin beta-carotene, Vitamin P (bioflavonoids).
ACV PILLS VS ACV LIQUID
Frequently Asked Question: Does ACV in pill format deliver the same health benefit as ACV in the Liquid unpasteurized format?
Ted replies, "No. ACV in pill form is chemically not the same as a liquid form. You will not have the same benefits of the pill form as you do the liquid form. The reason is really simple: there is often no ACV in ACV pills. Companies will usually use anything weak organic acid salts plus flavoring to make it smell like ACV. Vinegar, or in chemical terms is called 5% acetic acid only exists in liquid form, it does not exist in dry form."
Dental Enamel & ACV: The Real Scoop
There is an ACV remedy and then there is Ted's ACV remedy. The ACV remedy is what has been traditionally done to drink it directly. Now I have always recommended the use of the second one, which requires that you add baking soda to the ACV to neutralize the acid to just 7.0 or close to it before drinking, otherwise the acidity will bring on dentin sensitivity and cause erosion of the enamel. A minimum pH on ACV of 6.0 and above should stop enamel erosion, in case you like somewhat of a "sour" ACV tastes, ideally it should be closer to 7.0
You might wonder whether therapeutic effectiveness of the second one might be as effective as the original one. It should be at least as effective if not more effective than an orginal formula for two reasons:
1. If you take the original ACV remedy (2 TBS in a glass of water), the body is going to neutralize it anyway using the available bicarbonates the body stores have. If not, you get a burning tongue or skin of the tongue become lose or tears up, if the body don't have sufficient bicarbonates. It takes AT LEAST A week to get a bicarbonate level to optimum provided you take bicarbonates everyday. I am of course assuming that in this instance, you don't have sufficient bicarbonate levels.
2. The newer ACV remedy I have always recommended (AKA Ted's ACV recipe) is to ADD baking soda until most of the acid is neutralized near 7.0. Chemically it is not changed, the malic becomes a malate when baking soda has neutralized, but then the body is going to convert to THAT anyway. What YOUR body wants is that the pH is at an ideal theoretical pH 7.35, which is equivalent to the pH of your blood.
So for me an ideal food, whether we talk about ACV or any other food should GENERALLY be slightly alkaline. If you don't do it for your body the body will change to an alkaline anyway, provided that your body is FIT to do that! So it is best not to assume that your body is FIT and it is best to assume the worst and just add the baking soda as a precaution.
Making it alkaline will give you the extra benefit of more oxygen in your body and greater buffers the body need so you should in fact feel better with the newer formula. In fact, athletes takes pure baking soda to relieve them of muscular pain from long physical endurance. Thinking along this makes it easier to use this newer formula as well as protect against enamel erosion.
Many people have misinterpreted the event where a body becomes alkaline in event of a person becomes sick to be a "bad thing". However, this is HOW a body kills off invading bacteria and viruses by raising up the alkalinity level. So in fact alkalinity is actually needed. When an immune system is suppressed or destroyed (from surgery or chemical toxins), the body will raise its alkalinity level much more frequently than a healthy person. What a potentially sick person needs to do is to give sufficient buffers for alkalinity using baking soda, but also regenerate the body's immune system (the thymus) with supplementation of secretogues, such as L-glutamine, melatonin, and iodine from seaweed and kelp.
HOW MUCH BAKING SODA SHOULD YOU ADD?
The amount of ACV needed to react with baking soda to get to pH level of near 6.5-7.0 depends on the brand of ACV. For my own brand of ACV, it is approximately 50 ml-70 ml per one tablespoon of baking soda. So always start on the low side first!
If you are not used to it, try only 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda - the safest possible mixture assuming 2 tablespoon of ACV in a 250 mg water. Then increase slowly as needed. For tougher cases like Acid Reflux, you can go up to 2 tablespoons but you must start slowly or you will upset your stomach. Most people will not need this much baking soda.
If you have a pH meter handy, it would be more easier go that way and just add enough until it reaches near pH of 7. It is very much dependent on what brand your ACV is generally. Please note that these are approximate figures.
One more important note!
Warning: if you mix with ACV it will create a lot of bubbles that goes very high! You need to mix inside a large empty pitcher! Also add the ACV very slowly! For me, I don't use ACV here in Bangkok that often because of the price. I just use simple vinegar, so I usually will not have the bubbling issues!