I Drank Apple Cider Vinegar for a Month—and the Results Surprised Me
Apple cider vinegar is apple juice that has been fermented twice. Typically, most people will try and drink this to help with their health, in particular with weight loss. This is because raw apple cider vinegar may contain more natural bacteria and yeasts known as "the mother," which is the cloudy sediment you see in the bottle.
I won't deny that apple cider vinegar can have amazing benefits. However, for this challenge, I drank apple cider vinegar for a month to see if it would have any benefits to my body on its own. Noticeably, there were a couple. However, weight loss was not one of them.
First, I looked up the best way to drink apple cider vinegar for weight loss.
To bust the myth, I started by searching for the best ways to drink apple cider vinegar, thinking about timing as well. Apple cider vinegar has a very strong taste, one that can burn your throat if not consumed carefully. I tried drinking it on its own without any flavor aids, and it was a struggle. I had to find a different way to drink it.
After much research (including tons of Tik Tok videos) I landed on a combination of eight ounces of hot water, one tablespoon of pure honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and two tablespoons of the apple cider vinegar—specifically Cento Organic, which is a raw unfiltered, "with the mother" brand. This lessened the strength of the vinegar taste and instead made it taste like a sour-ish baked apple pie. Plus, the honey and cinnamon provide some additional benefits, so they only added to the health factor of this test.
The idea was to drink this concoction every day for an entire month, so I needed to find the best time every day to do so to ensure consistency. I decided to drink it first thing in the morning before consuming any other food or beverage to help cleanse my body and aid in digestion for the day. For the record, I would also like to say that this drink was not an alternative to coffee. I still needed my morning cup of joe and would immediately have some after I drank the apple cider vinegar mix.
Once I drank the beverage, I would go on with my daily eating and drinking like normal. On the first day of the month, I weighed myself and made note of my weight. Then, once a week for the entirety of the month, I'd weigh myself again to see if I noticed any changes on the scale.
ACV may not have helped with weight loss, but I did experience some benefits.
Here's what I did notice: the apple cider vinegar curbed my appetite. This was the most noticeable difference. Although still eating three square meals, I didn't feel as hungry throughout the day. I limited my snacking, and I consumed fewer amounts of food during my meals.
Although snacking less and eating fewer foods during meals can eventually lead to losing weight, it's important to acknowledge the difference between foods that make you lose weight and others that act as a weight loss aid. On its own, the apple cider vinegar did not help me lose weight. However, I do believe that it could help aid weight loss if paired with the correct diet and exercise. Personally, since my appetite was curbed, I could've eaten foods that contained fewer calories during my meals. That would lead me to be in a calorie deficit. Also, if I exercised frequently or kept better track of my exercise routine during the month, there could have been different weight-loss results.
I also noticed that the apple cider vinegar did help aid digestion. This might have been because I drank it before my coffee, which is a mild diuretic. However, apple cider vinegar is known to potentially help raise stomach acid levels to aid digestion. It also could prevent gas and bloating, which slow digestion can cause. Who knows, maybe my drinking habit for the month did help the digestion process. Nonetheless, my stomach does thank me for it.
My takeaway.
Am I going to continue drinking the apple cider vinegar recipe in the mornings? Honestly, no. About halfway through the experiment, I was excited to near the end. The annoyance I felt with trying to get into the drinking habit of consuming it in the morning was a daunting task. However, I do believe that drinking apple cider vinegar could still provide some awesome benefits. Therefore, I will not overlook having it every now and then if I need a body cleanse.
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