My insights on drinking a acv drink

PAV8888 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I've tried it. For reasons having nothing to do with weight loss, I drank ACV for weeks at a time during weight loss; and for other weeks at a time during weight loss, I didn't drink ACV. There was zero, zip, nada difference in weight loss rate when drinking it vs. not drinking it . . . and as a notorious data geek, I'm a meticulous logger.

OK gramma @AnnPT77
You're usually a level headed person, seldom taken by woo, or super woo!
So why were you desperately trying to pickle yourself

OK, but it's gonna be my usual essay-length ramble.

First, let me say this: I believe in doing n=1 experiments, if I'm pretty sure they won't hurt me. I'm also very, very skeptical about the results of n=1 experiments, because I understand that the human brain sees causation in every correlation, and that the placebo effect is stronger and operates differently than a lot of people think.

So, the ACV drinking specifically.

I would be much less likely to do it if I didn't actively enjoy vinegar. (I have at least a half dozen types of vinegar in the pantry at all times for cooking & eating - not different flavor-infused ones, but actual types: ACV, rice wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, regular and white balsamic vinegar, red and white wine vinegar, malt vinegar, beer vinegar, etc. One of my favorite alcoholic mixed drinks is made with "drinking vinegar" a.k.a. "shrub".) If I hated vinegar, and had to gag it down, as we see many here report, I for sure wouldn't drink it. Life is too short for yucky.

I had two reasons for the experiment.

First, I read someplace that drinking vinegar (any type) could be helpful to aging people who sometimes begin to have sub-optimal stomach acid production. While I don't know if I have that, I have had bouts of (medically diagnosed) IBS-C, to the point of having taken Rx meds for it in the distant past. So, I was curious whether regularly drinking vinegar would change anything. Results: Inconclusive.

Second, I have the vague notion, based on early returns from still very young, preliminary and so far non-definitive scientific research on the subject, that a diverse and happy gut microbiome (friendly bugs only, of course) is going to turn out to be a really good thing for people. I prefer to get dietary stuff when possible from foods humans have eaten for centuries or millennia, rather than from extracted/compounded supplements. Therefore, I make it a point to regularly eat a diverse range of traditional probiotic and prebiotic foods. Common probiotic foods include raw sauerkraut, yogurt, raw fermented pickles, miso, kefir, raw kim chi, and . . . raw vinegar (with the mother ). ACV is the most widely available raw vinegar.

Results: Completely un-evaluatable, but I never expected to be able to evaluate them.

I started experimenting with ACV before starting weight loss. Part way through weight loss, my gallbladder gave me severe heartburn. It was gallbladder adenomyomatosis, not stones or sludge, and not caused by weight loss (arguably, it was caused by obesity). The ACV seemed to make the heartburn worse, so I stopped drinking it until after the gallbladder came out. These circumstances created the "drinking ACV for weeks/not drinking ACV for weeks" situation.

None of it had anything to do with weight loss, and it had no observable effect on weight loss, appetite, satiation or anything related.

Is it woo? Possibly. Will it hurt me? Probably not (the tooth enamel thing is silly if you don't bathe your teeth in it, and we eat many other acidic foods anyway). Have I ever urged it on anyone else? Absolutely not, except for recipes and the alcoholic mixed drink thing, because that's delicious.

FWIW, I'm currently not drinking ACV, but I may decide to again sometime, for the second reason above.

That's it.

I like malt and balsamic myself. And use it... on fish and chips and salads respectively, though I've also used balsamic (glaze) on... ICE CREAM!!!

Having said that... alcoholic drink?!?!?!?!?