(Sorry, I meant to get this posted yesterday but ended up playing pool all afternoon.)
Just a little tip. My latest dietary experiment has been to try a natural remedy for excess visceral fat in the abdominal area (the dangerous kind, associated with poor heart health). It's simple—two tablespoons of vinegar every day.
What? Sounds crankish, doesn't it? Did to me. If you'd like the scientific explanation of why it works, it's in the chapter "Amping AMPK: The Fat Controller," starting on page 295 of the new runaway bestseller How Not to Diet. (The author donates all the book's proceeds to charity.)
I've been drinking vinegar in a "tonic" consisting of a 12-ounce can of cold seltzer water, two tablespoons of unfiltered apple cider vinegar, and a teaspoon of fresh-squeezed lemon juice. The lemon juice cuts the vinegary taste. I also sometimes add a tablespoon of cranberry juice concentrate. (Might sound like sour on top of sour, but I like it. Then again, my favorite drink is any kind of carbonated water, which I used to replace soda many years ago. Many people don't care for that plain.)
[UPDATE: Multiple dentists among TOP's readers have written to warn me that such an acidic elixir as recommended here could soften tooth enamel. (Plain seltzer is also not as good for your teeth as clear water.) Following Dr. Greger's recommendation, I drink my morning fruit smoothies through a glass straw (to minimize contact with teeth) and rinse out my mouth several times with plain water after finishing. I'll adopt the same habit with the drink described in this post too! —Ed.]
Alternately, you can put your vinegar on a salad or in anything else you can think of.
To the point: after two and a half months of vinegar every night, even though my overall weight has gone up during that time because I eat out a lot, my belly has gone down—I've lost an inch and a half of girth around my waist. It's noticeable in the mirror. To you that's just a sample of one, statistically insignificant, but to me it's significant because I'm the sample that matters the most to...well, me. Anyway, I'm impressed.
Doesn't hurt to try it. It's just vinegar.
If you could afford to lose an few inches around the middle, I thought you'd like to know about this.
Mike
P.S. If you try this experiment too, I'd be interested in hearing about your results in three months time. To measure your waist, use a tape at the level of your navel with your stomach muscles relaxed. Take measurements at a consistent time of day.
Original contents copyright 2019 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
Please help support The Online Photographer through Patreon
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Tony McLean: "Will diluted stop bath work too?"
Mike replies: Ha!
Stop bath is 1–2% acetic acid and white vinegar is 5% acetic acid. So white vinegar mixed with some water does make a serviceable stop bath substitute in a pinch. In my darkroom, I had a gallon jug of glacial acetic acid (which required careful handling, and keep out of the reach of children!) which lasted for years. I cannot remember now exactly how I diluted it—something like 1+3 for a concentrate and then further for a working solution. As I recall it ended up being much cheaper than starting with vinegar. (Most of my darkroom procedures were arrived at with economy in mind.)
David Lee: "I’ve been drinking the vinegar soda since you posted about it about a month ago. I use regular cider vinegar and a full lemon. I think it works. And I like the taste."
Zaan: "But vinegar has alcohol in it though...."
Mike replies: Food vinegars are made from fermented ethanols and there is usually a trace of alcohol that carries over, conventionally .3 to .4%. That's less than a tenth of a milliliter in the drink I described. This drink can certainly be avoided by any alcoholic who wants to avoid any alcohol from any source.
Kenneth Tanaka: "Blech! Much, much healthier (and more pleasant) to maintain a moderate exercise plan that includes planks."
Mike replies: Not bad advice either. Consider for instance the Scientific 7-Minute Workout, if you're healthy enough to do it.
Dave Van de Mark: "Re '...or in anything else you can think of': I make a smoothie almost everyday as a meal substitute (lunch). I'm gonna see if two tablespoons negatively affects any aspect of taste—hopefully not. I'm game...."
MikeR: "Been doing the AC vinegar thing for over 40 years, after reading Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health. I saw an immediate drop in cholesterol numbers. However, there's the inexorable effects of aging on metabolism. So, I'm looking forward to Fix It With Food."
As it happens I consume a fair amount of unfiltered apple cider vinegar but with olive oil and freshly ground pepper on my vegetables. But it’s food not diet ;-). Here’s a tip to combine 2 of your favourite things. After you boil your salad potatoes cut them while still hot and dress them with just vinegar and leave for some time before adding the oil and pepper. This is just for flavour, not to produce any health effect.
All kinds of good quality (ie fermented etc) vinegar make nice drinks diluted with water.
Posted by: Richard Parkin | Monday, 30 December 2019 at 11:12 AM
hi Mike,
Long time lurker and first time commenter. If the vinegar works for you - great. However - like everything else - do it in moderation. There's no study to prove or disprove it.
As a physician, I must inform you that Dr Greger is not held in high regard by other physicians due to his lack of any evidence based recommendations. He is not really a researcher or has any worthwhile papers to back his assumptions. He cherry picks studies or articles to support his point of view and doesn't discuss the downsides of the studies he quotes.
To start, I would suggest read this from Aaron Caroll.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544952561/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
A lot of the food related science is not really science as its so hard to do a blinded study over a long period.
Good luck
Posted by: sm | Monday, 30 December 2019 at 01:06 PM
Your advice on vinegar strengths may be accurate for the US (though I’d have a small bet that it ain’t, due to regional/cultural variations, maybe in Lake Wobegone for example) but isn’t universally true.
Really good (I mean flavourful), drinkable, European food vinegars are usually 6 or 7% . A lot of vinegar used for pickling/cleaning is up to 20%, probably diluted before use. I *think* the really strong vinegars are popular in Scandinavia for pickling, which they are very keen on.
A lot of food vinegar in U.K. is what is described as “non-brewed condiment”, ie diluted acetic acid produced by some chemical means and has never looked a yeast cell in the eye :-( .
So I for one will take your figures with a pinch of salt ... oh, wait, I’ve given up added salt.
Posted by: Richard Parkin | Tuesday, 31 December 2019 at 05:27 AM
Your health recipes always remind me of our mortality.
Only reading them already makes me prefer to die young.
But I hope it works for you and that it keeps you another year in good health. Happy 2020!
Posted by: s.wolters | Tuesday, 31 December 2019 at 06:06 AM
Found no credible source that confirms weight loss, but there does seem to be a reduction in cholesterol, according to a BBC study:
In neither the placebo nor the malt vinegar group was there any change. But those consuming cider vinegar saw an average 13% reduction in total cholesterol, with a strikingly large reduction in triglycerides (a form of fat). And this was a particularly impressive finding because our volunteers were all healthy at the start, with normal cholesterol levels.
That said, never underestimate the power of placebo! Happy New Year to you.
Posted by: Grinch | Wednesday, 01 January 2020 at 03:49 PM