why vinegar is my new favorite health tool

science-backed hack for better long-term health

Most people know they should decrease their sugar intake. But do you know why? Here is what I’ve learned from significant trial and error and research when it comes to hormone balance and overall health.

For a long time I dealt with feeling tired after meals, brain fog, sudden energy crashes in the afternoon, craving sugar and breads. It took me a while to figure out how to fix it.

When you eat sugar, or carbohydrates (which turn into sugar when eaten), the glucose (sugar) in your blood rises. In response, your pancreas creates insulin, which is a hormone that helps to remove the excess sugar from your bloodstream and into your cells. This is what we call a ‘glucose spike.’ It is then either stored as energy or stored for later use (hello weight gain).

Over time, excess sugar entering your bloodstream leads to complications namely, insulin resistance, where your body stops responding to the frequent glucose spikes leading to consistently high blood sugar. This significantly increases your risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, increased cancer risk, cognitive decline (yes dementia is largely a metabolic issue!), mental health struggles, premature aging. Just to name a few!

Do you ever find yourself looking in the fridge for a snack about 20 minutes after you have already had one? This is your brain showing an addiction to those quick hits of energy, the glucose spike from the sugar!

How do you know if you have unsteady or unbalanced blood sugar?

• Fatigue or tiredness after eating

• sudden energy crashes

• brain fog

• craving caffeine or sugar (this includes breads, fruit, or anything that turns to sugar in your body)

• weight gain

• hormone imbalances

• hypertension

• prediabetes

how vinegar can help improve your overall health

There’s an ingredient in all types of vinegar called acetic acid which has been proven to decrease glucose spikes, even in high sugar meals, if ingested about 20 minutes before a meal.

Below is an example of how your blood sugar responds when eating a brownie by itself. You can see in the top image that the blood sugar spiked quite a bit. In the second image, when apple cider vinegar was ingested before the brownie, the blood sugar stayed much more stable and and didn’t have a big crash.

If you know you’re going to have a super high carb or sugar meal, diluting some vinegar in a glass of water can be a game changer. It has even been shown to help weight loss, decrease high triglycerides levels in the liver, lower cholesterol etc.

Tips for keeping your blood sugar balanced:

• Dilute 1 TBSP of vinegar (any kind) in 8 oz glass of water 20 minutes before sugary or high carbohydrate meals. You can also do all meals if you’d like.

• Food order matters! eat your veggies first, protein second and carbs last

• Avoid high sugar foods by themselves. When eating high carb foods, pair with a protein or fat. This helps decrease glucose spikes. For example, if you want crackers, pair with salami or cheese

• Movement after meals - even 10 minutes of vacuuming can decrease glucose spikes

Part of the reason ozempic works so well is because its balancing your blood sugar!!!

I truly am so passionate for helping to prevent metabolic and hormonal imbalances because they are so completely preventable.

I hope this is helpful and please share with someone in your life you think this would help.

xoxo, kenz