

Looks like more and more people these days will do anything, take anything and even pay atrociously for something that will make them lose weight, appear healthy and look stunningly attractive.

- Mother of vinegar in a cup
Well, before you start paying a high price and taking something alien to you that promises effective results but with some amount of risks in it, that you may not know, why don’t you try taking something safe, familiar, organic and an important condiment in the kitchen – VINEGAR!
Vinegar has been used all these times for dressing salads, making pickles, removing bad smells, cleaning coffee makers and even added to certain food preparation to increase its shelf-life, as it inhibits the growth of microorganisms.
It’s also an ancient folk remedy, touted to relieve just about any ailment you can think of. My mother used to apply a cloth soaked in vinegar on our forehead to bring down high fever. We did the same to our kids.
In recent years, vinegar has been singled out as an especially helpful health tonic. The kind of vinegar being specifically referred to here is the apple cider vinegar.
Arizona State University’s Carol S. Johnston, Ph.D. and a team of scientist accidentally stumbled across the weight loss power of vinegar while conducting a study to determine whether vinegar would help lower cholesterol levels.
While there was no remarkable change in the cholesterol level in the study, what the researchers discovered instead, among the study participants, was that they lost, on average, half a pound a week, even without dieting.
The participants were simply made to take two tablespoons of vinegar before lunch and dinner.
Vinegar is a product of fermentation. This is a process in which sugars in a food are broken down by bacteria and yeast. In the first stage of fermentation, the sugars are turned into alcohol. Then, if the alcohol ferments further, you get vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar comes from pulverized apples. The main ingredient of apple cider vinegar, or any vinegar, is acetic acid.
There is evidence that acetic acid in vinegar may reduce the activity of intestinal enzymes used for carbohydrate digestion, so fewer calories from the starches enter the system. Vinegar also suppresses feelings of hunger.
The question now is: Is our raw, unfiltered and organic coconut vinegar comparable with the apple cider vinegar?
I would say, why not?
Health crusaders who believe in the slimming power of the apple cider vinegar endorse the drink especially with the presence of the mother of vinegar (madre) at the bottom of the container.
Mother of vinegar is a substance composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids, which turns alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air. In essence, it is what produces the vinegar.
Because we don’t grow apples in the Philippines, let us use our very own coconut vinegar!