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Apples and Apple Cider Vinegar
Made by fermenting apple juice or cider, Apple Cider Vinegar has traditionally been used as a “home remedy”[1] since ancient times, especially by the Greeks and Romans who recognized the healing benefits of this often-overlooked fruit.
Jam-packed full of nutrients, the apple contains rich sources of vitamin C, dietary fiber, beta-carotene, flavonoids, phytosterols, antioxidants, and a wide range of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids - all ingredients the body needs for health and healing.
Most of these nutrients are preserved in the fermentation process and the resulting vinegar is a nutritional concentrate known for these abilities:
- cleansing the liver
- ridding the body of arthritis
- preventing the onset of gout
- eliminating parasites and toxins
- dissolving and removing gall stones
- keeping the cardio vascular system in good health.
- maintaining a healthy Ph level throughout the body
- increasing the secretions of bile to aid fat digestion
to name just a very few popular applications. |
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green apples
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Benefits from adding Apple Cider Vinegar into your diet.
It is reputed to boost your ability to fight infections, and help clear ailments such as sinus, hay fever and the common cold.
Researchers at the University of Glasgow found the high levels of active phenolics in English cider apples.
[2].
Phenolics are attributed to warding off strokes, heart disease and cancer.
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What's in Apple Cider Vinegar?
Scientists have measured over ninety different substances in Apple Cider vinegar including:
- malic acid
- acetic acid
- enzymes
- pectin
- minerals including potassium , magnesium, calcium, iron, silicon, phosphorous, sulphur and chlorine
- vitamins include C, E, B1, B2 and B6.
Maintaining a healthy Ph
Apple cider vinegar contains malic acid which contributes to balancing the PH levels in your blood. When your PH is ideal then you have better functioning organs and the ability to prevent the build up of these metabolic acid wastes Lactic and Uric acid.
See our page “alkaline diet defeats disease” for more information on the benefits of reducing the acidity level of your body. |
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girl eating apple
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arthritic finger joints
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Dealing with acid buildup
The build up of uric acid and lactic acid in your body can form crystals which are difficult to remove without the assistance of apple cider vinegar which attaches to them and helps remove these acids from your body. The accumulation of these crystals can contribute to arthritis, joint pain and gout.
Sufferers of Arthritis and gout have less pain and more flexibility in joints when given 15ml of apple cider vinegar with honey and water upon rising in the morning and again at regular intervals during the day depending on the severity of their symptoms. They have reported less pain in the morning when this blend is also taken at the end of the day as the vinegar and water helps flush the excess acids from the body.
Sports people who report a build up of lactic acid given 15ml of apple cider vinegar with warm water after a physical training session reported to me that they had less stiffness and faster recovery time when they took this supplement. |
Detoxifier and Tonic
Apple Cider Vinegar cleanses your body of toxins and protects your Liver and Gall bladder as well as being an excellent tonic.
Toxins accumulate in mucous and apple cider vinegar helps remove excess mucous from your body. This is again the wonderful flushing action of this vinegar. Once again the malic acid helps eliminate poisons from your system. This also helps soften and eliminate gall stones created from cholesterol and estrogen crystals that become a problem in your gall bladder.
Remember that your liver is a wonderful filter organ and apple cider vinegar helps decongest excess poisons, toxins, mucous and blocked filters in your liver allowing freer flow of blood.
Patients on a detox program report that taking 15ml of apple cider vinegar in a small amount of water before meals helps the elimination process allowing deeper cleansing to take place.
Apple cider vinegar can also be added to a hot bath 200ml to a tub of hot water and soak which helps detox and revitalize the skin.
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apples bring freshness within and without
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an excellent accompaniment for any meal
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The ultimate digestive aid revs up metabolism
Taken before a meal Apple Cider Vinegar aids in digestion and weight management, helps in healing colitis and has antiseptic properties which promote healthy intenstinal flora. Apple cider vinegar is your ultimate digestive bitters.
When you take this before meals you will increase the secretion of bile which is needed in the small intestine for the emulsification of fats and carbohydrate digestion. Bile helps break fat molecules down to chylomicrons which travel through your lymphatic system and inhibit congestion of lymph nodes. These are essential for detoxifying your system.
Patients report improved digestive function, less bloating, less constipation and decreased diarrhea when taking apple cider vinegar before meals.
Conditions such as crone's disease, irritable bowel syndrome and digestive discomfort are significantly eased.
Pectin in apple cider vinegar is good to lessen diarrhea.
Those on a weight loss program[3] report that apple cider vinegar helps decrease hunger and appetite allowing them to eat smaller meals. Metabolism is also quickened as the vinegar taken before meals stimulates the digestive process which in turn fuels your metabolism assisting the speeding up of this process - this means the food has less time to be converted into body mass.
Cardiovascular health and cholesterol management
It also is helpful in controlling cholesterol levels of LDL cholesterol because of its effects on the liver and fat metabolism.
Researchers have shown that it assists in the break down of arteriosclerosis.
The potassium in apple cider vinegar is reputed to be beneficial to the heart.
As we age our veins and arteries become more plastic in structure and the apple cider vinegar is reputed to make these softer and more flexible. |
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cholesterol buildup
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sickness and infections are resisted
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Boost your ability to fight off infections and illness
Many infections, viruses and bacteria's will decrease in strength when in contact with apple cider vinegar. Patients report that they have less duration, frequency and severity of many common colds, flues, sinuses, hay fever when taking apple cider vinegar as part of the daily diet.
Take 15ml of apple cider vinegar with a glass of water up to six times a day if you are suffering from allergies, infections or flu symptoms. Remember that this is the great poison flusher and apple cider vinegar has a way of assisting your body fight any invaders. Have a light detox diet at the same time and you will heal faster.
How YOU can use Apple Cider Vinegar?
I always recommend adding Apple cider vinegar to your diet simply by replacing other vinegars in salad dressings with it, or using it in your cooking as your regular vinegar.
If you take 15ml a day before a meal with a glass of warm water and honey this is a wonderful way to rid your body of toxins and get your digestion ready. To assist with any of the conditions mentioned in this article take as directed or talk with your health care practitioner. If you add a dose of apple cider to your diet daily I think you will stay in better health and it's the perfect preventative supplement!
One might be quick to dismiss the age-old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, as a mere attempt to get children to eat their fruits and vegetables, but what if this simple fruit really can prevent that trip to the doctor's office?
You can make Apple Cider Vinegar at home
Its not difficult, although it does take time - around a month or so.
The process is fermentation which is exactly the same as used to make wine with one big difference. Here we want to end up with vinegar whereas wine is ruined if vinegar forms.
Here is a PDF document from the University of Ohio[4] which details the simple process: How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar at Home.PDF
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What Is The Difference Between Clear Vinegar and Raw or Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar?
Clear vinegar has none of the benefits of raw organic apple cider vinegar.
Through its processing and distilling, it's been stripped of everything beneficial and can be detrimental to your health due to the fact that it is dead instead of alive.
Only raw organic apple cider vinegar has the “mother of vinegar” (aka Mycoderma aceti[5])which makes the vinegar so beneficial. The “mother” is a substance composed of a form of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria that develops on fermenting alcoholic liquids.
You can actually see it settled in the bottom of the bottle - it looks just like a sediment.
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What Science has confirmed
Surprisingly, the apple has been extensively researched and is known to produce a wide array of health benefits including the following:
- Studies
[6] show that the soluble fiber (pectin) in the apple promotes digestive health, counteracts the negative effects of radiation therapy, prevents gallstones, and rids the body of various toxins including aluminum. In addition, pectin slows the absorption of food which is beneficial for people with diabetes, hypoglycemia, and obesity.
- In several large epidemiological studies conducted in Europe
[6] , consuming two apples a week was found to prevent and promote the healing of asthma, type 2 diabetes, and inflammation.
- Researchers at the University of California
[6] found that apples have the ability to prevent tumors.
- Consuming one apple a day has been found to lower bad cholesterol levels by 8-11%
[6] . Eating two apples a day could lower these levels by as much as 16%.
- A diet that incorporates apples could reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 20%
[6] .
- Even the peel of an apple has antioxidants and nutrients rich enough to inhibit the body's aging process, prevent cancer, and lower bad cholesterol. In fact, research shows that the skin of an apple could lower the risk of colon cancer by 43% and liver cancer by 57%
[6] . Furthermore, research conducted by the University of Wisconsin showed that the nutrients in an apple peel could prohibit abnormal cell growth, various cancers, and metastasis (the spreading of cancer throughout the body).
- French researchers
[7] found the phloridzin (a flavanoid only found in apples) may protect against osteoporosis and increases bone density.
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- Research at Cornell University found that the quercetin in apples may protect brain cells
[8] [9] from the free radical damage linked to Alzheimer's disease. In addition, one apple a day was shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer by 17%, and consuming three apples a day reduced the risk by 39%.
- A study of 10,000 people showed that those who consumed apples on a regular basis had a 50% lower risk of developing lung cancer
[6] .
- In a Brazilian weight loss study, women who ate three apples a day lost significantly more weight while dieting than those who didn't
[6] .
- In asthma studies, women who consumed apples regularly during pregnancy reduced their child's risk of asthma.
[10]
- Apples have been shown to promote oral health and healthy skin.
The apple itself is small, but the benefit of consuming just one apple daily provides vast health benefits ranging from glowing, radiant, skin to cancer prevention. To prevent another trip to the doctor's office and the prescription medications that go along with it, try eating an apple a day - it actually might keep the doctor away! Or - better still - keep you away from the doctor's.
a prototypical relationship issue?
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The Apple's Reputation
Anyone who has been exposed to the Bible or the christian story of creation will know that the apple features prominently as the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge.
The first humans were relentlessly encouraged to eat it by - of all things - a serpent, known throughout the world as a beast fabled for it's wisdom.
With a reputation like that who would think it wise to publicly advise people to eat more apples, eat apples every day?
Why, we wonder, would such a health-giving fruit be condemned as being outlawed by the chroniclers of the Creator of all things?
All part of the fascinating folk-lore of the apple but, here and now - the apple is one of nature's most marvelous medicines and it is - unlike some other medicines - quite pleasant to take. |
In Conclusion
A quote from the Natural Health and Longevity Resource Center
[11]seems appropriate:
| Apple cider vinegar helps the body get rid of toxins and nourishes the digestive processes. Apple cider vinegar is an old folk remedy claimed to be beneficial in treating a long list of ailments. Proponents say that it can cure arthritis, guard against osteoporosis, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent cancer, destroy infection, assist in digestion and weight control, maintain memory, and protect the mind from aging. Those who have tried using it swear by it. Skeptics who have not tried it swear at proponents of this “folk remedy”. |
middlepath.com.au> Middle Path> Quality of Life> Apple Cider Vinegar broad spectrum balancerReferences
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