How To Use Apple Cider Vinegar For Weight Loss? You Wish You Knew!

Some people say that apple cider vinegar (ACV) consumption can help lose body weight, so they also want to know how to use apple cider vinegar for weight loss. While apple cider vinegar alone may not have a direct impact on loss weight results, some studies have correlated it with other systemic bodily functions that can help support weight management and concerning its action on fat storage.^[1] If you start incorporating apple cider vinegar into your diet, there are some precautions you should know before taking an apple cider diet.

Apple cider vinegar is vinegar that’s created from twice-fermented apple juice. In addition to yeast and acetic acid, raw apple cider vinegar contains “the mother,” a collection of naturally occurring small brown pieces from the fermentation, which has small amounts of healthy bacteria in it. Only organic, raw apple cider vinegar will have “the mother,” whereas distilled and processed apple cider vinegar won’t.

How Do You Use Apple Cider Vinegar For Weight Loss?

Drink Apple Cider Vinegar With Water

There are several ways to include apple cider vinegar in your diet that may assist in weight loss. The most common way is to dilute one tablespoon in a full glass of filtered water and drink it before each meal. If you’re new to taking apple cider vinegar, you may want to start with just one teaspoon and just drink it once a day, rather than before each meal. You can then work your way up to every meal.

Make A Salad Dressing Or Marinade

Adding apple cider vinegar to salad dressings is another easy and delicious way to get apple cider vinegar into your diet. You may choose to use it with just a few spices, or mix in other condiments such as honey, mustard, and olive oil. Similarly to dressing, there’s no reason you can’t add apple cider vinegar to marinades. apple cider vinegar has a sweet yet sour flavor which can add some zest to a marinade for fish, meat, or vegetable dishes.

Cook With Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar can also be used in small amounts during cooking. The way you might add a little water to a pan, try a little apple cider vinegar instead. Apple cider vinegar not only tastes great but it brings out the nutrients in the food you’re cooking. This is why it’s often included as an ingredient for making bone broth (apple cider vinegar extracts nutrients from the bones).

Take A Supplement

Apple cider vinegar also comes in pill and gummy form and can be taken as a supplement. When taken this way, it’s best to consult your medical provider for frequency and dosing.

How Does Apple Cider Vinegar Help With Weight Loss?  

May Suppress Fat Accumulation  

Though studies on apple cider vinegar for weight loss are limited, the results do seem to imply that adding apple cider vinegar to a person’s diet does play a role in weight loss. Studies on mice suggest that apple cider vinegar can suppress fat accumulation or deposits, and even increase their metabolism, similarly shown in humans. The studies determined that acetic acid (the main compound in apple cider vinegar) was responsible for the suppression of body fat. Scientists used animal studies to try to replicate similar findings^[2] in human adults and discovered that after three months, the adults who drank apple cider vinegar before meals reduced their BMI, weight, waist circumference, and triglyceride levels. 

May Reduce Appetite

Some studies have shown that people who consume apple cider vinegar before a meal lose more weight compared with those who don’t. A theory for this is that apple cider vinegar may suppress appetite, causing an individual to consume fewer calories. One study showed, specifically, that the participants who consumed apple cider vinegar before their meals wound up eating 275 fewer calories for the remainder of the day than the participants who did not. The reasons for this are not confirmed, however, it’s theorized that apple cider vinegar may play a role in increasing satiety and/or curbing appetite. 

Steadies Blood Sugar And Reduces Glucose Spikes

A major component of any weight loss efforts is to keep blood sugar^[3] steady as often as possible, and in order to do that, one needs to avoid glucose spikes. Glucose spikes are most often caused by eating carbohydrates on their own (think anything sweet with sugar, but also fruits and starches like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes). When we eat carbs with other types of foods (fiber, protein, fat), the glucose spike is reduced. However, it’s also possible to use apple cider vinegar to prevent these glucose spikes. Simply add one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a glass of filtered water and drink it for about 10 minutes before you plan to consume your food.

There are a few mechanisms behind how this works. Firstly, the acetic acid in the vinegar releases amylase, the digestive enzyme dedicated to breaking down carbs. Acetic acid may also slow down the stomach’s release of food into the intestines to continue the digestive process, which then slows down how the sugar is absorbed in the body. The vinegar may also improve sensitivity to insulin, allowing it to do its job better at getting glucose into our cells for energy, as opposed to letting too much glucose build up in the blood.

Part Of Many Salad Dressings

This may seem like an obvious reason to use apple cider vinegar as part of losing weight, but it might be so obvious, that it’s overlooked! Eating more salads to replace unhealthier meals is a great way to get more fresh vegetables into the diet, which will help with weight loss. 

However, not everyone enjoys salad, but a good salad dressing can help with that! Apple cider vinegar alone has a very distinct taste and many people find it hard to drink on its own (even diluted in water, as it should be). However, it makes for a delicious component of any salad dressing, enhancing the flavor when it’s mixed with a few other healthy ingredients. Try this: 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, a small drizzle of honey, and a dollop of mustard, salt, and pepper to taste. 

May Improve Weight-Related Conditions 

Lose weight and disease do not exist in vacuums – many health conditions are tied in with weight gain/loss. Weight drives the health condition and vice versa. apple cider vinegar has been shown to improve some of these conditions, including type 1 and 2 diabetes and PCOS. 

For example, in a controlled study of individuals with type 1 diabetes, drinking diluted apple cider vinegar before a meal helped lower their blood glucose response by about 20%. With type 2 diabetes, their blood glucose levels also dropped after four weeks of drinking vinegar before meals. For those with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), a condition in which a person develops insulin resistance, studies found that after three months of taking daily apple cider vinegar, their insulin sensitivity, as well as hormone balance, improved. 

Precautions When Consuming Apple Cider Vinegar To Lose Weight

While it’s clear apple cider vinegar supports mechanisms and chemical reactions in the body that can support weight loss, studies on how apple cider vinegar affects weight loss directly are few and far between. There’s not enough conclusive evidence at this time to make definite claims, even though results have been promising.

Drinking apple cider vinegar on its own (not diluted in water) can be harmful. The acetic acid can burn the throat, esophagus, and stomach, and should be avoided, especially for anyone with ulcers. Drinking it this way may also induce nausea. For this reason, whenever you consume apple cider vinegar, be sure to dilute it in filtered water.

Conclusion

Apple cider vinegar, made from twice-fermented apple juice, may prove to be a healthful addition to weight loss benefits. While the immediate impact on weight loss is still unclear, some studies in both animals and humans have linked apple cider vinegar with lower body fat, weight, BMI, blood sugar spikes, and triglyceride levels, which by extension, have positive influences on weight loss.

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