The article quoted exciting new studies showing that enzyme-rich organic, raw apple cider vinegar could help improve the body’s fat-melting properties by actually switching on genes that turn on fat oxidation. Japanese scientists found diets with added vinegar produced 10 percent less body fat than the diets of subjects given only water. Stars like Megan Fox, Fergie, and Cindy Crawford “have reportedly started using apple cider vinegar to stay slim,” the article stated.

There’s a reason why today, and throughout history, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (or ACV) has been a powerful health food.

Nobody has done more to make this message heard today than Patricia Bragg of Bragg Live Foods, which produces the vaunted number-one brand: Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar.

Whether you are looking for energy, joint health, alkalizing your body, improving your digestion (after all real apple cider vinegar is enzyme rich)—you will feel the difference RIGHT AWAY—(and once you do you will become a Bragg Healthy Lifestyle convert for life!)

But what is it about organic raw apple cider vinegar? Scientists know that this fermented product provides ample amounts of easily absorbable potassium. But there’s so much more. We went to Patricia Bragg, author of Apple Cider Vinegar: Miracle Health System,   to learn more.

“Research worldwide supports and commends what Hippocrates (the father of medicine) found and treated his patients with in 400 B.C. He discovered that natural, unfiltered ACV is a powerful cleansing and healing elixir, a naturally occurring antibiotic and antiseptic that fights germs and bacteria for a healthier, stronger, longer life!” says Patricia. “The versatility of ACV as a powerful body-cleansing agent is legendary. It’s been traced to Egyptian urns as far back as 3000 B.C. The Babylonians used it as a condiment and preservative, while Julius Caesar’s army used ACV tonic to stay healthy and fight off disease. The Greeks and Romans kept vinegar vessels for healing and flavoring.

“It was used in Biblical times as an antiseptic and a healing agent and is mentioned in the Bible. In Paris, during the Middle Ages, it was sold from barrels by street vendors as a body deodorant, healing tonic and a health drink.

“Even Christopher Columbus and his crew on his voyage to discover America in 1492 had their vinegar barrels for prevention of scurvy as did the soldiers in the American Civil War. For centuries in Japan, the feared Samurai warriors drank it for strength and power. ACV has been used for thousands of years not only for health reasons, but also as a cleansing agent to remove bacteria, germs, odors, and even stains and spots.”

Hear what Patricia Bragg has to say about ACV

HL: What makes ACV such a powerful health tonic?

PB: Natural (unfiltered) organic, raw ACV can really be called one of Mother Nature’s most perfect foods. It is made from fresh, crushed apples which are then allowed to mature naturally in wooden barrels, as wood seems to boost the natural fermentation. Natural ACV should be rich, brownish in color, and if held to the light you might see a tiny formation of “cobweb- like” substances that we call the “mother.” Usually some “mother” will show in the bottom of the ACV bottle the more it ages. It never needs refrigeration. You can also save some “mother” and transfer it to work in other natural vinegars. When you smell natural ACV, there’s a pungent odor and sometimes it’s so ripened it puckers your mouth and smarts your eyes. These are completely natural, good signs.

HL: but, certainly, one might be asking, if ACV is so good, why did it disappear from grocers’ shelves?

PB: The blame for the disappearance of natural raw apple cider vinegar from supermarkets lies on the shoulders of the general public, as well as the producers of vinegar.

Most people buy food with their eyes, not thinking of good nutrition. The vinegar producers failed to enlighten the public on what powerful health qualities were locked within natural ACV. Why? Because most of them had not the slightest knowledge of the health values of natural, organic, unfi ltered, cloudy (and to some, less attractive-looking) apple cider vinegar. They produced pasteurized, refi ned and distilled vinegars because the public demanded the clear look. It was simply fi lling current supply and demand.

In distilling, the vinegar is turned to steam by heating, thus destroying the powerful enzymes and evaporating the life-giving minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, natural organic fl uorine, silicon, trace minerals and pectin as well as many other powerful nutrients! Distilling also destroys the natural malic and tartaric acids which are important in fighting body toxins and inhibiting unfriendly bacteria.

You can see how the public, with their obsession for eye-appeal foods, reacts. The producers of ACV, who agree to sell their product for a profit, put a death warrant against healthy, organic, raw, fully-ripened ACV. The public got what they wanted—a clear, appealing, but dead ACV. When natural ACV was hard to fi nd, other strange vinegars began to appear on grocery shelves. The first was malt vinegar, refi ned vinegar. It’s clear and acceptable to the public. It tastes like vinegar, but has none of the healing qualities of natural, raw ACV.

HL: Can ACV help stiffness vanish?

PB: Yes! Make the Bragg Healthy Lifestyle a life-long daily habit! Over the years we have seen many stiff-jointed, prematurely old people transform themselves into new, youthful, healthy people! We can’t do it for you—one must make the effort to give ACV a chance to prove what it can do for you!

You will find, after several months of ACV and honey cocktail, taken three times daily, that the stiffness and misery will be gone from your joints and body. You will discover you can walk or run up several fl ights of stairs without any effort and pain! You will notice that you look and feel you.

HL: thank you, Patricia Bragg for gracing our magazine with your wisdom.

For a quick pick-me-up at home, the office or gym, try this delicious, simple and healthy recipe:

To 8 ounces pure water add 1 to 2 teaspoons Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar and 1 to 2 teaspoons organic honey. Have this great energy tonic on rising, midday, and in evening.

Resources

Bragg Live Foods, including Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, are available at health food stores and supermarkets. They will change your life. Visit www.bragg.com to find a store near you and other important Bragg Healthy Lifestyle information.

Bragg has now introduced a line of Ready-To-Drink PreMixed Organic Apple Cider Vinegar all-natural drinks in four different flavors.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.