10 Ways to Use Apple Cider Vinegar
By Hannah Healy
Updated June 28, 2018
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10 Ways To Use Apple Cider Vinegar. I’ve mentioned many times on my facebook page how great raw apple cider vinegar is for your health. However, almost every time I post about it, a reader asks how to use it. Apple cider vinegar can be used for so many things, find out the 10 best ways to use it….
It seems to me that a lot of people have heard that ACV is good for you, but they don’t quite know how to incorporate it into their lives. After all, it is vinegar, so you can’t just chug it straight from the bottle…yuk! This article will give you 10 different ways to use this miracle elixir!
The Many Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar
But first, let’s talk about WHY you should be using apple cider vinegar. The benefits to raw apple cider vinegar are many. Apart from containing many beneficial vitamins and minerals, apple cider vinegar also contains acetic acid, potassium and malic acid. It can help regulate blood sugar, aid digestion, build muscle, clear skin, reduce bad cholesterol, prevent sickness with its antiviral properties, help remove toxins and aid in weight loss. It is also an alkalizing food, so it helps your body maintain good PH levels.
When choosing apple cider vinegar, you should always get raw (unpasteurized) with the mother like this one to ensure you will get all the benefits from it.
If you want even more ideas, this book is less that $4 and has a bunch of great tips on how to use apple cider vinegar for natural cures.
10 Ways to Use Apple Cider Vinegar
1. Drink 1-2 tablespoons ACV diluted in a glass of still or bubbly water with a teaspoon of raw honey like this (optional). You can also buy ACV drinks at some health food stores, I love this brand with added cinnamon–it tastes like apple pie in a bottle and it’s good for you too!
2. Use ACV in place of balsamic vinegar in salad dressing.
3. Add 1-2 teaspoons ACV to your morning smoothie. Start with one teaspoon and work your way up to 1 tablespoon. It is vinegar and can have a strong flavor, so be careful not to start with too much.
4. Use it as a facial toner to improve complexion and restore skin’s natural PH.
5. Use it to naturally treat dandruff.
6. Heal your sunburn quickly and naturally.
7. Use ACV as an all purpose cleaner. Mix equal parts water and ACV and add 2-3 drops essential oils like thieves (thieves is great for cleaning and can kill bacteria) or tea tree.
8. Use ACV to soak your beans, legumes or grains to reduce phytic acid and make them more easily digested. Simply cover a pot of dry uncooked beans with filtered water. The water should come well over the top of the beans (they will expand), then add 1 tablespoon of vinegar per cup of beans to the water. The acidic medium helps reduce the anti-nutrients in beans that block absorption of vitamins and minerals. To learn more about how to properly prepare beans, legumes and grains and for healthy recipes, check out my ebook Gluten Free Vegetarian.
9. Use ACV in your bath. Add ½- 1 cup to your bath water along with epsom salts and lavender essential oil for a relaxing and detoxifying bath.
10. Help treat yeast infections by adding 1 cup ACV to your bath or by adding 1 tablespoon to your water in the morning.
11. BONUS! Use it to help with heartburn. Contrary to popular belief, heartburn is a result of too little stomach acid…not too much. Many people find relief from their heartburn from having 1-2 tsp of ACV in a small glass of water right before eating.
I am trying hopefully to help arthritis. I don’t like it in water or with honey added but I enjoy it just by the tablespoon; is this safe or okay?
I started a daily morning drink of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar…1 Tbsp to 6/8 oz. water… I was happy about the health benefits spoken of if one drank it regularly. After about 4 weeks, my mouth, lips,and the vermilion border ( the skin above and below my lips became raw , excoriated and cracked…miserably painful . It took about 4 weeks for them to heal, I tried the “drink” again after they healed to be sure it was the vinegar…sure enough after about 2 weeks my lips and surrounding skin became raw and inflamed again…they are just now healing up after almost 2 weeks of topical Vitamin E application….:(…Perhaps I’m just “allergic”…(?)
ACV gets rid of molluscom (you know what it is if your kids have had it). dip a cotton ball in ACV and place it on the molluscom under a bandaid over night . do this for a few nights and they should disappear. Worked amazingly well for us when nothing else would. It also works on plantars warts.
Hello. I thought my child was the only one who got molluscums. After many expensive doctor visits and expensive prescribed medications, one doctor suggested, and the least expensive cure was over the counter, a combined use of hydrocortisone 2% cream/ointment, and Aquaphor. Keep using together on affected area and soon they shrink and fall off.
Awesome post! I’ve only used apple cider a few ways before but this opened my eyes to the many uses of it. Thanks.
Been using ACV for a few years now. My husband takes a spoonful every morning! I’m prone to eye infections, and have never used antibiotics. I boil about a cup of water, let cool a bit, add 1-2 T of ACV, use cotton ball or whatever dipped in and rinse both eyes about 3 times a day. Yes, it stings a bit, but ohhhhhhmg, that infection is history in about 2 days!
I have a small spray bottle filled with ACV on my kitchen counter, along with a small plastic shaker bottle (the one used for sprinkling powdered sugar on sweets), and use the combo on plastic cookware that won’t get clean with regular soap and water.
Can a person be allergic to ACV?
My daughter is allergic to ACV. She cannot tolerate the salycilates in it. I am sure there are other reasons one could be sensitive to it. I use it for many skin and health issues with great success though.
The Dandruff link doesn’t work. I think this is the one that was intended https://www.hugatreewithme.com/homemade-apple-cider-vinegar-pre-shampoo-dandruff-treatment-recipe/ ?
I’ve been drinking ACV for years. A while back I came down with a bad case of shingles. In addition to drinking, I used an ACV soaked cotton ball to saturate the lesions several times a day and they healed within 3 weeks. Dr. was pretty amazed.
Asides drinking ACV I dilute one cup with water into a sprayer bottle and use as a general house cleaner. Great for windows and mirrors also. Sometimes add lavender or few drops of essential oil to sweeten the scent:)
I like to make a strong ginger tea and add ACV. They both have a kick! And once refrigerated, they make an excellent refreshing tonic!
It gets rid of cat urine smell too! If you have a cat that has urinated on clothing, blanket or what have you just launder the item as usual but add a cup of ACV in addition to your detergent. It works!
I use to treat excema outbreaks on my hands and scalp – I dilute it in water for my scalp but I’ll often use it neat on my hands when I feel them starting to itch
I’ve suffered from eczema my entire life and never heard this! Will try it immediately! Thanks for the tip.
Make a fruit fly trap! Put a thin layer of acv in a cup. Then put a drop of dish soap and stir. Set it out on the counter and the fruit flies will fly in and get stuck!
I add a couple of tablespoons to my green smoothie. It helps to balance the sweetness of the fruit, adds a nice zing and I know I’m doing something good for my gut.
Thoughts on using while pregnant? I just had a miscarriage and used throughout the first 3 months now wondering if I could have gotten listeria from it being raw? Looked online but no definitive answers. Also website for braggs does say its fine during pregnancy. Any insight?
There are a number of reason that miscarages happen and your loss saddens my heart. The chance that it was the ACV is unlikely however and could have been anything. You and your partner might not have been healthy enough to produce a child to term (yes the mans health effects this as much as the womans) you could have gotten an infection, the baby might not have formed correctly, many many other things. Sadly miscarriage is more common then most women talk about in western society since there are so many stressors in our life. Look to you and your partners health and wellbeing and if need be when you wish to have a child again go to a wholstic fertility specialist before doing so. They’re amazing at what they can do for you and your unborn little one.
I am so sorry for your loss! I’ve had several miscarriages and it’s a terrible thing to go through. (I suffered severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome during my last full term pregnancy and as a result, have not been able to carry full term since then) I have never heard of ACV causing a miscarriage, although I do a lot of research on the subject, but can’t say conclusively. I usually use ACV every morning to prevent colds/flu, with great success. Now that I am pregnant again, and was having severe morning sickness, I read it was recommended to take ACV at night, with a high protein snack, to prevent morning sickness. So far, it’s working very well- better than my usual ginger. Peace!
We love ACV and drink a shot before our dinner to aid with digestion. Love your post!
I put it in organic apple juice to make consuming easier (about 2 tbls). I try sand drink a glass each day to help with general digestion and nutrition absorption. 🙂
Also it thins your blood, it is good for leg cramps. put 1 tablespoon in either juice or water and drink for leg cramps. it works i have done it.
I dilute it 1:1 with water and use as a rinse before shampooing to remove buildup + add shine. OR i just use that solution as the shampoo, then apply conditioner. works great!
Thanks, Mary, for that tip. I am dealing with, what I believe to be, an intestinal parasite that I picked up (I believe) at a dive coffee shop (it was a little strange there…always trust your gut, I say – no pun intended LOL!). But I use ACV in my water every morning to try to make my gut environment unsavory for any pathogens and other microbes that are dangerous to health. At best guess, and from research, I believe it is Giardia I have contracted, but it is difficult to tell. Being in Casper, WY, there are not many docs who can accurately diagnose this, and I would have to insist on a stool sample test (all my opinion, but living in a larger city, like Denver, might bring better chances for diagnosis). Any suggestions on ridding the human body of parasitic infection such as Giardia or intestinal worms (I have searched my stools for them, but cannot accurately say I see worms or not, as I have never had this before and do not know exactly what to look for). …thank you for ANY advice whatsoever! I am too busy to be tethered to the toilet…. I am a geologist AND in a working blues/rock band. This stomach condition is making my life difficult. Peace and thank you ♥
Google natural parasite cleanse, I can’t find the website, but there’s a mix of Black Walnut Hull and Citricidal that is a natural cleanse (you can buy them on Amazon), you just add a few drops of each to water each day and it gets rid of any parasites without hurting your gut
A friend’s son went on a mission trip to another country…. came back with some type of intestinal bug, parasite, not sure. he ate a lot of raw garlic plain, and a few days later, well, that parasite eventually was expelled…. hope that helps
Is your friend from northern UT? Jw
You can order your own lab test to confirm or refute your diagnosis. Go to: https://www.privatemdlabs.com/index.php
Once you get the results, maybe a local doctor will help you get the treatment you need.
I have used copper water for intestinal parasites. I hope this helps. Blessings Elle
My daughter contracted worms and became thin, lethargic, and deathly ill with stomach pains and noxious gas before we zeroed in on what it was. Her regular doctor was too passive then went out of town for a few weeks so we acted on our own. We gave her a tablespoon of food grade diatomaceous earth dissolved in juice or a smoothie morning and night. We continued it for two weeks to cover for new eggs, etc.. She passed them in her stool, her health bounced right back and she’s been clean since.
This is true, You should look up and read about Diatomaceous Earth. Great uses for many things. Be sure to buy the Food Grade.
Fresh Green Black Walnut Wormwood Complex. Find it at a health food store.
Hi Barb,
You can buy antiparasite herbs locally if you are in Australia. There are some very useful information on how to treat parasites, causes and symptoms, treatment for each areas of the body. Visit our website and all your questions will be answered. The website is
www.parasiteinfo.com
Barb, have you looked into DE or diatomaceous earth. It is a natural worm killer. People use it for alot of other things too, make SURE you get food grade though. Im in canada but i know you can find it on amazon too. https://diatomaceousearth.ca/
Try using cinnamon essential oil… it kills all kinds of bacteria, parasite, mycoplasma, fungus, virus, etc. There is a particular one to use and you can read all about it in the following site: https://www.lyme-symptoms.com/Essential.oil.html. Good luck.
I suggest checking out a product called MMS..Miracle Mineral Solution by Jim Humble. It is a wonderful product that kills pathogens. Just google…but make sure you are researching the MMS product as I think there is something else out there that uses those initials. Good Luck getting rid of the bugs in your gut.