The Truth About Apple Cider Vinegar & Baking soda, Is it healthy For you?

A lot of people have gotten benefits from apple cider vinegar, such as weight loss and improved digestion, but some people are starting to mix apple cider vinegar with baking soda. 

Today I want to talk about The Truth About Apple Cider Vinegar & Baking soda, Is it healthy For you?. the benefits of those two separately but also what happens in the body when you mix the two. when we talk about apple cider vinegar and baking soda we have to talk about ph. because that is what gives them their characteristics. baking soda is an alkaline substance, it's a base with a ph of 9.5, and apple cider vinegar is an acid with a ph of 2.5. so anything above 7 is a base, anything below 7 is an acid, and 7 is neutral.

So what is supposed to be normal in the stomach what normally is produced in the stomach? The answer is hydrochloric acid, the stomach is supposed to be an acid vat your stomach makes hydrochloric acid. it's a very strong acid. it's down here with battery acid so in a healthy human the ph is supposed to be between one and three it's supposed to be an acid vat and this is so that we can digest protein so that we can absorb minerals and so that we can kill pathogens so in order for us to break down food that's the whole purpose of eating in the first place is to break it down .

We can absorb it and utilize it but furthermore that acid is an immune barrier it kills off pathogens that we happen to ingest so just looking at this we can say that acid is a normal occurrence in the stomach but baking soda is not now here's a very very common misconception a lot of people believe that heartburn happens because you have too much stomach acid and i can see where people would think that because it burns and there's acid there so it has to be too much right well no it's the exact opposite that heartburn happens because we don't have enough acid by the time you add acid almost everyone gets improvement in symptoms so the condition called hypochlorhydria.

Hypochlorhydria means not enough stomach acid not enough hydrochloric acid is extremely common and it depends on age because as we age we produce less hydrochloric acid stress is another factor that will interfere with the production that will reduce the production of stomach acid why is that because any time you're stressed your body is shutting down digestion in order to prioritize defending you against the outside world.

Another factor is hypothyroid very very common when your thyroid slows down when it's underperforming there is also less production of hydrochloric acid another reason for not enough acid is a bug called age pylori. this is a stomach bug that raises the ph and actually causes ulcers by interfering with the protection with the protective lining in the stomach and also antacids things that people take to relieve.

Heartburn is a huge problem for hypochlorhydria because when you put a base in there like tums or pepcid ac it neutralizes the acid and it interferes with that digestion so any of these reasons or all of them put together can give you hypochlorhydria so you can see how common this is another misconception that was popularized by a book called alkalize or die is that most people's bodies are too acidic but just because the book is very persuasive and popular doesn't mean it's correct and the truth of the matter is that ph is something that the body regulates that it's not that acid or base are bad it's that they have to be in balance you have to have the right amount of acid at the right time and then you have to neutralize it and balance it out at another time and it turns out that acid is much easier for the body to neutralize that the body has these mechanisms to get rid of acids.

The first way is in the urine that if you take a ph strip to your urine and it measures acidic that doesn't mean that your whole body is acidic that means your body was successful in getting rid of acid to bring the body back to balance so that's one way the body can get rid of acid but the fastest and most powerful way that your body can correct ph and get rid of acid is to breathe to hyperventilate that's a way that you can become alkaline in seconds.

 If you want to try this then just start breathing in and out as hard as you can as fast as you can and what you will find is that within seconds you're going to get a little bit dizzy and this means that you are becoming too alkaline because what you're doing is you're blowing off carbon dioxide which is acidic so by eliminating something acid you become more alkaline and your body regulates this through the breath all day long.

Acid is pretty easy to get rid of so it's not true that most people are too acidic let's talk about the benefits of apple cider vinegar and baking soda so apple cider vinegar does two things it supports digestion because it is an acid it supplements the digestion with something that is naturally supposed to be there the second thing though is that the vinegar which is also called acetic acid is supposed to be very acidic in the stomach but as it works its way through the digestive tract several hours later it is in the lower intestine and now it is more neutral or alkaline and now this acetic acid turns into acetate which is a short chain fatty acid and this short chain fatty acid is a fuel if it gets back in your circulation you can use it for fuel just like an mct oil but it also fuel for your gut flora and these two mechanisms together result in reduced appetite improved insulin sensitivity and through that we can improve type 2 diabetes and hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

All the other problems associated with metabolic syndrome which is insulin resistance and now the benefits of baking soda and the biggest reason people talk about benefits of this is that it provides relief of the symptoms of heartburn now in my book that may be kind of a benefit short term but it is not a benefit long term because any time that you take something for something when you take a substance for a symptom then you are ignoring the underlying cause so yes short term if you have a crisis you could use it but long term you're allowing the real problem to get bigger and in that sense you're making things worse every time.

Baking soda is obviously also used for baking it can be used as mouthwash as toothpaste as deodorant air freshener laundry whitening supposedly bathroom cleaner you can use it to polish silverware you can use it as weed killer but if you notice all of these are except for the first one there's nothing here that really involves that you're ingesting substantial amounts of baking soda so i have not found any convincing arguments or research that you should eat baking soda on a regular basis i don't think that there's a need on a regular basis to add that much sodium and add that much alkalinity to the body or the digestive tract.

Now when you take them together you have to realize that one is an acid and the other is a base so they're basically canceling each other out you're neutralizing the ph so if you're looking for symptom relief if you have a burning sensation when you take the apple cider vinegar and it's not because you didn't dilute it then you could mix the two and it would help relieve that burning sensation now you're gonna forfeit you're gonna undo the digestive support that you would get from that acid but the other benefit the acetate the short chain fatty acid is still going to be there.

There's probably some benefit from each but you will get some benefit from the short chain fatty acid and again these are made in a healthy gut they feed the gut bacteria and they can help with appetite regulation these short chain fatty acids can alter can improve the metabolic signaling so you can improve your metabolism and you can improve the breakdown of fat.

Now if you take the two together if you mix them you have to keep the following in mind you want to take it on an empty stomach why is that because if you take baking soda together with the apple cider vinegar and you're having food at the same time the baking soda will interfere with your digestion just as if you took tums or pepcid ac or something else that blocks the acid you cannot digest food properly after that and what about the other benefit from the short chain fatty acids you will still get that benefit.

If you can't tolerate the apple cider vinegar without the baking soda then i think that you get more of a total benefit so try that first and use the baking soda.