Saturday, 17 October 2009

• Why You Should Add Vinegar To Your Food

  Everyone's had that bad day where you're late and don't have time to eat breakfast so you grab a muffin in a mock attempt to be healthy.  Or maybe you just snatched whatever you could out of a vending machine for lunch - chips, a candy bar, whatever seemed like the best choice at the time.  With modern society so rushed it makes sense that we like to grab snacks that can give us a quick rush of energy; however, the more rapidly the body can turn food into sugar the quicker, and harder, our blood sugar crashes leaving us feel cranky and more hungry then before. 

  According to the book Magic Foods, by Robert A. Barnett, Christine L Pelkman, and Densei Webb, vinegar can help minimize the damage of simple carbs. "The acid in vinegar slows the rate at which food leave your stomach, also slowing the transformation of a meal's carbohydrates into blood sugar." 

  What that means is when you're hungry and you drink a soda, for example, for a quick burst of energy, you'll eventually crash and have lower blood sugar then before you started.  This will make you cranky, give you a headache, and leave you feeling hungry.  Often when this happens our first instinct is to grabe something else sweet or startchy to get our sugar back up as quickly as possible.  It leads to chain eating unhealthy foods, mood swings, and the guilt of too much snacking. 

  When you add vinegar to your food it'll slow the sugar down (imagine to lines of kids walking quietly instead of room of hyper screaming children).  Since your blood sugar rises slow it won't crash and you'll feel fuller for longer, leading to less snacking. 

  So how do you get vinegar in your diet?

  - Apple cidar vinegar is great for baking.  Vegans often use it to get the right texture in their baked goods without using eggs.
  - Vinegar and olive oil make a healthy dressing for salads and veggie's.
  - Vinegar maranaide tenderizes meat and adds flavor.
  - Tossing it into broth makes your soup taste more classy.

  
  Do you use vinegar in your cooking? How could you incorporate it more?

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