Hello Health Champions. A lot of people have gotten benefits from apple cider vinegar such
as weight loss and improved digestion but now some people are starting to mix apple
cider vinegar with baking soda so today i want to talk about the benefits of those two
separately but also what really happens in the body when you mix the two together coming right
up hey I'm Dr. Ekberg I'm a holistic doctor and a former Olympic decathlete and if you want to
truly master health by understanding how the body really works make sure you subscribe and hit that
notification bell so you don't miss anything 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 and the answer is
hydrochloric acid the stomach is supposed to be an acid vat your stomach makes hydrochloric acid
and 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 so 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 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 and 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 and 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 so 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 and basically 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 and
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 but 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 if you
can't tolerate the apple cider vinegar if you feel these videos have helped you in your quest
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