apple cider what?

I'm not much for diets; in fact, I think I've tried two diets in my life. The first was the Abs diet to help kickstart some weight loss after leaving my desk job and starting school; the second was me cutting carbs for a week before leaving for Mexico to attend a wedding. Both were fine (actually the low-carb diet made me grumpy and a bit sickly-looking), but I didn't feel compelled to stick with them. Anything that requires major changes in grocery-buying and food prep is a no-go in my book. I like food too much and don't like thinking so hard at the supermarket.

Enter ACV--aka Apple Cider Vinegar. I stumbled on Gigi's Gone Shopping when googling something or other for JCrew. Her before and after pics were pretty dramatic in my opinion, and she's been doing this ACV thing since the beginning of the year. It seemed pretty idiot-proof, and a minor commitment, so I decided to give it a go after some internet research (and also managed to rope Husband into it...after all, the couple that diets together...hehe).

Some notes thus far:

1) We have 1 tablespoon with about 8 oz. of water in the a.m. (soon after waking up) and in the p.m. (just before bed). He chugs, I sip. I won't lie...the taste is pretty heinous at first, but you get used to it quickly. You must ignore the pale yellow hue of the mix (ahem). I've found that the colder the water, the smoother it is.

2) We are using the Trader Joe's kind, but plan to track down Bragg brand once we're done with this bottle. Several sites have noted that it's much smoother and easier to take down. It's CRITICAL that you buy an unfiltered kind, and preferably organic. Heinz won't cut it.

3) We haven't noticed any weight loss yet (it's been nearly 4 weeks now), nor any major changes in bloat. We have both noticed decreased cravings though...I find that I don't get hunger pangs as much, nor do we get hankerings for salty or sweet things at random. I did come across one site that stated the ACV needs to be unpasteurized, which the Trader Joe's brand is not. Could be why we're not seeing the weight loss...need to update on this when we make the switch...

4) Like anything else, do some research on this. I have found sites that extol the virtues of an ACV diet, and ones that cast it as useless or even borderline harmful. I don't know about harmful; after all, how many people drown their salads in some sort of vinegar and oil on a daily basis? Regardless, I'd never take it straight (harkening back to acid burns and pH levels from AP Bio).

I know that it sounds like some crazy juice or liquid diet, but apparently it has been consumed for hundreds of years to help with all sorts of ailments. At the very least, like Gigi said, it contributes to your daily water intake. Plus, it's an experiment Husband and I doing together, which gives me warm fuzzies in a weird way. I'll keep reporting on 'the concoction' as time goes on...