Apple cider and metformin

[mrs gimli]

Hi does anyone take apple cider and metformin.
My sugers are on the high side.
Lazyness on my part during lockdown and not being at work.
Back on low card strict from tonight no time like present.
Want to try apple cider too

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi does anyone take apple cider and metformin.
My sugers are on the high side.
Lazyness on my part during lockdown and not being at work.
Back on low card strict from tonight no time like present.
Want to try apple cider too

might help. Though I have to say, ACV, while tasty, gave me migraines... If it hadn't, I'd probably still use it, as I really enjoyed the taste. (Especially on my tuna salad combined with olive oil, but to drink as well. Worked miracles on a couple of UTI's I had! I still have a just-in-case bottle around for medicinal purposes).

That said, nothing will change your blood sugars more than the dietary measures you're taking, and yes, no time like the present indeed! Going low carb'll certainly help get back on track. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html you've probably seen before, but just in case.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Walking around the block every night and a low carb diet will do you a more good than drinking vinegar - but vinegar is natural and it won't harm you. It seems to be me as an outsider diabetic who knows a number of T2DMs that the T2DM world is full of people desperately pushing leaves and organic food and enzymes and lots of other things on me as the next big thing. I politely explain that they won't work on me (and impolitely and silently blame the internet!), but I think this is a deeper thing for T2DMs. T2DM is basically lifestyle caused, and caused by too enjoyable a life (no judgment, good on them I say!). However, when something like T2DM turns up, and the answer is changing that too good life for something different, many T2DMs turn to a psychological prop to try to keep up their old life (let's face it, in many ways the old life was more fun - who doesn't love donuts?). So the biggest hurdle for T2DMs is the mental discipline of overcoming old habits.

All a roundabout way of suggesting that things like vinegar will not harm you but probably not do any good either, and certainly far less good than regular moderate enjoyable exercise (who doesn't enjoy walking around the neighbourhood looking into people's windows when they are honest?) and cutting down on processed foods. that is easier said than done - keep a food log and tell a friend, that will make it much much easier to achieve.

Can I respectfully disagree? The blame-game isn't going to help anyone. I didn't glutton myself into T2, and neither did a lot of other people. It's a metabolic, genetic condition. We just can't process carbs properly. I have PCOS, which causes insulin resistance, and T2 runs in my family on dad's side. Double whammy, there was no escaping the T2 eventually. Others have medicinal reasons for T2, but all in all, no, we did not bring this upon ourselves. Speaking for myself, I barely ate at one point, only crammed down what my dietician told me to, which was low fat, high carb... Making things exponentially worse.

Really, be careful about the whole "you brought this on yourself with donuts" thing, because that just doesn't ring true and it's one heck of a generalisation. Not to mention a hurtful one that keeps people from asking for help out of misplaced feelings of shame.

There's no shame in this. Not at all.

 

[LaoDan]

ACV did not make a measurable difference to me. However I do find it helps with digestion, so I still have a tablespoon after some meals.

cinnamon didn’t do anything either, except I love it with my protein shake.

so far the number one item is cutting carbs, number two is exercise. Everything else has had little impact

 

[LaoDan]

How’d you know who I follow on instagram?

 

[Robbity]

T2DM is basically lifestyle caused,

Not for me it's not - just a slight intolerance to a recent unwelcome higher carb diet, and an ancient pancreas struggling a bit to cope with it. Unless of course you know something I don't and consider old age a lifetsyle choice??

 

[Andy_Warlow]

If I was you, I would not bother with it at all.

Focus on your diet and exercise, get those and you can make a hell of difference to your blood sugars.

Apple cider vinegar get a lot press but it doesn't do half the things that are claimed.

 

[Tophat1900]

ACV I found was great for getting rid of heart burn... instantly. No waiting around like you would with a medication for it to subside. I also found it dropped glucose levels 3 times quicker with exercise (walking) as apposed to not having it.

One thing that should be mentioned is you shouldn't drink it if you suffer from low potassium levels as it can lower them further. The idea that this is safe because it's natural just isn't true for some.

 

[Nicole T]

You may have missed my express words about no judgement - I meant that. It is a slight overstatement to say that there are genetic causes for T2 - there are correlations. My point remains - too many diabetics (and non diabetics for that matter) get too caught up in a search for a deus ex machina - like apple cider vinegar and various dodgy enzymes ordered from the internet. Apple cider vinegar is basically an internet cure for everything (which in itself calls it into question) pushed on instagram. For non diabetics, this quack stuff usually causes no harm. Alas for us it does because it can lead to people letting go of the self-control we have to exercise every day. There is unfortunately no deus ex machina. It is hard work to resist temptation in the west, as we are assailed on all sides by temptation and junk food. And junk food tastes so good. But apple cider vinegar won't fix this.

There is nothing wrong with generalisations. All science and indeed all human knowledge rests upon them.

This rather sounds like the reason they were telling us not to wear masks at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic: they didn't feel they were particularly effective (that's since changed) and feared they might create a false sense of security, resulting in people being more lax about social distancing. It's probably a reasonable assumption in a larger statistical sample: some people will act as though one promise of risk reduction negates the need for another. But on a case by case basis, and in someone who still takes both seriously, even a pure placebo can't have a negative effect.

So I don't feel it's fair to invalidate something that might work, simply because it might excuse other bad habits. If someone's treating apple cider vinegar as a cure for diabetes and acting as though they can eat what they want, as long as they're taking it, then clearly they need a reality check.

I read that, on limited trials and taken just before bedtime, it typically knocked around 5% off people's morning fasting bloods, which (if true) could make my morning 5.5 to 6.8 around 5.2 to 6.5. I've got a bottle of it here (it was an ingredient for the gazpacho soup recipe I found) though I haven't started experimenting with it medicinally, yet. Or even seeing if it's tasty on a salad.

Then again, I also read that it rots your teeth. Perhaps no more so than fruit juice, though.

 

[Andy_Warlow]

Sorry but I don't agree - the whole mask debate is ridiculous generally and a bad analogy (there is no real evidence yet that masks do the things ascribed to them - they still need to be viewed as placebo/magic, which can have an important effect in calming people down in this age of fact-free hysteria) .

The post hoc ergo propter hoc logic fallacy is still a fallacy. A placebo can have an important psychological effect but it cannot by definition have a physical effect on blood sugar (I suspect that people who drink apple cider vinegar are more likely to be cautious with their food intake and that is what leads to the reduced BGLs).

It cannot harm you (except maybe your teeth!) but my original point stands - which is the deus ex machina issue is a big deal, especially in the days of people mistaking passion for knowledge (we alas live in these days). Too many diabetics push magic cures they read about on the internet, with known and potentially very serious side effects and risk. Frankl calls it the delusion of reprieve (and we are seeing it now with masks and vaccines in the outside world).

I understand that things like apple cider vinegar represents an escape from the often onerous drudgery of unfortunately necessary constant tinkering with your body, and a wistful desire to return to the old life of being able to eat anything without worry, but it is a dream, and a dangerous one.

If a placebo works, then is it a placebo?

 

[oldnevada]

I was using ACV for a while, went through two small bottles. Didn't notice that it changed my BG readings. What does affect them is that I'm low carb'ing and exercise.

 

[mrs gimli]

Thank you all for your replys..

 

[matthew18P]

Was it totally okay for you while your cider consumption? I want to try it as well, time to time, and purchase couple of sets of this somerset cider from Crafty Nectar firm. From those comments I've read, I could understand that they produce pretty awesome and tasty goods, and not just cider, but appetizers in the gift boxes as well.

 

[VKC72]

Can I respectfully disagree? The blame-game isn't going to help anyone. I didn't glutton myself into T2, and neither did a lot of other people. It's a metabolic, genetic condition. We just can't process carbs properly. I have PCOS, which causes insulin resistance, and T2 runs in my family on dad's side. Double whammy, there was no escaping the T2 eventually. Others have medicinal reasons for T2, but all in all, no, we did not bring this upon ourselves. Speaking for myself, I barely ate at one point, only crammed down what my dietician told me to, which was low fat, high carb... Making things exponentially worse.

Really, be careful about the whole "you brought this on yourself with donuts" thing, because that just doesn't ring true and it's one heck of a generalisation. Not to mention a hurtful one that keeps people from asking for help out of misplaced feelings of shame.

There's no shame in this. Not at all.

I'm a 50 year old male who had tried diet and exercise with negligable weight loss. After 3 months I had only lost 8 pounds. I was eating low carb and walk/jogging 5 miles 4 days a week. The other days I work as an RN. So I'm on my feet 12 hours. I was so frustrated because there was no way I should not be losing weight. I saw my doctor who placed me on metformin 500mg per day. My A1C WAS 6.9, fasting blood sugar 110. Since then, I have lost another 12 pounds ( 2 months). I'm convinced the metformin is working and I have been using ACV. I can't prove that ACV makes a difference but both my mother and grandmother used it daily. So what does it hurt?

 

[AloeSvea]

Hi @mrs gimli, I'm on metformin, and ACV is a regular part of my diet. I just wish I had found my 'sweet spot' method with eating it (as a salad and coleslaw dressing with no-sugar added aioli - yum!) when I first read about the wonders of ACV in my 20s - it would've saved me a whole lot of gallstone issues down the line!

Apparently vinegars are so good for our digestion/health and act as a tonic as they replicate the conditions in our gut that eating animal and bird organs did for us when we ate that more regularly (all the power to you if you still do now! That of course is probably ideal...) Like fermented food.

So I don't eat ACV regularly for my blood glucose levels (I have experimented though - once upon a time they made a small difference in post meal BG readings, which is what the research also says), I eat it as it is good nutritionally. (And keeps my gallstone and gallbladder in line!) Remember food isn't just about our blood glucose readings, but ultimately about nourishing us! We just have to watch the insulin and glucose raising s*** as well, sadly. ACV is a win-win on that one.