How to add zest and lower blood sugar with vinegar

Vinegar has plenty of uses, from home remedies to adding a little zest. But vinegars can also reduce the blood sugar effect of the entire meal. Try these simple ways to add the zest, and healing powers, of vinegar to more of your meals.

• Start dinner with a spinach salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and oil.
• The acid in vinegar slows the rate at which food leaves your stomach, also slowing the transformation of a meal's carbohydrates into blood sugar.
• Red wine vinegar adds a wonderful taste to red lentil soup.
• Mix up Asian coleslaw with shredded red cabbage and carrots, mung bean sprouts, chopped bok choy, olive oil, sesame seed oil, chopped cilantro and, of course, rice vinegar.
• One study gave people one gram of acetic acid (the equivalent of 20 millilitres of vinegar) and olive oil, followed by 50 grams of white bread.
• Their blood sugar went up 31 per cent less than when they ate just the bread, all from the basic ingredients of a vinaigrette.

• One study from Japan found that, when vinegar was part of a meal, it reduced the glycemic index of white rice by an impressive 20 to 40 percent. Try adding it to the sides or mains of your dinner.
• Marinate sliced beets in balsamic vinegar, rosemary, crushed garlic and herbes de Provence for about 20 minutes. Place the beets and marinade in a foil packet, seal tightly and grill until tender.
• For dessert, serve sliced strawberries splashed with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with a few pinches of sugar.
• Animal studies also suggest vinegar's acid may help increase the storage of glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscles. This gets it out of the bloodstream.

• Marinate chicken in cider vinegar and canola oil before baking or grilling.
• Or try a soy glaze for chicken. Sauté chopped garlic and shallots in olive oil, then add chopped tomato, distilled vinegar, soy sauce, honey, salt and pepper. Then fry it up with chicken.
• Make a balsamic vinegar glaze for grilled salmon. In a pot, boil balsamic vinegar, red wine and a bit of honey until thick. Serve over the salmon.
• In one study, people with insulin resistance who consumed vinegar before a bagel meal had a 34 percent increase, on average, in insulin sensitivity. This translates to better blood sugar control.

• Don't limit yourself to plain old distilled vinegar.
• Try red or white wine vinegar, rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Or buy or make flavour-infused vinegars such as tarragon, raspberry, strawberry and so on.

Fans of folk medicine swear by vinegar to treat just about anything that could ail a person, from sunburns to stomach aches to dull hair. But there's one truly effective use for vinegar that most people don't know about: the high-acid content can help with blood sugar. It's just one more excuse to add the zest of vinegar to more of your home cooking.