There are countless health benefits you can get from ordinary supermarket products. But when you’re trying to calm a cough or tame a tummy in turmoil, make sure you’re buying the stuff that packs the biggest punch. Here’s how:
Apple cider vinegar. Always use raw, organic, unfiltered apple cider vinegar (available in the health-food sections of most supermarkets). When you look at a bottle of the good stuff, you’ll see that it has a cloudy consistency, with some strand-like sediment floating at the bottom. Those clouds (a.k.a. “the mother”) contain all the enzymes and friendly bacteria that give apple cider vinegar its miraculous healing power.
Honey. Choose the raw (a.k.a. unprocessed) kind that’s sold in health-food stores and farmers’ markets, not the brands you find next to the peanut butter and jelly in most supermarkets. The common commercial types of honey have been put through a heating and filtering process that kills off the health-giving enzymes and nutrients. So they taste fine, but they aren’t worth beans for treating ailments.
Yogurt. The remarkable healers in yogurt are living organisms with the tongue-twisting names of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. This duo converts pasteurized milk to yogurt during the fermentation process. Unfortunately, after fermentation, some brands of yogurt undergo a heat treatment, which kills off most of the beneficial cultures. So make sure the carton sports the Live & Active Cultures seal bestowed by the National Yogurt Association (NYA).
