Specialty Vinegars

I'm not a vinegar lover. Just a taste of it makes me cringe, a teaspoon makes me shudder. I think this is one of the reasons why I've never been much of a salad lover, and why I don't do well with food plans that insist on tons of greens, especially raw ones.

But with my husband's history of CABG and CVD, and the fact that we're both in our 60's now, we try to follow Dr. Esselstyn's rule of a handful of leafy greens 6 times a day. We've had some trouble getting them all in. I don't mind tossing a bit of spinach or kale into my oatmeal, but my husband is not a fan. It took 60 years to just get him to eat the darn oats! He does eat them 3 times and sometimes a 4th time a day. I'm about the same.

We know we have to do better.

Then the other day a question came up in the Essesltyn Nutrition Program Roundtable Facebook community about how much vinegar should be used on those greens, and a small debate started about if the vinegar is a necessity - when and where does the doctor even *say* that?? The answer was that he says it in his monthly seminars at the Cleveland Clinic. Of course, some of us (Yeah, I was one.) wanted to see it somewhere in writing, or some other place where we could check on it. Dr. Esselstyn was giving a talk that same day and one of the community members saw him afterwards and asked. Here was this woman's post about his reply (link only works if you belong to the community):

Latest conversation with Dr Esselstyn tonight. I asked him about the balsamic vinegar., can we use apple cider vinegar, yes on that answer. How about lemon juice....No on that one. He wants the acetic acid in the vinegar in combination with the leafy green veggies, cooked or raw six times a day. This acetic acid helps produce more nitric oxide which is healing to that damaged endothelium cells. Blessings to all! 

Thanks, Tricia. 

I guess mixing some in my oatmeal, in sandwiches, soups and stews isn't good enough any more. I have to start preparing tons of them and have vinegar on hand to eat with them. I'm not a happy camper. :(

I've been buying balsamic vinegar for a while now to make Jane Esselstyn's 3-2-1 Dressing that my husband loves, and in the past few months I bought a bottle of fig and a bottle of pear flavored ones, too. My husband can't tell any difference. Maybe because they're some cheapo brand the local grocery store sells and aren't too strongly flavored. I got a small bottle of balsamic glaze, hoping that was better. Because of its thickness he says the flavor's a bit stronger, but not worth buying glaze instead of plain old balsamic.

People on-line keep talking about those other vinegars out there, and I really want to learn to like vinegar on my greens, so I decided to buy some of the Napa Valley Natural's Grand Reserve balsamic vinegar. People say this is tastier, sweeter, and way less cringe-inducing because it's only 4% acidity, unlike other vinegars that are 6% or even 8% acidity.

I'll let you know when it gets delivered.

Does anyone have any other hints on how to get those 6-times a day greens in?