One of the most important things I stock in my kitchen is apple cider vinegar (ACV). There are endless uses for it, from cleaning your home to helping your gut health! But what health benefits does it really provide? And why is it a sudden sensation? More and more people are integrating ACV into their daily nutrition regimen to improve their overall health and lose weight.

Here are a few things you might not know:

1. Apple cider vinegar aids in preserving a healthy alkaline pH level. That’s why it’s front and center in my 21-Day Belly Fix diet. Many of the foods in a traditional American diet are acid forming, which leaves your body’s pH out of balance. This leads to fatigue, inflammation, weight problems, acne and heartburn.
2. This vinegar helps to cleanse your lymph nodes, which is important in your immune function.
3. Due to its natural enzymes, ACV helps your body get rid of candida—yeast that can overgrow and colonize in the gut, causing digestion issues that can wreak havoc on a healthy system.
4. Research shows that apple cider vinegar helps detoxify the liver and stimulate the cardiovascular system.
5. A 2009 study published in Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry found that consuming acetic acid, the main ingredient in apple cider vinegar, leads to significant decline in body weight, abdominal fat, waist circumference and triglycerides after 12 weeks.

In order to reap all of the amazing health benefits of apple cider vinegar, I recommend drinking about 2 tablespoons daily. But if you are like me, drinking it takes some getting used to. Here is a healthy, green smoothie recipe that you can enjoy the taste of and add your share of ACV to (and hardly notice).

½ medium apple

½ medium ripe pear

1 medium cucumber

¾ cup chopped kale

½ lemon, seeds removed

½ avocado

2 tablespoons of ACV

Chop the apple, pear, and cucumber. Add all ingredients to a blender and pulse, adding water to thin as needed.

Per serving: 173 calories, 4.71 g protein, 1.08 g fat (.45 saturated), 43.11 g carbohydrates, 25.07 g sugars, 8.4 g fiber, 27 mg sodium