The Ice Diet: Can You Really Eat Your Way to a Leaner Figure?
Maintaining a healthy and good figure has always been the pursuit of many people. Sometimes we can't control our mouths from eating a lot of food, but we may be lazy or not have time to exercise. In the long run, when the intake is greater than the consumption, we will gain weight or even be overweight. There are many methods to lose weight, most commonly through exercise or diet; however, there was once a fad diet popular on the Internet called the ice diet.
Metabolism on Ice: How "Thermogenesis" Claims to Burn Calories
So what is an ice diet? Is this weight loss method effective? The ice diet was invented by Dr. Brian Weiner, who is a practicing gastroenterologist in New Jersey, the United States. His e-book The Ice Diet explains that people who want to lose weight can eat ice to burn more calories. It helps speed up metabolism because people's bodies need energy to digest ice. Eating about a liter of ice a day can burn about 160 calories, equivalent to running a mile. Wow, there is nothing better than eating to help lose weight, right?
Saturation Without the Calories: The Science of Satiety
In fact, eating ice cubes can provide your stomach with a sense of satiety, thereby reducing food intake. Dr. Weiner pointed out that eating ice is a supplement to the overall diet. It’s not to ask people to eat ice cubes for three meals a day. On the basis of a normal and healthy diet, eating ice at the same time may help to lose weight.
The Chilling Truth: Risks, Dental Health, and Common Pitfalls
Also, he indicated it’s generally safe to consume one liter of ice a day for a healthy adult. Beyond this amount, eating too much ice may make you uncomfortable, and people may feel unusually cold, which can lead to a cold and cough.
Another disadvantage is damage to teeth. Patricia Meredith, an associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, said that chewing ice will crack enamel and dentin. However, Dr. Weiner suggested that people melt ice in their mouths to avoid tooth damage, drink an appropriate amount of ice water, or eat shaved ice, which can help reduce hunger and further help burn fat.
Children, elderly people, and frail people are not recommended to have an ice diet. And in a specific situation, people should not consume a lot of ice after exercise, because "the heat generated by exercise will be neutralized by the cooling of ice, which will reduce the benefits of some energy combustion of exercise." Dr. Weiner said.
The Verdict: Why Sustainable Habits Still Outperform the Quick Fix
Based on the popularity of the ice diet on the Internet, some experts also share their views on this new weight loss strategy. Physics writer Andrew Jones doubted the effectiveness of the ice diet and felt that it was not the most effective diet plan. But he calculated that eating a kilogram of ice would burn 117 calories.
Elisa Zied, M.D.(Doctor of Medicine), The author of Younger Next Week also felt that this was not a wise idea. Although an ice diet sounds like a convenient way to lose weight, it can also prevent overeating by deliberately adding ice to your diet. Still, eating ice all the time is not a long-term way to lose weight.
Overall, staying in shape is most practical and effective through healthy weight loss methods, such as eating regular healthy diets, eating more healthy food instead of junk food, plus exercising to burn more calories. This method can not only help you lose weight, but also improve your overall health, not to mention that you don't need to go to the dentist.
No matter whether you choose an ice diet as your weight loss method or not, taking ice cubes as dinner is still harmful to your body. Moderate intake of ice cubes, such as using an ice machine at home to make ice drinks, is desirable to alleviate the heat.
Reference
Weiner, B. C., & Weiner, A. C. (2010). The Ice Diet. Annals of Internal Medicine, 153(4), 279.
