If there weren’t enough crazy ways to lose weight, here’s one for the record books: The Ice Diet. Coined by Robert Wood Johnson Medical School assistant professor and gastroenterologist Brian Weiner, he claims that eating ice–in this case, flavored ice–isn’t just a good way to eat fewer calories, it could even burn calories too.
Now he’s authored an e-book explaining his new diet, called The Ice Diet.
“As a clinical gastroenterologist, I speak to patients all day long about what they eat,” says Weiner. “The Ice Diet works by increasing the basal metabolic rate. When ingesting clinically significant amounts of ice, the body must burn energy to warm the ice to body temperature. The ingestion of ice would also provide some level of satiety.”
Here’s how it works, according to Weiner:
- While all foods contain calories, some foods, such as ice, require more calories to digest. When this occurs, it puts a person into a negative calorie deficit, causing them to burn more calories when they eat a certain food item.
- In turn, eating ice helps raise the metabolic rate. Raising the metabolic rate isn’t easy–and chances are if you’re older, it isn’t as fast as it used to be. But by ingesting more negative calorie foods, such as ice, you artificially raise your metabolic rate because it needs to expend more calories to digest the product.
- By ingesting one liter of ice per day, you’re on your way to a slimmer waistline. Weiner estimates that one liter of ice burns 160 calories–roughly the equivalent of running one mile. There’s no need to expend your energy running with this plan, though; just chew on ice instead.
However, there may be issues about its safety, points out Weiner.
“In the case of one obese person who attempted to eat seven quarts of ice per day, not surprisingly, this person suffered an uncomfortable feeling of coldness,” notes Weiner. “That much ice per day would, for most people, be a toxic dose.”
So while it may be an effective way to raise a sluggish metabolism, be wary that it’s not good to use in excess–but that applies to nearly everything in life.
Here, moderation is key.
“This approach has the paradoxical potential to cause weight loss while actually consuming food ,” says Weiner. “Ingesting ice at this level [one liter per day] should not have any obvious adverse consequence in otherwise healthy persons.”
What You Should Do
If you’re looking for an easy way to boost your metabolism, look no further: Chewing on a liter of ice could do the trick. To make the transition easier, Weiner recommends making your own ice pops using calorie free liquids in lieu of sugar beverages, which carry fewer calories.
Readers: Would you try this diet just to burn more calories? Why or why not?
Sources:
The Ice Diet: The Diet That Claims To Make You Burn Calories – TheAtlantic.com
The Ice Diet: How it Works, Tips, and Origins by Brian Weiner – TheIceDiet.com
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