How to sit on an “ice” diet to lose weight and not harm the body

Almost everyone at least once in his life has tried an icicle in winter. But who knew that a “harmless” hobby would someday turn into a questionable way to lose weight. American physician Brian Weiner has come up with a literal ice diet. Here’s what he says: “If you eat a few ice cubes every day, you can lose half a pound in a month.” Or, in a pinch, reincarnate as the heroine of the “Cold Heart” cartoon. But seriously, won’t it harm your health?

nutritionist and founder of GetVegetable, a nutrition delivery service.

If you have chronic health conditions such as gastritis, ulcers, gastrointestinal diseases or colds, this diet won’t work for you.

What is the essence of the ice diet?

The idea is to add ice to your diet, either alone or in drinks. This is to speed up your metabolism. The fact is that the body spends more energy to digest cold food, which means that what you eat will not affect your figure. Also, ice gives volume to food – that is, the feeling of satiety will last longer. And if you drink one liter of cold water with ice every day, you can effortlessly lose half a kilo in a month. Without changing the diet and training programs.

This conclusion was reached by American doctor-gastroenterologist Brian Weiner – he also invented this diet, and also tried it on himself. “Your life would be completely different if you adhere to this diet,” – he assures. You should start with small portions of ice. After training, the expert does not recommend drinking icy drinks – otherwise the effect of exercise will be minimized.

Elena: At first glance it may seem that the ice diet is ideal for the warm season, especially in the heat. But in fact in winter it is considered to be the most effective, as slimming is promoted not only by the internal but also by the external environment. The main idea is that when the body is in comfort and warmth – and we spend 98% of our time in it – the body relaxes and the rate of fat accumulation increases. Cold, on the other hand, fights fat, and it takes more energy to digest cold food.

If you want to lose more than half a kilo in a month, the approximate diet of the ice diet is as follows:

• drink a glass of cool or cold water in the morning;
• snack on cottage cheese, yogurt or ice cream;
• for lunch – boiled chilled broccoli with fish or chicken, Greek salad and iced tea (or chilled);
• for dessert – frozen yogurt;
• for dinner, a salad with vegetables;
• before bedtime, drink a glass of cold water.

Sports and fitness nutritionist

Supporters of the ice diet claim that consuming a liter of ice (about 1 kg) burns 100-150 kcal. And here we can use simple math: to achieve a deficit of 3500 kcal, necessary to lose 0.5 kg of weight per month, you would need to eat about 23-35 kg of ice.

From the point of view of common sense, such a diet does not seem logical. The same 100-150 kcal can be spent simply by taking a half-hour walk. And it will not be as painful as eating ice.