Do you have enough Ice Water in your diet?

HEALTH - Sounds funny right? What would be the point of drinking ice water in a diet?

Let me explain and try to keep up.

A Calorie (large C) is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a litre of water (1 kg's worth) by 1 degree Celsius.

The normal human body has a core temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. This temperature is clocked by heart pressure and blood circulation, giving off excess heat through the skin. 37 degrees sounds hot doesn't it? Our skin has a much lower temperature in comparison.

So what happens when you drink 1 litre of ice water which has a temperature of approx. 1 degree Celsius? The answer is the human body compensates its core temperature by expending energy to warm up the water in your belly (and you later urinate and get rid of it). The amount of energy used is approx. 36 Calories.

Now lets contrast... a pop can of Pepsi has 150 Calories in it and takes up 355 mL. That is approx. 422.5 Calories per litre of Pepsi. By drinking a litre of ice water instead of Pepsi you've just rid yourself of 458.5 Calories you didn't need.

Keeping in mind a lb of fat contains 3,500 Calories. You've just saved yourself 1/8th of a lb. You would have to jog for approx. 50 minutes to lose that many Calories.

Thus instead of whatever you're normally drinking (soda pop, coffee, energy drinks, beer, anything containing sugar) you could substitute an ice cold glass of water... and since people are recommended they drink at least 2 litres of water per day the Calorie savings really add up over the period of a month if you normally are addicted to a sugar heavy drink.

The average human is only supposed to consume approx. 2,000 Calories per day so cutting out anywhere between 72 to 900 Calories per day is a big deal over the long term.

Some people will point to the health benefits of drinking tea (and there are benefits), but that tea is best served ice cold. Mmm... calorie-free ice tea.

You can apply this principle for burning Calories to other things. Shed layers, freeze your butt off a bit and your body burns extra Calories. I'm not saying you should turn on the AC and walk around naked... but you get the idea.