The Ice Diet: Everything you need to know

What is the ice diet? We found out exactly what it involves and how it works to help you shed the pounds

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by Fiona Day |
Published on

Dr Brian Weiner’s ‘The Ice Diet’ has caused ripples in the diet world after claiming that by eating ice you can boost your metabolic rate. You then burn more fat and lose more inches.

Makes sense, right? But is this a safe and effective way to lose weight?

Before you clean out your cupboards and stock up your freezer with ice, Dr Weiner is not suggesting that dieters live solely off ice water and ice cubes. He recommends a healthy, balanced diet alongside drinking ice water or eating crushed ice up.

Dr Weiner suggests up to 1 litre of ice water- half of the recommended h2o intake.

He explains on his website: "The ingestion of 1 litre of ice would burn about 160 calories, the amount of energy used in running one mile.”

The diet recommends drinking ice water to help lose weight
The diet recommends drinking ice water to help lose weight

"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."

The diet has been met with some controversy, however, with Doctor Elisa Zied, author of Younger Next Week, claiming it might not be the smartest way to lose weight.

She told Women’s Health that you may lose ‘some weight’ but would gain it back once you stop filling up on ice.

Dentists have also expressed concern, claiming that too much ice water can actually damage the enamel on your teeth leading to breakage and damage to fillings and crowns.

Dr Zied does, however, add that chowing down on ice does encourage increase in consumption of water, which we all know is positive for our overall health.

Would you try the ice diet? Let us know what you think in the comments box below.

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