I'll Have Another

   Ice cold water.  Refreshing on a hot day.  But it's also more than that.  Drinking ice cold water actually burns Calories.  Without getting too deep into the math, a calorie (with a small 'c') is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram by one degree Celsius.  Sixteen ounces of water is just over 473 grams.  The normal body temperature is roughly 37 degrees Celsius.  So raising the temperature of icy water (hovering around 0 degrees Celsius) to body temperature takes a lot of calories (17,508).

   Wow!  That is a lot!  Unfortunately, what we normally think of when we think of calories are Calories (with the big 'C').  Each Calories is 1000 calories.  So 17,500 calories is 17.5 Calories.  An average non-diet cola has 140 Calories.  If you are Calorie conscious, you can switch to ice water and burn calories as your thirst is quenched (plus, your body loves the water that it doesn't have to filter in order to be used by the cells).  Drinking that cola adds 140 Calories that your body has to deal with.
   Yes, in the grand scheme of things, 17.5 Calories is not much.  But if you drink several glasses of ice water per day, it adds up.  Four 16 oz. servings (or eight 8 oz. servings) come to 70 Calories.  And if that is the only dietary change you make - drinking ice cold water and burning 70 Calories per day - it will eventually result in weight loss.

   It worked for me.  I drank more water than that each day, and I started walking more.  I lost 20 pounds in a few months.  I will admit that I backslid a little when the weather got cooler - some days it was too darn cold to be drinking ice water.  Now that it is June, I'm back to drinking ice water as often as I can.
   As soon as I post this, I think I'll have another.