As we all know, it takes one calorie to heat one gram of water one degree
centigrade. Translated into meaningful terms, this means that if you eat
a very cold dessert (generally consisting of water in large part), the
natural processes which raise the consumed dessert to body temperature
during the digestive cycle literally sucks the calories out of the only
available source: your body fat.
For example, a dessert served and eaten at near 0 degrees C (32.2 deg.
F) will in a short time be raised to the normal body temperature of 37
degrees C (98.6 deg. F). For each gram of dessert eaten, that process
takes approximately 37 calories as stated above. The average dessert
portion is 6 ounces, or 168 grams.
Therefore, by operation of thermodynamic law, 6,216 1 cal/gm/deg.
X37 deg. x 168 gms) are extracted from body fat as the dessert's
temperature is normalized. Allowing for the 1,200 latent calories in the
dessert, the net calorie loss is approximately 5,000 calories. Obviously,
the more cold dessert you eat, the better off you are and the faster you
will lose weight, if that is your goal.
This process works equally well when drinking very cold beer in frosted
glasses.
Each ounce of beer contains 16 latent calories, but extracts 1,036
calories (6,216 cal. per 6 oz. portion) in the temperature normalizing
process. Thus, the net calorie loss per ounce of beer is 1,020 calories. It
doesn't take a rocket scientist to calculate that 12,240 calories (12 oz. X
1,020 cal./oz.) are extracted from the body in the process of drinking a
can of beer. Frozen desserts, e.g., ice cream, are even more beneficial,
since it takes 83 cal./gm to melt them (i.e., raise them to 0 deg. C) and
an additional 37 cal./gm to further raise them to body temperature. The
results here are really remarkable, and it beats running hands down.
Unfortunately, for those who eat pizza as an excuse to drink beer, pizza
(loaded with latent calories and served above body temperature)
induces an opposite effect. But, thankfully, as the astute reader should
have already reasoned, the obvious solution is to drink a lot of beer with
pizza and follow up immediately with large bowls of ice cream.
DIET SCIENCE