Can I take my water in pill form?

June 27, 2014 3:38 PM

If I eat 8 oz. of water frozen as ice, is it the same as drinking the water as a liquid? Assume I'm not chewing ice, it's in bits I won't choke on, I'll go slow and take it easy, and I already have a high tolerance for and strong preference for cold, ice, and icy drinks/frappucinos/Slurpees.
posted by blnkfrnk to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Best answer: Yes eating ice (or snow) is biologically the same as drinking water. 8oz of ice IS 8oz of water. How your bod reacts to ice vs water is a different question, but assuming you do go slow and take it easy there should be no problem; just don't freeze your mouth, oesophagus or stomach and you'll be hydrating yourself just fine.

(Some dehydrated water would be handy for my hiking, though)
posted by anadem at 3:44 PM on June 27, 2014

Yes.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 3:46 PM on June 27, 2014

When you hydrate your body will use energy to bring it all up to your blood temperature. Ice begins colder than water, so more energy is used that way. Depending on the ambient, the heat used could be waste heat (i.e. summer in Dallas) or it could be essential (winter in Nome).
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:01 PM on June 27, 2014 [2 favorites]

It takes about 26kcal to melt 8oz of ice and bring it up to body temp, so there's that.
posted by The White Hat at 4:10 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

It takes about 26kcal to melt 8oz of ice and bring it up to body temp, so there's that.

To be an honest comparison, you'd have to subtract the energy it takes to bring room temperature water up to body temperature.
posted by vacapinta at 4:50 PM on June 27, 2014

You can also get your water from food instead of drinks.
posted by anonymisc at 5:27 PM on June 27, 2014

Yep, eating ice is totally safe and will hydrate you just as well as drinking liquid water. It's only uncommon because most people would find it inconvenient to prepare and unpleasant to swallow 2kg of ice every day.
posted by d. z. wang at 6:17 PM on June 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: As someone who has trouble drinking enough water, this is a hack I use, yes. If you have similar issues, I also recommend homemade jello (any liquid + gelatin = jello! Think earl grey jello, coconut milk jello, grape juice jello - the possibilities are endless! I don't add sugar or only very little). Also having a soup for lunch or dinner ups your water intake without drinking.
posted by travelwithcats at 6:32 PM on June 27, 2014 [7 favorites]

Not only is it possible, as others have said, but you can lose weight too.
posted by univac at 9:13 PM on June 27, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks for the thoughtful answers! It seems so obvious now, but I wanted to make sure.

I like the gelatin idea, though I don't do gelatin myself (I think I can sub pectin.)
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:56 PM on June 27, 2014

Yes, you can use gelatin substitutes like agar agar, carrageen, pectin and guar gum.
You might have to experiment with amounts, some of the vegan versions set softer than gelatin and what you get is rather slushy in nature (with gelatin, depending on ratio, you could even cut it in cubes). Plus: the more acidic your liquid, the more setting agent you need.
I make my jello fairly thin and put it in the freezer so it is half ice, half shlush when I eat it with a spoon. Weird that I prefer that to drinking a proper glass of water sometimes, huh?
posted by travelwithcats at 1:29 AM on June 28, 2014 [1 favorite]