Errrrr..... Kathrynne, while I'm a confirmed pizza and ice cream eater (purely for medicinal reasons, of course) <and I eat them sequentially, rather than a the same time>, I can't STAND beer (oh oh.... I'm gonna get it from the beer aficionados, for sure) <getting ready to duck and run>. That said, I usually drink a large iced coke to wash down the pizza. THEN I dive into the aforementioned ice cream (usually chocolate chip) <with chocolate sprinkles on top> What I wanna know, based upon your expert opinion, is does the calorie count ONLY become balanced to zero weight gain if ya drink beer with the pizza 'n ice cream, or will coke do the same thing? And does the flavor of the ice cream make any difference in the calories being deducted from one's body fat? I mean, I usually go for chocolate chip ice cream, but HEY... if it meant I'd lose a bit more weight by eating chocolate, or say, Jamoca Almond Fudge, I'd be willing to switch flavors.<grinning> Lemme know right away, please, 'cause I feel a pizza 'n ice cream urge coming on! (YUMMY) Thanks alot... Barb Mallut [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Kathrynne Holden, MS,RD Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 1997 5:37 AM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: The cold facts Dear friends, I found this on a list for dietitians, but it clearly applies to PD: ************************************************************** As we all know, it takes 1 calorie to heat 1 gram of water 1 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 oz, or 168 grams. Therefore, by operation of thermodynamic law, 6,216 calories (1 cal./gm/deg. x 37 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. We could all be thin if we were to adhere religiously to a pizza, beer, and ice cream diet. -- Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD Editor-in-Chief, "Spotlight on Food--nutrition news for people 60-plus" http://www.fortnet.org/~fivstar and NUTRITION TOPICS copy-ready handouts http://www.dietetics.com/class/fivstar/ Tel: 970-493-6532 Fax: 970-493-6538