Is Drinking Ice Cold Water With Meals Healthy?

Did you ever travel abroad and find it strange that in many counties, ice water and iced drinks are not served in restaurants with meals? Do they know something that we don’t?

There is some controversy about the potential detriments of drinking ice cold liquids with meals as well as drinking a large quantities of liquids with meals.

The tradition of serving ice water with meals has American roots. It actually started more than 70 years ago. As the story goes, Ted and Dorothy Hustead owned the Wall Drug Store, a struggling mom-and-pop pharmacy and soda fountain. It was the height of the depression during a hot and dusty summer and they were desperate for customers. They decided to post some signs along Highway 16 in their tiny cow town of Wall, South Dakota. The signs offered free ice water at their store to parched tourists headed for Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone and the truckers, salesmen and farmers headed into and through town on business. Since vehicles had no air-conditioning, it was an offer the motorists couldn’t refuse.

The marketing ploy that employed only a few hand-painted signs along the highway worked. It has expanded their business into a two-block long tourist emporium, western art gallery and a restaurant, where you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and get a free glass of ice water.
The Hustead’s idea saved their business, but more significantly, it started an American dining tradition of drinking ice cold water with our meals.

The Argument Against Drinking Ice Cold Liquids at Meals:

The health benefits of drinking ice water with meals is suspect, since reducing the temperature of the contents of the stomach could reduce the efficiency of the digestion process. Some experts say that this is bad practice and others say that it is fine.

No matter what you are drinking during a meal, in my opinion, it is always a good idea not to consume a very large quantity of any liquid with your meal, since that can significantly dilute your stomach acid and digestive enzymes. Many experts believe that drinking a moderate amount of liquid with meals, will aid digestion, but all do not agree. Others believe that it is best to drink a minimum amount of liquids at meals, or no liquids at all.

If you do have any digestive disturbances, the simple practice of eliminating iced beverages with meals could possibly help with gastritis, indigestion or another digestive problem. Sipping hot water or tea, with a squeeze of lemon, might improve your digestion. Sipping ginger tea may even be better, since ginger promotes digestion.

If you do have a digestive disorder and you give this change a try, please let me know if it works! What do you have to lose?

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