The water diet is a fad diet that essentially consists of drinking large amounts of water. The water diet has many variations, but they generally don't specify the types or amounts of food that you should eat. The water diet is therefore not a diet in the traditional sense.
History
The water diet doesn't have a specific inventor, although it's well known on the Internet. Its documented existence dates to at least 1997, when it appeared in an article by the Institute for Psychoactive Research. However, the idea of drinking water to suppress the appetite is much older than that.
Basics
The water diet calls for the dieter to drink a half gallon of water each day in addition to any other fluids the dieter normally drinks. The water may be any bottled water or safe drinking water from the tap. The dieter may drink water before, during and after meals. The water diet doesn't limit food portion sizes or specify any type or level of exercise.
Risks
Adults should generally drink a half gallon of water each day anyway, so the basic water diet simply requires you to drink the quantity of water you should be drinking. The basic water diet therefore doesn't incur any particular risks. However, it doesn't address the issues of reducing caloric intake or exercise, which can create a false expectation of weight loss.
Benefits
The water diet may promote weight loss by creating a sense of fullness, especially if you drink a large amount of water just before a meal. It will also increase urination, which can reduce the accumulation of various toxins in the blood. The water diet is also cost-effective because it doesn't incur any particular expenses for dieters.
Cold Water Diet
One common variation on the water diet is the cold water diet. This version requires the dieter to drink only cold water as opposed to water that's at room temperature, with the idea that calories are burned when the body heats the water up to body temperature. However, there's little scientific evidence to indicate that this causes significant weight loss.
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