Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds

[nonconformist]

Very interesting article on the front page of CNN.com right now. A nutrition professor did an experiment on food deserts, to see if weight loss and health indicators are based on what we eat or on pure calories. He got very surprising results.
_______________________________________________
CNN) -- Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts.

For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.

His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.

The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months.

For a class project, Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.

His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds. But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.

Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.

<snip> read the entire article here http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?hpt=P1&iref=NS1

[Kookaburra]

1. Wonder if by the end of the experiment

he was craving a salad and carrot sticks?

[HereSince1628]

4. Or craving insulin

[HopeHoops]

2. Would you want this as your epitaph? : "Lost 27 pounds eating nothing but Twinkies"

Attention hound.

And yes, I noticed other junk food was involved, but the subject line only holds so many characters.

[uncommon]

5. His health doesn't appear to have suffered, however.

It was a stupid thing to do for sure but interesting results nonetheless.

[uncommon]

6. His health doesn't appear to have suffered, however.

It was a stupid thing to do for sure but interesting results nonetheless.

[uncommon]

7. His health doesn't appear to have suffered, however.

It was a stupid thing to do for sure but interesting results nonetheless.

[HopeHoops]

3. Would you want this as your epitaph? : "Lost 27 pounds eating nothing but Twinkies"

Attention hound.

And yes, I noticed other junk food was involved, but the subject line only holds so many characters.

[aquart]

8. I lost 20 on Entenmann's chocolate covered donuts.

But I was a 19-year-old freshman and what else could you expect.

[HopeHoops]

9. Would you want this as your epitaph? : "Lost 27 pounds eating nothing but Twinkies"

Attention hound.

And yes, I noticed other junk food was involved, but the subject line only holds so many characters.

[Journeyman]

10. He may lose weight, but it could cause him to murder politicians in San Francisco. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_White

[murielm99]

16. You beat me to it. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Oh, yes, that's the first thing that came to my mind, too. n/t

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

43. I knew someone would bring that up.

Doesn't seem like a healthy diet in any case. Certainly wasn't for that asshole. Or by extension, for George Moscone or Harvey Milk either :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAdc2Rq9a4U

[hedgehog]

11. No mention was made of his A1C - a measure of his average

blood glucose over the test period.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycated_hemoglobin

[nonconformist]

24. See post 20. nt

[Lex]

12. Wonder what it did to his blood sugar levels? Recipe for pre-diabetes

sounds like to me.

[nonconformist]

20. Glucose: pre=94; wk10=75

From his Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prof-Haubs-Diet-Experiments/152304481454281

[cynatnite]

13. He also took a multivitamin, drank a protein shake daily, and ate vegetables...

Don't think he only ate junk food.

[nonconformist]

14. Right. The thread title is the article title. But...

He only ate and drank foods that are readily available to people living in food deserts, foods that can be bought at convenience stores. He ate canned green beans, for the most part.

[caty]

15. I don't think he is really

condoning a sugary diet. In this age of low fat/high carb diets vs high fat/low carb diets, he is just showing that the reality is the calorie count. It's not what we eat, it's how many calories we consume and how much or how little exercise we get to burn off those calories.

[Kalyke]

17. I couldn't eat $1,800 calories a day if I tried and I need to lose

about 10 to 20 pounds!!!

I swear: men get all the breaks growing old. When a woman reaches her 40s, she's unable - for any reason - to shed even the most meager of pounds.

(Not that I like Twinkies. I actually find them disgusting. I'd rather have Reeses' Cups.)

[flvegan]

18. He set his metabolism into overdrive.

One of the very big secrets here is the move to eating small "meals" every three hours. Also, his cholesterol would naturally be much lower. Very few animal products in any of that shit.

[Kalyke]

35. OK - I eat less than 1,800 calories a day and eat it in about

five small meals.

Why can I not lose any weight (and I mean none at all)?

On Edit: I rarely gain weight, either, FWIW. I gained several pounds just before I turned 39 (for no reason) and just sit at this weight. Sigh.

[Obamanaut]

19. I guess there is something to the 'calories in vs. calories out' thing. nt

[nonconformist]

22. Absolutely. nt

[Zoeisright]

21. Calvin and Hobbes: "If it weren't for Twinkies, we'd all be dead."

Hmmm.....

[TexasObserver]

25. I've just invented the "Blue Bell 3 pints of ice cream a day" diet.

It's easy.


Eat one pint for breakfast.


Then, for lunch, eat a second pint.


For dinner, a third pint.


Under 2000 calories a day.


Watch the pounds melt away like ice cream left in the sun too long.

[caty]

26. I wonder if all the preservatives

in Twinkies would preserve us and keep us younger longer and help us live longer. The urban myth is that a Twinkie could survive a nuclear winter. Hmmmm.....I'm going to buy groceries tomorrow. Maybe I'd better pick up some Twinkies.

:think:

[TexasObserver]

39. I think Mythbusters disproved the Twinkie's shelf life.

I can't remember the details, other than "busted."

[nonconformist]

47. And Tallahassee in Zombieland...

"Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date."

[Heidi]

27. :shudder:

I love ice cream, but I could not do what you're suggesting. I love pecan pie, too -- look forward to it all year, in fact -- but after two pieces in 48 hours: :gag:

ETA: I'd maybe change my mind if I had to do regular field research at the mall food court, martyr that I'd be in "ahem" such a situation.

[TexasObserver]

30. That's the problem with ice cream. Not much of a meal, but great dessert.

It's good when you're eating it IN ADDITION TO meals.

My mother likes to make a pecan pie each Thanksgiving and Christmas. I eat the crust and pecans, but eschew the goo. That filling is mainly sugar. I always brag on her pecan pie (or anything she cooks, for that matter), and was doing my usual bragging on her last year. "Mama, I really love your home made pie crusts! They remind me of childhood." She looked guilty, smiled, and whispered "I haven't made pie crust in years. Those come from the frozen food section!"

[Blasphemer]

28. This is what I always try to explain to friends and family...

When they make claims that "X" food causes them to gain weight. In terms of weight loss or gain, it is calories in vs. calories out (including those burned via exercise) - that's it. Now, in terms of overall health, a diet must be nutritionally adequate and not deficient in any essential nutrients. Sounds like this professor took supplements to make up for the lack of nutrition in this diet but in terms of weight loss, it can be a twinkie diet, a cookie diet, a subway sandwich diet, a whatever diet - if your caloric intake is reduced enough, you will lose weight.

[Obamanaut]

32. What you say is true, IMHO, but there are many who simply will not

agree with you. Ever.

There will be any number of arguments regarding the latest fad diets, set point where the body knows what it's ideal weight is, and so on. Some will say they've tried exercise but failed, their metabolism was such that their trainer had them eat more and they lost weight, etc.

But it comes down to 'move more, eat less.'

[mzmolly]

29. It's about portion control and intake I imagine?

Partly why Jenny Craig and other programs are so successful.

[CLANG]

37. If you are counting calories, you don't need to care about portion size.

[mzmolly]

38. Well, you have to count correctly, which is where

portion control comes in. Twinkies, are pre-portioned, obviously. http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-hostess-twinkies-i113361

[CLANG]

41. Portion control has nothing to do with it.

You only need to take in less calories than you burn. How you want to accomplish that is quite irrelevant, although I found that if you eat healthy food (fruits and veggies, limit junk and fatty foods) you can stuff yourself quite well and have no hunger pangs at all. Now cravings is a different thing, but I don't have that problem to a high degree.

[mzmolly]

42. You did read the portion of the article where calories are mentioned,

no? I have no idea why you're arguing with me as if I said calories don't matter. I agree with you that it's better to eat healthy and calories are KEY.

[CLANG]

45. Sorry. Didn't mean to sound argumentative.

[mzmolly]

46. No

big. :hi:

[Obamanaut]

44. Don't they go together? One cup of mashed potatoes has more calories

than one half cup (for example)

My food journal shows portion size (in ounces, cups, tbsp, etc) and the number of calories in that portion.

Six ounces of orange juice/70 calories. One scoop protein powder w/ 4 oz 2% milk, or one scoop protein powder w/ 4 oz water = different calorie amount.

I maintain 202 - 204 pounds at age 68, with 5 to 7 hours weekly in the gym, free weights and recumbent exercise bike. 5 or 6 small meals, including snacks, per day.

[CLANG]

49. OK, an example of why portion size is irrelevant

Say I have a bag of whackadoodles which I really love. The bag says "serving size: 3 whackadoodles", "calories: 120".

Now what is the correct portion? Is it one serving, or could it as well be 10 servings? Sure. As long as you don't go over your daily calorie allotment it is just a matter of personal preference. Of course if I am on a 1200 calorie diet, that would be all I could eat for the day, but that's my decision. So, it's about the difference between calories in and calories out. Everything else is irrelevant.

[Obamanaut]

50. I think we are saying nearly the same thing - if not, then it's close.

We use salad plates at my house, rather than the larger dinner plates (which appear to have grown larger over the years.)

A portion is the serving size that I put on that plate, and I actually measure stuff. One half cup of green beans, another of peas, a half cup of mashed potatoes, and 3 ounces of chicken. And, in my food log, I annotate each with the calories of that portion.

For the whackadoodles (I prefer crunch Cheetos), if you eat 30, I would count that as 1 portion of 1200 calories (10 X the quantity listed as one serving.)

I agree that it is calories in vs. out, or 'eat less, move more', but many here do not agree.

[CLANG]

51. Yeah, we're on the same page.

:toast: :beer: :fistbump: :hi:

[ipaint]

31. I wonder how much of the weight loss was muscle and how much was

actually fat.

I recently lost 24 lbs. eating 1200-1500 calories a day and walking 5 miles 5-6 mornings a week. I track everything I eat (more weight to lose) and I eat very little processed food. I'm also a 54 year old woman and don't find losing weight particularly difficult as long as I am aware of calories in and calories used daily.

[librechik]

34. good point. n/t

[MadHound]

33. Sure, you can do this for ten weeks and lose weight,

But it is in the long run that a diet of junk food will kill you. Don't get your daily recommended values of potassium and other such vital vitamins and minerals, and you will start suffering from all kinds of problems. Not to mention that a diet of Twinkies and HoHo's is going to put you into a diabetic coma sooner or later.

This is simply a slam against the health food industry, organic foods, etc. etc. It is nothing more than bad science.

[CLANG]

36. I think he's just trying to prove something I've been saying for my whole life

You can lose as much weight as you want simply by counting calories. No need to exercise, watch carbs, watch fat intake, etc.

I'm not saying that is necessarily healthy, but can be if you eat the right kinds of food - but you don't need to. I lost 82 lbs by just consuming less calories than I burn.

[WinkyDink]

40. Did you read the article? He took a multi-v and ate vegetables.

[Profprileasn]

48. So why was he overweight in the first place.

If his knowledge of nutrition was so extensive. Eating nothing would do the same but doesn't mean it is good for you. Brilliant <sarcasm>

[pipi_k]

52. OK, that is just disgusting

I'm a sugar junkie...have been for decades.


But to think of eating all that crap actually nauseates me.


:puke: