Mark Haub ate Twinkies for a month and lost 27 lbs. Mark Haub, who is a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University ate Twinkies, as well as Nutty Bars, sugar cereal, Doritos and other junk foods in lieu of meals for two months and lost weight. His thought was to prove the theory that it really is only about calorie count when it comes to weight loss, not the quality of the food.
Mark Haub went on a 10 week "convenience store diet" and lost a whopping 27 lbs. The question is, is in actually any healthier? Someone his size would normally consume about 2,600 calories a day to maintain his weight. Haub cut himself down to less than 1,800 calories a day, thus consuming fewer calories than he burned. He would basically eat a Twinkie (or other convenience store food) in three hour intervals instead of meals.
Did eating fatty foods hurt his BMI? Not a chance, as it dropped from 28.8 to 24.9. In other words, he went from overweight to normal. Also improving were his "bad cholesterol" (LDL) which dropped 20% and his "good cholesterol" (HDL) which improved by 20 percent. Haub also lowered his triglyceride levels by 39%.
What does this all mean? Is any of this healthy? Is Haub tired of Twinkies yet?
"That's where the head scratching comes," Haub said. "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?"
Haub doesn't think that it really is that healthy and doesn't recommend his Twinkie diet for everyone. He also admitted that only 75% of his food came from the junk. He said he also took a multivitamin, drank 1 protein shake, and had vegetables, usually a can of green beans, every day.
Since Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9% it was clear that he was able to drop significant weight just by calorie reduction. Is it safe? Now that is a long term question that needs more testing than just one KSU professor eating Twinkies for a month!
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Comments: 23
Kudos to Haub, though, for realizing the important thing: this kind of diet is by no means a good idea. Yes, he lost weight and therefore fat, but what about things like nutrients, muscle tone, and antioxidants? A multi-vitamin is no replacement for a healthy diet; rather than 75% junk, he should have been having 75% produce and whole grains. While I applaud him for losing weight, I hope people will listen to him rather than mimic him.
Also ... Twinkies are full of preservatives, so maybe he just looks like he's still alive? ;-)
Everyone is different. Some people get lung cancer after a decade or two of smoking, but then there was George Burns who was smoking cigars still in his twilight years (Gracie Allen's husband and also played God in some movies.
Metabolism plays a big role in losing weight.
Hostess cupcakes are 300ish calories apiece... and he said that only 75 percent of his 1800 calorie diet was junk... so he'd only be allowed only 4 cupcakes a day.
Definitely NOT a ticket to eat as much junk food as you want.