Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, conducted an unusual experiment that challenged conventional diet wisdom. Over the course of 10 weeks, Haub ate snack cakes and other sugary, processed foods to demonstrate that simply reducing your calories, regardless of what you eat, will lead to weight loss. This included things like Doritos, chips, sugar cereals, cookies, and lots of snack cakes.
The Experiment: Junk Food and Calorie Restriction
Haub saw his testing of the diet as an experiment for his class. Haub ate a Hostess or Little Debbie snack cake every three hours in place of legitimate meals as part of a short term, individual experiment for his class, with the goal of examining the role of a caloric deficit in promoting weight loss. Twinkies were a staple of the diet, but his regular servings also included such food pyramid staples as Little Debbie Nutty Bars, Doritos, sugar-laced cereals, diet Mountain Dew, and Oreo cookies. He also consumed a multivitamin pill, some vegetables, including green beans and asparagus, and consumed the occasional protein shake. Haub began the experiment on Aug. 25, restricting his caloric intake to 1800 calories a day and keeping his physical activity the same, but with eating predominantly junk food: four to five processed snack cakes a day along with whole milk, canned or frozen vegetables, a multi-vitamin, protein supplement and things like chips and ribs.
For Haub’s weight and body type, a 2,600-calorie day would be seen as the break-even point. Haub limited his consumption to about 1,800 calories per day.
The Results: Weight Loss and Improved Health Markers
After 10 weeks, Haub lost 27 pounds. His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is in the normal range. His weight currently stands at 174 pounds. His cholestrol “improved” according to the results. Haub began to feel healthier. He had more energy, stopped snoring, and not only did he lose enough weight to drive down his overall cholesterol and body mass index (BMI), his good HDL cholesterol crept up two points and his blood glucose -- despite all that cream filling -- dropped 17 percent. His LDL (“bad” cholesterol) level dropped 20 percent, and his HDL increased by 20 percent. He reduced his level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.
Haub also came out of the Twinkie diet with the mindset that the weight loss and increase in his health was more important. “There is nothing wrong with eating snacks and junk food every now and then. In my opinion, it is how much you eat that is the most significant. The best tip on losing weight is not exercise, but eating healthy in moderation,” Ryan Ponder, a senior also majoring in health and physical education, said.
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The Point: Calorie Deficit is Key
Our bodies maintain weight based on the balance between calories consumed and calories burned. In Haub’s case, although he was eating mostly processed junk food, he was still eating fewer calories than his body burned. Calorie deficit is key: To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn. Mark Haub’s Twinkie diet experiment was fascinating because it challenged some conventional diet wisdom. If weight loss is your goal, focus on creating a healthy calorie deficit with nutrient-rich foods that nourish your body.
The first law of thermodynamics (FLoT) proves that caloric deficits are all that matter for weight loss. FLoT is an expression of the conservation of energy, stating that it can neither be created nor destroyed. A calorie is just a unit of energy. Note that FLoT is not a hypothesis or a theory, but a physical law, like gravity. It can’t be disputed any more than the fact that if you jump out of an airplane without a parachute, gravity will not be your friend. So weight loss is simple math.
The idea of caloric restriction as a major indicator of overall health has been supported by previous research involving yeast, worms, fish, and rodents.
Cautions and Considerations
The downside to this study is that can be a little deceiving. There are several things that aren’t measure by weight, such as mood. Each of these snacks are loaded with sugar. This typically leads to a spike in blood sugar and an immediate crash, which results in moodiness and bottoming out of your energy level. Also, high calorie items often aren’t filling for very long. Whole grains and vegetables keep you fuller because you can eat large quanties of them. It’s likely that he was pretty hungry between snacks. However, he did admit to eating veggies around his kids. So, don’t think that unhealthy snack foods were the only thing he was eating (which is an important caveat). Approximately 60% was "junk food." Also, what does counting calories result in? Not to mention the lack of vitamins and minerals. What about the added chemicals in processed foods? It’s like putting premium or low quality gas into the tank. They both work, but which one will keep the car well maintained in the long run?
Needless to say, there are many other concerns that this approach brings up. Two words come to mind. Toxic and potentially dangerous. Nutrition vs. Weight Loss: One can certainly argue that it is more nutritionally sound to eat a low-calorie, balanced diet - such as a Weight Watcher’s Diet - than it is to eat a Twinkie Diet or an Atkins’ Diet. I am not advocating that you try to lose weight by going on a Twinkie Diet.
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Diet experts, however, warn that the initial changes in Haub's cholesterol and weight could be deceiving. Losing 15 pounds will always make you feel healthier, they note, but over time, a diet rich in processed, sugary food is no way to improve health. "He's not the first person to lose weight on an unhealthy diet. You could eat all chocolate cake and lose weight as long as you didn't eat too much of it. Staying on this diet forever and he'd have some unpleasant consequences," says Carla Wolper, a researcher at the St.
The Importance of a Balanced Diet
Is the diet recommended? Sorry, but I think most of us would agree that a balanced diet would be a healthier option. But, that is up for debate. As a psychologist, I comment more on "how" and "why" we eat instead of "what" we consume.
Fad diets will try to convince you that all desserts are “bad” and that you “fail” if you eat them. But, it’s about balance and being more aware of how much food you take in, even desserts.
Haub himself isn’t ready to draw any conclusions about the long-term ramifications of the Twinkie diet. And no one should expect any immediate changes to the recommended daily allowance charts. But the experiment does raise the issue that simply limiting calories may be the best advice for those patients facing significant health issues as a result of excess weight.
While losing weight can improve some health marker (like blood pressure or cholesterol) it doesn’t automatically mean your diet is healthy. Professor Haub himself acknowledged that his experiment wasn’t a recommendation for the general public.
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Practical Advice for Weight Loss
To lose weight, you have to limit your calories. You have to eat fewer calories than you burn. The cold hard truth is that to lose weight, you have to be a little bit hungry all the time. Sorry, but this is why losing weight is so hard. If you are not hungry, you are not in a negative calorie balance. If you are looking for a diet that allows you to lose weight without being uncomfortable, you are wasting your time. This is because your body uses hunger as a warning signal when you are not eating enough to maintain your weight. Hunger was once a protective mechanism that allowed us to survive when food was less plentiful. It warned us when our reserve tank of calories was getting low. In our current culture-of-plenty, where food is always available in large quantities, our hunger mechanism has become a liability. To lose weight, you have to ignore that internal signal of hunger.
Second, you should do lots of exercise to aid in creating a negative calorie balance, even if it is just lots of walking. Even conservative governmental health organizations recommend that adults accumulate 90 minutes of aerobic activity every day if they want to lose weight. For fitness, they recommend 30 minutes per day, but for weight loss you need to triple that amount. If you were to walk 90 minutes per day, you would burn about 500 calories. If you want help with a healthy, low calorie diet, feel free to talk with me about seeing our registered dietician, Pam. Pam will make recommendations that are a little healthier than the Twinkie Diet, but she will still put you on a low-calorie diet.