Kansas State Nutrition Professor Loses 27 Pounds on Twinkie Diet

College campuses can often be a place where new research is conducted on various relevant topics. In some cases, students are researching for an assignment, or in others, professors are researching for a lesson plan.
One research experiment that is getting a considerable amount of buzz was conducted by Professor Mark Haub of Kansas State University. Professor Haub wanted to prove that losing weight is a matter of burning more calories than you consume, so he went on a special diet that included various sweet treats like Twinkies, nutty bars and powdered donuts. He wanted to prove that all you need to be successful at weight loss is to count your calories and the nutritional content of the food you eat is overshadowed when you properly restrict your calories.
This “convenience store diet” allowed the college professor to lose 27 pounds in 10 weeks. Professor Haub kept his daily calorie content below 1,800 calories per day and ate one of the snack foods every three hours in place of a meal. When he wanted variety, Haub included things like Doritos, Oreos or sugary cereal.
This whole idea started out as a class project. Someone the same size as Haub at the start of the diet would typically consume about 2,600 calories per day. The professor didn’t change his level of activity at all, only his calorie intake. The most surprising results to come from this project were that he not only lost weight, but was able to improve his overall health.
Haub was able to lower his body mass index from 28.8 to 24.9, lower his bad cholesterol by 20 percent and raise his good cholesterol by 20 percent. These additional health benefits were what really surprised Haub. He wasn’t prepared for those kinds of results in addition to the weight loss. Although Professor Haub had success with this plan, he doesn’t recommend that others use it for weight loss. He doesn’t believe there is enough information to conclude whether this is a good plan to follow.
In an effort to prove that those with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables could lose weight, Haub consumed two-thirds of his calories from junk food and ate canned vegetables or celery stalks for the remaining. He also took a multivitamin and had a protein shake each day and avoided meat, whole grains and fruits to keep his calorie intake low.
Overall, Haub is a bit confused by the data. He’s not confident enough in the data to make a conclusion that this program was healthy or unhealthy, but it has proven that consuming fewer calories than you burn will result in weight loss.
Via CNN