The Twinkie Diet
Sep-18-2010

It's an experiment rich in irony and saturated fats: A Kansas State University nutrition professor will eat little more than Twinkies and Nutty Bars over the next several weeks in an attempt to disprove common beliefs about nutrition.

Mark Haub, 40, associate professor in K-State's Department of Human Nutrition, began a 30-day junk food marathon on Aug. 25. He is living on a diet of high-calorie, high-fat foods, such as snack cakes, powdered doughnuts and sticky buns, to show that foods commonly regarded as junk can actually help people lose weight.

So far, so good. Since the diet began, Haub says, he has lost seven pounds.

"Is it truly weight we should be concerned with or should it be what we eat?" Haub asked in an interview with AOL News. "If we lose weight, this diet should be viewed as healthy."

The professor, who's coordinating the experiment with an obesity-related energy balance course he's teaching, will maintain a dietary goal of 1,800 calories per day and provide his class with regular updates on his weight and health.

Haub is closely monitoring his body mass index, body composition and blood pressure, as well as cholesterol and glucose levels. Among the adverse effects of his diet, he said, are increased triglycerides, cholesterol and blood pressure.

After the first 36 hours of his diet, he said, his head felt as if "it was in a vise."

The professor's ambitions extend beyond shedding a few pounds on a Twinkie diet. He hopes to challenge the entire "junk food versus health food" dynamic, suggesting that foods regarded as nutritious may, in fact, be unhealthy, while foods regarded as junk may have some benefits.

To illustrate the theory, Haub plans to gain weight next month by eating putative health foods, such as fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains.

He points out that living on low-fat, low-calorie foods alone would be as unhealthy as living on junk food, adding that even a competitive eater like Takeru Kobayashi "wouldn't be able to eat enough celery stalks to meet his energy needs."

While Haub's diet does not consist entirely of junk food -- he eats one portion of vegetables per day -- dining out has proved to be a little challenging.

"They're eating a sandwich," he said of his dining partners. "You're eating vegetables and a Twinkie."

But with sacrifice comes reward. Haub says his snack cake diet will save him a bundle over the next 30 days. His daily food budget? About $5.

Haub has no plans to write a book or publish his findings in a scientific journal, explaining that the diet is an "academic demonstration" to change the way people think. And that includes him.

"I never would have guessed I'd get paid to eat junk food," he said of his career in nutrition.

Posted by Clay Kohut at 12:00 AM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print