You too can drop 27 lbs in two months! All you have to do is eat Twinkies, and other convenience store favorites, and those unwanted pounds will fall away!
A professor of nutrition at Kansas State University, Mark Haub, did just that, losing 27 lbs in two months while eating mainly Twinkies, Doritos and other convenience store snack items. The catch? Instead of his usual diet consisting of 2600 calories, he decreased his total caloric intake to 1800.
One might surmise that Haub had significant health impacts such as diabetes and low levels of energy, however, Haub reports that not only did his bad cholesterol (LDL) drop significantly, but his good cholesterol also increased significantly. He claimed that he felt great and had plenty of energy. (read full story)
Mr. Haub set out to prove that calories are what actually counts when it comes to weight loss. Just because we have an over-abundance of junk food at our everyday disposal doesn’t mean that we (as American’s) have to retain the reigning title of “fattest country in the world“. It’s time to let someone else wear that tiara. Haub’s study shows that it is indeed about over-consumption of calories.
So why bother eating healthy foods?
Lots of things come into play when determining health. Genetics, level of stress and how a person deals with said stress, what a person eats and drinks, and amount/type of exercise.
Mr. Haub reports that he did take a multivitamin everyday along with a protein shake and either a can of green beans, or a few celery sticks (which he says was for show at the dinner table so his kids didn’t quit eating theirs). He didn’t smoke, drank very little soda, and there was no mention of alcohol consumption.
I think that Mr. Haub’s point is well made. Intake of calories, regardless of what you eat, is the major contributing factor regarding weight. The honorable mention here is that just weighing less, what would be considered a “normal” or “healthy” weight for his stature, significantly impacted Haubs overall health.
That being said, I can’t help but think that Mr. Haub wouldn’t reap some negative consequences had he stayed on the Twinkie diet for much longer than two months. Prior to this experiment, he was a very healthy eater. His stores of essential vitamins and minerals were probably well stocked in case such an “emergency” came along. I would fathom that it wouldn’t take long on such a diet for sodium, preservatives, various food colorings, and the amount of high fructose corn syrup and other chemical additives to deplete such stores and take a toll.
Why it’s so easy to overeat
I wonder if Mr. Haub ever felt truly full? I believe that being on a snack foods, limited calories diet, would be very hard to stick with. I can’t imagine that he didn’t feel like he was starving most of the time. Why is it so easy to eat a bag of potato chips over the course of a day? Because every ingredient is so ultra- refined and chemically created that there is nothing, absolutely nothing in them, that gives our bodies anything to work on.
Just like cows chew their cud, our stomachs take fiber or whole foods and munch of them for awhile. They don’t just drop into the stomach, have the fat and calories pulled out and stored and move on through. No, whole foods like whole grains, whole fruits and vegetables, and complete proteins, give our bodies a long slow burn, making that fuel last for hours instead of minutes.
Caloric intake counts
I think it’s important to note (again) that caloric intake counts. Whether you’re eating Little Debbie snack cakes, or homemade chicken soup with barley and veggies galore, calories, and an excess of them, is what makes our bodies store fat. Whether it’s cholesterol, diabetes, or heart disease, excess fat takes a very large toll on ones health.
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