Just when I think I've wrapped my brain around the whole diet/weight loss thing and convinced myself that the key is healthy eating, I discover something that throw's me a curve.
This may be old news but have you heard about the junk food diet dubbed, "The Twinkie Diet?" I hadn't till recently. And it still has me smirking and scratching my head.
Back in 2010, Dr. Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, put himself on diet, eating 1800 or fewer calories a day of mostly junk for 10 weeks.
Instead of eating meals, every few hours Dr. Haub ate a Hostess or Little Debbie snack cake and also snacked on chips, cookies and sugary cereals, with a protein shake, a few veggies and a multivitamin thrown in for good measure.
Guess what happened? Yep, he lost weight!
Here's a summary of what happened:
- He lost 27 pounds which put his body mass index in the normal range (24.9)
- His total body fat went down to 24.9 from 33.4
- His total cholesterol went down to 184 mg/dL from 214
- His LDL (bad) cholesterol went down to 123 from 153
- His HDL (good) cholesterol went up to 46 from 37
So, according to his lab values, he got healthier while eating junk!
He is in no way advocating this diet and has no plans to repeat it. But he says, "There seems to be a disconnect between eating healthy and being healthy," Haub said. "It may not be the same. I was eating healthier, but I wasn't healthy. I was eating too much." Before his Twinkie diet, he tried to eat a healthy diet that included whole grains, dietary fiber, berries and bananas, vegetables and occasional treats like pizza, but was overweight with elevated lab values.
(He maintained the same level of moderate physical activity as before going on the diet.)
It's important to remember that too much food, even if it's healthy, will make you fat. This little 10-week experiment illustrates the importance of calories in the weight loss equation.
Of course, the long-term effects of this type of weight-loss diet remain unclear, as the Professor Haub candidly admits.
"These foods are consumed by lots of people," he said. "It may be an issue of portion size and moderation rather than total removal. I just think it's unrealistic to expect people to totally drop these foods for vegetables and fruits. It may be healthy, but not realistic."
And Dr. Haub is not the only one to successfully lose weight in a non-traditional way. Remember Jared and his Subway Diet? And check out this 66-year-old librarian who who lost more than 75 pounds with the The Starbucks Diet.
I believe that at the end of the day, there is no one right way to lose weight and/or get healthy. It's all about moderation, moderation, moderation and finding the happy, healthy balance that's right for you. And if that includes a little junk food, so be it!
I think we've all experienced what happens when we go on extreme diets and try to deprive ourselves of foods we love. We end up obsessing and bingeing, which is never a good thing.
So, what do you think?
Here's an interview with Dr. Haub if you want to learn more.
Sources
Photo Credit: CBS News
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Alice
In order to lose weight easily, an individual needs to be determined and set an appropriate plan to achieve this goal. Increasing the physical activities and selecting the right amount of food can help a lot on this matter.
living Healthy
Hi there, everything is going well here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that's
actually fine, keep up writing.