Saturday, November 13, 2010

About Twinkie Diet


A nutrition expert has taken a very unorthodox path towards weight loss and cholesterol reduction: he's on an all-junk food diet. Breakfast consists of a snack cake such as a Twinkie, sugary cereal with milk, and coffee. Haub is trying to find out whether weight loss by a seemingly unhealthy means is still healthy overall.

Haub asks.
Haub is consuming fewer calories than he would need to maintain his pre-study weight, which is likely the reason his junk food diet is working.
Haub isn't advocating for the Twinkie diet just yet, however.
"I think there are many ways to achieve weight loss, this might be one if it suits somebody's lifestyle," Haub said.

Dr. Mark Haub, who teaches nutrition at Kansas State University, might say the latter. His working theory is that moderation, not the specific foods you eat, is the key to weight loss. High triglyceride levels are associated with heart disease.
Haub also reduced his LDL cholesterol - the "bad" kind - by 20 percent. That his health improved on his questionable diet does not surprise Dawn Blatner, a registered dietician and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Before, she points out, Haub said he was eating a healthy diet - but he was eating a lot. What does Haub think of the diet?
The calorie cut accounts for the weight loss, but what's interesting is that his LDL (bad cholesterol) dropped and HDL (the good kind) increased.

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