Update: Weight up, cholesterol up for man who lost 27 pounds on Twinkie diet
August 30th, 2011
04:00 PM ET

Update: Weight up, cholesterol up for man who lost 27 pounds on Twinkie diet

Nutrition professor Mark Haub, who lost 27 pounds eating mainly Twinkies, powdered donuts and Oreo cookies, is back to an average American diet.

Since ending his junk food experiment in November, he has gained 2 pounds and his cholesterol has also increased a little bit, he said. He also has gained a new insight into the debate over healthy eating.

"People have a hatred towards (processed) foods," he said. "I like them. I eat them. It's amazing how people believe if it's processed, it's not food."

What also caught Haub by surprise was "how vitriolic people can be when they take a stance, whether it's low-carb or paleo diet. It's like politics. Those discussions can get heated. It's the same thing with religion, I'm right. You're wrong."

Last fall, Haub shed 13% of his weight over two months restricting his diet to 1,600 calories while eating "junk food." Surprisingly, his cholesterol readings improved and his level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, decreased. This could have been explained by the decreased consumption of calories.

November 8, 2010: Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds

Today he eats three meals a day, consuming about 2,200 calories with food choices like turkey sandwiches, peanut butter, and snacking on pears.

"The main thing I did was reduce portion size," he said about what he learned from the diet. "It's that concept of mindfulness or mindful eating - I eat relatively the same. I just eat less."

And he still munches on an occasional Twinkie or snack cake.

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Filed under: Food • Health • Nutrition
soundoff (283 Responses)
  1. Joey Isotta-Fraschini you are a disgusting narcissist

    Joey Isotta-Fraschini you are a disgusting narcissist

    September 9, 2011 at 9:30 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Karin

    Ha ha. Maybe you should be trying the Paleo Diet: http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/09/steps-paleo-diet/
    A colleague at CNN just wrote about it. Maybe for your next experiment?
    My husband started eating all the eggs he wanted and his cholesterol went down.

    September 12, 2011 at 7:38 am | Report abuse |
  3. jon

    If you really want to loose weight only eat while butt naked while sitting infront of a mirror.

    September 22, 2011 at 6:35 am | Report abuse |
  4. Peter

    I hope these paleotards and low-carbers are listening. Your ways work, but are not the only ways to lose fat.

    December 11, 2011 at 7:59 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Peter

    I still believe that the "calories in versus calories out" concept is bogus. The human body is not a calorimeter but rather a complex system of different hormones. The most important hormone involved in his diet was insulin. Had he not exercised the way he did, he would have gain lots of fat, or not have lost any at all. His daily exercise was running on a treadmill for 90+ minutes I believe. I believe that it was his exercise despite the high carbohydrate content of his diet was what caused the fat loss, not the calories. When you exercise for a long time, your body burns some fat and some carbohydrates that you have stored as glycogen. It is entirely possible to lose fat and maintain body fat levels even while eating carbohydrates. Our ancestor 1,000+ yeas ago had lots of grains and roots, but they were never fat because they had to walk to where they wanted and labour hard every single day, unlike modern times.

    December 11, 2011 at 8:11 pm | Report abuse |
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