The Twinke Diet

If you've been keeping up with the health/fitness/nutrition mainstream news headlines this week, you've probably seen the story about the human nutrition professor from Kansas State University who went on what is being referred to as "The Twinkie Diet".

 
Essentially, professor Mark Haub relied on foods found in vending machines-largely processed, sugary crap-for two months (in addition to supplementing with a multi vitamin and 1-2 servings of vegetable daily) and lost almost 30 lbs., in addition to improving several indicators of health (decrease in "bad" cholesterol, increase of "good" cholesterol, decrease in triglycerides, etc.). For the full story, check out the link below:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html?hpt=T2

I've received about a half dozen emails from blog readers asking me for my "take" on this, so here goes.

I've said repeatedly on this blog, when it comes to losing weight and body fat, the quantity of calories is far more important than the quality of calories. Making qualitative changes to your nutrition-"eating clean"-does not, in any way, guarantee weight loss (at least not large scale and prolonged weight loss). In order to lose weight and fat, you must:

1. Establish Your Weight/Fat Loss Calorie Requirements: multiply your body weight X 10. If you exercise less than two hours weekly, this is where you start. If you exercise 2 hours weekly, you can ratchet it up to body weight X 11. 3 hours per week? Body weight x 12. Basically, for every hour per week you exercise beyond 2, you can add 1 calorie per pound per day.
2. Adhere to Your Weight/Fat Loss Calorie Requirements: this means quantifying your calorie intake and not surpassing your requirements-DAY IN AND DAY OUT. You'll have to read food labels, weigh and/or measure food, keep a log, etc. Basically, you'll have to take on a part time job.

If you read the full story from CNN linked to above, you'll see professor Haub DID EXACTLY WHAT I JUST DESCRIBED. He simply ate in a calorie deficit.

I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog when dealing with my private clients, initially, I don't really have them worry about the quality of the food they are eating. What I want them to focus on, initially anyway, is getting in the habit of quantifying the food they eat and understanding how many calories they need to take in on a daily basis to lose fat and weight. While this approach may sound like pure anarchy to other fitness professionals, I've had good success with it. It's always eye opening for the client. I usually get comments such as "I was eating WAY to much!" That's the whole point of this little exercise...education.

If I tell a 45 year old guy who is used to eating chicken wings, drinking beer, and eating ice cream 4 or 5 times per week, "You can no longer have any of that", in my opinion, this is a recipe for disaster. However, if I tell him "Hey, you can keep all that stuff in your diet if you are willing to do a little basic math and track your calorie intake", generally, he thinks I'm the greatest trainer in the world and he's willing to do it, but he also gets the message that he can't have it both ways.

If I can get people into the habit of keeping tabs on their calorie intake-and still allow them to eat some crap-for about a month, and they see their scale weight move in the right direction, they are going to be more open to phase two. Phase two is where we start to improve the nutritional quality of the diet and focus on making better selections. If you try to get a person to track their calorie intake AND take out all the foods they enjoy AND start exercising 3-4 days per week all at once, it's just too much on them and they'll say "screw it". I break things up in phases and gradually bring them along.

So, back to professor Haub and "The Twinkie Diet", he lost weight because he knew how many calories he needed to take in to lose weight (he actually was in an 800 calorie daily deficit) and was willing to quantify his intake (something 9 out of 10 people will not do because "it's too tedious" or "too hard"). His health indicators improved because he lost a great deal of body weight, which at least raises the question as to whether processed foods containing high amounts of sugar, trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and dozens of ingredients really are "unhealthy". Maybe these are only truly unhealthy if they cause one to eat in a caloric surplus (which is likely): eating in a caloric surplus, consistently, causes weight gain, an increase in BMI, an increase in body fat, and an increase in waist circumference and central adiposity. Maybe it's these things-along with a lack of structured exercise-which cause one to become "unhealthy"...not necessarily the processed food in and of itself. Just food for thought.

Would I recommend this type of approach to nutrition? No. Do I think it's optimal? No. Furthermore, from what I gather, professor Haub doesn't exactly endorse it either. His little experiment was not meant to start some bullshit craze or fad diet, it was to make a point and educate his students. I don't think he intended the mainstream press to pick up on it (more on that below).

Ideally, you want to eat a diet appropriate in calories AND a diet which is made up primarily of whole, unprocessed foods. Getting to this point, for most people, is going to be a long journey. As I discussed earlier, most people would probably be better off focusing on quantity of calories first, and then gradually work in to improving the nutritional quality of their diet. Doing it the other way around, in my experience, doesn't work all that well. If you can control the quantity, you'll see a greater decrease in scale weight, body fat, BMI and waist circumference. This builds confidence in the typical person and makes them want to continue taking healthy steps. It gets them on board with the whole "diet improvement" thing. It's easier to talk someone into improving the quality of their diet once they've already lost some weight and are healthier. Just my opinion.

With all of the above being said, I think professor Haub made his point: calories definitely count. I think this is a message which continually needs to be reinforced.  The problem is, many people will misinterpret or miss his point and message entirely, and will start eating out of a vending machine and from drive-thrus WITHOUT tracking their calorie intake. Professor Haub initially started doing this little experiment as a teaching tool for his students who are actively interested in and studying nutrition. They'll likely get the message. For the lay person out there, I can't say the same thing.

http://www.personaltrainerscincinnati.com/