The Twinkie Diet For Dummies

Recently, Mark D. Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, decided to test out a reduced-calorie diet of Twinkies, Little Debbie Ho Ho's and Doritos to see if it is the quality or quantity of food that really mattered for weight loss.  The professor drastically cut his caloric intake from over 2,600 calories to a mere 1,800 calories - a hefty 30% deficit in his normal caloric intake.  His goal was to consume junk food as his staple food, accounting for 2/3 of his calories, while taking a multi-vitamin and a protein shake for essential nutrients.

Here was a typical day of eating for Haub as reported by CNN:

Espresso, Double: 6 calories; 0 grams of fat
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat
Centrum Advanced Formula From A To Zinc: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat
Little Debbie Star Crunch: 150 calories; 6 grams of fat
Hostess Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake: 150 calories; 5 grams of fat
Diet Mountain Dew: 0 calories; 0 grams of fat
Doritos Cool Ranch: 75 calories; 4 grams of fat
Kellogg's Corn Pops: 220 calories; 0 grams of fat  
Whole milk: 150 calories; 8 grams of fat  
Baby carrots: 18 calories; 0 grams of fat
Duncan Hines Family Style Brownie Chewy Fudge: 270 calories; 14 grams of fat
Little Debbie Zebra Cake: 160 calories; 8 grams of fat
Muscle Milk Protein Shake: 240 calories; 9 grams of fat

Totals: 1,589 calories and 59 grams of fat


10 weeks on this diet resulted in the following for Haub:

• He lost 26 lbs, going from 200 to 174.
• Body fat decreased by 8.5%.
• LDL (bad cholesterol) dropped 20% and HDL (good cholesterol) increased by 20%.
• He reduced his level of triglycerides, (the major form of fat stored in the body) by 39%.
• Blood sugar dropped from 94 to 75.
• Blood pressure stayed normal.

So does it really matter what we eat???  First glance at this might lead us straight to 7-11's snack isle. I have a few thoughts on this that both support and admonish Mr. Haub's efforts.


Overeating will cause inflammation.  This goes back to my Zone vs. Paleo argument where Paleo-eaters are encouraged to eat as much as they want, as long as they are consuming high quality foods.  Overeating or over-nutrition is not healthy in any diet realm.  Sears will adamantly agree that anything over 500, maybe 600 calories at one meal is disastrous for our metabolic health and will actually lead to a pro-inflammatory response within our bodies.  Aren't we trying to lower inflammation by eating all those healthy and nutrient-dense foods?  If you take a hard look at Haub's caloric intake at each meal, it's never above 300 calories... a positive in the inflammation nation.

Sidenote: I feel strongly that Paleo foods will lead to optimal health... they just need to be eaten in Zone quantities correlating to our personal body composition and activity levels.

Glycemid Load matters.  The glycemic load takes into account not only the rate of the entry of carbohydrates into the bloodstream (the glycemic index), but also the amount of carbohydrates that you eat in one sitting.  This, my friends, is what actually determines how much insulin our pancreas is going to produce in response to those digested carbohydrates.  Twinkies undoubtedly have a higher glycemic index than brown rice but if you're eating just 1 cup of cooked brown rice (almost 50g carbs), your body will undoubtedly produce more insulin than if you were to stick to that little cream-filled sponge containing a mere 27g of high-glycemic carbs. 

Fat is bad.  Being fat this is... not necessarily the fat you eat.  Being overweight is what eventually leads to metabolic syndrome or risk factors that include high blood pressure, belly fat, high triglycerides and high blood sugar.  Losing weight and shedding body fat will initially help these health markers, regardless of how you do it.  Long term health is what is not taken into consideration here.  These markers don't give any indication of our actual fasting insulin levels... i.e. how hard our pancreas is working to keep that blood sugar in check. My bet would be a diet such as this would not yield optimal insulin levels, ultimately leading to insulin resistance, and finally type II diabetes.

Who eats 1 twinkie?  Back to those little exorphins from my last post... eating oreos and ho ho's will increase your sugar cravings, period.   Ultimately, most people that would try this type of diet would not be able to stick to a handful of Doritos or 1 twinkie at a time... portion control does matter and the average junk food eater does not stick to these small portions.

Haub himself agrees that although he lost weight, calling this diet "healthy" is one hard ho ho to swallow. "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." Haub was referring to the higher calorie "healthy" diet he was on that included plenty of grains, berries, bananas and the occasional pizza, all of which are insulin-spiking carbohydrates that he was most likely consuming in higher portions than 27g at a time.

Final point:  quality and quantity of calories consumed do matter.  We really need to take a look at dropping our body fat to get control of those risk factors mentioned above.  If you can lose weight by eating the occasional rices and breads, but in zone proportions... do it.  Eating healthy is not always healthy... if overweight and overeating.