(CNN) -- Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts.
For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.
His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.
The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months.
For a class project, Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily.
So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.
His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds.
But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.
Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.
"That's where the head scratching comes," Haub said. "What does that mean? Does that mean I'm healthier? Or does it mean how we define health from a biology standpoint, that we're missing something?"
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
Despite his temporary success, Haub does not recommend replicating his snack-centric diet.
"I'm not geared to say this is a good thing to do," he said. "I'm stuck in the middle. I guess that's the frustrating part. I can't give a concrete answer. There's not enough information to do that."
Two-thirds of his total intake came from junk food. He also took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily. And he ate vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks.
Families who live in food deserts have limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables, so they often rely on the kind of food Haub was eating.
"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."
Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent. This posed the question: What matters more for weight loss, the quantity or quality of calories?
His success is probably a result of caloric reduction, said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietitian based in Atlanta, Georgia.
"It's a great reminder for weight loss that calories count," she said. "Is that the bottom line to being healthy? That's another story."
Blatner, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said she's not surprised to hear Haub's health markers improved even when he loaded up on processed snack cakes.
Being overweight is the central problem that leads to complications like high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol, she said.
How well are you managing your diabetes?"When you lose weight, regardless of how you're doing it -- even if it's with packaged foods, generally you will see these markers improve when weight loss has improved," she said.
Before jumping on the Ding Dong bandwagon, Blatner warned of health concerns.
"There are things we can't measure," said Blatner, questioning how the lack of fruits and vegetables could affect long-term health. "How much does that affect the risk for cancer? We can't measure how diet changes affect our health."
I was eating healthier, but I wasn't healthy. I was eating too much.
--Professor Mark Haub
The ultimate Twinkie diet On August 25, Haub, 41, started his cake diet focusing on portion control.
"I'm eating to the point of need and pushing the plate or wrapper away," he said.
He intended the trial to last a month as a teaching tool for his class. As he lost weight, Haub continued the diet until he reached a normal body mass index.
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.
"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."
He maintained the same level of moderate physical activity as before going on the diet. (Haub does not have any ties to the snack cake companies.)
To avoid setting a bad example for his kids, Haub ate vegetables in front of his family. Away from the dinner table, he usually unwrapped his meals.
Study: U.S. obesity rate will hit 42 percentHaub monitored his body composition, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose, and updated his progress on his Facebook page,
Professor Haub's diet experiment.
To curb calories, he avoided meat, whole grains and fruits. Once he started adding meat into the diet four weeks ago, his cholesterol level increased.
Haub plans to add about 300 calories to his daily intake now that he's done with the diet. But he's not ditching snack cakes altogether. Despite his weight loss, Haub feels ambivalence.
"I wish I could say the outcomes are unhealthy. I wish I could say it's healthy. I'm not confident enough in doing that. That frustrates a lot of people. One side says it's irresponsible. It is unhealthy, but the data doesn't say that."
MY THOUGHTS ON THIS
I am not going to argue the outcome of his case study. the data speaks for itself. now apply the same experiment on different populations and the study has firmer legs to stand on. what I will say however is what is healthy? BMI is stupid. my BMI has me paying a higher premium on life insurance. I'm at a higher risk of death because my BMI has me as borderline obese.
if you dont know me here are my stats in brief 5'5 (5'6 if i have new shoes and good posture that day) i weigh between 178 and 183/body fat percentage around 10-12%/ have a 1250 total in powerlifting and working towards a 1300 this december at USAPL's american open.
ok so im a little strong that doesnt mean healthy and public perception of powerlifters (and wannabe's like me) is that we're fat (male) or manish (women). well, are bodyweight exercises a good enough marker of health?-about 20 pull-ups from dead hang/around 120 push-ups straight in 2 minutes/40-50 dips straight/no clue how many inverted rows i can do but a lot/ i run a 10k in under 50 minutes/5k around 21 minutes/2 miles around 13 minutes, and i dont even run, ever.
the purpose is not to toot my own horn, (if it seems that way, its because i dont proofread, i want this blog to seem as if im speaking to the reader right now) my purpose is to start discussions about the definitions of health. Is the good professor healthy because he lowered his vitals? BMI? Cholesterol levels? try-gliceride levels? my ability to "perform" and move is great with a HIGH BMI too!! I dont know if the professor is "healthier" than me, but i doubt it.
health should be defined as the ability to perform many functions as efficient as possible. so if you are weak youre not healthy, no endurance? not healthy, flight of stairs kill you? unhealthy bench 600 lbs but cant do pull ups or many pushups?unhealthy. Food should be viewed as the fuel for the activities that we are going to do, and coupled with exercise, that should determine our status of health.
how has the professor's "performance" been changed due to his diet? yes when your digestive system breaks food down into whatever it is broken down into, it doesnt know where it originated from. how nutrient rich are those cheetos? from a performance point of view nutrition is the fuel needed to do what you want to do better.
maybe his diet allowed weight loss, what did it do to his ability to move a weight as heavy as possible? as many times as possible? as fast as possible? what did his high sodium diet do to his blood pressure? what did it do to his sex drive?
were the changes small? almost negligable? that drop in performance will have a cumulative affect over time. im not advocating gigantic changes in lifestyle or a strict diet, i just made myself a double bacon cheeseburger for dinner, but i know i can use the fat and protien and i have a heavy day of squats tomorrow.
in health,
Jorge Unigarro
