Professor Experiments With Snack Food Weight Loss Diet
Snack Food Pyramid
- It’s not what you eat, it’s how much. Twinkies, Little Debbie Snacks, Oreos or Doritos are not diet foods, but Mark Haub, a nutrition professor at Kansas State University ate only convenience store snacks for two months and lost 27 pounds.
Haub says the effort was an experiment. He kept his food intake below 1,800 calories a day and claims no extra exercise is required. Dr. Haub ate only 1,800 calories each day and took vitamin supplements just in case he develops certain nutrient deficiencies. Twinkies, snacks and cookies were not the only things he ate.
“I avoided whole grains, I avoided fruits. I did eat some raw carrots and celery at dinner … [and] I tried to pick foods that most people would consider unhealthy,” states Haub.
He ate about four convenience vending machine items a day, along with milk, a protein shake and one or two servings of vegetables, avoiding whole grains and fruits. Dr. Haub usually ate 2600 calories a day and weighed 200 pounds befor starting his experiment.
“I kind of took the stance that … let’s say we reduce obesity, reduce body weight, move somebody — me — from overweight to healthy weight, but we do that with foods that aren’t recommended,” he says. “Is that healthy?”
At the end of the two months, in addition to his weight loss, his cholesterol levels improved lowering his “bad” cholesterol by 20% while improving his “good” cholesterol by 20%. His triglycerites were reduced by 39%.
