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Twinkie Dieter Loses 27 Lbs, Rush Limbaugh Approves
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 9, 2010
Modified Nov 9, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 9, 2010
Modified Nov 9, 2010
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Well, this isn't going to be good for America's obesity problem (or is it?): Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, put himself on what some are calling the Twinkie Diet or the Convenience Store Diet... and lost 27 pounds in two months. While he did include some vegetables in his diet, every three hours Haub would treat himself to a snack of sugary cereals, Oreos, Hostess products, Doritos, or some other junk food item (Meat Munchkins?)—all to prove that in losing weight, it's counting calories that really matters.
During his experiment, he never went above 1,800 calories a day (CNN notes that a man of Haub's pre-dieting size would normally consume closer to 2,600 calories a day), and his body mass index went from 28.8 (overweight) to 24.9 (normal). One might think this would have spiked his cholesterol, but it actually decreased his "bad" cholesterol and increased his "good" cholesterol! Yep, by eating sugary snacks, he actually got healthier.
Haub discussed his shocking results, saying, "I'm not geared to say this is a good thing to do. I'm stuck in the middle. I guess that's the frustrating part. 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."
Rush Limbaugh, meanwhile, is saying "I told you so," and says he's always said "exercise is irrelevant.... One of the reasons I know what I know is that I know liberals, and I know liberals lie, and if Michelle Obama's gonna be out there ripping into 'food desserts' and saying, 'This is why people are fat,' I know it's not true."
Tagged
calories
diet
Mark Haub
nutrition
rush limbaugh
Twinkie Diet
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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