The Twinkie Experiment And The Media
You may remember that back in September I ran an article about Prof. Mark Haub, who set out to lose weight by eating what is commonly referred to as “junk food” and that subsequently I also had an interview with the man.
The Diet Is Finished
Mark just finished his diet and lost 27 lbs. His body fat dropped from 33.4% to 24.9%, his “bad” LDL cholesterol went down by and the “good” HDL increased by 20%. All this reported by CNN, which is also the primary reason why I am writing about Mark again: the CNN article unleashed a small-scale news tornado.
Interestingly, most of the mainstream media grasped what Mark tried to show: that it depends on how many calories you consume whether you lose weight or not.
However, the reactions from various sides that have or at least should have knowledge in the field of health and nutrition were different.
Fad Diet Fans React
First there are the proponents of various fad diets with little scientific basis. One such is a popular blog on “low carb” diets, whose author put the results down to coincidence:
He may be a good metabolizer of carbohydrate unlike most of the people who visit my blog.
There is no such thing as a “good metabolizer” of carbohydrates. In absence of a true medical condition like diabetes the metabolic pathways and reactions nutrients take and cause in the human body are the same in all humans.
The Scientific Community
But these statements from the pseudo-scientific corner were to be expected and it is more worrying when an actual MD goes down to a similar level and makes connections between food ingredients and their sources, as Dr. Pamela Peeke does here:
60% of what Haub ate was not food. (…) Five ingredients [of Twinkies] come from rocks. I’m not kidding. These include: phosphate mines in Idaho, gypsum mines in Oklahoma, and oil fields in China. Sorbic acid, for example, is actually derived from natural gas. Cellulose gum, Polysorbate 60, and calcium sulfate are also used in sheet rock, shampoo, and rocket fuel. The vitamins, artificial colors, and flavorings in Twinkies come from petroleum. Limestone makes Twinkies light and the cream looking center is made of shortening. There is no cream.
I wonder what her stand toward antibiotics is, as penicillin was derived from the fungus Penicillium notatum, that in some cases was connected to human disease.
Reactions like these from professionals are even more worrying when they come from such noted individuals in the field as Marion Nestle, who told the Chicago Tribune that because of this diet, it won’t take Mark long to gain the weight back:
“If his experiment proved anything at all, it’s that calories count,” said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University who was unimpressed with the results. “If he wants to do that with junk food that’s fine, but let’s see how long it takes for him to gain it all back.”
I otherwise think highly of Mrs. Nestle, but here she is mixing weight control with what constitutes healthy nutrition. The most important factor in weight control after weight loss is, well, keeping up the weight control. If you don’t, you make it much more likely to gain the weight back, no matter if it’s Twinkies you indulge yourself in or whole grain bread. It may happen faster with calorie-dense “junk food”, but down the road the result is the same.
The respected British Heart Foundation states in an article written by dietitian Victoria Taylor:
In truth, it’s impossible to say how this diet would affect someone who eats it over three, six or 12 months. But it’s certainly not a realistic alternative compared to a healthy, balanced diet which includes at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day as well as omega 3 fats from oily fish, both of which are beneficial to your heart.
Which makes me wonder if a person that can’t keep up the “healthy” diet she outlines here would be better off to stay fat or lose weight with the junk food he enjoys. Or would it be healthy to be overweight from a “balanced” diet? I am not making a rhetorical point here, but see these as subjects that warrant further research. I personally lost weight by eating less of the unhealthy foods I enjoyed, after finding out I couldn’t go through with a diet deemed “healthy”.
The culprit
Rush Limbaugh Has A Word
Although he is far from being an expert on human nutrition and probably doesn’t even harbor a layman’s interest in the field, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s reaction to the experiment stands out:
It is what you eat. It’s the content. It’s not all the health food garbage. It’s calories in versus calories out, pure and simple. It’s not health foods; it’s not exercise, pure and simple. You gotta figure out how many calories at your body size and age that you can eat every day without gaining weight and then subtract from that, even if it’s booze. If you go over the limit of calories, the whole thing’s blown.
When you read the entire transcript of the show, which you can find in the link above, you will see he also had “experts” phone in that stated fitness doesn’t improve health.
This mention of eating fewer calories than you burn to lose weight, which is quite right, while leaving out what nutrients the human body needs to stay healthy and finally ending it on the point that fitness is not good for your health is admirable for its crudeness.
A Simple Summary
To all these experts and non-experts I’d like to give a very short summary of Mark’s experiment: Losing weight is as simple as fewer calories in than out, he never said that his was a healthy or advisable diet and we need to acknowledge that our concept of “healthy” and “unhealthy” food still needs research.
Picture of Prof. Haub © Kansas State University. Other picture courtesy of Larry D. Moore.
28 Comments
Yes! I agree… too much emphasis is placed on weight. People assume that if you are not overweight, you are healthy. This simply isn’t true. You have to look at whole-body nutrition, and examine what foods will provide you with the nutrients you need to minimize disease and improve quality of life. You could eat two Twinkies a day for a week and nothing else, and lose a lot of weight. But you certainly wouldn’t be maintaining a healthy lifestyle, not providing your body with the nutrients it needs.
It is quite possible to be thin AND unhealthy.
If this is all you did when you reached 50 you would be a wreck. You need resistance training to stay strong, flexible and agile. Eating to support these activities should be a healthy balance.
If all you have access to is twinkie fin eat them but do not kind yourself into thinking they are healthy they are simply a fuel source.
Eat a balance diet have a resistance routine and you will be stronger longer.
Dr. Haub definitely proved his thesis that a daily caloric deficit is a path to weight loss. Statistically it’s a horrible path to weight loss, that much is certain, as upwards of 98% of conventional diets fail within a year (Dr. Haub’s diet is a conventional diet, irrlevant of his food choices – he was focused on expending more calories than he consumed).
It should be noted that Dr. Haub has been successful for all of 10 weeks so far — even he questions the sustainability of this diet.
WHATEVER FOODS YOU USE, Caloric deficit dieting is a huge cause of weight GAIN. It’s not sustainable and slows metabolism. Basically it puts you in a jail that to lose weight you will have to eat less and less and exercise more and more. That’s not healthy.
Training your metabolism to handle more food is clearly a better way, and this can be accomplished by shifting the timing of your eating and exercise to better align with your natural metabolic cycle.
The EET Fitness Plan has proven this over the last 3 years with members eating plenty of junk food as well as all other kinds of foods (EET has no calorie counting and no food restrictions).
I had hoped Dr. Haub’s message would be to get people to question EVERYTHING about conventional dieting — we are calling a 98% failure rate state of the art?
Instead, I fear the public is taking from Dr. Haub’s experiment that a conventional calorie counting dieting is the way to go, and if that’s the case it will cause more harm than good.
Jon
EET Fitness
Personally, I find the “6 meals a day” thing a little hard to keep up with. Especially if you’re eating foods you need to prepare before eating. I think that just cutting a little amount of your food is a lot simpler method for fat loss.
To each his own. 😉
I find it pretty easy. Then again I only have one prepared meal (plus oatmeal) others are stuff like canned tuna, quark+grnola and such
who said anything about eating 6 meals a day?
Normally people who follow Eating and Exercise timing (EET) eat 2-3 good size meals per day MAX — depends on their personal timing schedule
“Caloric deficit dieting is a huge cause of weight GAIN. It’s not sustainable and slows metabolism. Basically it puts you in a jail that to lose weight you will have to eat less and less and exercise more and more. That’s not healthy.”
Lols
Lols – sounds like a joke being passed around the 2% club eh? 😉
too bad only you folks think it’s funny — the yoyo dieters sure don’t.
wow. You’re actually serious…
last post didn’t show–sorry if this is reprint
absolutely serious.
I woke up one day and realized, that even though all the experts agreed, the world is not flat.
You can see my views and how we’ve helped a lot of people see the new “round” world by searching
The EET Fitness Plan
Jon
EET Fitness
Ok. I’ll cut all the sarcasm off then. This is my honest opinnion.
One: You need to pay. If it’s free, it’s helping for the sake of it. If I have to pay then it means you have your personal reasons to do it (money).
Two: You say clinical tests are not as good as non-clinical (non-clinical are done to with “real people”?). Then what are the clinically tested people? Robots? I personally believe a indepented study done by an university for example rather than your test subjects. Why? Because it’s both independent so neither side can affect on the outcome. With the eet i did a quick google and found no proper studies. On your page there are stuff like sucess stories etc. but as they are published by the same source that is endorcing this wonder-diet I am quite sceptical.
Just to get everything straight. What EET is about is basicly doing super-hardcore HIIT like five times a week? Because that’s more or less everything I could find. Then again as I said I did do it quite fast.
Thanks for the follow up comments — I’ll try to be much more brief from here on–don’t mean to hijack the thread by any means:
1) I agree with you on paying –this is the ONLY reason I didn’t offer EET for free when I started the website — ultimately i would love to profit from EET–but I am ABSOLUTELY COMMITTED TO PROVING IT BEYOND ANYONE’S DOUBT FIRST. Hence the stupidly low trial fees.
2) Many EETers do NO formal exercise and lose weight — Exericse accelerates the metabolic benefits but is not necessary to create weight loss. EET is truly what I am representing it is — EATING TIMING along with normal everyday activity can greatly improve your metabolism and create weight loss — all with no caloric or food restrictions–only restrictions on when you eat certain foods.
Here is a post a current EETer is blogging his EET experience in real time for anyone interested in learning more:
the freaking link won’t let me post — search
How to EET Anything You Want And Be Fit For Life
Finally, thank you VERY much to the owner of this blog for allowing my views to be heard.
Jon
EET Fitness
I agree, yo-yo dieting is stupid. Even the word ‘diet’ makes it sound temporary.
The principals that are laid by EvilCyber and scoobysworkshop.com both have nothing to do with just losing the weight and not caring after it’s done, but have everything to do with maintaining that healthy weight and lifestyle.
EvilCyber even has a video on how to use the scale effectively, so you don’t start packing back on the fat after working hard to lose it.
Also, what scientific studies can you produce that show the metabolism can be “slowed” or “sped up” noticeably by manipulating when and how much you eat?
Now , I’m the one who has to LOL
Here we are writing comments on ONE PERSON’s experiment eating twinkies for 10 weeks with everyone all nodding their heads in agreement that “Dr. Haub certainly PROVED that calories are what matters!”
Meanwhile EET is asked to produce scientific studies to prove it’s position on eating and exercise timing while we have dozens of successful clients including Type 2 Diabetics, Children who were obese and MANY over 50 year old + men and women?
WOW.
But, with that said, EET does have the studies you seek — email me at eetfit@gmail.com and I will send you scientific support for our guidelines for all the different times of the day.
I will also add that relying on studies is one of the biggest flaws in all of nutrition, but that’s another story for another day….
Yeah. It’s better to blindly believe you. No wait… Weren’t you the one to tell queston EVERYTHING.
Basicly I think it’s ok for people to believe in this pseudo-crap. I prefer the way that’s working for me. But meh…that’s just me.
the comment below about blindly believing EET vs learning about it. (not sure why I can’t reply to it?)
I was only pointing out that I have yet to see a comment asking Dr. Haub to produce any scientific studies yet many many “definitive” conclusions are being drawn because of his results.
And EET’s results are far far far far more dramatic over many more people over a MUCH longer period of time — all documented online for all to see.
so how is that blindly believing anything?
How about this — take a look at Dr. John Ivy’s book “Nutrient Timing” for extensive documented scientific studies on the effects of eating and exercise timing.
Study after Study after Study after Study about the effects of time on metabolism is documented throughout this book.
His work influences EET during several timing zones of the day. There are many many sources EET has used as well that are just as credible–then the pulling together of the comprehensive timing plan has been proven in what EET believes is the best study of all–EET’s FULL 1 YEAR TRIAL OF THE PLAN ON 30 PEOPLE OF ALL AGES SEXES AND HEALTH CONDITIONS BEFORE OFFERING IT TO THE PUBLIC.
Pseudo – crap is conventional dieting’s promise of a better life which has produced MASSIVE OBESITY and a 98% failure rate (EET’s success rate is 80% for people who stay with the plan for over a month by the way-although our sample size is still very small–we have many new members, so now we’ll get a better read)–
and people running around talking about what “works for them” is beyond pseudo crap (including Dr. Haub when it comes to drawing conclusions to apply to the public for weight loss and fitness) — it means NOTHING.
EET was tested in trials –no not clinical trials — REAL TRIALS OF REAL PEOPLE–EET wants to help REAL people, not write scientific papers– FOR OVER A YEAR before being offered to the public.
I personally have lost 35 pounds and kept it off for over 30 months while RAISING MY CALORIC INTAKE 500-1000 CALORIES A DAY and only exercise 30 MINUTES PER DAY 5-6 days per week. I am nearly 48 years old.
But if it only worked for me you would not be reading this post. EET has got to work metabolically for a wide range of people (I have yet to find ONE that has not lost weight trying it–although some are having trouble breaking their old timing patterns so they are not staying with it) or do you really think I would risk the liability of consulting people to EAT WHATEVER THEY WANT AND EXERCISE LESS for a $29.95 3 month trial fee?
It’s not a video, not a book — it’s ME, a certified personal trainer on the phone or IM or email, guiding people through their eating and exercise timing, day after day, week after week, month after month.
Think about that — really think about it.
But again, your point that I do want everyone to question everything is valid and your sarcasm actually kind of funny so you now have some scientific studies to research without having to email me (which is all I asked for by the way)–
wonder if you folks will actually check the research or if you will just continue to believe what you want to believe —
Each individual gets to make their own choice and I certainly wish all luck in their efforts — this stuff can be very challenging, at least EET makes it fun because you can succeed with a very sustainable plan that allows you eat what you love every single day at the correct times.
Check out the M.D. that tried EET 3 months ago and lost 14 pounds in 10 weeks –she only wanted to lose 15 as a goal — she just wrote a testimonial for EET on our website–you can write her directly if you wish too
— so some professionals are at least willing to listen– hopefully someday everyone who needs help and can’t do “what works for you” will as well.
Jon
EET Fitness
Jon, it would be sufficient if you send some links to peer-reviewed research in scientific magazines.
That calories are paramount has been proven over and over:
https://evilcyber.com/2010/08/30/eat-less-of-whatever-lose-weight/
Evilcyber
Here’s a couple of studies to support EET:
every time i try to post a link it blows up so just put the titles google and you can find them
1) Muscle glycogen synthesis after exercise: effect of time of carbohydrate ingestion
J. L. Ivy, A. L. Katz, C. L. Cutler, W. M. Sherman and E. F. Coyle
Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, University of Texas, Austin 78712.
2) Brehm, B.A., and Gutin, B. Recovery energy expenditure for steady state exercise in runners and non-exercisers. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
and here are two studies to refute what you say has been proven over and over
1) Effects of diet and deprivation on meal eating behavior in ratsstar,
David A. Levitskya and George Colliera
2) The ingestion of food and the recovery of body weight following fasting in the naive ratstar, open
David A. Levitsky2, a, Irving Faust3, a and Mark Glassman4, a
aDivision of Nutritional Sciences and Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA
I never implied that reducing calories will NOT create weight loss – it definitely DOES — BUT FOR HOW LONG?
What I said was caloric deficit dieting is a HORRIBLE WEIGHT LOSS DIET PLAN. The 98% failure rate as reported by the Center For Disease Control, the 31+ and growing obesity rate also reported by the CDC are proof that caloric reduction dieting is simply not sustainable. The above studies show that it also slows metabolism to reduce caloric intake which is exactly what I said — lose weight by eating less and welcome to caloric and metabolic JAIL – most people simply don’t want to go to jail of any sort and cannot stay on a caloric deficit diet–therefore they are a failure, plain and simple.
if you can sustain it at all–which most people can’t — but your metabolism doesn’t rebound just because you go off your diet–I could go on but you get the point.
Thanks again for the chance to present facts about EET – EET is open to all questions and scrutiny so if you would like any further info just let me know.
thanks
Jon
EET Fitness
PS I am not the first to design a diet that has no caloric restrictions–Atkins followers can eat amazing amounts of calories and still lose weight and lots of it–no way they create a caloric deficit — how do you suppose they do that?
Well, I figured that out but also figured out how to get the carbs back in the plan and the answer is TIMING.
I now looked at these studies and none of them support what you are outlining here. Eg, the first study: nowhere does it say that glycogen reuptake is a dependent variable of body fat and therefore total body weight.
And no, you are not the first to design one of these ludicrous diets and neither have you nor the followers of Atkins ever proven in a clinical trial that a hypercaloric diet led to weight loss.
I suggest you do a controlled study and publish your findings. Then you will be taken seriously.
No idea what you are talking about but here’s what the studies I presented do prove about Eating Timing
1) Proved that the body was able to effectively utilize HIGH GLYCEMIC CARBS more effectively for glycogen restoration and muscle recovery during the 2 hour metabolic window following exercise.
EET used this info to design when members can eat more treats post exercise and still create weight loss along with improved blood readings.
Of course eating the calories while your body is at a higher metabolic rate allows for more calories to be consumed during this period as well
2) the second study conclusively proved that the body is burning more fat at a higher rate during the period after you wake up than at any other time during the day.
EET used this to designed a morning routine of eating and activity or exercise to maximize this “max fat burning zone”
So at least to my eyes these studies proved that timing matters far more than calories during these periods — of course i have found studies to support the other periods as well and the result is the EET Fitness Plan.
As for your suggestion about doing a study — I see where those lead — to our current sad state of affairs. Please tell me what good ALL the studies regarding caloric deficits have done? The results have been completely misinterpreted and many people are now afraid to eat a freaking candy bar as if they are committing a crime.
No, I’ll stick with RESULTS for real people as EET’s calling card — I am not worried in the least about experts in the current nutrition industry taking me seriously — none of them have any results in the real world that begin to approach the track record EET has built in a single year.
In fact, I am helping many who were guided by your experts get over years of guilt and shame because they couldn’t follow your expert’s study’s results—SEE EET’S SUCCESSS STORIES BECAUSE MANY OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE NOW AT OR BELOW THEIR GOAL WEIGHT – that’s more than enough proof for me.
You gave me a chance to express my views and I appreciate it very very much. I will not trouble you further.
Thanks again.
Jon
EET Fitness
twinkies are for MORONS!
I’ve only had like 1 or 2 in my life and do NOT plan on eating another.
And I still don’t know what a twinkie is 😀
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie
wtf. why would somebody even want to eat such a thing 😀
Even back when I drank dr.pepper by the liter I wouldn’t even look at twinkies
They sound like obesity just waiting to happen.
At least when I gained my extra fat it was because I ate too much fat and carbs. Then again I’d be pretty darn slim if I wouldn’t like beer so much 😀
just a note about the “There is no such thing as a “good metabolizer” of carbohydrates.” comment, it turns out there is such a thing. The CSIRO in australia did work on sheep,(yes we have lots of them). They wanted to know why some were fat and some thin. It turned out the difference was the number of insulin receptors on the surface of the cells. This caused sugars to be absorbed more slowly in certain individuals. It’s a nice myth that we all process food the same but unfortuantely it’s not so true.