In an attempt to prove that caloric intake is the main factor in weight loss, a nutrition professor at Kansas State University has been subsisting on mostly Twinkies and other snack foods for 10 weeks.

From CNN:

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.

It wasn’t just the pounds that dropped off; he also saw a 20% drop in bad cholesterol and a 20% uptick in good cholesterol. His triglyceride count dropped by 39%.

It should be noted that while 2/3 of his total intake came from junk food the professor was also eating vegetables every day, took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily. He also cut out meat, whole grains and fruit.

In spite of his thinner waistline, the professor isn’t quite recommending others follow his lead:

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 can’t give a concrete answer. There’s not enough information to do that…

These foods are consumed by lots of people… 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.

Twinkie diet helps nutrition professor lose 27 pounds [CNN]

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