A Diet... Of Twinkies?

You've probably heard about the Kansas State nutrition professor who decided to test a theory. He ate Twinkies. And other junk. And lost weight.

This is being hailed as something of a diet revolution. If a guy can lose weight while eating couch potato fare (and simultaneously improve his cholesterol count!), why even bother to do all that pesky exercise? And why bother eating broccoli and brussels sprouts?

What is going underreported is the premise of the project. Mr. Professor wanted to prove that a low calorie count will result in weight loss. He ate Twinkies, yes, but only 1800 calories per day. Essentially, the project was to prove that calories in = weight gain/loss. If you want to fight obesity, he says, start with portion sizes. The project did NOT set out to prove that Twinkies were a healthy option to leafy vegetables.

And what is going dangerously unreported is the long-term impact of such a diet. I think this diet has a potentially nightmarish effect. The body needs essential nutrients like iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, calcium, etc., etc., etc. In his short-term elation over his weight loss, Mr. Professor surprisingly neglects to consider the nutritional deficits in the foods he's consuming. When the first proponent of this diet falls ill from scurvy, perhaps we'll see that this wasn't such a good idea after all.