Twinkie Diet

Mark Haub, an associate professor of nutrition at Kansas State University, has recently made the news with his proclamation that it doesn't matter what kind of food you eat in order to lose weight as long as you eat less of it. This is basically true...but he goes on to say that he not only lost weight eating junk, but that he is healthier to boot.

In my opinion....this hack should find another line of work and the university should refund the tuition of any student that has taken any class from Haub.

Here's the thing. Yes, if you want to get rid of fat, you must burn more calories than you take take in. However...and this is a big however....if you want to get rid of fat, you need to fuel your body with the nutrients it needs. Otherwise you'll loose a little bit of fat and a whole lot of muscle. You will weight less but you'll still be fat...just a bit smaller.

This is the trap a lot of people fall into and one that took me years to finally understand. When starting a fitness program the one thing everybody does is reduce calories. Boy...does it work! Combine it with an exercise regiment and the pounds just fly off. This is what makes any diet a success...at first. Many people hit a wall when their program has poor nutrition. They find that they can't keep up the intensity of exercise and slow down or quit their daily routine. Then the weight begins to creep back. People get discouraged and start eating whatever they want. Then the weight comes back in full force with a few extra pounds to spare leaving the person feeling frustrated and depressed and ripe for the next diet huckster to come along and sell them a line of BS.

Dieting is really not about reducing calories, it is about nutrition. If you're going to reduce your caloric intake and increase your activity level, every calorie has to count. There is a difference between drinking a can of pop and eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. They have about the same amount of calories but the oatmeal is much more beneficial to your body. Too many of us worship at the altar of the scale. Weight is a measure but it is only a number. If the goal is not to be fit...not to be healthy...then why bother going through the work and pain of transforming your body and your lifestyle? Get liposuction and be done with it.

I guess that's why this nutritionist irritates me so much. It seems he's either not very knowledgeable about nutrition or he doesn't care as much as getting his face plastered in the news. It's bad science at it's most blatant. I wonder if the Hostess company paid for his little experiment?