Morgan Spurlock had McDonald's, Mark Haub has Twinkies. The nutrition professor at Kansas State University is challenging conventional wisdom about junk food, one fat-laden day at a time.
Haub kicked off a 30-day junk-food odyssey, dubbed the Twinkie Diet, on August 25, to question perceptions about how we view processed goods in relation to our overall health. And so far he's lost weight eating primarily Twinkies, hot dogs and cake.
Haub's diet is fairly incredible. It consists of sugar cereals, Swiss cake rolls, blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, peanut-butter Oreos and hot dogs. He allows himself one serving of low-calorie vegetables and milk at dinner, in order to increase his daily protein and vitamin intake.
One unintended benefit is that his daily food budget is only $5. And while Haub could afford to spend more, he thinks that the low cost of junk food means there are a number of people who are unintentionally on the Twinkie Diet.
"There's a big push to increase the tax on this food, there are some people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged who may rely on this food," Haub tells The Toronto Star.
Haub is sticking to less than 1,800 calories a day, believing that taking in fewer calories than you expend is going to be the key to any weight loss program. While he doesn't recommend people following his example, he thinks this might help people question what is possible based on their current diets.
"I think there are many ways to achieve weight loss, this might be one if it suits somebody's lifestyle," he tells CTV.
What's next for Haub? Apparently he plans to spend the month of October attempting to gain weight by eating fruits and vegetables, protein and whole grains.
[Image via Flickr: Christian Cable]
Showing 1-1 of 1
like
dislike
