CNN recently exposed the exploits of a college professor [Mark haub], to the world. Haub is a nutrition professor, who lost 27 pounds through his controversially named "Twinkie Diet". For 10 weeks Mark Haub limited himself to 1,800 calories a day by eating a Twinkie (or sugary cereals, Oreos, Doritos, or Little Debbie snacks) every three hours, instead of meals.

In this Empowered Nutrition Twinkie Diet Review, I have bolded some pretty essential text that the media likes to skip and downplay.

*A recent study in JAMA indicated that the average male eats approximately 3700 calories per day – the media failed to report this one

I am assuming that Haub was smarter and healthier than that, but one could easily assume Haub was eating at least 2800 calories per day. That puts him at a calorie deficit of at least 1000 calories per day. Please note that just because Mark was a Nutrition Professor it does NOT mean he was a healthy individual as clearly indicated by his BMI. I wonder if Mark recently just packed on the pounds in order to prove his theory correct and get mass media attention.

The proof, according to Haub is in the results. He lost 27 pounds in just over two months (10 weeks). His body mass index [a horribly inaccurate measurement of health] went from 28.8, which is considered obese, to 24.9, which is considered normal [barely]. Even more interesting is the fact that his bad cholesterol dropped by 20% and his good cholesterol increased by 20%.

This could be evidence of overeating causes dramatic challenges and high stress environment within the body. Or it could point that Haub had a very bad diet to start with compounded by high calories.

If nothing else, the results highlight the importance of calorie counting in any diet. Quite simply Mark was able to lose weight by limiting the calories he put in his body. These calories were less than the amount of calories he burned each day.

Simply stated: Calories IN / Calories OUT

While most of us would love to quickly jump on this diet concept hoping it works, we have to take a closer look at the Twinkie diet (as we do with any diet) and understand the full story:

Unlike most individuals who would live on Twinkies and junk food, Mark started off with a very good health history and diet [assumingly as reported by Haub, without evidence and documentation]. The healthy basis [or knowledge of] gave him a proper foundation, allowing him to veer off his healthy lifestyle for a short period of time.

Remember even if you eat healthy you can still consume too many calories and thus be a very healthy fat person.

Even though Mark lived on junk food, he kept active, which is an important piece of the equation.

Mark supplemented his "Twinkie Diet" with vitamins and protein shakes.

Mark also ate a fairly substantial amount of vegetables daily.

The story makes no mention of Mark’s energy, satisfaction and mental clarity, all of which can be depleted due to a high calorie, low nutrition diet (of the Twinkie Diet variety) and during the diet this was not tracked, which can also leave one completely drained, sick and unhealthy.

Mark only went on this diet for 10 weeks. It’s pretty safe to say that the results would be very different if Mark continued this diet continuously for months on end or for life, as, unfortunately many people do.

Eventually this diet concept of poor nutrition and low calories could lead to a skinnier fatter version of one’s self.

So what are we to take away from the Twinkie Diet? There are several important notes:

1.Calorie Counting is important for any diet

2. A healthy basis and background is important and can help protect against short-term malnutrition, and

3. Just because you are losing weight, that doesn’t mean you are healthy.

Ideally, we’d love to know the full results of Mark’s research, including the long-term effects of such a diet (what happens if he lives on this diet for more than 10 weeks?), the effects if Mark were to also eliminate protein shakes, vitamins and veggies from this Twinkie Diet (which is much more likely in the real world), and the effects on his energy level (which most likely was drastically depleted from the Twinkie Diet).

What many people do not realize is that another BIG factor in this Twinkie Diet equation is that Mark Haub began taking protein powder. This would most likely put his protein count much higher than it was before his Twinkie Diet and when you look into the details of how protein works you will quickly realize that PROTEIN may have been the reason for such a positive outcome.

Protein can increase the release of glucagons. Glucagons are partially responsible for the release of fat stores for energy. Releasing more fats for energy on a low calorie diet would account for the changes in Mark’s measurements and BMI.

So in conclusion one would have to ask the question:

"Was it the Calorie Cutting, the Twinkies or the Protein that was responsible for Mark Haub’s Twinkie Diet success?"

I want to hear from you on this one. Join the conversation at http://empowerednutrition.com/twinkie-diet-review