Nutrition professor drops two stone on snack food diet

Here's an interesting one. A nutrition prof diets down using junk food. I think we all know if you restrict calories you will lose size. But, basically I have 2 concerns that aren't mentioned. :
1/ Is ok you lose size, but what is his fat to lean mass ratio before & after? I'm betting he has the same & any increase in calories will cause the fat to pile on. Basically you can't stay at low calories intakes forever... well ok technically you can if you really want to, but most of us do not want to live on starvation rations.
2/ My main concern about healthy food intake is long term health, not short term size loss. However you jazz it up, eating 100 calories of sugar, simply is not as beneficial as 100 calories of salad, that is a fact. We may not know the total reason why, but we do know that it is a fact that over time diet is the biggest health factor to your overall health, so although you can lose size eating less junk, you would do better sorting out your eating & starting to exercise.

Anyway here's the article:

Quote :

http://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/eat-candy-lose-weight.htm

Nutrition professor drops two stone on snack food diet
Calories count more than nutritional value

It sounds like a dieters fantasy - lose weight by eating junk food and sweets - but in the case of university professor Mark Haub, it really worked.

Dr Haub, who teaches human nutrition at Kansas State University, lost 27 pounds in two months on a diet of chocolate bars, chips, biscuits, pizza, doughnuts and sugary cereals. He occasionally ate some low-calorie vegetables.

At the start of his snack food diet Dr Haub said: “It’s portion controlled. I’m eating foods that are deemed by many to be unhealthy; we will see if they are."

He restricted his diet to 1800 calories per day, compared to the 2600 an average man consumes.

Dr Haub wanted to show that the calorie content of food mattered most, rather than its nutritional value, when trying to lose weight.

And who can argue with his results? Dr Haub's body mass index fell from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is within the normal weight range.

As a professor of nutrition, Dr Haub was well aware of the health risks involved. Blood cholesterol and glucose levels were monitored throughout his diet, as well as blood pressure and body composition.

Despite his diet of sugary, salty and fatty processed food, his health indicators actually improved. His LDL-cholesterol, which is linked to a greater risk of heart disease, fell 20 per cent, while his 'good' HDL-cholesterol rose by 20 per cent. Dr Haub's body fat also fell from 33.4 to 24.9 per cent.

"All I know is that my bad cholesterol has decreased on my diet, and my good cholesterol has increased," he said.

If cholesterol is a valid marker of cardiovascular disease risk, then it would appear my risk for cardiovascular disease decreased," Dr Haub added.

The diet was not an indulgence, Dr Haub said, but an experiment aimed at making the point that what matters in weight loss is the number of calories, rather than the quality of the food you eat.

Dr Haub whose diet cost around $5 per day said: “I am not promoting this or recommending it; it’s just an exercise in nutrition.”