Can Twinkies make you lose weight???

      In life your friends will tell you the strangest things. So the other day, I heard a whopper of a tale. I was told you could lose weight eating Twinkies. I had to laugh at the idea. I said, "You must be joking." I was assured there was a study done showing you could lose weight eating Twinkies. I laughed again and nearly fell of my chair. I had to do some research. Well guess what? NOT TRUE. Eating Twinkies will not make you lose weight. It took some doing but I found the source of the distorted information.

      Just for fun I thought I would give you some interesting detailed information about Twinkies and this “magical” study.

      Twinkies were invented in Muscatine, Iowa on April 6, 1930, by James Alexander Dewar, a baker for the Continental Baking Company. Twinkies left the American grocery shelves on November 21, 2012, due to the Hostess companies bankruptcy, returning to US shelves on July 15, 2013.

      In 2010 Kansas State University professor Mark Haub went on a "convenience store diet" as a class project. His 10 week diet consisted of Protein shakes, vitamin supplements, vegetables, Twinkies, Oreos, Doritos, diet soda and other convenience store junk food in an attempt to demonstrate to his students that weight loss was possible with pure calorie counting. "There seems to be a disconnect between eating healthy and being healthy," Haub said. "It may not be the same. I was eating healthier, but I wasn't healthy. I was eating too much food."  For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one sugary snack as part of his meals. He made sure that no more than 66% of his calories came from junk food. His premise being pure calorie counting can help you lose weight despite the nutritional value of the food. The premise held up: On his diet," he shed 27 pounds by reducing his daily calorie intake from 2600 per day to under 1800 calories per day with moderate exercise every day. The internet of course has distorted this to Mark had eaten nothing but Twinkies. So the Twinkie diet is not real. Mark clearly states despite his temporary success, he does not recommend replicating his snack-centric diet. The long term lack of proper nutrition can be devastating to the human body.

      Twinkies contain the following ingredients: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour [Flour, Reduced Iron, B Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid)], Corn Syrup, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable and/or Animal Shortening (Soybean, Cottonseed and/or Canola Oil, Beef Fat), Whole Eggs, Dextrose. Contains 2% or Less of: Modified Corn Starch, Glucose, Leavenings (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Sweet Dairy Whey, Soy Protein Isolate, Calcium and Sodium Caseinate, Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 60, Soy Lecithin, Soy Flour, Cornstarch, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sorbic Acid, Yellow 5, Red 40. 

     Can you identify which ingredients are on the health and natural foods list?  Ok Hint: Enriched bleached wheat flour is not on the healthy and natural list it is highly processed.

      So here are the facts of a good old-fashioned Twinkie as best I could gather. Monoglycerides and diglycerides, which replace eggs in the Twinkie recipe, are compounds that act as emulsifiers. They stabilize the cake batter, enhance flavor and extend shelf life. A very “small” amount of egg is used to leaven the cake. Polysorbate 60 serves a similar function to the glycerides, keeping the cream filling creamy without the use of real fat. Hydrogenated shortening(trans fat) replaces butter, giving the cake some of its texture and flavor and prolonging shelf life. Taste tests by flavor experts have revealed that artificial butter flavoring is used in the cake and artificial vanilla flavoring goes into the cream filling. Both flavorings are chemicals derived from petroleum (gasoline for your car comes from petroleum).

     Despite the Twinkie's reputation of out lasting the plastic they are wrapped in they have a shelf life of about 45 days and only one ingredient is an actual preservative: sorbic acid. Other ingredients have preservative functions, but sorbic acid has one primary purpose - it stops the formation of mold. Finally,cellulose gum replaces fat in the filling. This ingredient can absorb 15 to 20 times its own weight in water. It keeps the filling smooth and creamy. Once all these ingredients have been mixed, they are poured into metal pans with Twinkie-shaped molds. The batter is baked at 350 degrees for nine to 12 minutes. The bottom of the mold is rounded, and the batter at the top of the mold is browned by the baking process. After cooling, the cakes are released from the trays and turned upside down. The familiar round top of a Twinkie is actually the bottom when it's made.

1 single Twinkie is:

150 Calories

4.5 grams of fat of which 2.5 grams is saturated fat

18 grams of sugar

27 grams of total carbohydrate

20 milligrams of cholesterol

220 milligrams of sodium

     Remember this is for one Twinkie there are two in a package. Twinkies do contain trans-fats in the form of Hydrogenated shortening despite the fact the packing says 0 grams. The FDA allows manufacturer’s to list all quantities of trans-fats less than 1 gram per serving as 0 grams. Is it nice the FDA allows you to round down from .9999 grams to 0 on ingredients that are harmful to consumers health. My teachers only allowed me to round down from .4 or less to 0 when I was in school.

     What healthy things could you eat instead for 150 calories:

2.5 pounds of celery (contains vitamins A, C, K, Folate, Choline)

50 grapes (contains vitamins A, C, E, K, Niacin, Folate, Choline)

25 almonds (contains vitamins A, Folate, Choline)

192 blueberries (contains vitamins A, C, E, K, Niacin, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Choline, Betaine)

15 ounces of carrots (contains vitamins A, C, K, Niacin, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Choline)

45 Pistachios (contains vitamins A, C, E, Thiamin, Niacin, B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid)

15 ounces of Cantaloupe (contains vitamins A, C, K, Niacin, Folate, Choline)

If you could eat everything on this list over the course of a day you would consume about 1050 calories.

     How to work off the Twinkie you already ate:

22 minutes of hiking (yes, up hill)

1 hour of walking slowly at the mall (window shopping not spending money)

20 minutes of jogging

13 minutes of swimming vigorously

15 minutes of jumping rope at a brisk pace

30 minutes of floor scrubbing

10 minutes of running up stairs (about 70 stories)

175 pushups

150 crunches

     If you ate both Twinkies in the packet you need to double these exercises to burn off the 300 calories.  So the next time you want a Twinkie give me call and I will email this to you and I might help count your crunches.

Scott Bauer, C.Ht
President / Staff Hypnotherapist
Center For Body And Mind LLC
3680 Grant Dr. Suite C
Reno, NV 89509
(775) 391-3241

This information if for entertainment purposes not medical advice.