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
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.
