Shahar Madjar, MD, Journal columnist

In my last column, I told you about Professor Mark D. Haub, a professor of human nutrition from Kansas State University, who decided, in 2010, to embark on The Twinkie Diet. His goal was to demonstrate to his students ” … that in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most, not the nutritional value of the food.” Over a period of two months, Haub ate a very restrictive diet composed mainly of Little Debbie snack cakes, cereal, cookies, brownies, Doritos, Oreos, and yes, Twinkies. He lost 27 pounds and his body mass index returned to normal.

Should we all go Twinkie? After all, Haub seems to have proved his point, at least for a brief moment — that pure calorie intake, not the nutritional value of food, is what matters most.

This idea reminded me of the often used analogy stating that our body is like a Ferrari. The analogy goes something like this: food is just fuel, or merely a source of energy. If you provide a Ferrari enough fuel, it will drive you anywhere in the same way that enough calories would make your heart tick, your brain perceive and think and your body move. In other words, the calories you take in and the calories you burn out is all that matters. As long as your calorie balance is negative, you will lose weight. And when the total amount of calories you consume exceed the amount of calories you expend, you gain weight.

Are you a Ferrari? Perhaps your body works like a Jeep? Before you take a position in this matter, I would urge you to consider the following:

First, even a Ferrari wouldn’t continue to function on gasoline alone, no matter how pure or high-octane the fuel you “feed” it. Even a Ferrari won’t run well without calling on the art and science of proper maintenance: periodic oil change, proper tire pressure, efficient breaks–the sky (and the dealership’s bill) is the limit.

Second, even professor Haub didn’t completely adhere to a purely junk-food diet. Despite calling his diet The Twinkie Diet, he also consumed one protein shake a day, nutritionally dense whole milk, one serving of canned green beans or 4 celery stalks, carrots, and multivitamins. He must have realized that food isn’t merely fuel, because he stuck to his diet for only two months, not any longer.

The analogy to a car, though, is partially true. Our body can extract energy from food by breaking chemical bonds within carbohydrates, proteins, and fats the way a car is turning the energy locked in fuel into mechanical energy. In fact, our human “engine” is more efficient in extracting energy from chemicals than modern cars are: 25% efficiency in the human body compared to only 20% in cars.

Yet our body is a complex organic being. It is home to the most sophisticated biological systems whose purpose is to achieve a constant internal stability in the face of an ever changing external environment. It does so through constant upkeep and renewal of each of its building blocks, the cells. To keep up with this task, our body requires a delicate balance of nutrients, a wide array of ingredients.

Our body needs food not just as fuel but as nourishment. Nourishment doesn’t equal fuel, or pure calories. Beer may be rich in calories, but these are called “empty calories” for a reason–nobody can survive on beer alone because beer doesn’t provide some of the essential nutritional ingredients necessary for survival. On the other hand, we need water, vitamins, and minerals that are essential players in the proper function of the body, yet have no caloric value.

Being too restrictive–as restrictive as the Twinkie Diet–is one of several characteristics shared by multitude of diets commonly called fad diets. In my previous article I mentioned diets such as The Tapeworm Diet, the Sleeping Beauty Diet, The Cotton Ball Diet. These diets will result in weight loss, perhaps even rapid weight loss, but they come with a hefty price: poor nutritional value. They ignore the complexities of the human body and its needs. And if followed for long enough, these diets may result in serious health consequences, even death. These diets shouldn’t be called Fad Diets, but Mad Diets.

So you aren’t a Ferrari, you are much more than that, and food isn’t just fuel, it is nutrition as well.

In my next article, I will write more about how food isn’t merely fuel, nor just nutrition. It holds memories, it ignites the imagination, it gives pleasure, and it carries meaning. I will demonstrate all of these qualities of food by giving you a recipe I call Uncle Sasho’s Rippling Eggs.

Editor’s note: Dr. Shahar Madjar is a urologist at Aspirus and the author of “Is Life Too Long? Essays about Life, Death and Other Trivial Matters.” Contact him at smadjar@yahoo.com.