If you recently thought you heard some strange, frantic scream coming from the direction of southeastern Indiana, you were right. Your ears were not deceiving you.  It was me, Dietitian Becky, mourning the death of my dear friend, the Ho-Hos.  I am not the only one in mourning. In fact, nutrition professor and food activist Marion Nestle is doing the same. 

It was actually my teenage son who informed me recently of this crisis. He keeps me up-to-date on most of the tragedies of the world.  ''Hey, Mom,'' he asked, ''What are you going to do without your Ho-Hos?'' 

''Without my Ho-Hos?  What the heck are you talking about?'' I responded.

If you haven’t heard, Hostess Brands is in deep financial trouble, closing plants, and wants to sell off its brands. It has been reported that more than 18,500 people will lose their jobs and full liquidation is expected since mediation with the striking bakers’ union has failed.   Bye-bye Twinkies, so long Ho-Hos, sayonara Sno Balls! 

While there isn’t a package of these Hostess products currently in my pantry and I didn't storm the supermarket the way others have, they have been known to appear from time to time.  

While I was never a fan of the golden sponge cake with creamy filling known as Twinkies, I adored those cylindrical, frosted, cream-filled cakes. As a child, these Ho-Hos were not found in my Flintstones lunch box often--mom said they were too expense and she made cookies weekly for my school lunch treat.  However, on special occasions, those Ho-Hos would show up to brighten my school day.  Heck, yes, I would get requests to trade, but nothing was worth giving up my Ho-Hos.  Except when I entered fourth grade and would share one (just one!) of the Ho-Hos with my beau, Terry.

Today, as a Registered Dietitian, I really can’t report much nutritional value of these Hostess goodies. But they do teach perhaps another lesson (or two)! 

You will see my comments on the SparkPeople message board that ''calories are king'' as demonstrated by researcher Mark Haub, a professor of nutrition at Kansas State University. He went on a calorie-controlled, weight-loss diet using primarily Twinkies, Ho-Hos, and Ding-Dongs and lost 27 pounds in 2 months.  Thus termed the ''Twinkie Diet,'' his experiment made national news and provided evidence that you can eat anything and lose weight if you stay at a calorie deficit. 

On a more positive note, Hostess Brands truly did epitomize portion control and building friendships. The size of Twinkies, Ho-Hos, and Ding-Dongs has remained constant over the years and the goodies are often packed two to a package--allowing you one to keep and one to give away.  Eating one is a mere 120-150 calories, a far cry from the 500-calorie monster muffins and colossal cookies of today.

I am sure that potential bidders are already scheming to obtain the Hostess Brands dirt cheap.  However, if I was asked to design the gravestone of Hostess it would read something like this: 
 
How have the Hostess Brands touched your life?  Any fond memories or sweet stories?