Too Many Hot Dogs

It's was another July 4th, one of my least favorite American holidays, but fun for one reason....the hot dog eating contest televised by ESPN on July 4th. Talk about excess! In last year's Nathan's Famous (that's the name of the restaurant) July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest Joey Chestnut won by eating 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, 3 1/2 more than Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, his arch-rival.

I find the contest, in which competitors stuff water soaked buns and hot dogs into their faces that are swallowed rather than chewed, a train wreck that is fascinating to see. It is quintessentially American in the excessiveness of it. The "too much is a good thing" attitude is not uncommon here, so I find it unsurprising that Americans, me included, are fascinated watching competitors make themselves sick eating too much food...Ugh, isn't that what we fat Americans do everyday, albeit in a less voluminous display? We are watching ourselves in an exaggerated form.

That ESPN considers this a "sport" (as it claims poker and other dubious enterprises are as well) is interesting. The current champ, Joey Chestnut, appears to be only slightly heavy and claims to run 3 miles three times a week, says he fasts regularly, and when not competing or training for the many kinds of eating contests he and others enter, says he eats a moderate diet.

Those competitive eating "athletes" have a go at every imaginable food food offering (whatever sponsors pay them to gorge on), from fried asparagus to oysters to...well you name it. Someone has contested a binge eating of just about every conceivable food. Among Joey Chestnut's eating "accomplishments" are these: 103 hamburgers in 7 minutes, 242 chicken wings in 30 minutes, 78 matzo balls, drank one gallon of milk in 41 seconds, 231 Gyozas at one sitting, 47 slices of pizza in a pizza eating contest. 4 1/2 kilos of macaroni and cheese in just 7 minutes, and ate a 2 kilo, 17 inch burrito in 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

I saw Joey Chestnut interviewed on CNN one time and he claims his health is excellent, that he is regularly monitored by a physician and that his moderate eating outside of the training (he trains by fasting and by stretching his stomach with milk, water, and protein supplements) keep him healthy. But he is a young man, and his insides have been abused so much. I wonder if his internal parts will be normal when he ages and grays.

To my knowledge no studies have said that binge eating destroys the stomach, but I wonder if the constant stretching of the stomach will take away its elasticity and if the esophagus is damaged from so much food being shoved down it.Anyway, if you have a hot dog today, take my advice. One or two is plenty enough to eat.