Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
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According to an article in Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News, "After being swallowed (competitors have dozens of swallowing techniques, such as "chipmunking," in which they puff their cheeks out as they stuff their mouths full of food or gulp big bites followed by sips of water), the food mass moves through the esophagus, a portion of the route that takes about 10 seconds to traverse for the first mouthfuls and longer for every swallow afterward as the esophageal pipeline fills up."
Competitive eaters have to learn how to relax their esophagus so that it expands, allowing more food to go down. From there, the hot dog travels to the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), an involuntary bundle of muscles at the low end of the esophagus that prevents acid from getting into the stomach. Competitive eaters have developed various techniques for relaxing these muscles.
In the 2006 book on competitive eating called "Eat This Book," author Adam Nehr writes that competitive eating champion Don Lerman learned to overcome nausea when food hits his LES and relax the sphincter by downing a gallon of water every morning.
Then, once the food passes the LES, it enters the stomach.
A normal eater has a stomach that feels full after consuming about a liter or a liter and a half's worth of food. Competitive eaters learn to stretch and relax their stomachs to fit in more food by eating large amounts of low-calories foods and liquids including water, diet soda, watermelon and cabbage. The stretching does not go on indefinitely, however. As with any competition there will be losers and all competitive eaters will stop when they've reached their limit.
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The side effects of such binges vary based on the competitor and the food being eaten. Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News states that hot dogs cause the most painful cramps. Other side effects of competitive eating include nausea, painful gas, vomiting, heartburn and diarrhea. More serious side effects could include choking, esophageal inflammation and stomach rupture.
I'm at a point in my life where I just can't fathom why people do this.
I used to be able to eat a lot of food. I was well known for being able to pack in a tonne of food in one sitting. I never had any real competitions though. This one time I had a "secret" competition with my cousin. I was 18 and I couldn't believe that my cousin who was only 5'2" and about 20 years older than me was keeping up with me, plate for plate, at a chinese food buffet. I forced myself to keep eating because she shouldn't be able to eat more than me! .. I had to quit because I was starting to feel sick.
Now that I've learned a bit more about nutrition and portion control, I can't figure out how competitive eaters don't develop health problems.
Really shows a lack of regard for food sources (especially animal). Plus it's disgusting and they're all bulimics. Should really be banned. Basically everything that's wrong with North America in a nutshell.
Really shows a lack of regard for food sources (especially animal). Plus it's disgusting and they're all bulimics. Should really be banned. Basically everything that's wrong with North America in a nutshell.
Really shows a lack of regard for food sources (especially animal). Plus it's disgusting and they're all bulimics. Should really be banned. Basically everything that's wrong with North America in a nutshell.
I don't get it. It makes me want to vomit every time I see a glimpse of it on TV. I wouldn't consider it a sport, but I have pretty strict rules about what I consider sports vs games. That doesn't cheapen one or the other. One is an athletic competition, the other is an entertaining skill.
