This must be one of the greatest ironies on earth. The nation that has more people who are morbidly obese and has created a reality show for shedding weight also happens to have a contest to see who can shove the most hot dogs in his or her gob in 10 minutes. I mean, who really cares? Joey Chestnut, apparently. He ate 54 of them to win the all-you-can-eat sprint for the second year in a row. There’s also the small matter of the $20,000 he took away as his prize. That should buy him enough Alka-Selzter to hold him until next year.
The annual, July 4th event has been held on Coney Island for the past 95 years, however, something like one billion people in the world today are starving; and worse still, even more than that are piling on the pounds like there’s no tomorrow. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet.
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Both Mr Chestnut (what a name for a foodie) and Nathan’s, the company sponsoring the event, ought to be ashamed of themselves. There are at least 53 other people in the world who would have savored every morsel, but instead went to bed without eating anything.
Bruce Hoag, PhD, CPsychol
Work Psychologist
