Diet

I'm not sure if you like to tune in to the 4th of July Nathan's Famous hot dog eating competition. It's on ESPN now, so it's hard to miss.

CNN published a story about medical testing of these human vacuum cleaners.

Some of the findings aren't surprising. Competitive eaters, who often seem so thin on TV, often face obesity problems later in life.

Kobayashi, the Japanese man who has won the Nathan's Famous competition four out the past five years, is remarkably slender--although the article shows a picture of his distended stomach after last year's competition.

Doctors also studied this effect and found that some eaters have disabled their stomach's reflexes. While most people in the study got six after eating seven hot dogs, speed eater Tim Janus at 36 hot dogs in a 10-minute span before doctors shut down the study. They found that the peristalsis in his stomach--the process that keeps things moving down the digestive tract--had simply stopped during the eating, and that his belly resembled a woman in early pregnancy!

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend. Be moderate with the hot dogs but liberal with friendships and family and fun.