Does your plate count at that “all-you-can-eat” buffet leave you feeling embarrassed in front of your friends? With the Christmas period promising endless amounts of delicious food, it seems important to make sure that you can truly have your cake and eat it too.
Utilising the methods of competitive eaters may help in guaranteeing you can say yes to that extra piece of turkey. Eating forty hot dogs and buns in twelve minutes, the achievement of 7 stone Sonya Thomas, proves that you don’t have to be big to get the most of your meals. In fact, there is a theory in competitive eating circles that being too heavy causes adipose tissue to surround your abdomen and act like a ‘belt of fat’ preventing your stomach from stretching to its full capacity. Sonya and other competitive eaters cite a variety of different methods for preparing their stomach for the onslaught of an eating competition, with some even attributing their success to yoga.
Some choose the water chugging method, which perhaps obviously relies on drinking large amounts of water in order to relax the lower oesophageal sphincter. This makes the upper digestive tract act like a ‘hollow tube’ allowing large amounts of food to be consumed as quickly as possible cutting out vital seconds which would otherwise be ‘wasted’ chewing and swallowing.
The ability to relax the stomach muscles in order to accommodate more than the standard two handfuls of food, is achieved by consuming huge amounts of low calorie snacks and drinks. This trains the stomach to become used to being stretched. Cabbage, diet fizzy drinks and watermelon are all relied upon in order to achieve the sought after state where you can avoid vomiting, also known as the reversal of fortune. If weeks of downing water, boiled cabbage, and diet coke don’t appeal to you though, you could instead try the chipmunk method, puffing out your cheeks to cram in as much food as possible, or taking large bites followed by a sip of water to ease the food down into your stomach.
Unfortunately all these methods may leave family members fearing for your sanity and require a lot of preparation and commitment. According to the club of people who make over-eating their bread and butter however, they will help you choke down that Christmas dinner and find room for more.
Dominic Reed