Buzz
When the pumpkin pies make their way to the table, and you're already feeling full from stuffing, you might envy those with mega-capacity stomachs. The legendary ability of competitive eaters to consume enormous amounts of food could be within reach for others—if they started practicing weeks in advance.
According to STAT, dieters do see their stomachs shrink over time, and binge eaters typically have a greater stomach capacity. Competitive eaters, known for winning hot dog eating contests, 'train' in part by consuming massive amounts of water to stretch their stomachs.
Competitive eaters can train their stomachs to expand and stretch far beyond the average limit,” explained Dr. Marc Levine, chief of gastrointestinal radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, who has studied stomach stretching. 'The entire abdomen becomes a massive, flaccid sack that can hold extraordinary volumes of food.'
Dr. Levine had both a competitive eater and an average person try eating barium-dipped hot dogs for an X-ray study. The competitive eater’s stomach expanded to fit 36 hot dogs, causing him to appear as though he were carrying a full-term pregnancy.
Even if there’s no time left for training, there are other ways to push past the limits if you’re determined to stuff down the stuffing (though we wouldn’t advise it). For more on what competitive eaters can teach us about ignoring those 'stop eating' signals, check out the link below—and think about applying the reverse techniques to feel full with less.
Image by Annibale Carracci via Wikipedia
