How to Eat More
Make room for the good stuff
Getting full after your first helping of Thanksgiving dinner is nearly as bad as getting bounced out of a bar at happy hour.
To find out how to eat more, we talked to Melvin Heyman, a gastroenterologist at the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, and Crazy Legs Conti, currently ranked 11th by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, and star of the documentary Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating. Though we do not recommend the unhealthy practice of stuffing oneself, here are some things to consider if you plan to.
Limber Up
Thanksgiving dinner is an incredibly sedentary activity. If you can build up a light sweat beforehand, what Conti calls “cardio before carbs,” you’ll be hungrier and mentally sharper for the challenge ahead. To train for eating competitions, Conti goes to the gym and stays in shape. Just don’t wear spandex to the table.
Avoid the Mashed Potatoes
The fattier the food, the longer it will take to break down in the stomach during the first phase of digestion. The less break-down, the less room for new foods to come in. Most fatty? “Often it’s mashed potatoes, because sometimes people put sour cream and butter in them,” says Heyman. Save mashers until the end, along with anything else swimming in butter or cream.
More Tips on How to Ace Thanksgiving
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How to Eat More (cont.)
Switch Food Groups
One of the biggest problems for competitive eaters is what Conti calls “flavor fatigue”; that is, getting sick of something you typically like after eating too much of it. Even at Thanksgiving, where there isn’t the pressure of a competition, tedium can creep up and knock you off your game when you least expect it. Conti recommends “working a rotation, like an artist’s palette,” in which you’re constantly switching among dishes. Alternating drier food with wetter food—say, turkey and cranberry sauce, or stuffing and gravy—serves the dual purpose of keeping things exciting and providing lubrication for items that might slow you down. “Weird dishes” like yams with mashed potatoes are, in Conti’s opinion, excellent items to turn to for novelty.
Don’t Fill Up on Liquids
There is an urban myth that you can actually “tamp” food down by drinking water in between courses, thus creating more room in your stomach. Heyman says this isn’t true, and in fact water can make you feel more full. Conti concurs. “It takes up too much stomach space.” Whatever you do, don’t drink carbonated beverages. They will potentially cause you to burp, or worse. “Although many people like beer during Thanksgiving, I would recommend wine, even if it has to be box wine,” says Conti.
How to Eat More (cont.)
Pace Yourself
When your stomach is full, it produces a hormone that lets your brain know. But there’s a lag time between when the hormone’s produced and when it’s received. “When you eat quickly, you don’t give the brain a chance to get signals from the stomach that it’s full,” says Heyman. So you don’t want to eat too slowly, or you’ll realize you’re full and hit the wall.
That said, you don’t want to eat too fast. In a regional hot dog eating competition in Seattle a few years ago, Conti was nearly beat by dark horse contestant Ray Meduna, who gobbled a blistering 14 hot dogs (and buns) to Conti’s 8 in the first eight minutes. However, Meduna got too full and almost barfed two-thirds of the way through the event, while Conti kept going and won. “The last four minutes, like one’s fourth serving at Thanksgiving, is where dreams are made, and realities broken,” says Conti. Verdict: Eat in a steady and determined fashion.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
“You want confidence,” says Conti. “There’s nothing wrong with picking up that Flintstone-like turkey leg and waving it around. It will only help your gamesmanship.”