Hundreds of hot dogs can blame their digestion on Dragonfly restaurant's California rolls.
About four years ago former UF student and soccer team manager Hall "Hoover" Hunt stumbled into the restaurant as a joke for a sushi eating contest. He made it to the finals of the contest, but wasn't able to go as he had a road game with the soccer team.
His competitors in the finals should have thanked whoever made the Gators' schedule. Hunt, the No. 8 Major League Eater in the world, recently competed in the annual Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog eating contest and demolished 30 dogs in 10 minutes. And he was disappointed.
"I was very happy with the position, but as far as the actual number I was extremely disappointed," Hunt said of his sixth-place finish. "It wasn't even my personal best. I was hoping to get about 10 more."
At least he had a nice basket of chicken fingers and French fries after the contest to make him feel better. He was still hungry.
Let's change your view of professional eaters, though. Just more than a week after the Nathan's contest, Hall ran a 26.2-mile marathon with a bad knee.
"Doctors say I should probably get my knee scoped," he said.
He still finished the race in just more than five hours.
And Hall, just 185 pounds, is also a member of MENSA, an engineer and a devoted Christian.
It's probably easier just to let him explain how one gets these habits.
"I just really enjoy eating and traveling," he said.
His personal records are 23 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes and 33 Krystals in 8 minutes. He also has participated in the Alka-Seltzer US Open.
Before Hunt started this eating binge, he actually considered himself a slow eater. He always ate his fair share, but it was a slow and steady movement. What's the key to getting food down quicker then?
"I had to break the old habit of chewing 20 times before you swallow," he said.
That would help.
Except for the fact that your stomach probably doesn't take kindly to having unchewed food rushed into your system. Orlando-based nutritionist Tara Gidus, who has spoken on the potential effects of competitive eating, said they don't know exactly what can happen because they don't want to make a test subject go through that. Several logical guesses can be made, however.
"We can guess that putting that much food into your system is not healthy," she said. "It can potentially cause some gastric problems in the future if you're really doing a lot of competitive eating."
The throat only has so much room to have food shoved down, too.
"There's potential with choking with the hot dog or really anything that you're eating," Gidus said. "Then obviously it's a large amount of calories all at once."
The engineer in Hunt, however, does what he can to keep himself healthy. Before the marathon Hunt said he has plenty of liquids to get rid of extra electrolytes so he can reach a suitable body equilibrium again.
The trio of running, eating and his job causes the daily planner to be used a lot.
"A very detailed calendar down to the minute for every day pretty much," he said on how he balances everything.
Hunt's considered one of the top young eaters in the profession. But Gainesville wasn't named one of ESPN's top 20 TitleTown's based on just potential. Gators want to be the best in everything, and Hunt doesn't consider competitive eating to be an exception.
"Gator fans are pretty spoiled," he said. "If you don't win a championship, you're considered just okay."
