Food Challenges in Chicago

Who: Me

Where: Rock's Lakeview Chicago (link above).

When: June 21, 2018

What: 4 pounds of food total!

Why: I have always been a big fan of eating competitions. From hot dog eating contests to gruesome Fear Factor challenges, I find it amusing that people are willing to push their limits to accomplish a goal. I was also persuaded by my friends to do it...

How: First, I typed into Google browser "How to eat four pounds of food in 30 minutes." I found out that it is not as bad as it sounds. It is all about training your stomach. In the same way you train your body to run a Marathon, you can train your stomach to eat 4 pounds of food in less than 30 minutes.

Now, it does not sound too bad until you realize that certain foods can can increase gas levels in your stomach, hence bloating. As such, DO NOT attempt a challenge that contain foods that make you bloat right away. For me, I knew that none of the ingredients caused this problem. Thus, I only had to work on the technique to complete the challenge. As I read and scrolled through different online articles on how to tackle eating challenges, I realized that the key is to eat as fast as possible. In this way, you delay your body's signals to tell you to stop eating. When you are full and no longer want to eat, your gag reflex tells your brain to stop eating and induces a feeling to start throwing up.

When it comes to a burger eating challenge, the meat has to be eaten first. This is because meat hardens as it gets cold and it gets harder to chew and digest. The last thing you should eat is the bun or the fries. Buns, when combined with water, are easier to eat. Likewise, fries can be smashed and give you a mashed potatoes-like texture. Essentially, you are reducing the amount of chewing and as a result, less warnings are given to your body to stop eating. Along with these and other tips, I also watched a professional eater complete this same challenge. This was to give me an insight on how to tackle the challenge.

The day before the challenge, I ate 4 pounds of fruit. It gave me an idea of how heavy my stomach would get, but it was easy to do. On the day of the challenge, I only had a banana and water. Fun fact: I called my mom an hour before the challenge to assure myself that I could do this. As the hour approached, I started to get nervous.

Fast forward, I ordered the burger and the fun began. Not gonna lie, the burger looked 10 times bigger in person. I was scared but my friends started to cheer me on. For the first 12 minutes, I was over 80% done. I had followed every step that I had researched. I had finished three out of the four patties and had one patty, a bun, and the fries left. I was confident. Suddenly, my body started to tell me to stop eating. Every tiny piece of food felt like I was eating four pounds of food. I started to lose my focus. I got thirsty and compulsively started to chug water. THIS was my mistake. I had overlooked the fact that I was drinking too much water. A friend of mine told me stop drinking water, and it helped! I was able to finish the patty and the condiments but still had a bun and the pound of fries left. I proceeded with the fries. I started to smash them with my fingers. My friends looked disturbed, but I didn't care. I was focused and was determined to finish. I probably spent 15 minutes eating a pound of fries. I was reaching to an end, but I still had a pretzel bun left. Pretzel buns are dense and I could not see myself eating it. Instead, I did the unthinkable. I dipped the bun in the water. Gross, but that is also another tip I had read about. I struggled because at that point, my gag reflexes were telling me throw up, I could not eat nor drink anything anymore. I started to dip the pretzel bun in the water and started to eat. I had less than 1 minute left. I could not do it. I was ready to give up. Yes, I was so close but it felt so far away. Unexpectedly, the restaurant started to cheer me on. It motivated to eat the last piece of bread in the very last second. I was done. I could not believe it.

The manager came over to give me a shirt and took my picture. I was overwhelmed. At the same time, I started to feel nauseous. All I could smell was the smell of fried food. I felt nostalgic and I went outside for fresh air. The feeling was similar to the sickness you get after a long night of drinking... I managed not throw up. I went back inside the restaurant and told my friends that I needed to leave. We all left. I got home and could not sleep. Next day, I was still full l and did not eat again after 2 days later. I was back to normal. I had told myself that I would never do this again or that I would eat a burger again. I lied, I ate a burger two weeks later and I am currently thinking of my next challenge.

Questions/Comments: Submit them on my Contact page. Feel free to share your first food challenge experience!