• Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas
• Stretching stomachs
• Tricking brains
Sonya Thomas is fired up like a boxer before a big bout. She’s bouncing on the spot, her eyes focused, her breathing deep and controlled. The crowd roars as the 100-pound woman is introduced and takes a seat beside a guy who weighs at least 250 pounds. It’s go time. Thomas’s hands move like rockets and her jaw chomps furiously.
When the 2010 Norfolk, Va., contest is over, her hands fire up in celebration. She just ate 34.5 hot dogs and buns, crushing her competition by 20.5. But this is no surprise; Thomas had become the world’s No. 4–ranked competitive eater — tops among women — an eating machine known as “The Black Widow” because she’s small but deadly. She later went on to win the women’s division at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2011, ’12, and ’13, setting a record in 2012 by downing 45 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. “I really like food,” she says, laughing. Well, that may be true. But there’s a lot more to it.
A competitive eater’s stomach can expand to about four times the size of a regular person’s, according to a study conducted by Dr. Marc Levine, chief of gastrointestinal radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Levine, who used an X-ray procedure to examine the stomach of a competitive eater as he downed as many hot dogs as he could in 10 minutes, was shocked at his findings.
The pro eater’s stomach fit 36 hot dogs — and he wanted more — by turning into a massive sack that had the capacity to grow until it filled most of his upper- and mid-abdomen. A 29-year-old who had a flat stomach before the experiment, he looked seven months pregnant afterwards. Normal eaters (read: you) can’t do this. Levine likens a regular Joe winning a competitive eating contest to a non–figure skater pulling off a triple axel.
What Levine found is competitive eaters experience little, if any, gastric peristalsis. This is that process in an average person while eating:
1. The stomach muscles contract to break down food
2. The food travels to the small intestine, where digestion and absorption occur
3. But first enters the duodenum by being squeezed through the pyloric sphincter
Those three steps create a resistance in most people so the stomach can’t expand beyond its limit. But competitors like Thomas train their digestive systems to go beyond the norms by eating massive meals and drinking lots of liquids to stretch their stomachs over time.
While Levine admits watching a pro eat two hot dogs at a time was “pretty impressive,” he also warns of the dangers. Since competitive eaters trick their brains and turn off the “I’m full” reflex, they risk obesity and the health problems that come with it. He worries the stomach could also be stretched so many times that it never retracts. “It can’t be healthy in the long run to live like that.”
Thomas admits her best competitive days are behind her, but is set to be on the Coney Island stage for the 15th consecutive year at the 2017 Nathan’s contest. “Eating like that all the time, can you imagine?” she says. “Gross.”