COMPETITIVE EATER NOT HUNGRY ANYMORE

Takeru Kobayashi, the Japanese competitive eating legend who once won six consecutive Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contests (2001-2006), is retiring from food challenges because he’s no longer hungry. The 46-year-old Kobayashi spent more than two decades chowing down on hot dogs and other highly processed foods, earning him worldwide fame and an income of up to $650,000 per year. But in recent years, Kobayashi says his appetite started to wane and he now never feels hunger at all. He once went three days without eating. He’s announced his retirement in the new Netflix documentary “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut” after doctors discovered his brain had become repelled by highly processed foods. He says, “When you eat too much, you lose the ability to smell the food, and you also ignore signals from your body, such as feeling full. I want to repair my brain and gut.” Kobayashi is now focusing on eating more nutritious foods in much smaller portions to try to rewire his brain.
* And the world’s all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants breathe a sigh of relief. His toilet, too.
* In fact, he wrote a personal letter of apology to Red Lobster for taking unfair advantage of their all-you-can-eat shrimp thing.
* He’s got, like, four refrigerators he needs to sell off, too.
* I once went three days without eating … any vegetables.
* His brain became repelled by highly processed foods? I guess that’s something that genetically can’t happen with Americans.