Joey Chestnut ate nearly 18,000 calories in just 10 minutes at hot dog eating championship

Well, he's done it again; Joey Chestnut has been crowned hot dog eating champion.

For a 16th year, the eating machine left his rivals in the dust, wolfing down an incredible 62 dogs at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.

And what's even more impressive than the sheer load of processed meat he was able to consume, Joey did it in just 10 minutes.

To put that kind of load into context, according to the manufacturer's health index, that amounts to a colossal 17,920 calories, or over a week's worth of grub.

But it's not just the calorific content that is quite stark, what about the fat, the salt, or the sugar?

Well, the recommended daily intake of sodium is just 2,300mg, Joey, on the the other hand, sunk an eye-watering 48,980mg.

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In terms or sugar, he had 124g of the stuff - recommended intake being 24g - while with fat, the competitive legend consumed 1,116g, which is really not good.

So as you can imagine, taking all this into consideration, it's a bit of a shock to the system.

Speaking about his unique lifestyle, Joey said: "Most people relate to feeling really bloated and tired after Thanksgiving. It's kind of like that, except really, really bad.

"People have told me they can smell the hot dogs.

"I really can't, but the sweat afterward, it feels sticky and greasy. My girlfriend says it smells different."

Letting fans in on the aftermath of a competition, Joey said it really takes it out of him.

"Afterward, I'm crazy exhausted, and usually my first thing is either I'm thirsty or I want to go to sleep. I usually take a nap as soon as I can," he explained.

"It's natural. If you eat a lot of food, you're going to go to the bathroom."

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Ahead of any contest, Joey takes his approach very seriously, cleansing his body of anything for two days so he's ready to consume the mountain of food.

He said: "My body knows that it's going to be digesting a massive amount of food really quickly, so I make sure it's easy to digest.

"It's hard on the body, there's no way around it."

But despite all the effort, he's got no plans to stop any time soon.

"As long as my body's cooperating, I can see myself doing it for years," Joey said.

"And one of these days someone is going to come — some absolute boss, man or woman — and challenge me, and I'm looking forward to it."

"I love the competition, and it's still exciting. Even if I end up getting beat, it would be really hard to walk away."

A true American hero.