The Big Wiener, Part II

I happen to know someone who went to the baseball game this week and had THREE chicago style jumbo hot dogs - with chips!!! These were all foot-longs, covered in onions and relish, no cheese or chili from what I could tell (I was emailed a picture of one, and honestly just can't get a visual on eating THREE!). You know me, I had to go online and find out just how bad these were from a nutrition standpoint - and I could hardly find anything; I would have thought someone would have analyzed this down to a T. The best information I could come up with was that an average foot-long dog was around 300 calories and 20 grams of fat (so 180 fat calories of fat - in one). Except for the fact that hot dogs are made from "an assortment" of beef, turkey and/or chicken parts (and these particular ones were probably "all beef" assorted parts), and full of fat and sodium, if you just had ONE without the cheese or chili you could keep this to under 500 calories (including the bun and condiments) - which is actually what you want. Now, I myself went to a game this week also, and most everyone I saw eating a hot dog (and there were a lot) were eating a regular hot dog with mustard and relish; initially I couldn't help but think how unhealthy those were, but now I feel a little better. I still wouldn't have one, but it's okay if you do...While I was researching all this, I came across some interesting facts: 1) The Dodgers sell the most hot dogs, followed by the Rockies and the Cubs; 2) They were first served at the Worlds Fair in 1904; a sausage vendor asked his brother (who was a baker) to come up with something sturdy that would hold a sausage; 3) Babe Ruth once ate 24 hot dogs between games of a double-header; and 4) one out of three people eat hot dogs at a baseball game - in fact, a real baseball fan wouldn't even consider going to a game and not having a hot dog. And, there is some etiquette involved - a standard dog gets eaten in five bites, a foot-long in seven; the condiments go on the dog and not the bun, and start with mustard and chili (please don't), followed by relish and onions, and end with the cheese (I wouldn't do that either...); and you have to eat the whole thing. So, go ahead, have one - but if you have three foot-longs with all that extra stuff, you are going to pay for it later in a much worse way than whatever it cost you to buy it in the first place. If I were you, I'd stick to the roasted peanuts! Melissa