My idea of a fine eating experience consists of a cooked hot dog, perhaps fresh off a roller grill at a convenience store, topped with pickle relish, fresh minced onion, and mustard (the regular yellow kind works just fine), all resting in a lightly toasted hot dog bun. A little sauerkraut would serve as an excellent complement. That first bite into a well-dressed hot dog produces a medley of delightful flavors that’s hard to beat.
I once read the list of ingredients on a package of hot dogs. These were generic dogs, not the high class fare such as Hygrade Ballpark Franks (100 percent beef). I don’t recall every ingredient, but I do remember sheep lips. I’d never considered what happens to a sheep’s lips after the animal is slaughtered. Why not grind them up and put them in hot dogs? They’re USDA inspected after all.
Health researchers identify processed meat products, including hot dogs, as increasing the risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers, not to mention premature death. I read that nitrate and nitrite additives give hot dogs their bad name. Ralph Nader famously labelled the hot dog as American’s most dangerous unguided missile.
I find myself in a quandary. I’ve written a book about healthy lifestyle choices, one of which is what I call Eat Better. Plus I write weekly blog posts and a monthly healthy lifestyle choices newsletter. Pretty much every relevant health study I’ve read has nothing good to say about hot dogs. But, given my fondness for hot dogs, I feel that I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth. Out of one side goes recommendations to avoid these unguided missiles, and into the other side slides a well-dressed hot dog.
Aside from being disingenuous, I certainly don‘t want to end up in my old age ravaged by diabetes, heart disease or cancer. I want to be able to finish walking the Continental Divide Trail, hike several of the Caminos in Europe, and ride my bicycle across southern Canada from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, and cycle the North American Traverse from Anchorage, Alaska, to Key West, Florida.
How can I deal with my hot dog affliction?
Here’s my solution: I’ll limit my hot dog intake to two dogs per quarter of each year, and only if I’m on a long-distance hiking or cycling adventure. The accompanying photo shows me devouring two dogs on the Continental Divide Trail. I rationalize that the strenuous exertions of hiking and cycling will (somehow) negate the ill effects of the hot dogs. And no banking dogs to the next quarter if I don’t eat my current quarterly quota. That means I can’t eat four dogs next quarter if I don’t eat any this quarter. Through the first quarter of 2025, I didn’t eat a single hot dog. Such virtue. My approach may sound simple-mined but sometimes simple steps can yield big rewards. I’ll report back at the end of 2025 with a follow-up blog post.
Seriously, I suspect that most of us enjoy eating items that never appear on lists of healthy foods. How about ice cream (smothered in chocolate sauce and topped with peanuts), cookies (chocolate chip made from the Toll House morsels recipe), candy bars (Snickers), pies (Key lime, lemon meringue, pecan, pumpkin, cherry)? It seems to me that having a treat every once in a while makes life more enjoyable. The trick is limiting the frequency and quantity of those treats. In a subsequent blog post, I’ll share how I learned to limit my ice cream consumption.
