What Do You Think About Competitive Eating?

Like any young hot-blooded American, my competitive nature was conditioned from an early age. I played almost every sport, worked hard, and excelled to beat out my competitors. Despite my competitive nature, I have mixed feelings about competitive eating. With a society that largely suffers from childhood obesity and unhealthy diets, does this so-called sport send the wrong message? When I was younger, like any growing boy, I could eat a ton. Due to nonstop sports I was always eating. I remember one night after wrestling practice everyone on the team met at Cheeburger Cheeburger. We competed with one another in a race to see who could eat the 1 lb burger the fastest, and perhaps, be daring enough to eat two. I ate two 1 pounders. I was lucky to have a high metabolism that a meal like that didn't affect my health in a drastic way. I initially enjoyed watching competitive eating, especially the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. It's truly a sight to see a person eating 60 plus hot dogs in 12 minutes. I have mixed views on this subject. As I previously stated it's interesting watching these trained eaters compete with one another. But, food is sustenance. Food gives us energy, keeps us healthy, and is meant to be enjoyed. By presenting this perspective on food and treating it merely as means to a competition, then we can lose respect for what we eat. I think competitive eating should not be glorified the way it is today. Do you think there's nothing wrong with a little hot dog eating contest? Are these competitions feeding our youth the wrong message?