What Joey Chesnut eats before the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest

So what does the reigning Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champion eat going into the big day?

Nothing, at least for two days before.

Joey Chestnut, in an appearance on MLB Network last week, laid out his diet going into the July 4th contest.

"I slowly eat less and less and make sure I'm empty the day of," he said. "Today (Friday) I'll have a pretty big salad and tomorrow will be less. And Sunday and Monday, nothing."

And the first thing he puts in his stomach after consuming a sickening amount of hot dogs?

"I'm thirsty," he said. "It's a lot of sodium. I'm drinking water that day, that night. I'm craving in the morning - or when I wake up later - I'm craving dairy."

Somehow, he said, the competition hasn't ruined his love of hot dogs.

"If I'm at a baseball game, it's hard to hold back (from eating them)," he said.