Don't worry, he's a doctor

Eating a dozen glazed doughnuts in 90 seconds would make most people sick.

Consuming 39 burgers or more than 11 pounds of cranberry sauce in eight minutes would likely make them vomit.

But there's a growing breed of athletes who have made speed eating a professional sport.

Juris Shibayama, a 32-year-old orthopaedic surgeon, is among them.

The Wood Dale native has munched his way into a Major League Eating championship that will air Sunday on Spike TV during halftime of the Super Bowl.

The 30-minute show, taped in October in Las Vegas, will show Shibayama and seven other top eaters in the world chow down as much ham as they can stomach in eight minutes.

"It's like any other sport," Shibayama said Thursday. "You're pushing your body. Obesity and overeating is a lifestyle, not a sport. I do competitive eating as a sport. On the days I'm not training, I'm eating right and I'm exercising."

Shibayama, who graduated from the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora in 1992, works out at least six times a week. He's also a bodybuilder who has modeled for various health publications.

In the past month, he's been training for a chicken wing eating contest that takes place today in Philadelphia.

Training consists of eating 150 wings as fast as he can every three days. On training days, the only other thing he'll eat is a few protein shakes.

Does he want to vomit?

"You have to keep it down," said Shibayama, known as "Dr. Bigtime" in competitive eating circles. "That's what being a professional is all about."

But he admits seeing other athletes fall victim to the "reversal of fortune."

One opponent accidentally swallowed his own tooth after it became loose during a competition. Other competitive eaters have suffered injured jaws.

Shibayama never has had more than a stomach ache and chapped lips.

"When I ate 33 (hamburgers) for the first time, I felt horrible for like three hours," he said. "I had a stomach ache, felt lethargic. You don't feel good. But after training, I ate 29 burgers and I felt fine."

Shibayama never has won money. But top eaters have been known to earn as much as $80,000 a year in competitions.

Richard Shea, president of Major League Eating, said the popularity of the sport has grown immensely in the past decade.

"Its success has mirrored that of the New England Patriots," Shea said. "… People have a connection with food."

Shea admits some people still argue that competitive eating isn't a sport. But he points out that these athletes aren't the obese couch-potato types that may have been prevalent in the early days of the sport.

Many competitors are bodybuilders who compete in other sports, he said.

"Sometimes people think it's a bunch of fat frat boys competing," Shea said. "But the truth is that these guys are in killer shape. Totally cut. Many are power lifters, and they all work out."

• Visit Juris Shibayama's Web page at www.doctorbigtime.com

Juris Shibayama's competitive eating history:

• Oct. 20: 35 burgers in 8 minutes

• Oct. 10: 11.1 pounds of cranberry sauce in 8 minutes

• Oct. 9: 2.5 pounds of potato wedges in 8 minutes

• Sept. 9: 39 burgers in 8 minutes

• June 23: 18 hot dogs in 12 minutes

• June 9: 20.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes

• Sept. 17, 2006: 34 burgers in 8 minutes

• Sept. 10, 2006: 33 burgers in 8 minutes