Guinness World Record; How many Big Macs can YOU eat?

When I was a kid, I really wanted to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. One of my friends won a copy in some kind of school competition, and that sparked an interest in me. I wanted to be featured in that book some day. For a while, I wondered what I could do to make it into the book, but most of those things required time. Lots and lots of time. I could not cut my hair for decades, or live to be the oldest person on the planet. Patience, or there lack of, was a bit of an issue. I wanted to be famous right there and then. That would require me to have extreme expertise in some pretty peculiar activities. Being able to hold my breath for longer than anyone else was out of the question. Sadly, I did not discover any hidden talents that might help me in my quest for world record breaking. My body was not unusual, either. I was not the tallest, or the shortest, or the hairiest.

A couple of years later, I heard about group World Records. Those are events (sometimes organized around the world), during which groups of people do the same activity at the same time. This was something I considered participating in, but then quickly realized that it was not individualistic enough for me. I, personally, would not be recognized as extraordinary. I would be just another sheep in the crowd. Sure, it would still be a fun experience to participate in, but somehow, the timing was never right for me (It never happened near me when I was available.).

Today’s post is sponsored by McDonald’s. No, not really. I feature them for free because of the guy, who ate their food and broke a world record. (If you work for McD’s and are able to make important decisions, feel free to send me some sponsorship money.)

A couple of months shy of two years ago, Donald Gorske broke a Guiness World Record by eating his 28,788th Big Mac. In October of last year he hit the 29,482nd mark. On May 4th, 2018, he beat his own record by eating his 30,000th Big Mac. This “milestone” was achieved at the same location he bought his 1st Big Mac in 1972. Ever since then, he has been eating two Big Macs a day. He would buy them in bulk and then reheat them. (I wonder if he has any genius reheating ideas, because whenever I would reheat a hamburger it would turn out awful.) Donald estimates that it would take him 14 years to reach 40,000. He is currently 64 years old.

He has been eating two Big Macs almost every day for the past 44 years. He only took 8 days off in his Big Mac quest. Donald reports that his cholesterol and blood pressure are within normal levels and he ways less than he did 7 years ago (5, 000 Big Macs ago).

Because he is such a McDonald’s sensation, I expected him to get some kind of discounts on the food, but supposedly he pays the same price as everyone else who buys Big Macs. I was curious about proof. I could try and say that I have been eating 3 Snickers bars every day since I turned 10, and hope people believed me. However, this guy has actual proof. He saves receipts, wrappers and boxes. 7,000 pieces of proof got destroyed in a tornado in 1990. Are we really sure he had them in the first place?

Apparently, this guy is a huge fan, since he even knows when McD’s switched to shredded lettuce. So if he enjoys that kind of food so much, you might want to know how he came to skip eating Big Macs 8 days out of the last 44 years. The first incident happened in the 80s, when he drove to get some hamburgers during a snowstorm, only to discover the restaurant was closed. A few years later, he skipped a day per his mother’s request. She asked him to not eat a Big Mac on the day she dies to commemorate her. Unfortunately, I do not have any info on the other 6 (or so) days he went without eating it.

When I read stories like that one, I cannot stop, but try to figure out what drives people to do such things? How do you wake up one day and decide to eat the same thing every day for the rest of your life? It would be really interesting to ask him some of these questions I wonder about. Was he like me – trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records? Or did the desire for that come with time? Or is it just a by-product of his love for hamburgers? If he did try to beat the record, how did he settle on this one? Did he open the book on a random page? Did someone suggest that to him?

How is he not tired of eating the same stuff every day for so many decades? I guess that is for him to know, and for us to maybe never find out. Would YOU be able to eat one thing for the rest of your life? If so, what would it be? Because, I personally, do not think there is anything that I would not get sick of at some point.

Now that I sit here writing this post, I wonder. There is still time for me to try and break a record. And maybe it should even be a group one. What about breaking a record of having the most people blog at the same time? That might be hard to measure/ verify, but it sounds like an interesting idea to me. We would set a date and time (time zone issues) during which people from all over would sit down and write a blog post for an x amount of minutes. I think giving everyone a prompt/ theme would make it even more thrilling. Afterwards, we could all read one another’s work. Or maybe just give a window of x amount of hours for anyone to participate under a selected hashtag and then see how many people participated. Just throwing my creative idea out there.

I wonder if that could be a record worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records. Let me know what you think. Are you already featured in the Book?

Stay golden,

.

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