The Nathan's Famous annual hot dog eating competition is today at Coney Island, where all qualifying competitive eaters will stuff-their-faces off in pursuit of the yellow prize belt, a new world record and the chance to beat the number one ranked eater in the world, Takeru Kobayashi. Kobayashi's record stands at 53.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Nutritionally speaking, that comes out to be a week's worth of calories in those few minutes. Mark, who runs CalorieLab, sent me this intriguing nutritional label that breaks down exactly what the eaters will be trying to consume to break that record: 16,532 calories; 1,077 grams of fat (415g saturated); 1,605mg cholesterol and 36,596mg sodium. On the plus side, the eaters will be getting a fair amount of fiber, calcium and iron in those few minutes.

Check out the whole piece, with further details, at CalorieLab news.

As disturbed as I am at the thought of eating that much food in one sitting, I'm still curious to see who wins. Very curious. If I had to guess, I think that it will be Kobayashi again. I'm still pulling for the up-and-coming Joey Chestnut, whose participation will make for a very interesting match because he managed to set a new American record by eating 50 hot dogs in his qualifier.

Anyone else care to hazard any guesses about the winner?

Diet is definitely a word with a capital "D". It strikes fear into the hearts, stomachs and mouths of many who associate the word with dry, flavorless rice cakes and endless bowls of cabbage soup. But fear not: there are more than a few dieting blogs to help get you through the new year without any new pounds.

• On Slashfood, we ran a Healthy New Year series of posts with tips to get you through your day: breakfast, bringing a lunch to work, eating lunch out, snacking, tasty dinners and worry-free desserts.
• Hungry Girl offers advice, diet tips and tricks and a few of her own recipes to help you lose any lingering holiday pounds.
• Calorie Lab has a calorie counter, BMI calculator and an up-to-the-minute health news section.
• I Ate a Pie reviews any and all "healthy" diet foods, from low-carb to fat-free.
• Diet-Blog tracks down any and all diet trends, truths and lies. It's a great source for diet-related news.
• Kalyn's Kitchen is the blog of a dedicated low-carber, who puts together lots of easy to follow recipes with great photos.
• Baking Low Fat has - you guessed it - a collection of low-fat baked goods, from breads to brownies.

These are not even a small percentage of all the blogs and websites that regularly or occasionally cover dieting and healthy eating, but they're a good place to start. If you want to start with a few recipes of your own, check out the Low Carb and Healthy Living sections of Allrecipes, for inspiration.