"So hungry I could eat a horse!" - Could it be done?
Keywords:
Idiom, Biology, Metabolism, So hungry I could eat a horseAbstract
This paper investigates the feasibility of the idiom “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”. Three different sized horses were considered: an average ‘light’ horse (450 kg), a Shetland pony (204 kg) and a Falabella miniature horse (31 kg). Only the muscle mass of these horses was considered to be eaten, and the number of calories in each of the horse breeds was calculated to be 359,100 calories, 162,792 calories and 25,336.5 calories respectively. These values were compared to the guideline daily amount (GDA) of 2,000 calories. It was found that the idiom could only hold if the eater had an enormous appetite, such as a competitive eater who is able to eat up to 30,000 calories in a single sitting, and the horse was very small – only the Falabella would provide few enough calories to be able to be eaten in a single serving.
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