Joey Chestnut ate 68 hot dogs at the Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island this week.

He took home $10,000 for his eating triumph and also took in more 20,000 calories.

Who knows how many milligrams of sodium and how many preservatives he ingested.

I’m assuming you won’t be eating that many hot dogs at one time, but you should still be careful when going for the dog.

Hot dogs are highly processed, full of sodium and lack nutrients. Your best bet at your next cookout is to choose unprocessed meat like chicken, fish or beef.

But if you’re craving a hot dog remember these stats:

One beef or pork hot dog has over 500 mg of sodium, according to Calorie King. Although turkey dogs have fewer calories, they have over 100 more mg of sodium than the beef or pork dogs.

Take a look at the ingredient lists of a regular hot dog. A regular hot dog has up to 20 ingredients! A handful of those ingredients are preservatives.

I remember loving hot dogs as a kid, but I haven’t had one in years because I no longer eat beef or pork and I also try to stay away from highly processed foods.

But I was recently talking to my cousin, Kristi, who sticks to a clean diet (no processed foods). She mentioned eating Applegate Farms sausages, which are free of preservatives and artificial ingredients. I had heard of the brand, but never saw it at my local grocery stores and I never investigated to see if other brands with similar nutrition stats existed.

Since the 4th of July was coming up, I started checking the ingredient list of every turkey and chicken sausage on the shelves of the grocery stores around here. Although there weren’t many options, I did find one brand that makes an all natural chicken dog!

An all natural version will have less than 10 ingredients and no artificial ingredients or preservatives.

Look for these brands when purchasing hot dogs:

All Natural al fresco Chicken Sausage - These come in flavors like Roasted Garlic, Roasted Pepper Asiago, Sundried Tomato and Sweet Apple. I had the Roasted Garlic and it was delish!

Aidells Dinner Sausage - This brand makes flavors like Artichoke and Garlic, Spinach and Feta, Pineapple and Bacon and tons of others.

Bilinski’s - These all natural sausages come in Apple Chardonnay, Mild Italian, Pesto Romano, Spinach and Garlic and more.

Applegate Farms Super Natural Beef, Chicken or Turkey Hot Dogs

Coleman Natural Chicken Sausage - This brand makes Spicy Chipotle, Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic, Spinach and Feta, Sundried Tomato Basil and other flavors.

For more info on what’s in a hot dog, check this out: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2011/07/02/whats-in-your-wiener-hot-dog-ingredients-explained/