I watched a special on the Travel Channel the other night about fast food in America. Boy! Let me tell you something: It’s no wonder we are such a fat society. The funny thing about watching the show was that they kept referring to Twinkies as an American Icon, or something to that effect.

The next show I watched had to do with the Hot Dog, another great American food icon. The show traveled around the country showing overweight people stuffing their faces with hot dogs topped with their regions unique toppings. Don’t get me wrong, I don't mean to cast dispersions upon the hot dog, but the way that we make it and dress it is a recipe for great taste and great big heart attacks.

The hot dog is not inherently evil. In fact if you will indulge me for a moment, I will take the hot dog out of it’s familiar environment, redress it and bring it back in front of your eyes as a healthier but just as tasteful meal. Lets start with the dog itself.

First lets get the meat in the dog from an animal that isn’t grain fed, caged and tortured its whole life. Let’s start with the buffalo and the wild boar. Take the meat from them and wrap it in a natural casing. Take some fresh spices like dill, oregano, basil or anything that to suite your taste, as long as it is directly from a plant. Now you have a dog that is full of vitamins and nutrients rather than fats and steroids. Here is a dog to be proud of. A dog that will give a person the proper protein and fat to help them perform their duties during the day rather than make them clutch at their chests at night.

Let’s move on to the bun (The second greatest offender). Let’s go get some whole grain from a farmer and grind it in a stone mill, just like they used to before Wonder Bread (I Wonder what the heck is really in that stuff). Lets make that stone ground whole wheat into a bun. Ahh…that’s better.

Now you have a nice juicy dog, stuffed with all natural meat from an animal that has had proper nutrition all it’s life, the right amount of exercise and who has been grazing in pastures out in the fresh air and sunshine. You have a dog that is stuffed with natural herbs and spices directly from the plant itself and a bun that is made the way that it used to be made, without the germ of the wheat or the hull of it being stripped and bleached away.

We are not done yet. We have to replace the toppings. Lets take a nice piece of cheese. How about a piece of goat cheese from a goat that has a similar diet and bringing up as the buffalo and boar. This goat has been out their in the pastures, running and prancing and having the time of it’s life. Compare this to a cow that has been injected with bovine growth hormone and locked up most of its life in a pen so that it can be milked. Crumble some of that cheese on the dog. Take some cucumbers, onions, peppers and sun dried tomatoes that have been soaking in an Extra Virgin Olive Oil marinade, all chopped up into tiny bits that are conducive to the size of a hot dog and it’s bun. Sprinkle some sea salt on it and there you have it…a perfect hot dog! This is the kind of hot dog that will give you sweet dreams and good intestinal function, rather than bad breath and pounding headaches