The South Carolina GOP served hash and old fashioned South Carolina barbecue tonight before Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich spoke at a town hall meeting and was asked about his health by a crowd member. Gingrich did not eat any barbecue this evening.

“You look to be in very good health and if you’re the president for the next eight years, I hope you can confirm that,” a lady in the audience said.

“To the best of my knowledge my health is fine. I have an annual physical,” Gingrich said. “I should lose weight, everybody who tells me I should lose weight, they are all correct. I just find it really hard to lose weight.”

Gingrich joked with the crowd that God wanted him to be a bear, not a gazelle. Gingrich said he has a lot of stamina when it comes to travel and sleep.

“I can tell you I can work on four or five hours of sleep a night and cat nap all day and I can go for 8 or 10 days on the road and it doesn’t seem to affect me.”

Gingrich said as a military child, he learned how to travel constantly.

“I’ve been doing it for virtually my entire life time, my dad was a career infantryman and as a very young person in an Army family I learned a great deal about how to sleep standing up, leaning against a wall because you just kept moving,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich said illness can strike any person, but he believes his current health is not a factor.

“I think my health is probably fine. Let’s be honest, you never know what could happen to somebody, but I think I’m in very good shape right now,” Gingrich said.