How to stay in control at the buffet?

Isn't that such a foolish question? A few of my friends at Experience Project think so. After all, who would go to a buffet with an object not to eat freely? Quite the opposite indeed. In the past, going to the buffet meant eating as much as I want. Well, things gotta change.

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine recently published an article to help with this. It suggests two strategies that may help dieters survive a smorgasbord. This is a complicated issue. And some researchers manage to narrow the subject down to 2 tactics:

1. Picking up a smaller plate and
2. Circling the buffet before choosing what to eat.

I'm not sure how this can work but to start off they go against a 2 facts:  unlimited menu options and customer prepaid for the food. 

If you are into this, you will have to win over your craving and desires. Also, to go in trying to eat less than portions you already paid for is counter intuitive. The obvious problem is when faced with a variety of food at one sitting, people tend to eat more.  "It is the temptation of wanting to try a variety of foods that makes it particularly hard not to overeat at a buffet," says Rachel Begun, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She was not involved with the new study.

"People often say that the only way not to overeat at a buffet is not to go to a buffet," said Wansink, a psychologist who studies the environmental cues linked to overeating. "But there are a ton of people at buffets who are really skinny. We wondered: What is it that skinny people do at buffets that heavy people don't?"

Still, some people don't overeat at buffets, and that made study author Brian Wansink, director of the food and brand lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., wonder how they restrain themselves.

Clues in this study revealed key differences in how thinner and heavier people approached a buffet. "Skinny people are more likely to scout out the food. They're more likely to look at the different alternatives before they pounce on something," Wansink said. "Heavy people just tend to pick up a plate and look at each item and say, 'Do I want it? Yes or no.'"

I approached this article with a heavy dose of skepticism folks. But now I am reconsidering the results. In the past, I did better at the buffet by taking my time and scanning the buffet table before selecting what I wanted. Conscious selection and clear portion helped me from getting excess about of food onto my plate. 

However, whenever possible, I would not go to a buffet unless I have to. Sometimes you're out with a family or a group of friends who want to go to a buffet. In those instances you won't have much choice. So then the tactics above may help you survive the occasion.

~Susan Le