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Dining out, especially at buffets poses lots of problems with people trying to lose weight. It's often a set up for failure. Does it have to be? Can you lose weight and eat frequent buffets?
Dr Lipman's Nine Suggestions for Buffet Eating:
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Find a table as far away from the food as possible. The farther the distance the less likelihood of going for seconds or thirds. It’s the old rule, out of sight our of mind.
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No single grazing rule: -no one goes grazing by themselves or eats while another member of the party is out grazing.
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SLOW DOWN.
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Some overweight people eat far too much when no one is looking. Use the smallest plate you can find and place on it only 2 choices at a time. It’s okay to go back for seconds, but remember only 2 choices on a plate. When it comes to dessert use a coffee cup size plate. Remember only 1 trip for dessert. fruits should be one of the choices.
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SLOW DOWN. You don’t want to be done in 20 minutes.
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Always start with something filling, such as a soup or salad. Pile the plate high with vegetables and fruits.
- Don’t eat what you can get at home; try new foods, especially the sea foods.
- Save your dessert, but always use a small plate and never go back for second deserts.
- SLOW DOWN AGAIN- you are not waiting for a food server to pick up the order
or for the kitchen to complete all the food for the table. You can finish n 15 minutes
Don't expect to find low fat or low carb food at a buffet. It really doesn't matter when the diner eats massive portions and makes 2 or 3 trips to buffet table. As a place to get fat, buffets even outrank the pizza parlor. Overweight people eat differently in a buffet than thin people.
Whether it’s on a cruise, at a Las Vegas casino, or a wedding, just the word ”buffet” should ring a warning bell in the dieter’s brain - danger a head. If it’s not free it certainly is cheap and it’s very easy to overeat since you are getting such a great deal. More food for less money or no money at all —that’s what food addict’s love.
Here are the 4 important Reasons You Need to Remember to Keep You From Gaining Weight:
Greater Assortment and Choices:
People will pick a greater assortment of foods from a buffet, in larger amounts than they would ever order from a waiter. Maybe its shame of ordering high calorie foods from the waiter or eating the foods in front of spouses or friends or maybe it’s the cost.
No Time to Feel Full:
The usual delay of ordering your food, and waiting for the delivery of each course is blurred. Things happen too quickly. You have no time to feel full from your soup and salad at a buffet before you are up looking for the main course. The whole meal, can be over in 20 minutes without ever feeling full. When food is delivered by a waiter in courses, the diner has a better chance to feel full making the whole dining experience seem longer than it actually is.
Natural Inhibitions to Overeating Are Blurred:
No one really knows who is eating what at a buffet, since there is so much wandering around. In a group of four diners, often one or two are up at a time obtaining seconds and thirds while two are eating. Socially it's acceptable to pile the food on plate since everyone is doing it.
It’s Free or Almost Free:
Everyone wants a great deal, and a buffet is the best place to get it. All the food you can eat, no restrictions on the portion size or the number of choices. So much food and so little room in your stomach.
How to navigate through a buffet without gaining weight and still have FUN: Dr Brian Wansink's
"Rule of 2:"
Dr Brian Wansink, in his book Mindless Eating reports on the behavior of thin and overweight people eating at a buffet. The heavier person tends to use larger plates, sits closer to the buffet table and starts eating immediately rather than cruising around to see what is available. Here are Dr Wansink statistics:
- 71% of normal weight diners browsed the buffet before eating, vs. 33% of obese diners.
- 27% of normal weight dinners sat close to the buffet as compared to 42 % of overweight ones.
- The average distance of overweight dinners was 16 feet from the buffet.
- Normal weight people chewed their food 15 times vs. 12 times for obese dinners.
The Rule of "2:"
In Mindless Eating, Dr Wansnik, suggests the "Rule of 2" for buffet eating: putting only two food choices on each plate at a time. He says even going back for seconds and thirds the Rule of 2, works because the portions are smaller when not overloading the plate with a single item. Since there are only 2 choices often the dinner will start with dessert rather than working up to it. Dr Wansnik noted that 83% of people who were following the Rule of 2 went back only one or two times after the first trip.
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You Dieting! 
