Maintaining Your Diet at the Buffet Table

If everyone carried little comic thought bubbles above their heads near buffets, I wouldn’t be surprised to find these statements inside them.

“I didn’t eat lunch. That means more room for buffet dinner!”
“I’m on a diet – I guess I’ll eat salad with all that dressing first.”
“They might run out – let me get a big plate!”
“I’ll only eat the expensive stuff. Haha.”
“Oh good, buffet. I’ll diet tomorrow!”

It does seem rather unfair that you need to take 5,000 steps to burn through a single hot dog. Just think of what gorging yourself at the buffet table will do to your diet. Burning off what you ate at the buffet table will take many more times that – it could take hours upon hours of exercise. But how do you maintain your diet faced with a feast of epic proportions?

Slices of Genius

You can still enjoy every little thing at a buffet without pigging out. Here are some quick tips:

1. Don’t go to the event hungry.
Do not skip meals just because you know there will be much food later in the day.  Binge eating is a practice best left for Arctic expeditions. Hunger pangs will inspire you to eat more than you need to.

2. Don’t sit near the buffet table.
It’s a normal reaction to eat more when it’s all so close at hand. Pick one morsel of each dish, walk away and face your friends. Socialize, eat slowly and enjoy yourself.

3. Take a look at the buffet table and make a mental note of the dishes that you will get.
Selecting low calorie food may be hard for someone on a weight management plan. Knowing what you like to have beforehand also saves time.

4. Take small portions on a small plate.

Getting a small portion of each dish will satisfy your curiosity as well as control your appetite. What’s a bit? About the size of the smallest circle you can make with your index finger and thumb. This will also help you maximize your buffet experience, because you can go back for seconds (wait for 15 minutes) and only get what you really want.

5. Drink water in between cocktails and other drinks.
Soda and wine can greatly bulk up your calorie count for the day. Try to limit them when you can.

6. Restrain your servers!
Someone might be cutting up meat slices or cooking omelet’s on the spot. Don’t be afraid to ask for less oil in your pasta, less cheese, a smaller slice of meat, or no fatty dressing.

Despite all this advice, do enjoy yourself. It’s not often you’ll get to try such a wide array of food. Try to think of it as an exercise in balancing flavor instead of an excuse to overeat. For example, pair smoked salmon with salads, and a little sparkling white wine. The lemon wedges that come with the salmon will replace the salad dressing you would have added – and these dressings (thousand island, honey mustard) often have mayo, sugars or other fatty things. If you turn dining into an art, you’ll discover you enjoyed your meal more than had you mixed everything up into a mess on your plate.

See You At The Buffet!

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