Though I’d have to put this in the “no surprise” bucket, there are some interesting tidbits to glean from a recent study of all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets by researchers at Cornell University. You might wonder whether a leading institution doesn’t have more important things to do than researching all-you-can-eat buffets…but, in fact, given that obesity is a risk factor for several chronic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes and has been linked to some cancers, it’s quite important.
In the observational study, researchers (trained to estimate weight and height of diners) fanned out to 11 all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurants around the country, where they analyzed the dining habits of 213 people. They found that overweight or obese buffet visitors were more likely than normal-weight diners to…
• Sit at tables, not booths—which made their return trip to the buffet easier…
• Face the buffet while eating…
• Use large rather than small plates…
• Serve themselves immediately rather than browsing the buffet…
• Use forks rather than chopsticks…
• Chew less and clean their plates.
These results were published in the August 2008 edition of the research journal Obesity.
All these factors can lead people to overeat without even realizing it, warns study coauthor Collin R. Payne, PhD, who is now an assistant professor of marketing at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. Conversely, by making an effort to be more aware of what you consume, you can eat more healthfully—even at a Chinese buffet. To that end, Dr. Payne recommends the following strategies…
• Decide ahead of time what and how you will eat. Set ground rules for yourself—for instance, start with a plate of vegetables or skip dessert.
• Don’t make unlimited food access easy. Sit far away, don’t face the buffet tables.
• Exercise portion control, using visual reminders. For instance, a reasonable serving size of meat consists of three ounces, about the size of a deck of cards, although many of us routinely scarf down as much as eight ounces at a sitting.
• Choose a small plate instead of a large one. It’s hard to shed that childhood lesson about cleaning your plate.
• Don’t eat family-style. When dining at home, hand round individual plates from the kitchen rather than placing generous serving platters on the dining table.
• Take the time to chew food thoroughly rather than simply gulping it down. Mealtime should not be a race to see who can eat the most the fastest.
• Limit yourself to one serving only. If at a buffet, visit the table once…and only once. Take reasonable amounts of what you want to eat, and savor it. Don’t rush back for seconds.
An all-you-can-eat buffet is not about eating to get your money’s worth—health problems relating to obesity cost lots more in the long run. Not only that, but people routinely spend millions on diet pills and plans in futile efforts to lose weight, Dr. Payne notes. Consider such a restaurant an opportunity to sample little bits of many dishes, something like a sampling bar. Conscious awareness of what you put in your mouth can go a long way toward healthful weight management.
