How to Avoid Overeating at the Lunch Buffet
Posted on: 13 July 2017
If you're on a diet or just trying to watch your waistline, then eating at a lunch buffet can be a challenge. However, if you dine out with coworkers or family members and everyone else wants to visit the buffet, you may not really have a choice. Thankfully, there are some strategies you can use to avoid overeating at a lunch buffet, like Crico's Pizza & Subs. Here's a look.
Start with salad
Salad usually makes an appearance at most lunch buffets. Before you reach for any other dishes, fill your plate up with salad and munch away. Make sure you only include low-calorie, healthy ingredients like greens, carrots, and fruits -- not fatty toppings like bacon and cheese. Use a low-calorie dressing, too. Eating a salad will fill you up so you are not as tempted to gorge on the higher-calorie buffet options. Plus, since eating salad takes a while, it will keep you busy throughout most of the meal so you don't have as long to consider over-indulging.
Use a smaller plate
After you enjoy your salad, you can go back up to the buffet and choose a few more items to eat. Try doing so on a smaller salad plate rather than on a larger dinner or lunch plate. It takes a lot less food to fill a salad plate! Limit yourself to one or two trips up to the buffet with your salad plate -- depending on your appetite and dietary goals.
Don't reach for foods you don't really love
Since you're trying not to eat too much, it does not make sense to eat anything (other than the salad) that you don't absolutely love. For instance, if there is fried chicken on the buffet and you feel so-so about fried chicken, don't take any. If you do love pizza and see pizza on the buffet, make that one of your meal choices. Think quality over quantity as you build you plate.
Save calories by drinking water
Since you probably will eat more at the lunch buffet than at a typical lunch, it's important to save some calories with your drink choice. Either choose water or another calorie-free drink option, like diet soda or unsweetened tea. Drink plenty of water or your calorie-free beverage throughout the meal, too. It will help fill you up faster so you're not as tempted to over-fill yourself with more food from the buffet. Try taking a sip after every bite.
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