Interesting: How Much Sugar, and I Love Buffets!

I came across two interesting bits of information related to diets. The first one is a website that shows you, visually, how much sugar is in various food items. At the time of this posting the site is crawling because it is experiencing a sudden surge from being posted on sites like Reddit, but it should die down sometime tomorrow.

The second was advice on eating at all-you-can-eat buffets from a TV show on The Food Network called Food Detectives.

To summarize the advice, you have to remember: Survey, Face Away, Sit Far Away.

The guest on the segment discussed findings from studying people's behaviors at buffets. He said that distance played a role...sitting further away made it more inconvenient to get up and get that second or third plate, but also gave people time to reflect and ask themselves if they're really hungry or just want more from convenience. He cited the example of a study where a secretary with a bowl of chocolates ate something on the order of nine pieces when the bowl was on the desk, but four when it was placed six feet away.

Another observation: people who sat with their backs to the food were twice as likely to be thin in build.

He also identified two behaviors often found at the buffet; there was an overweight guy he called the "digger". If he liked the food, even kinda liked it, it was scooped onto his plate. He grabs a plate and starts going through the line, scoop scoop scoop, plop plop plop. The second type was what he called the "browser". The browser was kind of laid back in line, surveying everything first, looking at what was appetizing and what wasn't. After seeing what was available the browser would then go get a dish and start going through the line. In their studies, the browser was four times more likely to be thin in build.

So there you have it...survey, face away, sit far away.

One last bit of advice he shared...use the smaller salad plate as your entree dish. Without thinking about it you will eat less. The plate holds 20 to 30 percent less (which will be 20 to 30 percent less going to your waist) than the 12 inch plate.

So buffets don't have to be terrible things. You can go enjoy them. You just need to be mindful of what you're shoveling into your mouth.