Surviving the Buffet

Healthy tips to get you through that frighteningly tempting buffet line, or just the massive amount of options in the dining hall!

1) Walk by the entire buffet BEFORE grabbing your plate. Look at all the things offered, and decide what it is you want MOST of everything. Make a mental priority list.


2) Use the smaller plate. It’s a lot harder to cram large portions of every food onto a smaller plate. Plus studies have proven, eating off a smaller plate might make you feel more full later. At the buffet, your eyes may be bigger than your stomach, but don’t worry. Cause that plate? It’s not.


3) Load up on veggies and salad, filling AT LEAST half your plate (hell, if you want to get a half plate of cooked veggies and a half plate of salad greens, and get a second plate for your other goodies, that’s great too!) And when I say veggies, I mean VEGGIES. Not starch-based, like mashed potatos or corn. You’re welcome to get those too, but get more of the non-starchy, less-calorie-more-fiber-dense veggies.


4) When you get veggies, pick the ones that aren’t cooked with lots of oils or creamed. Go for the steamed spinach over creamed spinach. Get the baked zucchini/squash blend over the squash casserole. Basically, the closer the vegetable is to a fresh-from-the farm veggie, the better.


5) Remember that mental priority list? Take it out! Chances are you don’t have that much space left on your plate, so remember what you wanted most and go straight too it, adding some of that goodness to your plate. Basically,


6) DON’T walk through the buffet line like some dazed, wide-eyed animal. At buffets, your eyes ALWAYS seem to be bigger than your stomach, and more than that your curiosity can MAJORLY take over. [I know, I’m one of those people that wants to try everything.


7) Keep going down your priority list, adding a little here and there to your plate, until the plate is FULL. As far as what you should definitely have on your priority list:
7a) Lots of veggies (of course, we’ve been over this.)
7b) Some sort of protein.
7c) Some sort of grain (whole grains, like brown rice, or a good starch like a 4oz sweet potato, are much better than a white dinner roll. Not only will that roll make you less full, but it might also be secretly smothered in butter.)
7d) NO dessert. (Hold up, I’m not saying you can’t have any. Just wait.)


8) Once your plate is full, go back to your table and enjoy it. Don’t scarf it down to eat more. Once you’re finished, ask yourself if you are still hungry. If you are, by all means, go back and get more (ON A SMALL PLATE), but keep in mind how hungry you still feel. You might want to get less this time. 


9) FINALLY, if you get to the point that you are full, but not so full you can’t have a dessert, go back to the buffet, and get the SMALLEST plate, and get the dessert that’s HIGHEST on your priority list. Or get half of that (people won’t be annoyed if you cut that already-sliced cake slice in half), and half of the thing next on your priority list.


10) OR, you may not want dessert, because you just enjoyed that second portion-controlled helping of mac and cheese, and you are so full! That’s fine. You don’t need dessert. Just sit, pat your happy yummy, and keep up the fun conversation with those around you.