Smart Ways to Eat at a Buffet

☑ Maintain a Balanced Diet as Usual
If you stay "famished" until the buffet, you may end up eating excessively because of your hunger. The excessive energy intake will increase body weight, hence resulting in a body condition contrary to your expectation. Besides, guzzling food after going on a diet may result in gastrointestinal discomforts. Therefore, you should maintain a balanced diet on the day you eat a buffet meal and refrain from eating food high in fat, salt and sugar.

☑ Walk Around Before Getting the Food
Buffet offers a great variety of food. We recommend you to spend a few minutes to walk around buffet tables and see which dishes interest you. Plan ahead before you get the food to avoid over-consumption.

☑ Fruit and Vegetables Help Control Appetite
A healthy diet should be primarily consisting of grains and cereals, followed by vegetables and fruit, and then complemented by a moderate amount of meat or its alternatives. However, buffet usually offers much more meat than vegetables. Vegetables are rich in dietary fibre that can enhance satiety. You are recommended to eat salads or soup prepared mainly with vegetables in the first place, and then fresh fruit as replacement for high fat and sugar desserts by the end of the meal. When eating a vegetable salad, you may want to season it with a moderate amount of vinegar instead of a large amount of salad dressing which is high in fat.

☑ Smart Choices for Food Low in Fat, Salt and Sugar
For grains and cereals, you are recommended to eat those low in fat, salt and sugar, such as bread rolls, corns, sushi, chilled noodles and noodles in soup, but refrain from eating those high in fat, salt and sugar, such as croissants, garlic bread and fried noodles/ vermicelli. For meat, you are recommended to eat those cooked in less oil (with methods like steaming, baking and grilling). Avoid fatty food that has been deep fried. Compared with red meat, white meat contains relatively lower fat, e.g. chicken and seafood like lobsters, scallops and blanched shrimps. Desserts usually contain lots of fat and sugar so they should be eaten in a minimal amount only.

☑ Quality Instead of Quantity
Our brains can only receive a satiety signal 20 minutes after eating. In this connection, enjoying food slowly can help control appetite. Never eat too much by thinking that you will suffer from a loss otherwise. Pay attention to quality instead of quantity when eating buffet meals.