Why do we stuff ourselves at Eat All You Can Buffets

When we are trying to lose weight, we should avoid going to places where we are inclined to overeat. It just puts pressure on our limited supply of willpower. If you had a friend with a gambling problem, would you meet him in the bookies, or suggest somewhere safer? It is the same when you are wanting to reduce the amount you eat. Don't make it harder than it needs to be.

And one of the places to avoid is the Eat All You Can Buffet. Pretty much everyone stuffs themselves. Are we just wanting our money's worth? That might be part of it, but there is something else going on....

We rely on cues and rules of thumb to help us control our eating, so that we don't have to be constantly counting calories or measuring things out. For example, most of us will pour half a bowl of cereal. This is our rule of thumb quantity control. It doesn't matter if the bowl is small or large. A serving is half a bowl. So trick yourself with small bowls.

When there is lots of variety, we eat more. There is lots of research on this. Served a bowl of mixed colour sweets, people eat more than if they are all the same colour. It seems that when items are all the same, our brains recognise the items as a single whole, and can estimate the quantity. We lose this ability to estimate when there is variety. Effectively we see less when there is variety.

At buffets, the variety is the thing, and this is what gets us eating more than we should. At buffets, limit yourself to 2 different things on the plate at any one time.

American researchers state that "Both people and animals will eat more food when a meal or diet contains a greater variety of food, which can eventually cause weight gain". Variety seems to slow down the feelings of fullness and satisfaction. Eating the same sorts of food every day on the other hand limits the amount that you eat. Meals where the foods are similar in shape, texture or colour, can help reduce overeating.

So in our food-saturated society, where you can buy whatever food you want, variety is always there. And this is a risk for over-eating. Reducing variety when you are out shopping will help. If you must buy snacks, buy just one sort, only one flavour. If you must buy desserts, buy just one type.

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