Holiday 101: Battling The Buffet (Video)

Nobody does buffets like Singapore! Over the festive season, enjoying a sumptuous spread will be a tempting option for many as we celebrate with friends away from home or with visiting family.

As you know, buffets can be the downfall of many a well-intentioned diet, as they inherently facilitate overeating and eating foods we might usually try to avoid. Indulging once in a while is, of course, fine but with the weekly buffet offerings here in Singapore, and all the ongoing festivities, it’s best to have a strategy.

<div class="element-container cf" data-style="" id="le_body_row_2_col_1_el_5"> <div class="element"> <div class="op-text-block"> Bear in mind the guidelines below, along with the usual tip of not arriving at your destination famished – as then you’re more likely to grab at the nearest thing available, and probably not a healthy choice. Once you arrive, are seated and relaxed, the first thing is to enjoy catching up with family and friends. Focus on the great company at your table, and how lucky you are to be together celebrating the festive season. When you are ready to tackle the glorious spread, my advice is: 1. Without a plate in your hand, take a stroll right around the buffet – feasting on everything with your eyes. This prevents you from filing your plate with foods that you really don’t want, or need. 2. Sit down and visualize your “healthy plate”. Ideally, this is half-filled with colorful fruits and vegetables (roasted, steamed, salad), a quarter with a healthy whole grain or complex carb of choice (roasted potato or yams, brown rice, quinoa), and a quarter with sliced turkey breast, salmon or other quality protein. Enjoy some seasonal stuffing, cranberry sauce, and other traditional condiments for sure, but keep in mind the wise words ‘less is more’. 3. If you intend to have a starter, remember it’s an appetizer, and not the main meal. So, only a side plate is required. Choose a salad, with a little sashimi or healthy protein that you might not normally have, or a healthy vegetable or broth based soup. Pass by the bread section, saving your appetitive for the main event. 4. Make a single trip to the buffet for your main course, and take your time to fill your plate (feel free to take a peek the desert section to ‘nominate your treat’). Choose selections that you might not normally have at home, from the wonderful range 0f vegetable and salad dishes – keeping your plate as colorful as possible. 5. Enjoy your food mindfully, putting the fork down between each bite, engaging in conversation, and sensing when you are feeling satisfied. Remember, it takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are getting full, so by eating slowly and savouring your food, you will avoid that unpleasant feeling of overeating. I joke with clients that if they really need help in slowing down, use chopsticks with their weaker hand :). Certainly facilitates enjoying food for a long time, without overdoing it! 6. Of course, enjoy of glass of wine or tipple of choice with your meal, but keep a glass of water on hand – and keep sipping. If you drink more than intended, it’s likely that you will also overeat, so ‘name your number’ and stick with that. 7. Once you’ve already picked your treat for dessert (again, choose something you wouldn’t normally have), do remember that it’s a treat you’re after, not a dessert-tasting extravaganza. If you can’t trust yourself to comeback with only what you intend on enjoying, then ask someone else to add it to their plate for you. And of course, indulge in this even more mindfully, to enjoy it all the more! Trust me, you will feel so much better if you stick to a plan of some sort. So, of course you have to make one beforehand, mentally or preferably written down. This allows you to enjoy the rest of your day, appreciating the company of family and friends, without feeling stuffed, guilty, or having to worry about ‘starting a diet tomorrow’! As a thank you for your continued support, here’s a holiday gift for you to download – guaranteed to keep you from overdoing it! </div> </div> </div>   Would you like to learn more about sugar and understanding nutrition labels? Join our 5 Weeks Nutrition Program Revitalize-in-5! Click here  <a href="https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/517197/ae3bd1cc-0df0-4fe9-86a9-ca6a24a450d5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img decoding="async" class="hs-cta-img" id="hs-cta-img-ae3bd1cc-0df0-4fe9-86a9-ca6a24a450d5" style="border-width: 0px;" src="https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/517197/ae3bd1cc-0df0-4fe9-86a9-ca6a24a450d5.png" data-hs-cos-type="Liza Rowan's Healthy Snacking Guide Free Download" /></a><script charset="utf-8" src="https://js.hscta.net/cta/current.js"/><script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[ hbspt.cta.load(517197, 'ae3bd1cc-0df0-4fe9-86a9-ca6a24a450d5', {}); ]]></script>  Visit the Health & Vitality page to find out more about Liza's business.   This article was originally published on Health and Vitality blog and has been reposted on Executive Lifestyle with the permission of the author. Edited by Michelle Sarthou Image credit: Shutterstock <hr /> Did you enjoy this post? 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Holiday 101: Battling The Buffet (Video)

Contributed by Liza Rowan December 15, 2017

Liza Rowan

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