When dining at Chinese Buffets, overweight individuals serve themselves and eat differently than normal weight individuals. This may lead them to overeat, according to a recent study by Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab. Compared to normal weight diners, overweight individuals sat 16 feet closer to the buffet, faced the food, used larger plates, ate with forks instead of chopsticks, and served themselves immediately instead of browsing the buffet.

"What's crazy is that these people are generally unaware of what they're doing – they're unaware of sitting closer, facing the food, chewing less, and so on," say Brian Wanink, lead author of this study and of the book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."

The study was published in the journal Obesity and includes observations of 213 diners at 11 all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant buffets across the country. Study participants included a range of normal weight to obese diners, none of whom were Asian. Major study findings include:

27% of normal-weight patrons faced the buffet compared to 42% of obese diners.

Overweight diners sat an average of 16 feet closer than normal-weight diners.

16% of obese diners sat at a booth rather than a table compared to 38% of normal weight diners.

71% of normal-weight diners browsed the buffet before serving themselves compared to 33% of obese diners.

24% of normal-weight people used chopsticks compared with 9% of overweight people.

"When food is more convenient people tend to eat more," say coauthor Collin R. Payne, New Mexico State University.

"These seemingly subtle differences in behavior and environment may cause people to overeat without even realizing it."

ScienceDaily (Oct. 6, 2008)

Interesting.

'They' should ban Chinese food.

Chinese food... Well, the ingredients are good, but they add that shitty cornstarch to everything Yesterday I had to rinse my food in a Chinese restaurant, as there was the devilish corn starch in the food. And today in a Korean restaurant they gave me lemon tea made out of SIROP although I asked to have that without sugar!






Hope that didn't screw up my ketosis too much

100% of obese people became so by eating carbohydrate.

100% of carbohydrate cause people to eat more carbohydrate.

0% of people who eat no carbohydrate become fat.

There's wisdom to be had here but I'm too lazy to extract it now.

I think MSG makes me eat more. Put MSG on something and I turn into a non-stop eating monster.

Some of that is just silly- obese people sometimes have mobility issues, so of course they'll sit closer to the food- and booths? At my fattest I dreaded them- my belly being all pinched by the damn table because I was too fat to fit in the thing without wedging myself in there- of course big people aren't going to choose a booth if they don't fit comfortably. That's got less to do with subconscious food addiction and more to do with comfort.

That's like saying: Newsflash! Fat people are 75% more likely to shop in the plus size section than normal sized people!!! They must subconsciously WANT to be fat!!!

I think that's a bunch of baloney. My once-in-a-blue-moon major cheat is a trip to the Chinese buffet. I do not go there to practice portion control, I go there to pig out. Plain and simple.

OK, I do avoid the rice, noodles, & wontons and go for as much meat as possible, and leave as much sauce on the plate as possible. But it's still a very carby pigout. There are no "seemingly subtle differences in behavior" .

Whenever I go in [buffet] they always seat us where they want us to sit-- not where we want. About 50 feet away from the food around a back corner, past empty tables and booths, way back in the long conference hall right next to a bunch of other loud talking diners. That's OK, I can walk fast and just make a few extra trips and I pick up some extra napkins and chopsticks on the way

oh, bullshirt.
<reply to stooopid "study">

I am still tickled pink by being able to sit in booths that previously I could not squeeze into

One cafe we often frequent I used to send my husband in to check whether the only table that had moveable chairs was vacant before going inside!!

It is so good to sit at any booth and have as much or more space in front of my tummy as my body 'depth' is now. Also I never spill food down my front any more where I used to always tuck my napkin into the neck of my clothes to catch the inevitable drips.

Well. I love these kinds of stats -- honestly I find them fascinating, and there is usually some core of truth in them -- it's just that it might not be what we think.


and


1 - I sit where I am most comfortable. In some restaurants that's a booth IF the tables are adjustable. If they're not then I can't fit in them (well can now but couldn't before) so sat in chairs. But I won't sit on a regular chair if a booth is an option for comfort reasons. So without considering something like the size/adjustability of the booths in question, I'm not sure that stat means much. I've never been to a chinese buffet that had adjustable booth tables with lots of room in them. They are cheap, by nature.

And the placement of chairs vs. booths might have a lot to do with both the "booth" and the "distance" issue. Booths are normally around the outside of the room, with chairs in the middle, around a buffet in the very middle or one side of the middle. So reasonably, if they don't fit as well in booths, they will both sit in chairs AND be sitting closer to the food.



2 - Fat people know they're fat, and in my case and my observation, they do not like to be in front of other people, and they especially do not like to be "visible and obvious" in a situation involving food, and the buffet in these places is usually the focal point of the room. It doesn't matter if I've never seen a buffet before in my life, I will not walk around it browsing like a walmart shopper, I will get a plate, get some food and promptly go sit down again. So I don't think that stat means much either.

My point being that these stats probably do MEAN something, but they mean, "The person is obese," like, no-shit-sherlock. I don't consider those contributors to obesity, only side-effects of it.



I will not sit with my back to an open room unless I have no choice at all -- prefer my back to a wall. This is probably paranoia borne of my childhood, but even aside from that part of it, I feel very conspicuous about "The back of me is gigantic" -- I prefer to face the main of the room. I don't think it's unusual that fat people may feel -- even subconsciously, without thinking about it -- slightly more embarrassed about "showing their backside" to people especially in a food (sparks awareness of the obesity) environ.



I like that one. Here's an irony, I used to LOVE chopsticks and had all kinds of artsy pairs of them. That was when eating was just something fun for me. When I became fat, my psychological association with eating was not really "casually fun" anymore. It's a few extremes I think, but it's not like it used to be.



Sure, especially if they're eating carbs, sugar, and MSG heh.

If I go to a buffet, I eat a lot more than I eat at home. Buffets by nature tend to spark the "get a lot of food for your money" and "if you hardly eat you kinda wasted the money" psychology in me.

And here's the reality: buffet food sucks compared to quality dining food. People don't go to buffets because it's gourmet, they go there because it's fairly tasty and you can eat a bunch of it. That's the whole point in a way.



Yes, especially sitting in a chair instead of a booth. That just packs on the pounds man.

There's a nice Chinese buffet here in town, and when going there I've made a conscious choice to pig out (skipping the worst carby offenders but you know there are still those sauces and all). Eating out is a pricey treat for me so no way would I choose to purchase a meal and then skimp on the tasty food. So if I don't want to pig out, I don't go out to eat at the buffet.

Well let me tell you the old man and I just came from the chinese buffet in town. Where we were seated where she wanted, she did ask if we wanted a booth or table and even now that I do fit comfortably in a booth, the other half prefers a table. We were close to the food, but not our choice in fact.

As far as the browsing before obtaining ones food, bullchit, it is rare I have ever seen anyone thin or fat look around before getting a plate! Maybe a visitor from out of town, but not anyone else. Kids, teens do that.

As far as chopsticks, unless you request them around here, you don't get em, and they are the cheap woodsey ones. So why?

I will have you know that I went there knowing what I was eating. At least hoped they had the nice crablegs! That is my food choice.......with butter of course unsweetened tea! Oh, and the plates? WTH? They are all the same size.........not larger/smaller by choice. What they have is what you get around here and there are 3 buffets (chinese) around here, all the same plates....and "they" seat you!

So as Susan said so nicely! bullshirt!

No survey, just my opinion based on my personal observation

80% of diners at buffet restaurants (not just Chinese) are overweight.

less than 20% of tables are usually within 16 feet of the buffet and 90% of the tables are at least 10 feet away from the buffet.

It seems reasonable that about half of the seating faces a buffet and half of the seating faces away.

Many obese people are not comfortable sitting in a booth because of their size, thus they would normally ask to be seated at a table.
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The survey doesn't state:

how many normal and how many obese diners were in the study

how many of the obese and normal weight people were familiar with that particular buffet layout, thus determining if familiarity with the buffet had an influence on whether a diner browses prior to loading their plate with food.

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I'm impressed that the study excluded Asians. I wonder how many Italians were eating at the Chinese buffet and why was the survey done at a Chinese buffet???

My own statistic:

95% of the food at a Chinese buffet is not Chinese food.