RedGage

Strategic eating is the key, or your diet will fall prey to this insidious attacks of merry yet mindless munching, before marching into the buffet battlefield,have a plan in action. Hers how you can enjoy yourself without feeling guilty.

As a Guest:

1. Eat a Healthy Snack Before you go- It's old advice but it's really work, so it's about time you put it into practice. Dr. Veritas Luna of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Home Economics in UP Diliman say's " taking even just a bit of any slow digestible protein
 can go along way in staving off hunger pang that may make you ravenous by the time you get to the buffet. " Make sure it's a protein snacks, not sugary one's like cakes, candy or soda," say's Dr. Luna. " Sugars tend to Metabolize quickly in your body so you will be "hyper" at first, then you will feel sluggish, and they will not help in keeping you from over eating," Dr. Luna suggest low-fat cheese, cheese sticks or nuts.

2. Scan the Table- At the party, survey the buffet offering before you pile everything on your plate. " We have a tendency to give in to what we call "takaw-mata", everything on the table looks so tempting that you want to try them all." say's Dr. Luna. "By the you get to the end of the table, your plate is full of food that's more than what you can actually finish. scanning the table first allows to see, what you might want to get a taste of first. I t helps to plan what you put on your plate. I f you want to taste them all, put a table spoon of each item on your plate. You can always go back later for the item you like if you're still hungry."

3. Go for the Soup First- "Our stomach can only accommodate one liter at a time. So if you get a cup of soup, that's about 200 ml more add a glass of water that's maybe 200 to 250 ml, depending on the side of the glass that's nearly half a liter already, you will feel full and will need to fill your stomach with only half a liter worth of food," explains Dr. Luna.

4. Up sizing Your Veggie Servings- Dr. Luna say's that if your host serves vegetables of any kind( from crudites to salads to even the rare main vegetables dish), Load up." It's not that you shouldn't go for animal based foods, just get less of those and add more vegetables to your
 plate."

5. Reduce your Portion Size- "You don't want people to think you haven't eaten in a week, so go easy." say's Dr. Luna. Use smaller plates and bowls to protect you, from overeating mindlessly. Prof. Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory and author of Mindless eating. Way we eat more than we think say's Visual cues of portion size influence our food intake. In one experiment, Prof. Wansinks research group gave two set of movies goers free state popcorn-half got medium sized tubs. those with large tubs ate 53% more than the other group. It didn't matter that the popcorn wasn't fresh, they were distracted by the movie and were persuaded into eating more by the sound of other people, eating popcorn.

6. Take it Home- It's common practice in most Filipino Family gathering anyway. Dr. Luna suggest"just taking a bite or two from your grandma's "handa" will not hurt. then, express your appreciation for all her hard work in the kitchen by perhaps telling her you'd love to take some of her food home, that way, you don't have to stuff yourself at the party." just make sure you don't raid the fridge at midnight and go on a post- "Noche Buena" binge.