Hey, don’t crowd the General Tso’s chicken

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The next time you hit a buffet, you may want to take some copious notes about your behavior — where you sit, your strategy about approaching said buffet, and how much food you leave on your plate. Because researchers have been doing that, and they’ve found a few interesting things.

Yes, you’ve been watched.

In a study published in the August issue of the journal Obesity, 22 trained observers examined the habits of 213 randomly selected people at 11 all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet restaurants in five states across the country. The observers estimated the diners’ age, height and weight (using established parameters), and coded their behaviors, which included serving, seating and eating.

Marked differences were found among people in the highest BMI category (scores of 29.5-51.5) compared with the lowest BMI category (13.5-24.4). When it came to browsing the buffet, only 33% of the high BMI group surveyed the goods before diving in, compared with 71% of the low BMI group. Almost 16% of the high BMI group chose to sit in booths instead of tables, compared with about 38% of the low BMI group. When deciding where to sit, almost 42% of the high BMI group sat facing the food, while only 27% of the low BMI group sat that way. The high BMI group also left less food on their plate compared with the low BMI group — 6% versus 10.6%.

How might these findings relate to being overweight? Let’s look at the table versus booth seating. Sitting in a booth, the researchers suggest, may make it harder to make another trip to the buffet, since someone’s going to have to move to let someone else out. And by facing the food, diners are reminded of its proximity. (Researchers note, however, that the findings suggest association, not causation.)

Anything that makes the food more convenient will likely make consuming it that much easier, says lead author Brian Wansink, author of ‘Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.’ Consider that candy bowl at the office. Near you = many handfuls throughout the day. Across the room = fewer handfuls.

Wansink, who did the study while at Cornell University and the University of Illinois, says that most people aren’t even aware of what they’re doing. ‘If you ask them why they decided to sit closer, people will go, ‘Huh. I didn’t even realize I did that,’ and it’s very genuine.’

Ergo, making food less convenient might result in eating less. ‘If you say, hey, I need to be more aware of where I sit when I go to a restaurant, you’ll forget that in two days,’ says Wansink. ‘Come up with a rule to sit as far away as you can and don’t face the food. That can become a mindless habit very quickly.’

-- Jeannine Stein