I Can't Control Myself at Restaurant Buffets

I was reading a blog today that I try to keep up with: http://ronmichel.blogspot.com/ ... He wrote about the wonderful salad bar at Golden Corral. They do have a great spread - lots of greens, veggies, fruits, and wonderful healthy things. Then he passed that by for the other stuff offered. The non-healthy stuff.

It got me thinking. Here's what I wrote as a comment to his Golden Corral blog posting:

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I love Golden Corral. I usually get a little salad, then lots of fried stuff, a hamburger, desserts, and a sweet potato. Did you know that milk is unlimited there? You just have to ask for more and more little cartons. I LOVE buffet places - it's my mindset. But I can't do them anymore. I overeat at buffets. I want to get my money's worth, or so my mind tells my eyes and stomach. Then I can barely move afterwards.

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I often crave Hometown Buffet / Country Buffet. On Thursdays and Saturdays, they offer barbque'd beef ribs for the dinner menu. Sometimes they vary the recipe and put too much pepper in the rub, but for the most part... well, we go about 15-30 minutes before the lunch prices change over to the more expensive dinner prices. During that time I might eat a couple of breaded fish patties with lots of tartar sauce, seafood salad with a hot buttered roll, a cheeseburger stacked with onions and slatered with mayonnaise (which I'm sure isn't low cal), oriental orange chicken... whatever else looks yummy. Then, 2 minutes after dinner hour starts, I swoop off to the ribs where I grab the biggest three. Off to the table, stopping only to ask a busboy/girl for wetnaps, and munch them down. Delicious sweet sauce on meaty juicy fatty rib bones. Slop slop. I clean my hands and then go for another 2. Repeat until full. While I'm there, I drink about 5-6 glasses of white milk and a soda or two. Maybe I'll end with molten chocolate cake or cheesecake or a cookie or four. I can barely waddle to the car afterwards.

I now realize that the "meal" I describe above probably has 3-4,000 calories! Probably much more. And because I'd overeat, I'd often not eat before going or after, but still.... geez! And I crave those ribs almost daily. When I can, I get a "fatty" pot roast and cook it in the crockpot with barbque sauce. It's not the same but I don't feel as bad about it.

Like I said above, I want to get my money's worth. If we go to a buffet, I will overeat by 4-5 or more times what is acceptable. I can't stand paying $9-15 for a meal and only getting a couple of bites.

I've never told anyone about this... my craving and obsession with Country Buffet's ribs. Hubby has seen it a couple of times... and couldn't believe I did that. Tween has seen it many many times, but we've never discussed it.

There's a nice little chinese restaurant near our current home. As a rule, most of their food is yucky. But I have fallen in love (is that possible?) with their lobster rolls and crab/cheese wontons. Do I eat the fresh fruit or salad? Or even the grilled fish? Nope... if it doesn't have onion, I don't particularly care for it. Well, that's not entirely true. I like their california rolls (sushi-kinda: rice, avocado, "crab", and carrots) and I usually dab on a little wasabi but then I add the soy sauce, which is very salty and not gluten-free. I can't win.

But now.. that is all in the past. I am working to get healthy. I don't eat gluten products. And now I don't even walk into a buffet restaurant because I can't control myself yet. I'm not even close to that point.