All you can eat Italian buffet. Part 1 -  Before I go

If you've ever dreaded a buffet more than you were looking forward to it, this episode is for you.

You know the feeling. You have a buffet booked and suddenly your brain is already negotiating. I'll skip lunch. I'll only have one plate. I'll go for a run tomorrow. I'll just have a Diet Coke.

Before you've even sat down, the bargaining has started.

And that's exactly what I want to talk about.

In this episode, recorded before I've even been, I walk you through how I'm approaching Wednesday night, the tools I'll be using at the table, and why having a genuinely enjoyable buffet starts way before you pick up a fork.

In this episode I cover -

• The language we use around buffets. Naughty. Bad. Blowout. Cheat meal. I deserve this. Getting back on track. In this episode I'm not using any of those words and I want you to notice when you do. Because the language you use around food shapes your behaviour before you've even arrived. An unremarkable buffet starts with unremarkable language.
  

• All-or-nothing thinking. The classic pattern: set a rule before you go, break the rule the second the garlic bread arrives, and then completely write off the rest of the evening. That's not a lack of willpower. That's what restriction does to your brain. We're going for the grey area, all 50 shades of it.
  

• Unconditional permission to eat. Those little bargains, I won't have lunch, I'll save room, I'll be good tomorrow - that's conditional permission. And it's conditional permission that causes the overeating, not the buffet itself. When food is truly, genuinely available to you, the urgency fades. That's what we're working towards.
  

• The hunger and fullness scale. The tool I'll be using at the table on Wednesday. Not to restrict but to inform. Giving yourself a number between 1 and 10 means you've got 10 options, not just two. And when you actually listen to those signals, you know when to stop, not because a rule tells you to, but because your body does.
  

• People pleasing at the table. Stefan has already announced he's getting his £15 worth. And that's fine - for Stefan. But if you're someone who clears your plate because food has been paid for, or because someone says "are you not having that?", or because wasting food feels wrong at a deep, ingrained level, that's worth noticing. Your fullness doesn't care what anyone else is doing.
  

• What this is actually for. It's Sue's birthday. She wanted her family around her and she loves Italian food. When you zoom out and remember what a meal out is actually for - connection and celebration, the food takes its rightful place. It's part of the evening, not the whole point of it.
  

Come back for Part 2, where I'll tell you what was on the menu, what I ate, how the tools actually played out, and what you can take from it for your own relationship with food.

Because it really is possible to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and just... have a nice time.

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