If you're overweight, chances are you eat mindlessly. Not only do you serve yourself differently than people of normal weight, but also you eat differently.

That's the word from researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who have determined that when it comes to buffets, obese people sit closer to the food -- and even try to face it -- as well as chew less so they can eat more food faster.

Led by Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of the book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think, the team observed 213 diners at 11 different all-you-can-eat restaurants across the United States. They observed the following:

• 42 percent of obese people positioned themselves so they were facing the buffet, compared with 27 percent of normal-weight people.
• The obese participants sat an average of 16 feet closer to the food.
• 38 percent of normal-weight diners sat at a booth, compared to 16 percent of obese people.
• While 71 percent of the normal-weight people browsed at the buffet before choosing food, only 33 percent of the obese people did this.
• Those with body-mass indices in the normal range were also 2.5 times more likely to use chopsticks.
  
  

When food is more convenient, people tend to eat more," said co-author Collin R. Payne of New Mexico State University. "These seemingly subtle differences in behavior and environment may cause people to overeat without even realizing it."

The study findings were published in the journal Obesity.

--From the Editors at Netscape