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By Rob Archangel, 180DegreeHealth.com staff writer

This past week, I had the chance to make a trip out to Las Vegas, and what better place than the buffet capital of the world to document my ongoing experiment in intermittent fasting/feasting. As some of you know, I’ve been working with Chief, learning his methods of health and body recomposition for the last several months. ?While I won’t get into too much detail on the specifics of his program for me (that’ll come further down the line once I feel confident in reporting conclusions), I did want to throw together this post just to share and document what sort of foods a ROK-star might eat.

Before I left, Chief suggested that I eat absolutely intuitively on the trip, to go to buffets with wide selections of foods I’m familiar with, browse around seeing and smelling everything, and then loading up with whatever looks tastiest and most appealing. ?The aim was to get a good sense of what’s going on under the hood by observing what my body is craving. My mostly whole foods, home-cooked diet was becoming monotonous and starting to drop my appetite recently, and since I’ve been really active playing a couple three hours a day of basketball, plus some cycling and regular weight training, I was cognizant of not wanting to drop too low in calories. ?Some buffet experiences with an invitation to load up on whatever I wanted sounded like just the thing to get that appetite back up, get some calories in me, and to take some renewed pleasure in food.

One of the things I like about intermittent fasting/feasting is the chance to really dig in when I do eat. I’ve come to enjoy the chance to every day sit down at a table with a variety of options in front of me, knowing that I can eat until fully satisfied. This is especially fun at buffets.

So without further ado, some images and quick reviews of three noteworthy Las Vegas buffets:

Flamingo Paradise Garden Buffet?

Flamingo’s buffet was good but not great. I visited during Sunday brunch, and got to enjoy some breakfasty foods as well as the standard buffet fare. They had a big bowl of guacamole, which I dug right into. ?Also had a big craving for their sushi, which was solid. Kudos for frehsly made Rice Krispie teats. On a 1-10 scale, Flamingo: 6/10

Flavors, the Buffet at Harrah’s?

Missed a middle plate image there, with more of the same from the first shot- more sushi, more mashed potatoes and maybe some pineapple rice. Have to say, not one of my finer buffet displays. Did not do as thorough a job as I take pride in. Haha. This buffet was pretty good, better than Paradise, but not as good as the next one we went to. My buddy and I had a 2 for 1 Coupon, though, and a few comp dollars, so we ended up spending maybe $7 each for a hearty buffet experience. Rockin’. Harrah’s: 7/10

?The Buffet at Bellagio

Saved the best for last- the Bellagio. This is one of the big dogs that Vegas buffets measure themselves against, and for good reason. A wide selection, with freshly baked bread as a nice bonus. I like that they had seaweed salad and wakame noodles in addition to the sushi in their Japanese section. Bellagio: 8/10.

It was a fun trip and a great place to do this research.

?Anyone else have good buffet experiences, in Las Vegas or elsewhere, to share?