We are all familiar with the famous saying, ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.’ But what about calories? My job as a nutritional anthropologist is to study people’s eating habits in different environments, and there is no place to do this quite like the sensory experience of a Las Vegas casino.
I decided to go undercover for a week, as I had a clear mission: to live the high roller lifestyle, feeding mainly on the free buffets and cocktails. I wanted to capture the actual nutritional landscape of this unique American ecosystem. I swapped my lab coat for a comfortable tracksuit and immersed myself in a world of neon lights and unlimited shrimp.
I wanted to observe and analyse rather than judge. I wanted to see what a week of “free” food and drink really costs, from a caloric perspective. The findings were a fascinating and slightly terrifying lesson in perceived value versus nutritional reality. This is why I opt for digital gaming at HellSpin for my daily play, as you don’t have to spend a fortune on overpriced food to have the same amount of astronomical fun.
The All-You-Can-Eat Battlefield
The Las Vegas buffet is a monument to abundance. It’s a culinary tribute to more. More options, more sauces, more heaping piles of everything. On my first day, I approached it with the methodical eye of a scientist. I took a lap, plate in hand, mentally cataloguing the stations. The sheer variety was dizzying.
The Caloric Heavy Hitters
Certain sections were predictable caloric war zones. The carving station, with its glistening prime rib and honey-glazed ham, offered slices that easily contained 500 to 700 calories each. This excludes the sauce or creamy horseradish. The pasta bar was an unexpected culprit. With its creamy sauce and Parmesan cheese, a single serving of fettuccine Alfredo can add up to a 1,200-calorie meal. Then there were the classics. Pizza, roast chicken and French fries were all high-calorie staples here.
The real surprise, however, came from the ‘healthy’ alternatives. The salad bar, which should have been an oasis, was actually a trap, as even small portions of creamy dressings such as blue cheese/ranch can contain 150 to 300 calories.
My estimates suggested a well-intentioned trip to the salad bar could easily surpass 600 calories without a single hot item. A “moderate” plate from the buffet, featuring a little bit of everything, consistently totaled between 1,500 and 2,000 calories… And that was just for one meal.
Liquid Calories: The Silent Saboteur
While the buffet presented a visible challenge, the real stealth operator in this experiment was the complimentary cocktails. A sugary piña colada here, a generous vodka cranberry there, all felt like part of the perk. It felt free. But my body was keeping a different kind of tab.
Most of these cocktails are sugar bombs. A standard margarita from a casino chain can contain over 500 calories. That’s the equivalent of a small meal, but in liquid form, which your body doesn’t register in the same way. You don’t feel fuller because you’re just ingesting a massive amount of empty calories. Over the course of an afternoon, it was effortless to consume three or four of these. That’s an additional 1,500 to 2,000 calories.