間歇性禁食者會不吃早飯,但這不是一個好做法

As if there isn't enough whiplash-inducing nutrition advice out there, now skipping breakfast is being lauded by some as a good thing. The meal has become a casualty of a popular diet called intermittent fasting, which requires going extended periods of time without eating. The diet is such a big trend that, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, Google searches for "intermittent fasting" have increased tenfold over the past three years, to rival the number of searches for the words "weight loss."

就好像市場上有關鞭策性的誘導營養建議還不夠多一樣，現在有些人竟開始鼓吹'不吃早飯更好'這一理念。早餐已成爲間歇性禁食這一受大衆歡迎的節食方式的犧牲品。這一節食方式要求人們長時間不吃東西，且已成爲潮流趨勢。根據《彭博商業週刊》上發表的一篇文章，在谷歌瀏覽器搜索"間歇性禁食"的頻次已在過去三年增加了十倍，其搜索次數已與"減肥"相媲美。

It's a diet that has been embraced by celebrities, Silicon Valley CEOs and many health experts. There are many iterations of the plan, with extreme versions requiring going days without food, but the more common and accessible variation, known as time-restricted eating, simply limits the time window in which eating is allowed each day, typically eight to 10 hours. The Washington Post's own Food and Dining editor, Joe Yonan, tried this variation as part of the Buddha Diet he adopted for the 30-day diet challenge staffers undertook in 2016.

硅谷首席執行官、很多健康專家以及一些名人都十分推崇這一節食方法。該節食計劃有多重版本：極端情況下，有些人會連續幾天不進食；但更常見、更易實現的情況--也就是限時飲食，只限制了每天吃東西的時間，通常爲8至10小時。2016年，《華盛頓郵報》的食品和餐飲編輯喬·揚南（Joe Yonan）參加了30天的飲食挑戰。他採用了佛系飲食法接受挑戰，並融入了間歇性節食的限時版本。

But for Yonan and many others, the restricted eating window resulted in skipping breakfast, which is not necessarily a good thing for many reasons. Headlines such as "Why You Should Start Skipping Breakfast: 'Intermittent fasting' burns fat and makes you healthier - really," from Esquire magazine, which imply that restricted eating and a morning meal are mutually exclusive, are misleading. In fact, you can have your intermittent fasting and eat breakfast, too, and there is substantial evidence you'd be better off that way.

但對於揚南和很多其他人而言，限時性飲食卻導致了不吃早飯，而這並不是一件好事。《時尚先生》（Esquire）雜誌發表了題爲"爲什麼應該不吃早飯：'間歇性禁食'燃燒脂肪讓你更健康！這是真事！"並暗示限制飲食和早餐是相互排斥的，但這是一篇誤導性的文章！事實上，間歇性禁食可以與吃早餐並存，而且大量證據表明：這樣做其實更好。

Stopping eating for a long stretch of time daily, as more-moderate versions of intermittent-fasting plans demand, stands in stark contrast to the 24/7 buffet most Americans feed themselves today. A 2017 scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in the journal Circulation noted that adults in the United States have moved away from the traditional three-squares-a-day and now "eat around the clock." This constant munching affects our body's circadian rhythms, which help regulate our metabolism, and therefore has implications for the risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

較爲溫和的間歇性禁食版本要求人們每天長時間不進食，這與當前大多數美國人全天都在吃的行爲形成強烈對比。美國心臟協會於2017年在《循環》雜誌上發表的科學聲明指出，美國成年人已漸漸淡去一日三餐的傳統飲食方式，現在大多是"時時刻刻都在吃"！不斷的咀嚼會影響人體的晝夜節律，有助於調節我們的新陳代謝，因此可影響人們患心臟病、糖尿病和肥胖的風險。