美国现饮食新潮流：间歇性禁食

New Diet Trend in America: Intermittent Fasting

美国现饮食新潮流:间歇性禁食

The latest diet trend in America is also an ancient human activity. The activity is fasting, or not eating food for a set amount of time.

美国最新的饮食潮流恰好是一项古老的人类活动。它就是禁食，或者说是在规定的时间内不进食。

Social media apps and Facebook groups are appearing for people who do “intermittent fasting,” or fasting on a part-time basis.

市面上还出现了一些专门为这些“间歇性禁食”—— 或者说在某些特定时间禁食的人建立的社交媒体应用程序和脸书群组。

Different approaches

方式各异

Like other diets, intermittent fasting helps you lose weight by setting limits on eating. But instead of limiting what you eat, it limits when you eat.

同其他减肥方法一样，这种间歇性禁食也是通过限制进食来帮助人们减肥。但它不限制人们所吃的食物种类，而是限制人们的进食时间。

One of the more popular approaches to intermittent fasting is called “time-restricted feeding.” It is not as difficult as some of the other approaches, since the fasting period can include the time you are sleeping.

间歇性禁食最流行的一种方式是“限时进食”。 “它不像其他方法那么难，因为禁食期间包含了人们的睡眠时间。

The basic idea of time-restricted feeding is to limit eating to an eight-hour period. You then fast during the day’s other 16 hours.

限时进食的基本思路是将进食时间限制在8小时内，然后在一天的另外16个小时禁食。

Many people make the eating period shorter or longer. Some eat just one meal a day.

许多人会或缩短或延长进食时间。还有些人一天只吃一顿饭。

In other approaches, people fast several days during a week. On fasting days, some people may permit themselves around 600 calories.

还有一些禁食减肥方法是一周禁食几天。在禁食期间，一些人或允许自己摄入大约600卡路里的热量。

Whatever the approach, people are not supposed to overeat when they stop fasting.

无论采用何种方法，减肥的人都不允许在停止禁食期间饮食过量。

Supporters and critics支持者和反对者

Melissa Breaux Bankston is a Crossfit instructor in New Orleans, Louisiana. She tried intermittent fasting as a way to reduce her snacking. “I wanted to limit the amount of time that I was eating,” she said.

梅丽莎·布鲁克斯顿是路易斯安那州新奥尔良的一名综合健身教练。她尝试通过间歇性禁食来减少吃零食。“我想限制自己吃东西的时间，” 她说。

Studies on the potential health benefits of intermittent fasting are still limited, including for its effectiveness with weight loss.

关于间歇性禁食对健康的潜在益处的研究仍然有限，包括它对减肥起到的作用。

For now, limited research suggests it may not be any better for weight loss than reducing calorie intake over the long term.

目前，少数研究表明，间歇性禁食的减肥效果似乎并没有比那些不限时但控制卡路里摄入量的方法好多少。

“It’s really another way of fooling your body into eating less calories,” said Krista Varady, who studies intermittent fasting at the University of Illinois at Chicago.“

这实际是另一种诱导自己的身体减少卡路里摄入量的方法，”在芝加哥伊利诺伊大学研究间歇性禁食的克里斯塔·瓦拉迪说道。

Courtney Peterson, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, also studies intermittent fasting. She suggested the benefits of intermittent fasting are not as great as some might suggest. “Unfortunately, intermittent fasting gets a little hyped,” she said.

伯明翰阿拉巴马大学的考特尼·彼得森也在研究间歇性禁食。她认为间歇性禁食的好处并不像有些人认为的那么大。“遗憾的是，间歇性禁食似乎被炒作了，”她说。

Is intermittent fasting right for you?间歇性禁食适合你吗?

Some health experts say intermittent fasting might be too difficult for many people. They point to a study of 100 people where those placed in a fasting group lost about the same amount of weight as those on diets that restricted calories. The fasting group had a dropout rate of 38 percent, compared with 29 percent for the caloric-restriction diet group.

一些健康专家表示，对很多人来说间歇性禁食可能很难。他们指出，在一项针对100人的研究中，禁食小组的成员与限制卡路里摄入量的成员减掉的体重大致相同。禁食小组的减重率为38%，而限制卡路里摄入量小组成员的减重率为29%。

But intermittent fasting may be easier for people who already skip meals when they are too busy, said Varady.

瓦拉迪说，然而对于那些因为太忙而不吃饭的人来说，间歇性禁食可能更容易些。

People interested in intermittent fasting should talk to their doctor before trying it. Health experts do not recommend intermittent fasting for children, people on some medications and people with a history of eating disorders.

对间歇性禁食感兴趣的人在尝试这种方法前应该咨询自己的医生。健康专家不建议儿童、服用某些药物的人和有进食障碍史的人进行间歇性禁食。