一個人吃飯是否有助於節制飲食?大綱

You're feeling full but here's the waiter with the dessert menu. You're about to say "No thanks" when your friend orders baked cheesecake. And soon you're saying: "I'll have one too, thanks." Studies repeatedly show that what we eat is highly influenced by who we eat with. The most recent research, presented at last week's American Heart Association meeting, found that the chance of a "diet lapse" was 60% when eating with others. The research followed 150 people trying to lose weight or keep weight off, for a year, using phones and an app to capture what and where they ate. Those in the study were asked to limit their calories. They were most successful in keeping to their diet when they ate alone. Work, with its temptations of cake for somebody's birthday, led to a 40% chance of a diet lapse. The car was the safest place, with only a 30% chance of overeating.

你感覺飽了，但服務生卻站在一旁拿着一份甜點菜單。你準備說"不用了，謝謝"，但你的朋友卻點了烤芝士蛋糕。很快你就會說："給我也來一份吧，謝謝。"研究多次表明：和我們一起用餐的人會影響我們吃什麼。上週在美國心臟協會會議上，有人提出最新的一項研究發現：當和別人一起用餐時，"飲食失調"的機率是60%。該研究對150位想要減肥的人進行了爲期一年的調查，使用手機或應用程序捕捉他們吃了什麼，以及在哪兒吃的。研究人員要求受試者減少卡路里攝入量。當他們一個人吃飯的時候，他們最能控制自己的飲食。工作和某人生日蛋糕的誘惑使得人們"飲食失調"的機率爲40%。車是最安全的地方，在車上過度飲食的機率只有30%。

But it's annoying that dining with family or friends could make us eat more. A study of 63 adults who kept seven-day dairies found that eating with people increased meal sizes by 44% and participants ate more fat than when they ate alone. The lead researcher, US physiologist John de Castro, suggested that eating alone would reduce caloric intake and improve diets. In another study he showed that meals eaten with spouses and family had more calories and were eaten faster, while those with friends were as large but lasted longer. This was true for all meals of the day, and if men were at the table, women tended to eat more than usual. So although eating with friends or family is one of the joys of life, if you want to watch your weight, should you eat on your own?

但是與家人或朋友吃飯會讓我吃的更多這一點着實令人煩惱。有一項研究有63位參與者，他們寫了7天的日記，研究發現：相比一個人單獨就餐，和別人一起吃飯時他們的飯量增加了44%，而且攝入的脂肪量也更多了。該研究的主研究員--美國心理學家約翰·德·卡斯特羅指出：一個人吃飯會減少卡路里攝入量、改善人們的飲食。在另一項研究中，他表明：和妻子/老公、家人一起吃飯，攝入的卡路里量更多，但吃飯的速度更快，而與朋友一起吃飯，飯菜也很豐盛，但吃的時間會更久。一日三餐都是如此，如果飯桌上有男性，女性往往會比平常吃的更多。所以，雖然與朋友或家人吃飯是人生一大樂事，但如果你想控制體重，最好還是一個人吃吧。

We seem to be compelled to model how we eat on those around us; not only on what they eat but on how big they are. A study in the journal Appetite showed that in the presence of an actor in a fat suit, people in a restaurant ate 31.6% more pasta, whatever she ordered. If she ordered salad, they served themselves 43.5% less salad.

我們似乎被迫去模仿周圍人的飲食；不僅模仿他們吃什麼，而且還模仿他們飯量。Appetite雜誌上刊登的一項研究表明：穿着肥碩西服的演員出現在餐廳時，不管她點了什麼，餐廳裏的人都會多吃31.6%的披薩。如果她點了沙拉，那他們會減少43.5%的沙拉攝入量。