減肥大宣傳:爲什麼控制卡路里總是沒有用?

We've known for More than a decade that the key to weight-loss is to consume fewer calories than you're burning--in other words, eat less, exercise more, or both. That dietary adage was confirmed last week by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, with a widely reported study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

有一個真理已經印在我們腦子裏十多年了，那就是減肥的關鍵是吃進去的熱量要比消耗掉的少才行，換句話說，要麼少吃東西，要麼多做運動，兩者兼顧當然更好。上週哈佛大學公共健康專業的研究員們已經證實了這句飲食格言的有效性，並在《新英格蘭醫學期刊》上做了大幅報道。

In the study, researchers put 811 overweight adults on one of four weight loss plans, which were supposed to vary widely in fat, protein, and carbohydrate content. Most of the reporting discussed Atkins-style high protein diets as similar to the diet's high protein plan and Ornish-style low fat vegetarian diets as similar to the study's low fat plan. Since everyone who cut out 750 calories per day from their diets lost basically the same amount of weight, the take home message seemed to be that none of the popular diets are any better than any of the others.

在這項研究中，研究員們給811位超重的成年人制定了一個減掉四分之一體重的計劃，這樣一來，脂肪、蛋白質和碳水化合物的攝入量就都要較他們習慣的飲食做很大的改變。報道用了很大篇幅討論兩種飲食方式，一個是跟阿金博士食譜高蛋白質飲食法相似的高蛋白質攝入計劃，另一個是跟歐寧胥節食法理念一致的低脂肪素食計劃。因爲每天從他們食譜中減少750卡路里熱量的人也可以減少相同量的體重，因此，這項研究的結果表明這些著名的飲食法似乎並沒有什麼過人之處。

But upon closer analysis, a very different conclusion emerges.

但是隨着研究深入，一種不同的聲音若隱若現。

First, all the tested diets strived to be "heart healthy," which means that they limited saturated fat, limited cholesterol, and contained at least 20 daily grams of fiber (in the form of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables). Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Atkins-style diets knows that all three of these requirements are virtually impossible on such diets--so this study should not be read, in any way, as endorsing an Atkins (or similar high-meat) diet for weight loss.

首先，所有參加測試的人都要努力做到“心臟健康”，也就是他們要控制飽和脂肪酸，控制膽固醇，還要保證每天20克的膳食纖維的攝入（全穀物、水果和蔬菜中都有）。每個曾經試過阿金飲食法的人都知道這三個要求在阿金食譜中實際是不可能做到的，因此，要通過這個研究來證明阿金減肥法（吃肉療法）對減肥有效着實是無稽之談。

Second, although the caloric restriction worked for everyone who stuck with it--so it certainly is confirmation that caloric restriction is the way to lose weight--participants at two years were already consuming more than the allowed calories and gaining back weight. In fact, all four groups were on track to be right where they started by year three. In other words, for long term weight loss, all of the diets failed.

再次，儘管只要大家能堅持下來，控制攝入卡路里就能幫助你減輕體重（這也是證明控制卡路里就能減肥的理由），但是參與者在兩年內消耗的卡路里在規定範圍內，可是體重卻又反彈了。實際上，所有四組參與者在第三年試驗開始時全都恢復了最原始的體重。換句話說，每種減肥法對長期減輕體重都沒什麼用。

The reason for the high failure rate seems obvious to me: All four diets used similar foods and required precise caloric accounting, so all four diets were confusing and very hard to follow. Basically, adherents were asked to be absurdly careful with caloric counts (dropping precisely 750 calories per day) and proportions, but were told to eat identical foods--just in different amounts. So far, diets that require rigorous participant logs and calorie counting have always failed in peer reviewed studies, so this shouldn't have come as a big surprise.

到底爲什麼失敗率這麼高？在我看來很明顯：所有的四組實驗都在使用相同的食物，也同樣對卡路里的攝入測量的精益求精，因此這四種食譜很容易被搞混，想要照着做也就有些難度了。基本上按照食譜減肥的人被要求過於精確的計算食物熱量（每天精確的750）和各種比利，但是每天卻都要吃一模一樣的東西，只是量有所不同而已。到目前爲止，食譜測試的參與者每天都要寫日記、做食物熱量計算，因此如此麻煩大家一批一批的放棄也就不足爲其了。

In fact, there is a diet that works--consistently--at helping adherents to lose weight and keep it off, and which has a very high compliance rate: a very low fat, vegetarian diet, as recommended by Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, and many others.

實際上，有一種食譜還真能讓你一直在減肥——它能幫助使用者減輕體重並且維持這個體重，而且按照這個食譜做的大有人在們這個食譜就是歐寧胥和巴納德以及其他專家都推薦的：脂肪量很低的素食餐。

The very-low-fat vegetarian diets work long-term because they focus on the consumption of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which make you feel full without a lot of empty fat calories, so adherents needn't keep food logs, restrict food intake, or count calories--in other words, they take advantage of the nature of food.

這種脂肪很低的素食餐可以長期發揮減肥功效，因爲它主要是通過纖維和合成碳水化合物使人感到飽腹，而不是吃一堆高熱量的東西來填飽肚子，因此，按照這個食譜做的人不用寫日記，也不用嚴格控制食物攝取量和空是食物熱量，這麼說吧，這種方法剛好利用了食物的自然屬性達到減肥的效果。

The Harvard study got off to a good start by requiring (in all four groups) 20 grams of fiber per day and by limiting fat and cholesterol, but the reason all four groups failed in the end is that all four diets included meat, which has no fiber at all, and which is packed with fat, relative to whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables.

需要每天20克纖維攝入量以及要控制脂肪和膽固醇這個研究結果爲哈佛大學的這項研究開了一個好頭，但是最終這四組實驗都失敗的原因是它們的食譜中都有肉類，但是肉類相對於全穀物、豆類、水果以及蔬菜而言，不僅一點纖維素都沒有，還都是大量的脂肪。

As explained by Dr. Ornish in the 2001 foreword to Eat More, Weigh Less, which is the Bible of this way of eating: "When you go from a high fat to a low fat diet, even if you eat the same amount of food, you consume fewer calories without feeling hungry and deprived. Also, because the food is high in fiber, you get full before you consume too many calories. You can eat whenever you're hungry and still lose weight."

歐寧胥教授2001年出版的書《多吃讓你更苗條》可以說是如何吃這方面的權威，在這本書的序中他這樣解釋：“當你從一個高脂肪的飲食轉變成一個低脂肪的飲食時，即使你吃的東西量是相同的，你也消耗了更少的熱量但是你卻不會覺得那麼餓，而且，因爲食物的纖維素含量很高，不用吃掉很多熱量你就會覺得飽了，所以，你可以想什麼時候吃就什麼時候吃，而且就算這樣吃還是可以減肥。”

Interestingly, in their review of all the past studies that have been done on diet and weight loss, the researchers note that "a very-high-carbohydrate, very-low-fat vegetarian diet was superior [for weight loss] to a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat [non-vegetarian] diet." But for some reason, they don't include this diet, which has been proven to work, in their study.

有趣的是，回顧一下過去所做過的所有飲食和減肥的研究，研究者們認爲“高碳水化合物配合低脂肪素食的飲食是更有效的，而不是以前一致認爲的高碳水化合物和低脂肪但是非素食的搭配。”但是鑑於一些原因，他們的四組實驗中並沒有這一項食譜，儘管在研究中這個方法很奏效。

In addition to the fact that Ornish-style vegetarian diets are easy to follow and work naturally for weight loss without calorie counting and food logs, adherence to the diet is high because results come fast and furious, and they include so much more than weight loss, from improved sexual function and greater energy to unclogged arteries and less need for sleep.

不僅僅歐寧胥的素食飲食法不用記日記、也不用做食物熱量計算就能很方便施行也可以很自然的減輕體重，更重要的是使用者會發現這個方法見效也很快，而且除了可以減輕體重之外，還可以改善性功能，是動脈更加通暢，減少所需的睡眠時間。

And while it might seem challenging at first, it's actually quite basic--you eat all the grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables you want--from black bean burritos to three bean salads to pasta with (faux) meatballs to spaghetti squash and collard greens to apples and blueberries (basically, if it's a whole grain, bean, fruit or vegetable, you can eat as much of it as you want).

一開始這麼做可能覺得很難，但是實際上還好，你可以吃你想吃的所有穀物、豆類、水果和蔬菜，不管是黑都做的墨西哥卷還是三種豆子做的沙拉，或者有肉丸的意大利麪，當然肉丸是假的，還有魚翅瓜，甘藍葉，蘋果，藍莓……（簡而言之，只要是穀物、豆類、水果、蔬菜中的任何一種，那你就盡情的吃吧）