關於吃飯時間與減肥的四大事實真相

在何時吃飯最減肥這個話題中，出現了許多謬論和奇怪的特殊規則，但僅靠這些根本沒用。比如吃一頓豐盛的早餐能讓你一整天都過好，或者每隔幾個小時就吃點東西。但其實你何時吃飯這一點沒有你想象中的那麼重要，就算這些說法對你有用，其中的原因也和你想的不一樣。

Myth: Eat a Hearty Breakfast, First Thing in the Morning
謬誤：吃頓豐盛的早餐是早晨的首要任務

Sorry, there’s nothing special about eating breakfast. It’s not “the most important meal of the day.” At least, not for everyone. For years, people (especially cereal marketing companies) touted the benefits of breakfast because it supposedly kept you from overeating, jump-started your metabolism, or .
抱歉，吃早餐並沒有什麼特別的。它並不是一天之中最重要的一餐，至少並非對每個人都適用。人們（尤其是銷售穀類的公司）吹噓早餐能幫助你避免暴飲暴食，喚醒你的新陳代謝或者（插入任何可以幫助減肥的理由）等等。

But here’s the wrinkle: a majority of breakfast studies are biased. A study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that most research on skipping breakfast and weight gain was conducted with the explicit intent to force that correlation.
但問題在於同早餐有關的大多數研究均較爲片面，《美國臨牀營養期刊》刊登的一項調查表明，多數有關不吃早餐會導致體重增加的研究有着促成這種相關性的明顯意圖。

What’s more, some of these breakfast studies are funded by the food industry, who have a vested interest in you eating their very breakfast-y foods.
更重要的是，有些早餐研究的贊助者是食品產業，你食用他們的早餐食品，他們可以從中獲益。

Personally, I flip-flop between eating breakfast and skipping it. Alone, eating breakfast or skipping it matters less than what you eat, how much of it you eat, and what your other lifestyle choices are. Bottom-line, people eat breakfast for a variety of reasons, but eating or skipping breakfast itself isn’t going to help you suddenly drop a pant size. Eat breakfast because you want to and punch anyone who makes you feel bad for skipping it.
從個人角度而言，我是吃早餐和不吃早餐的中立黨。和你吃下了什麼、吃了多少、以及其他的生活方式選擇相比，吃早餐或者不吃早餐沒那麼重要。總之，人們會出於各種各樣的原因吃早餐，但吃或者不吃早餐本身不會幫你快速減肥。吃早餐是因爲你想吃，把那些讓你覺得不吃早餐有害的人打一頓吧。

Myth: You Need to Eat Small Meals Every 2-3 Hours
謬誤：你需要每隔2-3小時吃一小頓

I used to work with people who had every one of their daily six meals perfectly portioned out in plastic food containers. Every few hours they’d make a beeline for the fridge and joyfully nosh for all of five minutes. “Keeps my metabolism stoked,” they used to say. But like their sandwiches, that underlying principle was a load of baloney.
我過去曾與那些將他們那一日六餐完好分裝在塑料食品容器裏的人共事。他們每隔幾個小時就會走到冰箱那裏，高興地吃一會兒東西。他們總是說：“這樣能維持我的新陳代謝。”但就像他們的三明治一樣，這一基本原則也是在胡扯。

Say it with me: Eating many small meals does not “boost” your metabolism. In fact, for some people, the more they eat, the hungrier they feel, and they may end up eating more calories than they would with fewer, larger meals. On the opposite end, having more meals to look forward to throughout the day can benefit some people psychologically, especially when they find dieting to be difficult, and help them avoid binging after a long hungry day at the office. Plus, there are health reasons to both eat and avoid eating frequently, like managing blood sugar.
來跟我一起念：吃許多副餐並不會提升你的新陳代謝。事實上，對於某些人而言，他們吃得越多，反而越餓，最終攝入的熱量反而比他們吃次數更少的主餐時多。另一方面，一整天都在吃東西會給某些人的心理帶來安慰，當他們認爲節食非常困難的時候尤爲如此，這能幫助他們避開在辦公室餓了一整天之後的大吃大喝。此外，吃東西和避開頻繁地吃東西也有健康原因，比如控制血糖。

As this study in The British Journal of Nutrition notes, your body will process all of those calories just the same whether they came in one or three big packages, or seven smaller ones. In essence, frequent meals are simply a key strategy in helping you manage your appetite and mindful consumption, so if more meals works for you, then you do you.
一項發表在《英國營養學雜誌》上的研究指出，不論你是吃一到三大份，還是7小份食物，你的身體處理所有卡路里的方式都一樣。本質上，頻繁地吃東西只是幫助你控制胃口和精細食用的關鍵策略而已，如果隔一會兒就吃點東西對你有用，那麼你就這樣做吧。

Myth: You Need to Eat Immediately After a Workout
謬誤：在鍛鍊完之後你需要馬上吃東西

There’s a popular notion among the lifting crowd that if you don’t have a protein shake and a good source of carbohydrates to replenish your energy reserves within 45 minutes to an hour of your workout, all of your hard work in the gym goes poof, just like that. Since nobody wants to risk having their gains wasted, this fear of missing the all-important “post-workout anabolic window” was perpetuated by a “just in case” mentality.
在舉重愛好者之間流傳着一個說法，那就是如果你在鍛鍊完四十五分鐘至一個小時內不馬上補充蛋白質或者碳水化合物補充能量，那麼你在健身房的所有努力就都白費了。鑑於沒有人想要冒着讓自己的努力白費的風險，所以這種擔心錯過非常重要的“鍛鍊後代謝窗口期”的說法就以一種“以防萬一”的心態流傳下來了。

Luckily, this review of the research in Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition clears things up a little: For most of us, when we eat after our workout doesn’t matter so much, as long as we eventually eat a substantial meal (that ideally contains both carbs and protein) at some point after. If you can’t sit down and eat a proper meal until hours after your workout, your muscles aren’t going to wither up and die like Internet forums will have you believe (whew!).
幸運的是，《國際運動營養學會期刊》上的研究澄清了這一點：對於我們大部分人而言，運動完過後多久吃東西根本不重要，只要我們最後吃了豐盛的一餐即可（這一餐最好包含碳水化合物和蛋白質）。如果你在鍛鍊過後幾小時內都沒辦法吃東西，那麼你的肌肉也不會像網上流傳的那樣流失。

Not eating immediately after your workout might affect you only if you have another intense workout to do on the same day. Otherwise, you’ll be fine. If you’ve already eaten before your workout, you can lag for up to 6 hours before not eating could start to hurt your recovery. While there’s no urgency to eat immediately, that Chipotle burrito is certainly a nice incentive to get your workout done, so if it helps get you to the finish line, by all means, enjoy. However, if you’re trying to maximize your benefits in the gym, it’s more important that you focus on getting enough protein and calories for the whole day and get enough rest.
在鍛鍊完後沒有馬上吃東西，只有在你那天還有強烈運動的時候纔有可能影響到你。否則，你的肌肉就是安全的。如果你在鍛鍊之前已經吃過了，那麼你在鍛鍊完六小時內沒有吃東西都不會有損身體恢復。雖然鍛鍊完不一定要馬上吃東西，但如果你鍛鍊的動力就是能吃個辣椒捲餅，那麼你就去享受吧。在健身房揮汗如雨的同時，你也要攝取足夠的蛋白質和卡路里，並得到足夠的休息。

Myth: You Need to Stop Eating a Few Hours Before Bedtime
謬誤：在睡前幾小時內不要吃東西

You’ve probably heard the ill-advised saying to never eat after 6/7/8 at night, because if you do all of your calories will automatically be stored as fat calories and you’ll gain weight. The thing is, most diet-related rules of thumb, including those from crash and fad diets, are really just rituals to regulate your eating habits. That’s because for a lot of people nighttime eating often involves raids on ice cream, pizza, cookies, and all of the other high-calorie foods that actually can lead to weight gain. Telling you that you “can’t” eat after some arbitrarily established time simply helps you control your total calories, and avoids potentially self-destructive habits.
你可能已經聽過這句欠考慮的話：晚上6/7/8點過後不要吃東西，否則你攝入的卡路里就會自動變成脂肪儲存起來，你的體重就會增加。真正的情況是，大部分與飲食有關的經驗法則都是一些調節飲食習慣的慣常做法，因爲許多人晚上吃的東西通常包括冰淇淋、披薩、餅乾和其他會導致體重增加的高熱量食物。告訴自己，在某個特定時間過後不能吃東西可以幫助你控制總體熱量攝入，避開潛在的自毀習慣。

That said, it’s worth noting that this advice can certainly apply to people who have digestive issues like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). If that’s you, you should definitely avoid eating a couple hours before bedtime, because doing so can aggravate indigestion and heartburn.
也就是說，那些有胃食道逆流性疾病等消化問題的人可以採納這一意見，如果你有消化問題，那麼睡前幾小時內最好不要吃東西，否則消耗不良和燒心的感覺會加重。

Ultimately, all of these strategies can work as part of a weight loss plan, but for reasons that have nothing to do with what those diet guru magazines say. In most cases, they simply ritualize your eating so you manage your hunger and food cravings. However, that doesn’t make them somehow magical and guarantee they work for everyone. Remember, if you want your jeans to fit looser, it comes down to total calories and the habits you personally develop around them. When you eat those calories has a smaller effect than you think.
最後，所有這些策略都可以作爲減肥計劃的一部分，但其原因與飲食權威雜誌的說法毫無關係。在大部分情況下，它們可以讓你的飲食成爲習慣，幫你控制飢餓和對食物的渴望。然而，它們並沒有特別的魔力，能保證對每個人都起作用。記住，如果你想讓牛仔褲更鬆，這一切都與你攝入的總熱量和個人飲食習慣有關。你什麼時候吃東西，對你的影響比想象中小。