VOA慢速英语2019 美国的新饮食趋势:间歇性禁食（在线收听）

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也是一项古老的人类活动。这个活动是禁食，或者在规定的时间内不吃东西。

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

社交媒体应用程序和Facebook群组出现在“间歇性禁食”或兼职禁食的人群中。

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.

和其他饮食一样，间歇性禁食通过限制进食来帮助减肥。但它不是限制你吃什么，而是限制你什么时候吃。

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方法之一是“限时进食”。这并不像其他一些方法那么困难，因为禁食期间包括你睡觉的时间。

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.

限时进食的基本思想是将进食时间限制在8小时内。然后在一天的其他16个小时禁食。

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

许多人会缩短或延长进食时间。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.

在其他方法中，人们一周禁食几天。在禁食日，一些人可能允许自己摄入大约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，人们在停止禁食时都不应该吃得过多。

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(Melissa Breaux Bankston)是路易斯安那州新奥尔良的一名综合健身教练。她尝试间歇性禁食来减少吃零食。“我想限制自己吃饭的时间，”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，包括它对减肥的效果

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

目前，有限的研究表明，从长远来看，它可能不会比减少卡路里摄入量更有助于减肥。

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.

“这实际上是欺骗你的身体摄入更少卡路里的另一种方式，”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(Krista Varady)说。

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Courtney Peterson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。“不幸的是，间歇性禁食有点被炒作了，”她说。

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.

一些健康专家说，间歇性禁食对很多人来说可能太难了。他们指出，在一项针对100人的研究中，禁食组的人与限制热量摄入的人减掉的体重大致相同。禁食组的辍学率为38%，而热量限制饮食组的辍学率为29%。

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

但是瓦拉迪说，对于那些已经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应该在尝试前咨询他们的医生。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。