這就是為什么你總是有吃甜點的空間

這就是為什么你總是有吃甜點的空間

Sometimes when you're at the dinner table, it feels like you're under siege.

有時候，當(dāng)你坐在餐桌前，你會覺得自己被包圍了。

First comes a battalion of breadsticks. A brisket leaps into the breach. Then, the mashed potatoes are coming! The mashed potatoes are coming!

首先是一堆面包棒。一塊牛腩進(jìn)入胃中。然后，土豆泥就來了!土豆泥來了!

The main course arrives — a centerpiece dish flanked by cranberries and gravy and a constellation of carrots, cauliflower and corn.

主菜上桌了——主菜的兩側(cè)是蔓越莓、肉汁、胡蘿卜、花椰菜和玉米。

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Mercy, your belly pleads.

慈悲吧，你的肚子在懇求你。

And finally, your aunt appears in the doorway resplendent in a gravy-smeared apron. She bears the piece de resistance. Pumpkin pie crowned with a cloud of whip cream.

最后，你的阿姨出現(xiàn)在門口，她穿著一件粘滿灰塵的圍裙，光彩奪目。她承受了最大的阻力。南瓜派上面點綴著一層奶油。

The thing is, no matter how your belly moans — no matter how hard you strain to stave off the looming food coma — that pie is actually the piece de no resistance.

問題是，不管你的肚子怎么叫，也不管你多么努力地避免即將到來的食物昏迷，那塊餡餅實際上是毫無抵抗力的。

You simply can't say no.

你根本不能說不。

Why is that? Why do we always find room for that belly-busting pie?

這是為什么呢?為什么我們總能找到地方容納那塊讓人吃飽的派?

Science suggests it's no holiday miracle. In fact, research published in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association points to a simple reason why, when it comes to your stomach, there's always room at the inn. Your belly doesn't bust. It bends.

科學(xué)表明這并不是什么節(jié)日奇跡。事實上，發(fā)表在《挪威醫(yī)學(xué)會雜志》上的一項研究指出了一個簡單的原因，為什么說到你的胃，總是有空間的，你的肚子不會被脹大，它會彎曲。

And sugar — the stuff traditionally dumped wholesale in pies and pastries — acts as a trigger for expanding that organ to meet fresh, err... challenges.

而糖——傳統(tǒng)上在餡餅和糕點中批發(fā)的東西——就像一個觸發(fā)器，促使器官擴(kuò)張以滿足新鮮的挑戰(zhàn)。

Your brain equates fullness with stomach pressure. But sugar, or more specifically glucose, tells the brain to loosen the stomach walls. That relieves some of the pressure in your belly, while allowing more food to be piled inside — namely sweets.

你的大腦把飽腹感等同于胃的壓力。但是糖，或者更確切地說葡萄糖，會告訴大腦放松胃壁。這樣可以減輕你肚子里的壓力，同時讓更多的食物堆積在肚子里——也就是甜食。

"If you eat dessert after you're actually feeling stuffed you're tricking your normal sensation of being full," the researchers noted in Science Norway. In fact, there's even a name for this situation, aptly called dessert stomach.

研究人員在《挪威科學(xué)》上指出:“如果你在真的感到飽了之后再吃甜點，你就在欺騙你正常的飽腹感。”事實上，這種情況甚至有個名字叫“甜點胃”。

But that's not the only reason why there's always room for dessert. For all the various plates of food that parade past the holiday table, it can add up to "sensory-specific satiety," defined as a "temporary decline in pleasure derived from consuming a certain food in comparison to other unconsumed foods."

但這并不是我們總是能吃到甜點的唯一原因。對于節(jié)日餐桌上擺放的各種各樣的食物，加起來就是“特定感官的飽腹感”，定義為“與其他未食用的食物相比，食用某種食物所帶來的愉悅感暫時下降”。

Put simply, foods with similar tastes and textures bore the senses. Introduce a lemon meringue pie in all its vibrant glory, and you may suddenly find an opening for it.

簡而言之，味道和質(zhì)地相似的食物會讓人產(chǎn)生感覺。推出一款充滿活力的檸檬蛋白派，你可能會突然發(fā)現(xiàn)它的賣點。

But when it comes to overeating — and packing on all those extra holiday pounds — the "sugar reflex" could be most dangerous.

但說到暴飲暴食，加上假日期間額外的體重，“糖反射”可能是最危險的。

"The problem is that you don't know when to stop eating dessert," added study author Arnold Berstad.

“問題是你不知道什么時候該停止吃甜點，”研究報告的作者阿諾德·伯斯塔德補(bǔ)充說。

It could also — if used judiciously — be a method for easing discomfort from a heavy meal. The key, the researchers suggest, is limiting dessert to just a taste.

如果使用得當(dāng)，它還可以作為一種緩解暴飲暴食帶來的不適的方法。研究人員指出，關(guān)鍵在于將甜點的口味限制在一定范圍內(nèi)。

That way the stomach walls slacken, giving you a little breathing room, without immediately being stuffed full of pumpkin pie.

這樣你的胃壁就會松弛下來，給你一點喘息的空間，而不會馬上被南瓜派填得滿滿的。

Of course, for anyone who's ever come face to face with homemade pumpkin pie, resistance may be futile.

當(dāng)然，對于任何一個曾經(jīng)面對過自制南瓜派的人來說，抵抗可能是徒勞的。