第1628期:Is breakfast really so important?

Have you ever heard someone say, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, or give you advice about why it’s vital to start the day with a healthy breakfast? It seems that this feast, for many of us, is necessary for our day to start well, but is it really that important?你有没有听过有人说“早餐是一天中最重要的一餐”，或者告诉你为什么以健康的早餐开始新的一天很重要？对于我们中的许多人来说，这场盛宴似乎对于我们的一天有一个好的开始是必要的，但它真的那么重要吗？The word ‘breakfast’ comes from ‘breaking the fast’ – the idea of ending the period in which we didn’t eat during the night. The regeneration process that takes place while we sleep consumes some of our natural food reserves to heal our bodies. Breakfast gives us an opportunity to replenish those depleted stores of things like protein and calcium. So, in that way, a healthy breakfast makes sense.“早餐”这个词来自“打破禁食”——结束我们在夜间不吃饭的时期的想法。我们睡觉时发生的再生过程会消耗我们的一些天然食物储备来治愈我们的身体。早餐让我们有机会补充那些耗尽的蛋白质和钙等物质。所以，这样，一顿健康的早餐才有意义。There are also many often-quoted studies which seem to correlate a state of obesity with skipping breakfast. In fact, it leads many health experts to advise a healthy breakfast to not only regulate but also lose weight. In a US study, 50,000 people were monitored over seven years, and those who ate a healthy breakfast were found to have a lower BMI, which seems to suggest that breakfast may indeed help people maintain a healthy weight.还有许多经常被引用的研究似乎将肥胖状态与不吃早餐联系起来。事实上，这导致许多健康专家建议健康的早餐不仅可以调节体重，还可以减肥。在美国的一项研究中，对 50,000 人进行了七年的监测，发现吃健康早餐的人的 BMI 较低，这似乎表明早餐确实可以帮助人们保持健康的体重。But it might not be as simple as that. Some experts, like Alexandra Johnstone, professor of appetite research at the University of Aberdeen, suggest those who skip breakfast might be less aware of healthy diets and nutrition, and people who eat breakfast might have a healthier lifestyle overall – exercising and not smoking, for example. And with the rise in popularity of intermittent fasting to lose weight – there may also be some benefits to skipping breakfast. Intermittent fasting can improve blood sugar control, insulin sensitivity, and lower blood pressure.但它可能没有那么简单。一些专家，如阿伯丁大学食欲研究教授亚历山德拉约翰斯通，认为那些不吃早餐的人可能不太了解健康饮食和营养，而吃早餐的人总体上可能有更健康的生活方式——锻炼而不吸烟，因为例子。随着间歇性禁食减肥的普及，不吃早餐也可能有一些好处。间歇性禁食可以改善血糖控制、胰岛素敏感性和降低血压。So, while breakfast has its benefits, it might not be the most important meal. It seems that a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet might be more important for many of us than just one single meal.因此，虽然早餐有其好处，但它可能不是最重要的一餐。对我们中的许多人来说，均衡饮食的健康生活方式似乎比一顿饭更重要。词汇表vital 极其重要的feast 大餐fast 禁食期regeneration 再生consume 消耗food reserves 食物储备replenish 补充，补足depleted 耗尽的，枯竭的protein 蛋白质calcium 钙correlate 和…相关skip 略过（这里指 “不吃”）regulate 控制，调节BMI (body mass index) 身体质量指数appetite 食欲intermittent 间歇性insulin 胰岛素blood pressure 血压