(单词翻译:单击)
Nearly three decades ago, when I was an overweight teenager, I sometimes ate six pieces of sliced white toast in a row, each one slathered in butter or jam.
将近三十年前,我那时还是一个身材肥胖的青少年,我有时会连吃六片白面包吐司切片,每片都涂着厚厚一层黄油或果酱
I remember the spongy texture of the bread as I took it from its plastic bag. No matter how much of this supermarket toast I ate, I hardly felt sated. It was like eating without really eating.
我还记得把面包从塑料袋里取出来时,面包那松软的手感
Other days, I would buy a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes or a tube of Pringles: sour cream and onion flavour stackable snack chips, which were an exciting novelty at the time, having only arrived in the UK in 1991.
其他时候,我会买一盒脆坚果玉米片或一筒品客薯片: 酸奶油味和洋葱味的可堆叠起来的零食薯片,这在当时是一种令人兴奋的新鲜东西,1991年才进入英国
Although the carton was big enough to feed a crowd, I could demolish most of it by myself in a sitting. Each chip, with its salty and powdery sour cream coating, sent me back for another one.
虽然一盒的量够一大群人吃,但我一口气就能消灭掉大半盒
I loved the way the chips -- curved like roof tiles -- would dissolve slightly on my tongue. After one of these binges -- because that is what they were -- I would speak to myself with self-loathing.
我喜欢如屋顶瓦片般弯曲的薯片在我的舌头上微微融化的感觉
"What is wrong with you?" I would say to the tear-stained face in the mirror. I blamed myself for my lack of self-control.
"你是怎么了?" 我会对着镜子里那张满面泪痕的脸说
But now, all these years later, having mostly lost my taste for sliced bread, sugary cereals and snack chips, I feel I was asking myself the wrong question. It shouldn't have been "What is wrong with you?" but "What is wrong with this food?"
但现在,这么多年过去了,我对切片面包、含糖麦片和零食薯片已经基本上没了胃口,我觉得自己当年问错了问题
Back in the 90s, there was no word to cover all the items I used to binge on. Some of the things I over-ate -- crisps or chocolate or fast-food burgers -- could be classified as junk food, but others, such as bread and cereal, were more like household staples.
早在90年代,没有哪个词能概括我曾狂吃的所有的东西
These various foods seemed to have nothing in common except for the fact that I found them very easy to eat a lot of, especially when sad. As I ate my Pringles and my white bread, I felt like a failure for not being able to stop.
这些不同的食物似乎没有什么共同点,除了我发现它们很容易一吃就吃很多,尤其是在悲伤的时候
I had no idea that there would one day be a technical explanation for why I found them so hard to resist. The word is "ultra-processed" and it refers to foods that tend to be low in essential nutrients, high in sugar, oil and salt and liable to be over-consumed.
我当时不知道有一天会有一个科学解释,说明为什么我发现这些食物的诱惑如此难以抵挡