Studies show that your attention is likely to be distracted if you eat while playing with your phone. VCG
A spoonful of pickles can sometimes make a meal taste way better. Recently, a new type of pickle is being discussed: “digital pickled vegetables”. It refers to the videos people watch while eating that make their food more appetizing.
一勺榨菜有时能让一顿饭吃得更香。最近，大家讨论起一种新型榨菜:“电子榨菜”，即人们吃饭时看的视频，这些视频有“下饭”作用，能让人越吃越香。
The topic received more than 16 million clicks on Sina Weibo and about 100,000 people participated in the discussion. Instead of being accompanied by friends and family during a meal, many young people in China are kept company by TV shows or short videos. Many believe that their food is tastier with the “digital pickles”.
话题“电子榨菜”在新浪微博上收获超过1600万点击量，约10万人参与了讨论。在中国，许多年轻人不是和朋友、家人一起吃饭，而是伴着电视剧或短视频进食。许多人认为，就着“电子榨菜”，自己的食物更美味了。
Can this habit affect your diet? According to a research paper published in 2019, you may eat more unconsciously. The international research team asked 62 volunteers to follow different eating patterns on four different days. The patterns included eating while looking at the mobile phone, reading magazines and without distraction. After analyzing their diets, the team discovered that eating with a distraction increased caloric ingestion by about 15 percent.
伴着“电子榨菜”吃饭会影响饮食吗?根据一篇发表于2019年的研究论文，受这个习惯影响，你可能会在无意之间吃得更多。该国际研究团队要求62名志愿者在四天内按不同的饮食模式吃饭，包括边吃边看手机、边吃边看杂志以及不受干扰地进食。在分析了志愿者的饮食后，研究团队发现，吃饭时分心会多摄入约15%卡路里的热量。
To explore the reason, the team also invited two groups of people: one group ate while listening to an audio clip about another person eating and the other listened to a clip that helped them imagine themselves eating. The results showed that the second group ate less since they were more focused on their meals. When eating with the “digital pickles”, our attention can be distracted, which leads to eating more than expected.
为了探究原因，研究团队还请来两组人：一组人在进食时，听其他人吃东西的音频，另一组人也在进食时听音频，不过这段视频会帮助他们想象自己在吃东西。结果显示，第二组人吃得更少，因为他们吃得更专注。我们伴着“电子榨菜”吃饭，注意力会被分散，因此会吃得比预期多。
This works not only for eating meals but other demanding tasks as well. A research project led by the University of Sussex, UK, pointed out that activities which require lots of attention trick many participants into overeating. The team invited 120 participants to do various tasks while providing them with drinks and snacks. “Our study suggests that if you’re eating or drinking while your attention is distracted by a highly engaging task, you’re less likely to be able to tell how full you feel,” one of the authors Martin Yeomans explained.
这个规律不仅适用于吃饭，也适用于其他费力的任务。英国苏塞克斯大学主导的一个研究项目指出，耗费大量注意力的活动会诱使许多参与者暴饮暴食。该研究团队邀请了120名参与者从事各种任务，同时为他们提供饮料和零食。研究报告的作者之一马丁·约曼斯解释称：“我们的研究表明，如果你在吃吃喝喝时，注意力为一项耗费心神的任务所分散，就不太可能感觉到自己有多饱。”
以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报》高二889期
