這就是為什么你胃里總是有甜點的空間

這就是為什么你胃里總是有甜點的空間

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

有時，當你在餐桌上，感覺就像你被包圍了。

Sugar tricks the brain into opening up some space in the belly — even when it may not be a good idea. (Photo: Foxys Forest Manufacture/Shutterstock)

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

首先是一營面包棒。一只胸肉躍入缺口。然后，土豆泥來了!土豆泥來了!

The main course arrives — a ham or roast or turkey flanked by cranberries and gravy and a constellation of carrots, cauliflower and corn.

主菜上來了——火腿、烤火雞、小紅莓、肉汁、胡蘿卜、花椰菜和玉米。

Mercy, your belly pleads.

天哪，你的肚子在懇求。

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，你姑姑出現(xiàn)在門口，穿著臟兮兮的圍裙，金碧輝煌。她承受著最大的壓力。南瓜派上面有一層鮮奶油。

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，不管你如何努力避免即將到來的食物昏迷，餡餅實際上是最沒有抵抗力的一塊。

You simply can't say no.

你不能簡單地說不。

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

這是為什么呢?為什么我們總是找地方吃那塊破肚子的餡餅?

Science suggests it's no Christmas 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.

科學表明這不是圣誕奇跡。事實上，發(fā)表在《挪威醫(yī)學協(xié)會雜志》上的一項研究指出了一個簡單的原因，那就是為什么在你的胃里，總是有空間放甜點的。你的肚子不會撐破。它會拐彎。

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——這種傳統(tǒng)上被大量丟棄在餡餅和糕點中的物質(zhì)——會觸發(fā)人體器官的擴張，以應(yīng)對新鮮的、呃……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，或者更確切地說是葡萄糖，告訴大腦放松胃壁。這減輕了你腹部的一些壓力，同時允許更多的食物堆積在里面——也就是糖果。

"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》(Science Norway)雜志上指出:“如果你在真正感覺飽了之后才吃甜點，那你是在欺騙自己正常的飽腹感。”事實上，這種情況甚至有一個專門的名字，叫做“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."

但這并不是總有地方吃甜點的唯一原因。節(jié)日餐桌上擺滿了各式各樣的食物，這些食物加在一起就構(gòu)成了“特定感官的飽腹感”，即“與其他未食用的食物相比，食用某種食物所帶來的愉悅感會暫時下降”。

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

簡而言之，味道和質(zhì)地相似的食物讓人感覺不到味道。介紹一款色彩絢麗的檸檬蛋白派，你可能會突然發(fā)現(xiàn)它的一個空缺。

You can't trust a sugar-addled mind. (Photo: canbedone/Shutterstock)

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——以及在假期里增加體重——“糖分反射”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.

研究報告的撰寫者阿諾德·伯斯塔德說:“問題是你不知道什么時候該停止吃甜點。”

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，它也可以成為緩解大餐帶來的不適的一種方法。研究人員認為，關(guān)鍵在于限制甜點的味道。

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

這樣的話，你的胃壁就會松弛下來，給你一點喘息的空間，而不會馬上被塞滿南瓜派。

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

當然，對于那些曾經(jīng)面對面吃過自制南瓜派的人來說，抵抗可能是徒勞的。