Book Review;A history ofdieting;Binge and purge

　　書評;節食的歷史;狂歡和清理;

　　Calories and Corsets: A History of Dieting Over2000 Years. By Louise Foxcroft.

　　《卡路里和束身衣：2000年來的節食歷史》 LousiseFoxcroft 著。

　　After the binge of the holidays, many stumble intoJanuary with a hangover, some fragile resolutionsand a desire to shed a few pounds. Alas, few willbenefit from rigid calorie-counting orcabbage-soup slurping. In a recent study of 31 long-term diet plans, the AmericanPsychological Association found that up to two-thirds of participants ended up heavier thanbefore they started. Some diets are more sensible than others, but any regimen thatpromises swift and dramatic results will doom most followers to failure. Weight-loss pillsand surgery are similarly ineffectiveand sometimes dangerousover time. Yetgirth-management is big business, full of charismatic hucksters and fake science, earning $40 billion a year in America alone.

　　在假日的狂歡之后，許多人宿醉，下著不堅定的決心，立志要減去數磅體重，在跌跌撞撞中進入了一月。哎呀，少有人會得益于嚴格計算卡路里飲食或是食用卷心菜湯所帶來的好處。最近有一項關于31個長期節食計劃的研究，美國心理協會發現有超過三分之二的參與者在結束計劃時比他們開始時還要重。一些飲食計劃明顯比其他的要有效果，但是任何承諾快速有效的養生方法都注定讓它的實踐者們失敗。減肥藥片和手術經過時間的驗證，同樣效果不佳有時甚至很危險。然而，腰圍管理仍然是一件大事，這里充滿著有推銷能力的商家和偽科學，每年就僅僅在美國就可以掙得400億美元。

　　The diet industry is all about exploitation and profit, writes Louise Foxcroft in Calories andCorsets, her slim new book about the history of dieting. Less a banquet than a tasting menu, she chronicles more than 2,000years of movers, shakers and tummy-tuckers, highlighting both the wise and the wacky.

　　節食產業幾乎只有開發和盈利 Louise Foxcroft在《卡路里和束束身衣》一書中寫道，她薄薄的新書描述了節食的歷史。她的書與其說是一場盛宴，不如說是一本激起人食欲的菜單，Foxcroft按時間順序，編寫了2000多年來的行動者, 有影響的人物和減肥人士, 既寫聰明人，也記敘古怪的人。

　　The word diet comes from the Greek diaita, an approach to health that linked the mentalwith the physical. Classical physicians saw being too fat or thin as a sign of an imbalance.Man cannot live healthily on food without a certain amount of exercise, observedHippocrates, who believed in breakfast, long walks and prudent vomiting. Philosophers suchas Socrates saw a relationship between food and ethics, as a taste for luxury often leads togreed and unjust behaviour.

　　diet節食這個單詞來源于希臘語diata,意思是使身體和心靈都健康的方法。傳統的醫師認為太胖或者太瘦都是不平衡的標志。人類依靠食物健康地生存必須要有定量的運動 希波克拉底得出這個結論，他崇尚早餐，長距離的行走和適當嘔吐。哲學家如蘇格拉底發現了食物和道德之間的關系，吃大餐通常會導致人的貪婪和不公平行為。

　　Unlike the other deadly sins, gluttony is visible and so is often judged harshly, as if heftwere always evidence of wanton indulgence or laziness. In particularly hard times such as thetwo world wars, fat people were seen as traitors. Greater access to food and a rising stigmaagainst podge helped inspire the fashion for corsets in the 17th century, which causedoverlapping ribs, bad breath and the occasional death. When it comes to diets, womenoccupy a perversely central place, argues Ms Foxcroft. They are condemned for theirgluttony, criticised for their vanity, manipulated for their insecurity心神不定 and alsoblamed for the flab on their husbands and children.

　　不同于其他致命的罪惡，暴飲暴食是顯而易見的，因此常招致嚴厲的批評，似乎重量就是放肆縱容和懶惰的證據尤其是在艱難時期如兩次世界大戰，肥胖的人往往被視為是叛徒。17世紀，人們可以吃到更多的食物，對于矮胖之人的羞辱也與日俱增，這一切引發了束身衣的流行。束身衣可以致使人肋骨重疊，口臭，甚至是死亡。Foxcroft 女士指出，當談到節食時，女性通常占據著主導地位。她們常因暴食受到譴責，因虛榮招致批評，因心神不定而被人利用，因丈夫和孩子身上的肥肉受到指責。

　　Until the 18th century, ideas on diet were mostly about healthy eating, morality andcontrol. Laxatives and emetics were common, but many philosophers and physicians hadsensible ideas about restraint and nutrition. By the early 19th century complaints aboutfat became rife, as even the working class had moved from the fields to the calorie-richcities. This created a larger market for dieting solutions, particularly fads such as cold-raindouches, chest beatings, electrode zappings and massages that promised to crushsubcutaneous fat globules.

　　直到18世紀，人們關于節食的想法大都關于健康飲食，道德和控制。排泄和催吐非常普遍，但是許多哲學家和醫師對于抑制和營養有著明智的看法。到19世紀早期，當工人階級從農村搬到充滿卡路里的城市，人們對于肥胖的抱怨開始流行起來。這為節食計劃創造了更大的市場，尤其是冷水灌洗，擊打胸部，電極刺激和按摩這些承諾可以減少皮下脂肪的方法。

　　The 19th century saw a chap named William Banting bring the first low-carbohydrate diet toa mass audience. A study in the Lancet later confirmed the value of favouring protein andfat over carbs well before a once overweight cardiologist named Robert Atkins figured thisout for himself. Horace Fletcher, otherwise known as The Great Masticator, was emphaticabout chewing each mouthful of food until it was liquid, and counted John D. Rockefellerand Franz Kafka among his disciples.

　　在19世紀，有個叫做William Banting的人，他第一次將低碳水化合物食譜推薦給大眾。后來在《柳葉刀》中刊登的一項研究證實了多攝入蛋白質和脂肪，少攝入碳水化合物的好處，在此之后，有一個曾經超重的心臟病專家Robert Atkins也為自己指出了這一點。Horace Fletcher，以偉大的咀嚼者廣為所知，曾強調咀嚼每一口食物直到它們成了液體，他的擁躉包括洛克菲勒和卡夫卡。

　　There have been other gurus, plans, drugs and devices, but most offer short-lived results andlong-term angst. Lasting changes need slow but steady modifications to lifestyle. Inspired bythose early Greeks, who wished to achieve personal balance, not an ideal body type, MsFoxcroft offers a suggestion that sounds enough like a resolution: make sensible choicesand stick to them.

　　還有些權威，節食計劃，藥品和設備，但是大多數方法都縮短了人的壽命，引起了人們長期的憤怒。持久的變化需要對生活方式進行緩慢但穩定的調整。Foxcroft女士受到了早期希臘人的啟發，要想獲得個人的平衡，而不是理想的身材。她出了一個建議，但聽起來更像一個決心：做理智的選擇，并且持之以恒。

　　Book Review;A history ofdieting;Binge and purge

　　書評;節食的歷史;狂歡和清理;

　　Calories and Corsets: A History of Dieting Over2000 Years. By Louise Foxcroft.

　　《卡路里和束身衣：2000年來的節食歷史》 LousiseFoxcroft 著。

　　After the binge of the holidays, many stumble intoJanuary with a hangover, some fragile resolutionsand a desire to shed a few pounds. Alas, few willbenefit from rigid calorie-counting orcabbage-soup slurping. In a recent study of 31 long-term diet plans, the AmericanPsychological Association found that up to two-thirds of participants ended up heavier thanbefore they started. Some diets are more sensible than others, but any regimen thatpromises swift and dramatic results will doom most followers to failure. Weight-loss pillsand surgery are similarly ineffectiveand sometimes dangerousover time. Yetgirth-management is big business, full of charismatic hucksters and fake science, earning $40 billion a year in America alone.

　　在假日的狂歡之后，許多人宿醉，下著不堅定的決心，立志要減去數磅體重，在跌跌撞撞中進入了一月。哎呀，少有人會得益于嚴格計算卡路里飲食或是食用卷心菜湯所帶來的好處。最近有一項關于31個長期節食計劃的研究，美國心理協會發現有超過三分之二的參與者在結束計劃時比他們開始時還要重。一些飲食計劃明顯比其他的要有效果，但是任何承諾快速有效的養生方法都注定讓它的實踐者們失敗。減肥藥片和手術經過時間的驗證，同樣效果不佳有時甚至很危險。然而，腰圍管理仍然是一件大事，這里充滿著有推銷能力的商家和偽科學，每年就僅僅在美國就可以掙得400億美元。

　　The diet industry is all about exploitation and profit, writes Louise Foxcroft in Calories andCorsets, her slim new book about the history of dieting. Less a banquet than a tasting menu, she chronicles more than 2,000years of movers, shakers and tummy-tuckers, highlighting both the wise and the wacky.

　　節食產業幾乎只有開發和盈利 Louise Foxcroft在《卡路里和束束身衣》一書中寫道，她薄薄的新書描述了節食的歷史。她的書與其說是一場盛宴，不如說是一本激起人食欲的菜單，Foxcroft按時間順序，編寫了2000多年來的行動者, 有影響的人物和減肥人士, 既寫聰明人，也記敘古怪的人。

　　The word diet comes from the Greek diaita, an approach to health that linked the mentalwith the physical. Classical physicians saw being too fat or thin as a sign of an imbalance.Man cannot live healthily on food without a certain amount of exercise, observedHippocrates, who believed in breakfast, long walks and prudent vomiting. Philosophers suchas Socrates saw a relationship between food and ethics, as a taste for luxury often leads togreed and unjust behaviour.

　　diet節食這個單詞來源于希臘語diata,意思是使身體和心靈都健康的方法。傳統的醫師認為太胖或者太瘦都是不平衡的標志。人類依靠食物健康地生存必須要有定量的運動 希波克拉底得出這個結論，他崇尚早餐，長距離的行走和適當嘔吐。哲學家如蘇格拉底發現了食物和道德之間的關系，吃大餐通常會導致人的貪婪和不公平行為。

　　Unlike the other deadly sins, gluttony is visible and so is often judged harshly, as if heftwere always evidence of wanton indulgence or laziness. In particularly hard times such as thetwo world wars, fat people were seen as traitors. Greater access to food and a rising stigmaagainst podge helped inspire the fashion for corsets in the 17th century, which causedoverlapping ribs, bad breath and the occasional death. When it comes to diets, womenoccupy a perversely central place, argues Ms Foxcroft. They are condemned for theirgluttony, criticised for their vanity, manipulated for their insecurity心神不定 and alsoblamed for the flab on their husbands and children.

　　不同于其他致命的罪惡，暴飲暴食是顯而易見的，因此常招致嚴厲的批評，似乎重量就是放肆縱容和懶惰的證據尤其是在艱難時期如兩次世界大戰，肥胖的人往往被視為是叛徒。17世紀，人們可以吃到更多的食物，對于矮胖之人的羞辱也與日俱增，這一切引發了束身衣的流行。束身衣可以致使人肋骨重疊，口臭，甚至是死亡。Foxcroft 女士指出，當談到節食時，女性通常占據著主導地位。她們常因暴食受到譴責，因虛榮招致批評，因心神不定而被人利用，因丈夫和孩子身上的肥肉受到指責。

　　Until the 18th century, ideas on diet were mostly about healthy eating, morality andcontrol. Laxatives and emetics were common, but many philosophers and physicians hadsensible ideas about restraint and nutrition. By the early 19th century complaints aboutfat became rife, as even the working class had moved from the fields to the calorie-richcities. This created a larger market for dieting solutions, particularly fads such as cold-raindouches, chest beatings, electrode zappings and massages that promised to crushsubcutaneous fat globules.

　　直到18世紀，人們關于節食的想法大都關于健康飲食，道德和控制。排泄和催吐非常普遍，但是許多哲學家和醫師對于抑制和營養有著明智的看法。到19世紀早期，當工人階級從農村搬到充滿卡路里的城市，人們對于肥胖的抱怨開始流行起來。這為節食計劃創造了更大的市場，尤其是冷水灌洗，擊打胸部，電極刺激和按摩這些承諾可以減少皮下脂肪的方法。

　　The 19th century saw a chap named William Banting bring the first low-carbohydrate diet toa mass audience. A study in the Lancet later confirmed the value of favouring protein andfat over carbs well before a once overweight cardiologist named Robert Atkins figured thisout for himself. Horace Fletcher, otherwise known as The Great Masticator, was emphaticabout chewing each mouthful of food until it was liquid, and counted John D. Rockefellerand Franz Kafka among his disciples.

　　在19世紀，有個叫做William Banting的人，他第一次將低碳水化合物食譜推薦給大眾。后來在《柳葉刀》中刊登的一項研究證實了多攝入蛋白質和脂肪，少攝入碳水化合物的好處，在此之后，有一個曾經超重的心臟病專家Robert Atkins也為自己指出了這一點。Horace Fletcher，以偉大的咀嚼者廣為所知，曾強調咀嚼每一口食物直到它們成了液體，他的擁躉包括洛克菲勒和卡夫卡。

　　There have been other gurus, plans, drugs and devices, but most offer short-lived results andlong-term angst. Lasting changes need slow but steady modifications to lifestyle. Inspired bythose early Greeks, who wished to achieve personal balance, not an ideal body type, MsFoxcroft offers a suggestion that sounds enough like a resolution: make sensible choicesand stick to them.

　　還有些權威，節食計劃，藥品和設備，但是大多數方法都縮短了人的壽命，引起了人們長期的憤怒。持久的變化需要對生活方式進行緩慢但穩定的調整。Foxcroft女士受到了早期希臘人的啟發，要想獲得個人的平衡，而不是理想的身材。她出了一個建議，但聽起來更像一個決心：做理智的選擇，并且持之以恒。