When it comes to losing weight, the trick lies not so much in what you eat but in how much you consume. After all, even if you stick to whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, it’s still possible to eat too much, resulting in weight gain.
说到减肥，诀窍不在于你吃了多少，而在于你消耗了多少。毕竟，即便你坚持吃全谷物、水果和蔬菜，你依然可能因为吃得太多而致使体重增加。
But according to one study, keeping your weight in check may also depend on where you eat. Specifically, researchers at Cornell found that eating in a restaurant with softer lighting and soothing music is linked to eating less.
但根据一项研究，控制体重还取决于你的用餐地点。具体来说，康奈尔的研究者们发现，人们在一个灯光柔和、音乐舒缓的餐厅用餐就会吃得少。
Now, you may argue that people drawn to restaurants with a more subdued atmosphere are simply more prone to eat less for a variety of reasons, and that the atmosphere itself has little to do with influencing how much people eat. Maybe so. But the study in question suggests otherwise.
现在，你可能会质疑：人们在环境柔和的餐厅里容易少吃是有多种原因的，环境本身对于人们吃多吃少影响甚微。或许确实如此，但研究却表明情况恰恰相反。
The researchers studied people eating at a Hardees fast food restaurant. Except this was no typical Hardees. While part of the dining area was the same as every other Hardees, the researchers re-designed another section to feature softer lighting and music. They found that people eating in the modified dining area consumed less than those in the regular area, even though both groups ordered roughly the same amount of food.
研究者们对在一家哈迪斯快餐店用餐的人们进行了仔细研究。这是一家典型的哈迪斯快餐店。餐饮区的一部分同其他家哈迪斯连锁店没有什么不同，但研究者重新设计了另外一部分餐饮区并配以柔和的灯光和音乐。他们发现，即便两组人点餐数量大致相当，但在改造后的餐饮区用餐的人比普通餐饮区的人消耗的少。
So what does this mean? Since fast food joints are generally believed to contribute to widespread obesity, changing the ambiance of Hardees, McDonalds, Burger King, and other fast food franchises to feature dimmer lighting and softer music could help people eat less, and lose more.
那么，这意味着什么呢？既然人们普遍认为快餐店是导致肥胖的凶手，那么改变哈迪斯、麦当劳、汉堡王以及其他快餐特许经营店的环境，配以昏暗的灯光和轻柔的音乐，或许可以让人们吃得更少，减得更多。 |