伊拉斯姆斯大学(双语阅读)

Why You Eat the Same Thing For Breakfast Every Day

According to research, eating the same food for breakfast actually contributes to better decision-making.

根据调查研究，早餐吃同样的食物实际上有助于更好地做出决策。

Every morning, I eat the same breakfast. Toast and almond butter, coffee, and an avocado, spinach, protein powder and banana smoothie. I’ve eaten this combination of breakfast foods for the past two years.

每天早上，我都吃同样的早餐：吐司和杏仁黄油、咖啡、鳄梨、菠菜、蛋白粉和香蕉冰沙。在过去的两年里，我一直都在吃这种早餐食品组合。

Every evening, I eat a different dinner. Pasta on Sunday. Salmon and salad on Monday. Shrimp and chips on Tuesday. Turkey burgers and sweet potato tots on Wednesdays. Sushi on Thursdays. Pizza on Fridays. Saturday is a wildcard. This less stablerotation（旋转；交替；轮换）changes with the seasons.

每天晚上，我吃不同的晚餐。周日意大利面。周一吃三文鱼和沙拉。周二吃虾和薯条。星期三有火鸡汉堡和红薯。周四寿司。周五披萨。星期六随意搭配。这种不太稳定的交替随着季节的变化而变化

Weird, no? But I’m not alone. Many of you do this, too. I have data to prove it. In a forthcoming paper in the journalAppetite, Romain Cadario of Erasmus University and I examine the food diaries of 2,624 people living in France and 1,275 people living in the United States, measuring how often people eat the same meal every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you had oatmeal and fruit and coffee for breakfast on Monday, for instance, how many other times this week did you eat thatprecise（准确的；精确的；一丝不苟的） combination of foodsfor breakfast? In our French and American panels, overall, 68% ate the same breakfast at least twice in one week (the Frencha little more so thanthe Americans; 73% versus 52%,respectively). only 9% repeated a dinner (the Americans a little more so than the French; 16% versus 6%, respectively).

很奇怪，不是吗？但我并不孤单，因为你们中的许多人也这样做，而且我有数据可以证明。在即将发表在appetite杂志上的一篇论文中，伊拉斯姆斯大学的罗曼·卡达里奥和我调查了 2,624 名居住在法国和 1,275 名居住在美国的人的饮食日记，测量人们多久一次吃相同的早餐、午餐、 和晚餐。例如，如果你周一早餐吃燕麦片、水果和咖啡，那么这周中你有多少次吃过相同的早餐？在我们的法国和美国小组中，总体而言，68% 的人在一周内至少吃两次相同的早餐（法国人比美国人多一点；分别为 73% 和 52%）。只有 9% 的人重复晚餐（美国人比法国人多一点；分别为 16% 和 6%）。

Why do so many of us eat the same thing for breakfast day after day, when we do not repeat a lunch or dinner? Why do we avoid variety in the morning, yet later in the same day,seek varietyin our choice of food?

为什么当我们午餐或者晚餐不重样时，多数人的早餐却日复一日吃着相同的东西？为什么我们在早上避免多样化，而在同一天晚些时候，在我们选择食物时会寻求多样化？

Part of the answer is biological. Our level of physiological arousal（生理觉醒；生理激发；生理唤醒）fluctuatesthroughout the day. We are most energized in the morning, and our arousal level declines from that peak until we go to sleep.We maypreferless stimulating foods in the morning to avoid feeling overstimulated, and prefer more stimulating foods later to avoid feeling under-stimulated.

一部分答案是通过生物学来解释的。我们的生理唤醒机能全天都在波动。我们在早上最精力充沛，我们的唤醒水平从那个高峰开始下降，直到我们入睡。我们可能会更倾向于在早上食用刺激性较低的食物以避免感觉上的过度刺激，而后更喜欢刺激性更强的食物以避免感觉刺激不足。

Part of the answer is cultural. Themodern workdaymeans we have the least time for meals in the morning. If we find a breakfast that’s rewarding and repeat it a few times, eating that combination of food becomes a habit that allows us to eat an efficient meal. Because it’s habitual, we maystick withour breakfast even long after we’ve tired of it (e.g., “I really should be able to find something better than oatmeal. Always oatmeal!”).

一部分答案来自于文化。现代工作日意味着我们早上吃饭的时间最少。如果我们发现一份有益的早餐并重复坚持几次，那么吃这种食物组合就会成为一种习惯，并且让我们吃得更有效率。，因为习以为常了，所以即使当我们厌倦吃早餐很久时，我们仍然坚持吃（例如，“我应该能够找到比燕麦片更好的东西但，总是燕麦片！”）。

But biology and culture are only part of the answer.

但生物学和文化上的因素只是答案的一部分。

Much of the answer is psychological.It’s not that we believebreakfast is a trivial meal. Breakfast is often considered the most important meal of the day. Americans consume on average 361 breakfasts a year.

大部分答案是心理上的。并不是说我们认为早餐是微不足道的一餐，它通常被认为是一天中最重要的一餐。美国人平均每年吃掉 361 份早餐。

We find that much of the answer isdue tothe different goals that people pursue when eating breakfast and other meals.

我们发现大部分答案是由于人们在吃早餐和其他食物时追求的目标不同。

What goals are we pursuing in our meals? Two goals influence all kinds of decisions about what we eat—hedonic and utilitarian goals. Hedonic goals drive people to eat foods thatprovide pleasurable experiences and sensations(e.g., “I ordered a salmon grain bowl because I love its flavor and texture”), and utilitarian goals drive people to eat to efficiently fulfill other objectives such as weight control, health, convenience or efficiency (e.g., “I ordered a salmon grain bowl because it’s a good source of protein and fiber”).

我们在用餐中追求什么目标呢？有两个目标会影响我们吃什么的各种决定——享乐目标和实用目标。享乐目标驱使人们吃能够提供愉悦体验和感觉的食物（例如，“我点了一个鲑鱼谷物碗，因为我喜欢它的味道和口感”），而实用目标驱使人们吃东西以有效地实现其他目标，例如控制体重，保持健康、为了方便或提高效率（例如，“我点了一个鲑鱼谷物碗，因为它是蛋白质和纤维很好的来源”）。

We find thatas the day progresses, peopleswitchfrom pursuing utilitarian goals for breakfast to maximizing the pleasure they derive from their afternoon and evening meal. In our diary data, for instance, we found that people were more likely tointroduce variety into their breakfastson the weekend—when people intend to eat a more pleasurable breakfast—than during the weekday. In another study, we asked people to report what foods they consumedin the two previous days, andthe extent to which they were pursuing pleasure and efficiency in each of those meals. As in the French and American food diaries, meal variety across days was lower for breakfasts than lunches and dinners. Moreover,this pattern of variety seeking was explained by the type of goals participants pursued for each meal, even when accounting for factors like how long people spent eating, whether they ate alone or with others, and ate in their home or outside it.

我们发现，随着时间的推移，人们从追求早餐的实用目标转向从下午和晚餐中尽可能多的获得乐趣。例如，在我们的日记数据中，我们发现与工作日相比，人们在周末（人们打算吃更愉快的早餐时）更有可能在早餐中加入多样化。在另一项研究中，我们要求人们报告他们在前两天吃了什么食物，以及他们在每一餐中追求快乐和效率的程度。正如在法国和美国的饮食日记中一样，早餐的膳食种类少于午餐和晚餐。此外，这种寻求多样性的模式可以通过参与者每餐追求的目标类型来解释，甚至考虑到人们吃饭的时间、他们是独自吃饭还是与他人一起吃饭、在家还是在外面吃饭等因素。

We seem to naturally select more utilitarian goals for breakfast, but we can pursue pleasure and seek varietyif we set our mind to it. In the last experiment in our paper, we randomly assigned participants to either maximize their enjoyment with a pleasurable breakfast or maximize their convenience with an efficient breakfast. Then we asked all participants to choose what they would eat for breakfast and report how similar it was to breakfasts they ate in the past week. Participants in assigned to maximize their enjoyment with a pleasurable breakfast were 27% more likely to report they would eat a combination of foods that they had not consumed in the past week.

我们似乎很自然地会选择更实用的早餐目标，但如果我们下定决心，我们可以追求快乐和寻求多样性。在我们论文的最后一个实验中，我们随机分配参与者，要么通过愉快的早餐最大限度地享受他们的享受，要么通过高效的早餐最大限度地提高他们的便利性。然后我们要求所有参与者选择他们早餐吃什么，并报告他们在过去一周吃的早餐有多相似。被指派通过享用美味早餐最大限度地享受乐趣的参与者报告说他们会吃过去一周没有吃过的食物组合的可能性要高出 27%。

Where do these goals come from? Our research suggests that the different goals we pursue in our meals are not due to the different amounts of time available to prepare and eat our meals. If anything, we find that how much time we spend eating meals seems to be determined by the goals we pursue,not the other way around. If we are trying to eat an efficient breakfast, we’d likely be frustrated if a meal carved out（分割；雕刻） more precious free time than we’d planned. And we make more time for meals that we want to savor（味；香味）, whether that means a pancake breakfast at home with our family orblocking out（画略图；拟大纲） the nightfor a dinner with our partner or friends.

这些目标从何而来？我们的研究表明，我们在用餐中追求的不同目标并不是因为准备和用餐的时间不同。如果有的话，我们发现我们花多少时间吃饭似乎取决于我们追求的目标，而非相反。如果我们试图吃一顿高效的早繁，然而它会分割更多我们计划的宝贵时间，我们可能会因此感到沮丧。我们会腾出更多时间吃我们想品尝的饭菜，无论是在家里和家人一起吃煎饼早餐，还是在晚上与伴侣或朋友共进晚餐。

We speculate that culture and biology may each contribute to the goals we pursue at meals.A reflection of our culture, marketing tends to emphasize the utilitarian rather than hedonic benefits of breakfast foods. In over 3000+ products’ name descriptions we scraped（刮；擦伤） from Amazon, we find that the volume of pleasure-related words (e.g., tasty, savory, delicious) compared to utilitarian words (e.g., nutritious, energized, healthy) is lower for breakfast foods than foods for lunch or dinner. The goals we pursue may also originate, in part, in the biology of our natural stimulation levels. Our higher level of physiological stimulation in the morning may reduce our preference for variety. Whether the goals we pursue originate in our culture or biology, the different goals we pursueappear tobe the psychologicaldriver of our tendency toeat the same breakfast day after day, and we have control over the goals we choose to pursue.

我们推测文化和生物学可能都会影响我们在用餐时追求的目标。作为我们文化的反映，营销往往强调早餐食品的功利性而非享乐性好处。在我们从亚马逊上抓取的 3000 多种产品名称描述中，我们发现相对于午餐或晚餐，早餐食品中与愉悦相关的词（例如，美味、美味、美味）的数量与实用词（例如，营养丰富、精力充沛、健康）相对比较低。我们追求的目标也可能部分源于我们自然刺激水平的生物学。我们早上更高水平的生理刺激可能会降低我们对多样性的偏好。无论我们追求的目标源于我们的文化还是生物学，我们追求的不同目标似乎是我们日复一日吃相同早餐倾向的心理驱动力，我们可以控制我们选择追求的目标。

How can we leverage（发挥杠杆作用；施加影响） this information to improve our diet? Habits are difficult to change, but easy to maintain. Our pursuit of efficiency at breakfast is a driver of the habits we create and maintain.If we can make an efficient and rewarding breakfast out of the foods we should be eating that are less appealing (e.g., kale or spinach), and repeat that breakfast often enough, that diet should be easier to stick to than trying to eat those foods for every lunch or dinner. Of course,establishing new habitsis difficult when old habits are alreadyin place. People find it easiest to change a habit, like what to eat for breakfast, when they experience a “fresh start” like a move, a birthday, or the first day of the month.

我们如何利用这些信息来改善我们的饮食？习惯很难改变，但也容易保持。我们对早餐效率的追求是我们养成和保持习惯的驱动力。如果我们可以远离那些不是很诱人的食物（例如羽衣甘蓝或菠菜）来制作一份高效且有益的早餐，并且经常重复这样的早餐，那么这种饮食应该比尝试每天午餐或晚餐时吃这些食物更容易坚持。当然，当旧习惯已经形成时，建立新习惯是很困难的。人们发现，当他们经历搬家、生日或每月第一天等“新的开始”时，最容易改变习惯，比如早餐吃什么。

As luck would have it, a new year is on the horizon—it’s a great time to make that change.

幸运的是，新的一年即将到来——这是做出改变的好时机。