这就是为什么你胃里总是有甜点的空间

这就是为什么你胃里总是有甜点的空间

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

有时，当你在餐桌上，感觉就像你被包围了。

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!

首先是一营面包棒。一只胸肉跃入缺口。然后，土豆泥来了!土豆泥来了!

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

主菜上来了——火腿、烤火鸡、小红莓、肉汁、胡萝卜、花椰菜和玉米。

Mercy, your belly pleads.

天哪，你的肚子在恳求。

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，你姑姑出现在门口，穿着脏兮兮的围裙，金碧辉煌。她承受着最大的压力。南瓜派上面有一层鲜奶油。

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.

问题是，不管你的肚子怎么叫，不管你如何努力避免即将到来的食物昏迷，馅饼实际上是最没有抵抗力的一块。

You simply can't say no.

你不能简单地说不。

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

这是为什么呢?为什么我们总是找地方吃那块破肚子的馅饼?

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.

科学表明这不是圣诞奇迹。事实上，发表在《挪威医学协会杂志》上的一项研究指出了一个简单的原因，那就是为什么在你的胃里，总是有空间放甜点的。你的肚子不会撑破。它会拐弯。

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——这种传统上被大量丢弃在馅饼和糕点中的物质——会触发人体器官的扩张，以应对新鲜的、呃……挑战。

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.

你的大脑把饱腹感等同于胃的压力。但是糖，或者更确切地说是葡萄糖，告诉大脑放松胃壁。这减轻了你腹部的一些压力，同时允许更多的食物堆积在里面——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.

研究人员在《挪威科学》(Science Norway)杂志上指出:“如果你在真正感觉饱了之后才吃甜点，那你是在欺骗自己正常的饱腹感。”事实上，这种情况甚至有一个专门的名字，叫做“甜点胃”。

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."

但这并不是总有地方吃甜点的唯一原因。节日餐桌上摆满了各式各样的食物，这些食物加在一起就构成了“特定感官的饱腹感”，即“与其他未食用的食物相比，食用某种食物所带来的愉悦感会暂时下降”。

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.

简而言之，味道和质地相似的食物让人感觉不到味道。介绍一款色彩绚丽的柠檬蛋白派，你可能会突然发现它的一个空缺。

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.

但说到暴饮暴食——以及在假期里增加体重——“糖分反射”可能是最危险的。

"The problem is that you don't know when to stop eating dessert," added study author Arnold Berstad.

研究报告的撰写者阿诺德·伯斯塔德说:“问题是你不知道什么时候该停止吃甜点。”

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.

如果使用得当，它也可以成为缓解大餐带来的不适的一种方法。研究人员认为，关键在于限制甜点的味道。

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

这样的话，你的胃壁就会松弛下来，给你一点喘息的空间，而不会马上被塞满南瓜派。

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

当然，对于那些曾经面对面吃过自制南瓜派的人来说，抵抗可能是徒劳的。