VOA常速英语2018--肥胖成全球性问题

Los Angeles resident Kathleen Mulcahy has been fighting with her weight for 55 years. My parents had a baby, a son and he died at birth and so that was sort of I was 7 and I think that was the time I started gaining weight. My mother died when I was 12 very suddenly and then my weight just escalated 1, she is not alone. A growing number of people are overweight or obese 2 particularly in urban areas worldwide including developing countries.

Fast foods, transnational corporations, soft drink companies going into these developing countries, are having a very huge influence on the overweight and obesity 3 epidemic 4 because they’re adding calories and processed foods, salt and sugar into the diet that these people have not normally been eating. People’s lifestyles are also changing in developing countries. As people urbanize and make more money and have more sedentary lives, they are also putting on weight and following the pattern of the United States.

Psychotherapist Dena Solomon says there is also another reason why people are gaining weight globally.You know people are moving away from their family of origin. They don’t have a support system that’s going to help them also manage and have relationships as options for dealing 5 with stress so people are turning to food.

While fad 6 diet may help with quick weight loss, keeping off the weight is more of a challenge. At sustaining at weight loss, the studies overwhelmingly show that plant-based diets are good long-term, you are motivated. Instead of focusing on what you eat, Solomon helps people maintain weight loss by working with the mind to change a person’s eating behavior. She helps her clients like Mulkahy be more self-aware by having them write down everything they eat before they eat. That awareness 7, that sense of conscientiousness 8 becomes more powerful than the immediate 9 gratification of food but you have to learn it, it has to become a habit.

It’s worked from Mulkahy who has sustained her current weight for almost three years. You get such a sense of accomplishment 10 and a sense of power and efficacy that you can apply it to everywhere. Maintaining a healthy weight not only helps with a positive self-image but it will also fend 11 off health problems such as heart disease, diabetes 12 and even some forms of cancer.

55年来，洛杉矶市民凯思琳(Kathleen Mulcahy)一直苦恼于肥胖的问题。我父母还生过一个孩子，是个男孩，但他夭折了。那时候我大概7岁，我觉得我是那时候开始长胖的。我母亲去世的时候，我12岁。那时候我体重飙升。跟凯思琳有一样苦恼的人还有很多。越来越多的人面临超重和肥胖的苦恼，尤其是在城市地区，其中也包括发达国家。

快餐、跨国公司、软饮料公司打入了这些发达国家，这对普遍存在的超重和肥胖现象有极大的影响，因为这些公司将热量、加工食品、盐分和糖分带入了人们的食谱中。而正常情况下的食谱是不含有这些东西的。发达国家人士的生活方式也在发生改变。随着都市化的深入，人们赚的钱越来越多，久坐越来越稀松平常，这就使人们体重升高，步美国后尘。

精神治疗师德娜(Dena Solomon)表示，全球人体重不断上升还有另一个原因。毕竟很多人都离开了自己的原籍。他们没有一个支撑体系，无法帮助自己管理选择，也就无法应对压力，所以大家开始通过吃东西解压。

虽然短期内的减肥食谱预祝于快速减重，但减肥后维持体重也是一种挑战。在维持体重方面，研究充分表明，以植物为主的食谱从长期来看是有帮助的，这种方式能激发人的主观能动性。德娜没有将重点放在吃什么上，而是通过人的主观能动性来维持体重，这样可以改变人的饮食习惯。她帮助自己像凯思琳这样的客户提高自我认知，方式就是让客户在吃东西之前写下他们要吃的东西。这种认知是一种自我感知，它的力量要大过吃某种食物给人的快感。必须要有这种认知感，并让它成为自己的一种习惯。

这种方法对凯思琳是有效的。近3年来，她维持了现在的体重。你可以得到成就感，一种充满力量的感觉，一种坚信效果的感觉，并可以将这种方法用在各种领域。维持健康的体重不仅有助于打造积极的自我意像，也可以避免心脏病、肥胖症甚至某些癌症等健康问题。