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Nearly three decades ago, when I was an overweight teenager, I sometimes ate six pieces of sliced white toast in a row, each one slathered in butter or jam.
将近三十年前，我那时还是一个身材肥胖的青少年，我有时会连吃六片白面包吐司切片，每片都涂着厚厚一层黄油或果酱。
I remember the spongy texture of the bread as I took it from its plastic bag. No matter how much of this supermarket toast I ate, I hardly felt sated. It was like eating without really eating.
我还记得把面包从塑料袋里取出来时，面包那松软的手感。不管我吃了多少超市卖的这种吐司，我都无法感到食欲被满足。吃了就像没吃一样。
Other days, I would buy a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes or a tube of Pringles: sour cream and onion flavour stackable snack chips, which were an exciting novelty at the time, having only arrived in the UK in 1991.
其他时候，我会买一盒脆坚果玉米片或一筒品客薯片: 酸奶油味和洋葱味的可堆叠起来的零食薯片，这在当时是一种令人兴奋的新鲜东西，1991年才进入英国。
Although the carton was big enough to feed a crowd, I could demolish most of it by myself in a sitting. Each chip, with its salty and powdery sour cream coating, sent me back for another one.
虽然一盒的量够一大群人吃，但我一口气就能消灭掉大半盒。每一片薯片都裹着咸香的粉状酸奶油，让我吃了还想吃。
I loved the way the chips -- curved like roof tiles -- would dissolve slightly on my tongue. After one of these binges -- because that is what they were -- I would speak to myself with self-loathing.
我喜欢如屋顶瓦片般弯曲的薯片在我的舌头上微微融化的感觉。在这样狂吃之后----因为这就是暴饮暴食----我会厌恶自己并自言自语。
"What is wrong with you?" I would say to the tear-stained face in the mirror. I blamed myself for my lack of self-control.
"你是怎么了?" 我会对着镜子里那张满面泪痕的脸说。我责备自己缺乏自控力。
But now, all these years later, having mostly lost my taste for sliced bread, sugary cereals and snack chips, I feel I was asking myself the wrong question. It shouldn't have been "What is wrong with you?" but "What is wrong with this food?"
但现在，这么多年过去了，我对切片面包、含糖麦片和零食薯片已经基本上没了胃口，我觉得自己当年问错了问题。不应该是"你是怎么了?"而是"这些食物是怎么了?"
Back in the 90s, there was no word to cover all the items I used to binge on. Some of the things I over-ate -- crisps or chocolate or fast-food burgers -- could be classified as junk food, but others, such as bread and cereal, were more like household staples.
早在90年代，没有哪个词能概括我曾狂吃的所有的东西。我猛吃的一些食物----薯片、巧克力、快餐汉堡----可以被归类为垃圾食品，但其他的，比如面包和麦片，则更像是家庭主食。
These various foods seemed to have nothing in common except for the fact that I found them very easy to eat a lot of, especially when sad. As I ate my Pringles and my white bread, I felt like a failure for not being able to stop.
这些不同的食物似乎没有什么共同点，除了我发现它们很容易一吃就吃很多，尤其是在悲伤的时候。我一边吃着品客薯片和白面包，一边觉得自己像是一个失败者，因为我无法让自己停下来。
I had no idea that there would one day be a technical explanation for why I found them so hard to resist. The word is "ultra-processed" and it refers to foods that tend to be low in essential nutrients, high in sugar, oil and salt and liable to be over-consumed.
我当时不知道有一天会有一个科学解释，说明为什么我发现这些食物的诱惑如此难以抵挡。这个专业术语是"超加工食品"，指的是那些基本营养素含量低，糖、油、盐含量高，容易被过量食用的食物。
