Can You Remember What You Ate Yesterday?
你能记得你昨天吃了什么吗？
Can you remember what you ate yesterday? If asked, most people will be able to give a vague description of their main meals: bre akfast, lunch, dinner.
你能记得你昨天吃了什么吗？如果被问到这个问题，大多数人都能模糊地描述出他们三餐吃了什么。
But can you've be sure you noted every snack bar in your car, or every handful of nuts at your desk? Most people will have a feeling that they've missed something out.
但是你能确定你准确记得你吃的车里的每一个零食棒，或者你办公桌上的每一把坚果吗？大多数人都会有一种他们漏掉了什么的感觉。
We originally had this suspicion（怀疑） back in 2016, puzzled by the fact that national statistics showed calorie consumption falling dramatically（明显地） over past decades. We found reliable evidence that people were drastically（非常） under-reporting what they ate.
最初，我们在2016年就有这样的怀疑。国家统计数据显示，卡路里消耗量在过去几十年里急剧下降，而我们对这一事实感到疑惑。我们发现有可靠证据表明，人们少报了非常多他们真正的饮食量。
Now the Office for National Statistics has confirmed that we are consuming 50% more calories than our national statistics claim.
现在，国家统计局已经证实，我们消耗的卡路里比国家统计数据显示的多50%。
Why is this happening? We can point to at least three potential causes. One is the rise in obesity（肥胖） levels itself. Under-reporting rates are much higher for obese people, because they simply consume more food, and thus have more to remember.
为什么会发生这种情况？我们可以指出至少三个潜在原因。一是肥胖水平本身上升了。肥胖者的漏报率要高得多，因为他们单纯消耗了更多的食物，所以需要记住更多东西。
Another cause is that the proportion of people who are trying to lose weight has been increasing over time. People who want to lose weight are more likely to under-report their eating—regardless of whether they are overweight or not. This may be driven partly by self-deception（自欺） or "wishful thinking（一厢情愿）".
另一个原因是，随着时间的推移，想减肥的人的比例一直在增加。不管他们是否超重，想减肥的人更有可能少报他们吃了多少。这种行为可能部分是由自欺欺人或 “一厢情愿 ”的想法驱动的。
The final potential cause is an increase in snacking and eating out over recent decades—both in terms of how often they happen and how much they contribute to our overall energy intake.
最后，无论是从发生的频率还是从对我们整体能量摄入的贡献程度来看，还有一个潜在原因是近几十年来零食和外出就餐都增加了。
Again, there is evidence that food consumed out of the home is one of the most poorly recorded categories in surveys.
同样，有证据表明，在外消费的食物是调查中记录得最不好的的类别之一。
If people do not know how much they are eating, it can be really hard for them to stick to a diet. we should be looking for new ways to ensure what people eat wouldn't have much impact on their waistlines（腰围）.
如果人们不知道自己吃了多少东西，他们就很难坚持节食。我们应该寻找新的方法来确保人们吃的东西不会对他们的肥胖程度有太大影响。
If this works, it won't matter if they can't remember what they ate yesterday.
如果这能起到作用，就算他们不记得昨天吃了什么也不重要了。
