As if there isn't enough whiplash-inducing nutrition advice out there, now skipping breakfast is being lauded¹ by some as a good thing. The meal has become a casualty of a popular diet called intermittent² fasting, which requires going extended periods of time without eating. The diet is such a big trend that, according to an article in Bloomberg Businessweek, Google searches for "intermittent fasting" have increased tenfold over the past three years, to rival the number of searches for the words "weight loss."

就好像市场上有关鞭策性的诱导营养建议还不够多一样，现在有些人竟开始鼓吹'不吃早饭更好'这一理念。早餐已成为间歇性禁食这一受大众欢迎的节食方式的牺牲品。这一节食方式要求人们长时间不吃东西，且已成为潮流趋势。根据《彭博商业周刊》上发表的一篇文章，在谷歌浏览器搜索"间歇性禁食"的频次已在过去三年增加了十倍，其搜索次数已与"减肥"相媲美。

It's a diet that has been embraced by celebrities³, Silicon⁴ Valley CEOs and many health experts. There are many iterations of the plan, with extreme versions requiring going days without food, but the more common and accessible variation, known as time-restricted eating, simply limits the time window in which eating is allowed each day, typically eight to 10 hours. The Washington Post's own Food and Dining editor, Joe Yonan, tried this variation as part of the Buddha⁵ Diet he adopted for the 30-day diet challenge staffers undertook in 2016.

硅谷首席执行官、很多健康专家以及一些名人都十分推崇这一节食方法。该节食计划有多重版本：极端情况下，有些人会连续几天不进食；但更常见、更易实现的情况--也就是限时饮食，只限制了每天吃东西的时间，通常为8至10小时。2016年，《华盛顿邮报》的食品和餐饮编辑乔·扬南（Joe Yonan）参加了30天的饮食挑战。他采用了佛系饮食法接受挑战，并融入了间歇性节食的限时版本。

But for Yonan and many others, the restricted eating window resulted in skipping breakfast, which is not necessarily a good thing for many reasons. Headlines such as "Why You Should Start Skipping Breakfast: 'Intermittent fasting' burns fat and makes you healthier - really," from Esquire magazine, which imply that restricted eating and a morning meal are mutually exclusive, are misleading. In fact, you can have your intermittent fasting and eat breakfast, too, and there is substantial evidence you'd be better off that way.

但对于扬南和很多其他人而言，限时性饮食却导致了不吃早饭，而这并不是一件好事。《时尚先生》（Esquire）杂志发表了题为"为什么应该不吃早饭：'间歇性禁食'燃烧脂肪让你更健康！这是真事！"并暗示限制饮食和早餐是相互排斥的，但这是一篇误导性的文章！事实上，间歇性禁食可以与吃早餐并存，而且大量证据表明：这样做其实更好。

Stopping eating for a long stretch of time daily, as more-moderate versions of intermittent-fasting plans demand, stands in stark⁶ contrast to the 24/7 buffet⁷ most Americans feed themselves today. A 2017 scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in the journal Circulation noted⁸ that adults in the United States have moved away from the traditional three-squares-a-day and now "eat around the clock." This constant munching⁹ affects our body's circadian rhythms, which help regulate our metabolism¹⁰, and therefore has implications for the risk of heart disease, diabetes¹¹ and obesity¹².

较为温和的间歇性禁食版本要求人们每天长时间不进食，这与当前大多数美国人全天都在吃的行为形成强烈对比。美国心脏协会于2017年在《循环》杂志上发表的科学声明指出，美国成年人已渐渐淡去一日三餐的传统饮食方式，现在大多是"时时刻刻都在吃"！不断的咀嚼会影响人体的昼夜节律，有助于调节我们的新陈代谢，因此可影响人们患心脏病、糖尿病和肥胖的风险。