After you've been sitting awhile, it feels good to stand. Eventually your body aches to unfurl from the chair: Your muscles announce what they need loud and clear. It works on the flip¹ side, too; when you've been standing² for hours, your feet bark for a break.

久坐之后站起来的感觉非常良好。你的身体终于可以得到舒展，不再局限于狭小的椅子：你的肌肉大声而又清晰地表明它们想要什么。反过来，这也适用；站立几小时之后，你的双脚急需休息。

The same kind of internal cues can apply to eating. After weeks of holiday feasting it feels good - a relief, even - to eat lighter³ and more healthfully again. We've been eating for pure pleasure and may have gone a bit overboard, so our impulse is to counter with a punishing, hyper-strict diet. It's as if after binge-watching Netflix on the sofa all day, instead of getting up and enjoying a nice, juicy stretch or walk outside, we force ourselves to stand indefinitely in a corner facing the wall.

同样，这种体内机制也适用于饮食。一连几周的假日盛宴之后--清淡的、更为健康的饮食似乎能让你感觉更好，甚至有种如释重负的感觉。我们单纯地为了快乐而吃，而且还有点吃过头了，所以这样的冲动通常伴随着后期略带惩罚性质的严格饮食。就好比一整天窝在沙发上看电视，而非站起来好好享受身体的舒展或出去散散步，所以我们就强迫自己站在角落里面壁。

That culturally ingrained notion that we need to repent⁴ after indulging is one reason the diet industry booms in January. Another reason is the social media amplified⁵ rallying cry that going keto or paleo or doing some kind of "cleanse⁶" is THE ANSWER. If you feel untethered eating-wise and uncomfortable in your clothes, and if you've sworn to yourself that you'd start getting healthy in January, you are especially vulnerable to the promise of these diets. There are the convincing before-and-after pictures, the rules that seem so comfortingly straightforward⁷, and the tribe of converts ready to welcome you into their fold.

放纵之后需要悔改是一个根深蒂固的文化概念，这也是饮食业在一月份蓬勃发展的原因之一。社交媒体大肆宣扬生酮饮食或史前饮食或做一些"排毒"则是另一个原因。如果你感觉自己的饮食不受限制、衣服已经开始不合身，并暗自发誓要在一月份开始健康计划，那你就很有可能尝试这些饮食。的确，我们会看到令人信服的前后对比图，节食的规则看起来也非常简单明了，饮食部落欢迎你的加入。

That's the veneer⁸, anyway; the reality behind it is a lot more nuanced. While there are valid⁹ rationales for going on certain diets, there are just as many - if not more - for going on no diet at all.

但你所看到的都是表面，事实情况存在细微差别。虽然我们有理由采取某些饮食方式，但也存在很多或更多不节食的理由。

Diets can get you obsessing¹⁰ about things like macro ratios and (ugh!) talking about them at the dinner table (if the plan even allows for dinner at a table) when you could be focusing on the joys of eating good food and engaging in meaningful conversation. The truth is, in the long run, no single plan has proved to be markedly better at keeping you fit than any other.

节食会让你痴迷于宏观比例，而且恶心的是，当你原本可以享受食物的美味，和朋友轻松聊天的时候，你却经常性的在餐桌上提起宏观比例这个话题（前提是你的饮食计划包含上桌吃饭）。事实上，长远看来，还未有任何一个饮食计划被证明比其它计划更能保持健康。

So instead of punishing yourself in a dietary straitjacket this year, try pivoting¹¹ in a healthy direction that gives you room to move more freely.

所以，与其今年惩罚自己控制饮食，倒不如试着找到更自由的健康方式。