"餐桌文化"難倒當代減肥達人

China went from famine to fat in a few short decades, until it reached that true pinnacle of economic prosperity: it is on a diet.

在短短几十年裏，中國人經歷了從飢餓到肥胖的轉變。現在，中國人開始減肥了。

Sales of slimming products, from weight-loss teas to mung beans, are rising sharply, gyms open (and close) at lightning speed, and traditional Chinese hospitals report a rise in patients seeking acupuncture and fire-cupping treatments to help shed weight.

從減肥茶到綠豆，各種減肥產品的銷量都在急速上升；健身中心正在以閃電般的速度開業（和關門）；越來越多的人前往中醫院，尋求用鍼灸和拔火罐的方法減輕體重。

Slimming product sales grew 10 percent in 2008 to 6 billion yuan, according to Euromonitor, which predicts 6 percent annual growth for the next five years.

根據歐睿信息諮詢公司的數據，2008年，中國減肥產品銷量增長了10%，達到60億元人民幣。該公司預計在未來5年內，減肥產品銷售的年均增速爲6%。

It is not that obesity is not a huge problem in China: according to a 2008 study, Chinese adults are getting fatter faster than those in any nation apart from Mexico. About a quarter of the Chinese population is overweight or obese.

根據2008年一份調查報告，除墨西哥外，中國成年人的變胖速度比任何國家都快。目前大約有四分之一的中國人處於超重或肥胖狀態。

"In China, young girls think their weight is a big problem, even if they look tiny," says Jackie Mao, a Weight Watchers teacher. Sophia Sun, 29, is one such member. She is trim and petite but says: "I don't think to be slim is good enough. I don’t want to be skinny, just a little slimmer than before. Every caterpillar has a dream to be a butterfly."

美國減肥機構慧儷輕體的教師茅小姐說：“在中國，年輕女孩把體重看作一個大問題，即使她們看上去已經很瘦了。”29歲的孫小姐就是這樣的顧客，她既苗條又嬌小，不過她說：“每個毛毛蟲都有變成蝴蝶的夢想。”

David Kirchhoff, Weight Watchers'chief executive, says the biggest hurdle in China is building a nutritional database to assign points to such a vast and complex cuisine, which contains such unfamiliar dishes as Kung Pao Chicken and "Husband-and-Wife Lung Slice". He says the "lazy Susan culture" of China makes things more difficult. Restaurant meals tend to be ordered communally, with over-ordering a sign of respect – which makes life hard for dieters.

慧儷輕體首席執行官戴維-基希奧夫說，在中國經營的最大障礙是建設一個營養數據庫，給品種繁雜的中國菜評分，比如宮保雞丁和夫妻肺片等外國人不熟悉的菜式。中國的“餐桌文化”使減肥變得更加困難。人們在餐廳就餐時習慣共餐，爲了體現尊重會點很多吃不了的菜—這令減肥者更難減肥。