无聊时的“机械进食”

不知道你是不是有过这样的体验？到了吃饭时间，跟着人流走到食堂，随便要两个菜，吃完，然后回到办公室。如果有人问了吃了什么，你有可能隐约记得；问你味道怎么样，可能你压根都没有注意那菜是有味道的。这大概就是很多人都说过的“审美疲劳”，当然，这里应该是“味觉疲劳”。而我们这样的进餐状态大概就只能叫做auto-eating了。

Women can munch their way into a bigger dress size in weeks by "auto-eating" the calorie equivalent of a Big Mac a day....
如果每天机械地吃进去相当于一个巨无霸汉堡那么多的热量，女人们的身材可以在几周内就加大一号。

Nutritionist Mary Strugar coined the term auto-eating, which presumably means eating without the feeling of actual hunger and perhaps even without being fully aware of consuming the calories.
Auto-eating（机械进食）这个词是由营养学家玛丽•斯图佳首先提出来的，指毫无饥饿感时的进食，而且进食的时候根本没有意识到同时有多少热量被摄入。

Auto-eating may also refer to the kind of eating you do without thinking because the food you're chewing on is so bland, so meek, your taste buds become indifferent to what's passing over them.
另外，机械进食也可以指麻木的进食状态，可能因为口中的食物太清淡、太无味，致使味觉系统对食物没有任何反应，只是在机械传送。

According to recent research, it may be something like upset or boredom and having nothing better to do that makes many women go into the “auto-eating” mode.
据最新的研究显示，心情沮丧或无聊、又找不到别的事情做可能是很多女性“机械进食”的原因。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）