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很多人想吃得更健康时，第一步就是戒掉自己爱吃的东西。耶鲁大学医学院伊法特·利维（Ifat Levy）和亚历山德拉·里奇（Alexandra Rich）的研究发表于10月9日的《通讯-心理学》（Communications Psychology），韩国《首尔经济日报》10月19日再次报道了这项研究。约280名成年人各选出两种喜欢、两种不喜欢的零食，在电脑任务中预测程序会给它们加正分还是负分，而规则会反复对调。结果显示，人们很难把喜欢的零食和坏结果联系起来，不喜欢的食物反而更容易被“重新看待”；一开始遇到的规则若与口味相符，之后转换会更困难。研究者据此认为，往饮食里添加健康食物，可能比戒掉心头好更容易。文章按“发现—证据—解释”展开，结尾说明参与者并未真正吃下零食、实验也没有长期跟踪，可留意 suggests、may、cannot show 等表达如何为结论划定边界。

正文

Many people who try to eat better make the same plan: they promise to stop eating the foods they love. A new study from Yale School of Medicine suggests this may be the hardest way to begin. The study, published on October 9 in the journal Communications Psychology and reported by South Korea’s Seoul Economic Daily on October 19, found that our existing feelings about food can make new eating habits difficult to learn.

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许多想吃得更健康的人会制定同样的计划：他们发誓不再吃自己喜欢的食物。耶鲁大学医学院的一项新研究表明，这可能是最难的起步方式。这项研究于10月9日发表在《通讯-心理学》（Communications Psychology）期刊上，韩国《首尔经济日报》在10月19日作了报道。研究发现，我们对食物原有的感受，会让新的饮食习惯难以养成。

Researchers Ifat Levy and Alexandra Rich recruited about 280 adults. Each person chose four snacks they had strong feelings about: two they liked and two they disliked. In a computer task, participants had to predict whether a program would give positive or negative points to each snack. The rules changed again and again. Sometimes they matched people’s tastes, with good points for liked snacks. At other times they did the opposite.

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研究人员伊法特·利维（Ifat Levy）和亚历山德拉·里奇（Alexandra Rich）招募了约280名成年人。每人挑选四种自己有强烈感受的零食：两种喜欢的，两种不喜欢的。在一项电脑任务中，参与者需要预测程序会给每种零食加正分还是负分。规则一次又一次地改变。有时规则与人们的口味一致，喜欢的零食得到好分数；有时则正好相反。

Earlier studies used simple shapes, such as a triangle or a rectangle, which people have no feelings about. In those tests, people could switch easily between positive and negative points. With food, however, Levy said that “everyone” struggled to go against their feelings. It was especially hard to link a favorite snack with a bad result. Disliked foods were easier to see in a new way, and positive results were learned more readily than negative ones.

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早先的研究使用的是三角形或长方形之类的简单图形，人们对这些东西没有任何感情。在那些测试中，人们能轻松地在正分和负分之间切换。然而换成食物后，利维说“每个人”都很难违背自己的感受。把最喜欢的零食和坏结果联系在一起尤其困难。人们更容易用新的眼光看待不喜欢的食物，而且正面结果比负面结果更容易学会。

The order of the rules also mattered. People who began with rules that agreed with their tastes later had more trouble switching. Those whose preferences were challenged from the start adapted more easily. Rich called this effect “completely unexpected, and quite strong.” The researchers think a first experience may shape later learning, an effect known as priming.

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规则出现的先后顺序也有影响。一开始遇到的规则与自己口味相符的人，后来更难转换。而那些从一开始偏好就受到挑战的人，适应得更容易。里奇称这一效应“完全出乎意料，而且相当强”。研究人员认为，最初的经历可能会塑造之后的学习，这种效应被称为“启动效应”。

What could this mean for daily life? The results support a common idea that it is easier to add things to a diet than to remove them. “Say, broccoli isn’t your favorite thing. Maybe we can integrate it more easily than to stop eating ice cream,” Rich said. Levy added that food preferences are “very strong and hard to change,” but small changes might make a big difference.

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这对日常生活可能意味着什么？结果支持了一个常见的看法：往饮食里添加东西，比从中去掉东西更容易。“比如说，西兰花不是你最爱吃的东西。也许把它加进饮食，会比戒掉冰激凌更容易，”里奇说。利维补充说，人们对食物的偏好“非常强烈，很难改变”，但小小的调整也可能带来很大的不同。

The study has clear limits. Participants did not actually eat the snacks, and the experiment did not follow people as they changed their diets over a long period. So it cannot show that adding vegetables will help anyone lose weight. Still, it offers one useful idea for people planning healthier meals: starting with something new may be easier than fighting an old favorite.

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这项研究有明确的局限。参与者并没有真正吃下这些零食，实验也没有长期跟踪人们改变饮食的过程。因此，它无法证明多吃蔬菜就能帮助任何人减重。不过，它为打算吃得更健康的人提供了一个有用的思路：从尝试新东西开始，可能比与旧日最爱较劲更容易。

新闻来源

• Yale School of Medicine · Study Helps Explain Why Changing Your Diet is Hard (9 Oct 2026)
• Seoul Economic Daily · Adding Healthy Foods Beats Quitting Favorites, Yale Study Finds (19 Oct 2026)
• Communications Psychology · Prior preferences interfere with the associative learning of food values (9 Oct 2026)

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