Medicine for a Broken Heart
佚名/Anonymous
我的朋友中，若有人失戀，被拋棄的人當然會沮喪難過。失戀後的悲傷有兩種反應——要麽食欲全無，要麽通過暴飲暴食的方式來減輕對愛情的懷念。
宿舍裏，若有同伴和男友分手後想放縱一下食欲，我們都會參與進來，無節製地享用那些毫無營養價值的食品，比如冰淇淋、蛋糕、餅幹、炸薯片之類的，這些都是我們大量消耗的安慰性食品。這種悲傷反應的原因有很多種。首先，在我們這個年紀——19歲——都很關注自身外在形象。我們希望自己魅力十足，希望自身的形象符合社會的審美標準。為了達到這個目的，我們限製食物的種類，減少食量和進餐次數；還常到健身房進行過量的運動，來消耗過多的熱量。美麗，讓我們保持著良好的習慣，維護好戀情。但是，一旦身心受創，他或她就會將那些健康習慣拋之腦後，食用那些以前禁食的東西來獲得些許快樂。無疑，這完全是一種惡性循環。失戀、沮喪、暴飲暴食、發胖反過來又會打擊我們，努力找回自尊，開始新的戀情，這樣循環往複地進行下去。
食物並不是慰藉失戀者的唯一方法。我的一個朋友通過逛商場來撫慰自己受傷的心——添置新衣服、鞋子，或是買一件珠寶——這會讓她好受些。不管是食物還是購物，隻要不是太過分，自我放縱往往就是治療抑鬱的良藥。然而，失戀後最糟糕的反應就是通過酗酒和吸毒來尋求解脫。
Within my group of friends， when one of us is struggling with a recent breakup after a long-term relationship， the castaway will be sad and depressed. The response to sadness takes one of two courses—either appetite fails totally， or we eat excessively to quell our yearnings over lost loves.
If one of the girls in my dorm wants to indulge her appetite for food after a breakup， we all join in. We all eat terrible food in terrible quantities. For instance， ice cream， cakes， cookies and potato chips all become comfort foods that we consume in excess. I think this happens for a variety of reasons. To begin with， at my age—nineteen—we are all very concerned with our physical appearance. We want to be attractive， to have the kind of body image our society values. To that end， we moderate what kinds of foods we eat， how much， and how often； and we often overexert ourselves at the gym trying to burn off extra calories. We maintain good habits to keep up good appearance and thereby maintain a good relationship. However， when anyone experiences something as stressful and emotionally draining as a broken heart， he or she tends to disregard healthy habits and takes some pleasure in consuming those formerly forbidden foods. Of course， it is all a vicious circle. We lose our boyfriends， we become depressed， we eat， we gain weight (which， in turn， depresses us)， we struggle to regain our self-respect， we enter into another relationship， and the cycle goes on.