Health-conscious Chinese look to fit-friendly foods
健康餐食成为中国人新宠
Zhang Lu, a 31-year-old fitness enthusiast, has started eschewing her favorite steamed buns and salty foods to embrace light meals.
张璐（音译）是一位31岁的健身爱好者，最近开始戒掉最爱吃的馒头和多盐食物，饮食变得清淡起来。
She eats one egg and a bowl of edible corm and purple yam porridge for breakfast, chicken breast with vegetable salad for lunch, and drinks a cup of lemon water with fiber-rich chia seeds in the afternoon.
她早餐吃一个鸡蛋、一碗球茎混合紫薯粥，午餐是鸡胸肉和蔬菜沙拉，下午会喝一杯柠檬水并搭配富含纤维的奇亚籽。
"I don't feel hungry the whole day," says Zhang, who works at a power company in Jinan, East China's Shandong province.
张璐在中国东部山东省济南市的一家电力公司工作，她表示：“我一整天都不会感到饥饿。”
To shed excess weight and save time, a growing number of young Chinese like Zhang have turned to light diets, featuring meals with fewer calories, lower fat and minimal sugar, but higher fiber.
为了减肥和节省时间，越来越多的中国年轻人和张璐一样开始求助于“轻食”，也就是热量低、脂肪低、糖分少、纤维丰富的食物。
According to a report published by the Chinese Nutrition Society, around 95 percent of the surveyed people say they eat light meals at least once a week, and fitness enthusiasts and dieters account for the largest proportion of light food consumers.
根据中国营养学会发布的报告，大约有95%受访者表示至少每周吃一次轻食，健身爱好者和节食者构成了轻食消费者的主力军。
Data released by major Chinese food delivery platform Meituan Waimai showed that in the second half of 2020, the number of orders for light food increased by 50 percent and restaurants offering such meals on the platform grew by 27 percent year-on-year.
中国外卖平台美团外卖发布的数据显示，在2020年下半年，轻食简餐订单数量增加50%，销售轻食简餐的餐厅也相较去年增加了27%。
Smelling a business opportunity, many companies have entered the healthy-diet industry.
嗅到商机，许多公司参与到健康饮食行业中来。
More than 3,000 enterprises related to light foods and meal replacement were established in China last year, according to the database query platform tianyancha.com.
根据数据查询平台“天眼查”显示，超过3000家经营轻食和代餐的企业在去年于中国成立。
Sharkfit, a China-based fitness food brand established in 2017, became all the rage among young consumers with its star product－instant chicken breast.
鲨鱼菲特是一家于2017年成立的总部位于中国的健康食品品牌，凭借其明星产品“即食鸡胸肉”在年轻人消费者群体中风靡。
"Chicken breast is high in protein and low in calories. We have explored various recipes with a good taste and low fat to suit the palate of fitness enthusiasts and consumers who want to stay fit," says Gao Ning, co-founder of Sharkfit.
“鸡胸肉富含蛋白质，热量低。我们已经探索了各种配方改善口味并降低脂肪含量，以满足健身爱好者和健康追求者的口味，”鲨鱼菲特联合创始人高宁表示。
With a diverse product portfolio ranging from instant chicken breast to other kinds of meat, staple food substitutes, snacks and seasoning, Sharkfit notched up 210 million yuan ($32.5 million) in sales in 2020, and its sales are expected to exceed 700 million yuan this year.
凭借其丰富多样的产品组合，包括即食鸡胸肉、其他肉类、主食替代品、零食以及调味品，鲨鱼菲特2020年创下2.1亿元（3250万美元）销售额，今年销售额预计将超过7亿元。
Many Chinese are troubled with issues such as obesity and high blood pressure, considered by some as "diseases of affluence" and a result of increased societal wealth, given that the quality of life for many has greatly improved in recent decades.
随着近几十年来生活质量的改善，许多中国人深受过度肥胖和高血压等所谓由于社会财富累积造成的“富贵病”的困扰。
According to an official report on nutrition and chronic diseases among Chinese people published last year, overweight and obesity rates among those aged 18 and above are 34.3 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively.
根据去年就中国人营养和慢性病发布的官方报告显示，18岁及以上的超重和过度肥胖率分别为34.3%和16.4%。
