Health Diet Glossary

Health Glossary of Diet Terms

Aerobic Exercise is any continuous activity of large muscle groups that forces your heart and lungs to work harder for an extended period of time. Aerobic means "requiring oxygen". Examples include walking, swimming, stair climbing, biking.

Adequate Intake is the intake level that sustains a defined nutritional status, such as growth rate, normal circulating nutrient values, or other functional indicators of health.

Allergy is an exaggerated response by the immune system in susceptible individuals. Signs of allergic reactions include sneezing, coughing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and rashes.

Anaerobic Exercise requires your body to perform at explosive bursts for a relatively short duration. In this type of exercise, your body relies heavily on stored energy that does not need oxygen to be released. Examples include weightlifting and sprinting.

Antioxidants, like beta carotene and vitamins C and E, protect the cells in your body from an unstable form of oxygen called a free radical. The antioxidant combines with the free radical to prevent it from attaching to and damaging the cells in your body.

Artificial Sweetners are substances that impart sweetness to foods but supply little or no energy to the body. They include acesulfame, aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose.

ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate), a compound that is the main fuel cells use to synthesize molecules, contract muscles, and various other tasks.

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the rate at which energy is used by the body to maintain basal metabolism when a person is awake but inactive and has fasted for 14 to 18 hours. The BMR typically accounts for 60 to 70 percent of daily energy use, but its value depends on body weight and other factors. Binge Eating is an eating disorder characterized by eating more food than most people would eat in a given amount of time, and feeling that what is being eaten and how much is being eaten is out of the control of the person doing the eating.

Biological Value (BV) is a measure of the extent to which protein in a food can be incorporated into body proteins. It is expressed as the percentage of the absorbed dietary nitrogen that is retained by the body. The BV is related to the amino acid composition of a food protein, in particular whether it contains adequate amounts of all the essential amino acids.

Blood Sugar is another name for glucose.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure which takes into account a person’s weight and height to gauge a degree of obesity in adults. BMI results should be interpreted with caution however, since people with extensive muscle mass - athletes and body builders, for example and also pregnant women, have increased BMIs that do not necessarily dictate increase health risks.
Caffeine is a natural stimulant found in many common foods and beverages, including coffee, tea and chocolate.

Calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise one liter of water by one degree Celsius. In practical terms, a calorie is the unit we use to measure the amount of energy supplied by food and the amount burned by activity.

Calorie Balance is the difference between how many calories you eat (calorie intake) and how many you burn (calorie expenditure). When the calories you eat equal the calories you burn, you maintain your weight. Eating more calories than you burn results in weight gain. Burning more calories than you eat results in weight loss.

Calorie Expenditure is the amount of energy your body uses to walk, run, sleep, read, breathe, or anything else.

Cancer is a mass of cells or group of dispersed cells that exhibit uncontrolled growth and ability to spread to other tissues; also, any of a large group of diseases in which cancerous cells are present.

Carcinogen refers to any substance that has the potential of causing cancer when cells or organisms are exposed to it. Many act by altering the genetic material (DNA); these are called genotoxic carcinogens.

Cardiovascular Disease is a general term for all disorders affecting the heart and blood vessels.

Casein is the principal protein in cow's milk, which forms curds when exposed to acid.

Dehydration is the condition that occurs from a loss in body water. Symptoms of dehydration vary depending on the extent of decreased body fluid. Thirst, the mildest symptom, can progress and turn into weakness, dizziness, exhaustion, and in severe cases can eventually lead to death.

Diabetes Type 1 when an insulin dependent-persons body does not produce insulin at all.

Diabetes Type 2 when a non-insulin dependent-persons body does produce insulin but fat cells resist the insulin. Majority of cases are due to obesity.

Gram is the basic unit of mass in the metric system. One gram equals 1/28 of an ounce (0.035 ounces).

Glycogen is the principle storage form of carbohydrate energy (glucose) which is reserved in muscles and in the liver. Muscles appear fuller when glycogen levels are high.

Homeostasis refers to the maintenance of consistent internal body conditions. It is achieved by a series of negative-feedback control mechanisms. For example, when sensors detect overheating of the body, sweating is stimulated until the body temperature returns to normal.

Hydration refers to the amount of fluid in your body. It is important to drink at least 64oz. of water throughout the day. More may be required to replace any fluid your body loses during physical activity.

Ideal Body Weight is the weight appropriate for an individual that results in a body mass index of 20-25.

Intensity refers to how hard your body works during an activity. In general, the higher your heart rate (that is, the faster your heart beats) the more intense the activity.

Lipid is simply another name for dietary fats or triglycerides.

Liter (L) is the basic unit of volume in the metric system. One liter equals 0.95 quarts.

Maximal Oxygen Uptake or VO2 max is the maximum volume of oxygen an individual can consume per minute of work. It is often used to evaluate an athlete's cardiovascular efficiency. Trained individuals have a higher VO2 max than untrained individuals allowing for increase intensity and performance when exercising.

Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) is the fastest that your heart can beat when doing activity. Rather than actually measuring the peak rate that your heart can beat, it is easier to predict what that rate is. We can do this by using a simple formula: 220 – age = maximum heart rate.

Post Exercise Energy Consumption refers to the continued elevated (above resting) amounts of calories being burned due to recovery from exercise. During recovery, calories are burned during muscle and tissue repair and oxygen replacement in muscles.

Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is the level of effort you feel you are putting into an activity. The Borg scale is a rating scale that helps you describe how hard you feel you are working in terms of a number from 6 to 20. Lower numbers on the scale are used to describe a lower level of effort, and higher numbers mean you are working harder.

Resting Heart Rate (RHR) is the amount of times your heart beats per minute while you are at rest. For most accurate results, the RHR should be taken in the morning before getting out of bed.

Spot Reduction means removal of stored fat from specific areas in the body. No activity or exercise can remove fat from a specific area.

Strength (Resistance or Weight) Training refers to activities specifically designed to build muscle and increase strength. Strength training also helps to maintain the amount of bone in your body and can help maintain weight.

Target Heart Rate (THR) is an estimate of how fast your heart should beat during exercise to reach a specific fitness goal..

Weight Lifting is another term for strength training which involves exercising with weights to build, strengthen, and tone muscle.

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