There are a lot, and I mean a lot of vocab words in the health and fitness dictionary. If your head, like mine, has been spinning with things like Paleo, gluten, tabata, and the like- worry no more, below is a complete list of health and fitness vocab words along with their definition. So, let's take a walk down memory lane together and feel completely reminiscent of our grade school Language Arts Classes. The only difference: now we actually want to learn these....
Paleo Diet
Paleo is short for Paleolithic. This type of diet focuses on whole foods similar to what would have been eaten during the Paleolithic era that ended about 10,000 years ago. This diet is also known as the caveman diet or hunter-gatherer diet.
Foods that are on the "eat" list include organic, locally indigenous meats, legumes, berries, whole wheats, roots, fermented cod liver oil (yum!), raw and grass fed dairy (no processing or pasteurization here), and fruits and vegetables that are locally grown. Refined sugars or processed foods will definitely not fit the bill in a Paleo Diet.
Tabata
A type of workout created in Japan that uses high intensity interval training. Like Bikram, Tabata was created by one man and so, named after him. An entire Tabata session lasts 4-minutes with 8 rounds of 20-seconds of intense training and 10-seconds of rest. Tabata researchers found that this sequence increased both aerobic (by 14%) and anaerobic (by 28%) results. Usually, the workouts completed change during intervals.
An example workout would be:
- Sprinting for intervals 1, 3
- Medicine Ball Slams for intervals 2 , 4
- Squats for intervals 5, 7
- Side Lateral Raise for intervals 6, 8
HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training
HIIT lasts anywhere from 4-minutes (Tabata) to 30-minutes and include a warm-up time, followed by 3-10 reps of high intensity exercise, then mid-range intensity exercises, and a cool down. The High intensity rep should be a 100% effort, followed by 50% effort of the same activity. This high/mid intensity switch continues for all reps. Time for high verse mid intensity workouts should be a 2:1 ratio with the high intensity lasting twice as long as the mid.
An example workout would be:
- Quick Warm-Up
- 30-seconds of sprinting followed by 15-seconds of walking. Repeat this ten times.
- Cool Down and stretches
Another Example would be to complete these exercises for 30-seconds with 10-seconds of rest. Complete 8 reps, total.
- Jumping jacks
- Wall Sits
- Push-Ups
- Crunches
- Chair Squats
- Plank
Pescetarian
I am quite familiar with this term since I have been one for about five years. A Pescetarian diet is a form of a vegetarian diet where you do not eat meat or poultry but do consume fish. Pescetarians do not need to be quite as careful with where they get Omega-3 and 6 fatty acids or proteins compared to vegetarians or vegans. Since most fish have high contents of protein and healthy fats, the only main concern is fish availability, population and fishing control, and- of course- contaminants in food.
Everyone should be careful of what fish they buy, where they buy it, and how much they eat- especially pescetarians. Eating high quantities of predator fish could result in high levels of blood toxicity levels due to bioaccumulation. Read this to learn more about what you need to know when buying fish.
Gluten
Gluten is a protein composite used to thicken certain foods. There are many types of foods that have gluten in them, from breads that use it to increase moistness and that iconic springy texture, to gravy's that use it as a thickening agent. The protein composite, gluten, is formed during the processing of certain wheat plants including barley and rye. Foods do not naturally have gluten.
Some people (about 1% of the US population) either have a gluten sensitivity or Celiac disease. Gluten sensitivity has been on the rise over the past decade. This could be from an increase in knowledge with gluten-free being a trending diet, or because more foods are processed than were ten years ago. Those with gluten sensitivity are unable to eat it since ingesting it could lead to various reactions including upset stomach, bloating, vomiting, and more super fun things everyone wishes to have. Not.