Dietary patterns and wellness practices

Fruitarianism

Fruitarianism, or the fruitarian diet, is a highly restrictive vegan diet of primarily raw fruit (70-80% of calories), excluding cooked food, grains, and animal products; dietitians warn of B12, calcium, and protein deficiencies, diabetes and tooth-decay risks, and generally do not recommend it.

Functional Food

Functional food: foods offering health benefits beyond basic nutrition, also called nutraceuticals or designer foods. No legal definition in EU or US; concept from Japan's 1984 project and FOSHU system; regulated via health-claim frameworks.

Functional medicine

Functional medicine: a root-cause, systems biology care model from Jeffrey Bland and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), featuring extended history-taking, nonstandard lab panels, supplement protocols, certification (FMCP-M), mixed evidence, and direct-pay costs.

Gluten-free diet

Gluten-free diet: exclusion of gluten proteins from wheat, rye, barley, and crossbreeds. Essential lifelong treatment for celiac disease (about 1% of people) and wheat allergy; FDA limits gluten-free labels to under 20 ppm gluten; no proven benefit for the general population.

Glycemic index

Glycemic index (GI): 1–100 ranking of carbohydrate foods by blood glucose response to 50 g available carbohydrate versus glucose, introduced by Jenkins 1981, standardized in ISO 26642:2010; low ≤55, high ≥70; GL = GI × carbohydrate/100.

Gravity bong

Gravity bong (G-B, geeb): a homemade cannabis smoking device using water displacement to fill a chamber with concentrated smoke pushed in under positive pressure; commercialized as GRAV's all-glass Gravitron (2004).

Greying of hair

Greying of hair (canities) is age-related loss of melanin in hair follicles, typically starting in the 30s-40s; premature graying is linked to smoking, vitamin deficiencies, and stress, with no established medical reversal treatment.

Sep 29, 2026

Guided meditation

Guided meditation is meditation in which an instructor or recording verbally directs a participant's attention, breathing, and imagery, most often to produce relaxation and reduce stress, anxiety, depression, or pain.

Hair removal

Hair removal is the practice of removing unwanted body hair, categorized into depilation, which removes the hair shaft, and epilation, which removes the root, including waxing, lasers, and electrolysis.

Harris–Benedict equation

Harris–Benedict equation: regression formula by Harris and Benedict (1919, revised by Roza and Shizgal 1984) estimating adult basal metabolic rate from weight, height, age, and sex; distinct from Mifflin-St Jeor and WHO equations.

Hash oil

Hash oil, also called butane hash oil or cannabis extract, is a solvent-made cannabis concentrate with up to 90% THC versus about 12% in flower, consumed by dabbing or vaping, with fire, contamination, and dependence risks.

Hashish

Hashish (حشيش) is compressed cannabis resin from female flowering tops, controlled as cannabis resin under the 1961 Single Convention; THC content rose 66% in Europe 2014–2024, distinct from marijuana and hash oil.

Health at Every Size

Health at Every Size (HAES) is a weight-neutral health approach trademarked by ASDAH, founded 2003, with five principles including weight inclusivity; trial evidence shows behavioral and psychosocial gains comparable to weight-loss programs.

Health Resorts

Health resorts are places people visit for restorative getaways, equipped with therapeutic services and facilities; the category spans mineral-spring spas, thermal-bath towns, and medical spas.

Healthy diet

Healthy diet: eating pattern protecting against malnutrition and noncommunicable diseases; WHO principles of adequacy, balance, moderation, diversity; quantitative limits on sugars, fats, salt; DASH and Mediterranean top-rated patterns.

High-Fat Diet

High-fat diet: consumption of excessive dietary fats (MeSH D059305). Covers habitual high-fat intake limited by WHO guidance and deliberate ketogenic regimens (4:1 ratio, under 50 g carbohydrate daily) used for epilepsy since the 1920s.

High-Protein Low-Carbohydrate Diet

High-protein low-carbohydrate diet (Atkins, South Beach): eating pattern high in protein, under 45% energy from carbohydrate, used for weight loss and type 2 diabetes; modest short-term benefit, little long-term advantage over balanced diets.

Holistic Health

Holistic health is an approach to health care that treats the person as a complete, integrated unit, addressing physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions together.

House burping

House burping is the American TikTok name for German Lüften, briefly opening windows even in winter to swap stale indoor air for fresh, reducing mold, humidity, and pollutants.

Hydrogen water

Hydrogen water (hydrogen-rich water) is water with dissolved molecular hydrogen gas, made by pressurized infusion, electrolysis, or magnesium tablets; FDA GRN 520 covers beverage use, and clinical evidence remains small-scale and mixed.

Hydroxycut

Hydroxycut, also sold as Hydroxycut Advanced and Hydroxycut Hardcore, is an Iovate/MuscleTech weight loss supplement brand recalled in 2009 after 23 FDA-reported liver injury cases and one death, with reformulated products still on sale.

Inedia

Inedia (Latin for fasting), or breatharianism, is the pseudoscientific claim of living without food or water, sustained by prana; investigated cases show fraud, unconfirmed anomalies, and deaths from starvation and dehydration.

Infant Care

Infant care covers feeding, safe sleep, responsive caregiving, and out-of-home care for babies from birth to about age three. Key practices: breastfeeding within one hour and exclusively for six months, back-sleeping on firm flat surfaces, and nurturing care's five components.

Infrared sauna

Infrared sauna, also called far-infrared sauna: a cabin using infrared lamps or panels to heat the body directly at 110–135 °F, unlike traditional saunas; studied for heart failure, hypertension, and chronic pain.

Intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting, also called intermittent energy or calorie restriction, alternates fasting and eating periods, with time-restricted eating, alternate-day fasting, and the 5:2 diet as its main forms.

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Jon Kabat-Zinn, American Professor of Medicine emeritus at UMass Medical School, founded MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) in 1979 and the CFM in 1995; MIT molecular biology PhD under Salvador Luria, author of Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, There You Are.

Juk (죽) (Korean food)

Juk (죽) is Korean rice porridge, rice or grain slow-simmered in water or broth until soft; mostly savory, eaten as recovery and breakfast food, with varieties like jeonbokjuk (abalone) and hobakjuk (pumpkin), distinct from Chinese congee and Japanese okayu.

Ketogenic diet

Ketogenic diet: very low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet inducing nutritional ketosis (blood BHB >0.5 mmol/L). Developed by Wilder in 1921 for epilepsy; also used for weight loss, with lipid and ketoacidosis cautions.

Konjac-alginate-xanthan polysaccharide complex (PGX)

PGX (PolyGlycopleX, alginate-konjac-xanthan polysaccharide complex, KAX) is a proprietary viscous fibre complex of konjac glucomannan, sodium alginate, and xanthan gum, studied for lowering postprandial glucose; EFSA found its safety not established at proposed use levels.