Obesity Dictionary

fad diet: A popular diet that vows quick weight loss results. Fad diets are notorious for only producing short-term, if any, results.

food diary: A journal in which a person documents everything that he eats on a daily basis to monitor his calories and track where/when he tends to eat excessively. Food diaries are helpful weight loss tools because they force people to take a critical look at their eating habits.

gastric bypass: A surgical procedure used to treat obesity. In gastric bypass surgery, a surgeon reduces the size of a person’s stomach to a fraction of its current size to limit the amount of food he or she can ingest at any given time.

GERD: A condition in which the esophagus is inflamed or irritated because of the backup of stomach acid. The muscle sphincter that separates a person’s stomach from his esophagus tends to be dysfunctional in GERD patients.

HDL cholesterol: High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is a type of cholesterol that directs other form of cholesterol to the liver for processing and excretion. As such, HDL cholesterol is commonly known as the "good" cholesterol.

Hypercholesterolemia: A condition marked by high cholesterol. Hypercholesterolemia is a major contributor to the development of heart disease and the occurrence of strokes.

hypertension: The condition of having high blood pressure, which is classified as any blood pressure that exceeds 140/90.

hypothalamus: The organ at the brain’s base that is responsible for stimulating the pituitary gland and regulating appetite, body temperature, sleepiness and other automatic physical needs.

incontinence: A condition marked by the lack of control over one’s need to urinate or defecate.

junk food: Any food that has a high calorie content but lacks any nutritional value. Junk food tends to by high in sugars and carbohydrates, as well as calories.