The Wellness Community

Kitchen and Nutrition Center

Dietary Glossary

These are words you may hear members of your health team using. Do not be afraid to ask your health care staff to explain terms you may not understand.

Anorexia
Loss of appetite leading to severe weight loss.

Antiemetics
Drugs used to control nausea and vomiting.

Calorie
A measurement of the energy your body gets from food. Your body needs calories as "fuel" to perform all of its functions, such as breathing, circulation, and physical activity. When you are sick, your body may need extra calories to fight fever or other problems.

Dehydration
When the body loses too much water to work well. Severe diarrhea or vomiting can cause dehydration.

Diet
The things you eat and drink, both liquids and solids.

Digestive tract
The parts of the body involved with eating, digesting, and excreting food. It includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines.

Diuretics
Drugs that help the body get rid of water and salt.

Dysphagia
Difficulty in swallowing.

Edema
The build up of excess fluid within the tissues, such as in ankles, legs, arms, and abdomen.

Fiber
The part of plant foods that the body cannot digest. It helps to move food waste out of the body more quickly. Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, dry beans and peas, nuts and seeds, and breads and cereals. Fiber is not found in animal foods (meat, milk, eggs).

Infection
When germs enter the body and produce disease, the disease is called and infection. Infections can occur in any part of the body. They cause fever and other problems, depending upon the site of the infection. When the body's natural defense system is strong, it can often fight the entering germs and prevent infection. Cancer treatment can weaken the natural defense system, but healthy eating can help make is stronger.

Lactose
Lactose is a sugar found in milk and milk products.

Lactose intolerance
The inability to easily digest lactose. This may be inherited, or may occur after some types of surgery. Surgery-related lactose intolerance may go away over time. Many stores carry special milk products that do not contain lactose.

Minerals
Nutrients needed by the body in small amounts to help it function properly and stay strong. Iron, calcium, potassium, and sodium are minerals.

Nutrient
Chemical compounds (water, protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals) that make up foods. These compounds are used in different ways by the body, i.e., to grow, function and stay alive.

Nutrition
A three-part process that gives the body the nutrients it needs. First, you eat or drink food. Second, the body breaks the food down into nutrients. Third, the nutrients travel through the bloodstream to different parts of the body where they are used as "fuel" and for many other purposes. To give your body proper nutrition, you have to eat and drink enough of the foods that contain key nutrients.

Phytochemicals
A class of helpful chemical substances found in plants. Many of these chemicals are thought to reduce your risk of cancer.

Potassium
A mineral the body needs for fluid balance and other essential functions.

Protein
One of the three nutrients that supply calories to the body (the other two are fats and carbohydrates). The protein we eat becomes a part of our muscle, bones, skin, and blood.

Registered dietitian
A health care professional with extensive scientific background in food, nutrition, biochemistry, and physiology. This knowledge is applied to promoting health, preventing disease, and providing counseling and education.

Sodium
A mineral required by the body to keep body fluids in balance. Sodium is found in table salt. Too much sodium can cause you to retain water.

Soft diet
A diet consisting of bland, lower fat foods that you soften by cooking, mashing, pureeing or blending.

Total parenteral nutrition
When a person receives needed nutrients through a needle in a vein.

Vitamins
Key nutrients, such as vitamins A, C, and E, that the body needs in small amounts to grow and stay strong