The language of metabolism
Glossary
Short definitions. Every essay links here from its contents box. This page is educational, not a diagnostic key.
- Insulin
- The hormone that moves glucose into cells and, when high, shuts down fat burning. Chronic high insulin (hyperinsulinemia) can exist while fasting glucose still looks “normal.”
- Insulin resistance
- Cells respond poorly to insulin, and the pancreas makes more to compensate. The insulin-resistance essay argues that chronically high insulin is itself a main driver, so the two feed each other. Often present for years before blood glucose rises. Frequently driven by high or chronic carbohydrate intake.
- HOMA-IR
- A simple score from fasting glucose and fasting insulin. Used as a practical marker of insulin resistance. Not a diagnosis by itself.
- Nutritional ketosis
- A normal state in which the liver makes ketones from fat because carbohydrate (and insulin) are low. Most tissues, including the brain, can use ketones. This is not ketoacidosis.
- Ketoacidosis
- A medical emergency when insulin is severely lacking (typically type 1 diabetes, sometimes severe untreated type 2). Different from nutritional ketosis.
- Ketones
- Molecules made from fat when glucose and insulin are low. Fuel, not a toxin, in nutritional ketosis.
- Glucose / “blood sugar”
- The lab number called “blood sugar” is glucose. Most carbohydrates raise it, not only table sugar.
- LDL / HDL
- Lipoprotein carriers, not “good” or “bad cholesterol.” LDL moves cholesterol and other cargo out to tissues. HDL moves cargo back to the liver. Read them with triglycerides, insulin, and the rest of the picture.
- DIAAS
- Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score. Rates a protein by its scarcest essential amino acid after digestion (measured at the end of the small intestine), compared with what people need. A score of 100 (1.00) or more is rated excellent. Animal foods typically score high.
- Seed oils
- Industrially extracted oils from seeds (soybean, corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, “vegetable oil”). Recent in the human diet. High in easily oxidized omega-6 fats.
- Ultra-processed food (NOVA Group 4)
- Formulations made mostly from industrial ingredients (protein isolates, modified starches, added fibers, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, high-fructose corn syrup) plus cosmetic additives such as flavors, colors, emulsifiers, and sweeteners. Defined by the NOVA system of Carlos Monteiro and colleagues.
- Processed culinary ingredients (NOVA Group 2)
- Oils, butter, lard, sugar, and salt, pressed, refined, or extracted from foods for kitchen use. NOVA puts refined seed oils here, not in Group 4. This site's field-vs-factory test is stricter on seed oils.
- CICO
- “Calories in, calories out.” Useful as physics. Incomplete as a model of hunger, hormones, and fat storage.
- Electrolytes
- Charged minerals (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and others) required for nerves, muscle, fluid balance. When insulin falls, the kidneys often dump more of them.
- C-reactive protein (CRP)
- A protein the liver releases when inflammation is up. The high-sensitivity test, hs-CRP, is the version used in heart-risk talks. It is not specific to the heart.
- Androgens
- The family of steroid hormones that includes testosterone. Testosterone is to androgens what estradiol is to estrogens.
- Estrogens
- The family of steroid hormones that includes estradiol. Estradiol is one estrogen, not the name of the whole family.
For your understanding, not your treatment
These essays are for information only. They are not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Read the full disclaimer.