The closer summer comes, the more people try to get in shape and lose weight. Everybody is just saying that the right diet and fitness are important.
But even in winter, when we eat more and move less, a healthy lifestyle wouldn’t hurt. If you not only attend the gym, but also learn English, you will need new dumbbells special words and expressions to discuss proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle – in spring, summer and any other time of year.
Healthy eating and sports (walking, jogging, swimming, dieting) – all this has a special vocabulary.
In the field of fitness there is a lot of slang, idiom and professional expressions (for example, the warm season is called “swimsuit season”, i.e. “swimsuit season”).
Healthy lifestyles are talked about everywhere: at home with family, friends and at work. People love to talk about diets and healthy eating. Below you will find all the necessary words to discuss food and healthy eating with anyone.
Good nutrition and healthy products: English words and Intermediate level expressions
We’ve broken down our dictionary of practical dietetics into three parts: 1) Diet planning, 2) choosing the right products and 3) buying healthy food. Let’s get started!
Creating a Plan for Health and Fitness
This section includes useful words and expressions for those who are ready to start a new life and how to take care of their health. These words will be useful to talk about health, weight loss and how to get rid of it, as well as about your own and others’ diets and plans. These words will meet you on websites and in magazines about beauty and health.
Eating Clean
“Clean eating is a relatively new trend in good nutrition. You stop eating processed foods, packaged foods and artificial additives – in short, anything that is less nutritious. You should also limit your calorie intake (eat fewer calories) and drink plenty of water.
All of this is called clean eating – you only eat natural and wholesome foods. You should also include as many raw vegetables and fruits as possible in your diet.
Going on a Diet
The meaning of the English word “diet” differs slightly from the similar Russian term. It doesn’t necessarily mean severe food restrictions – rather, it’s a “table”, i.e. your diet.
For example, “healthy diet” is the right diet. However, the expression “go on a diet” means that you are on a diet for a limited period of time. Instead of “I’m going on a diet” you can also say “I’m starting a diet”.
If you are asked to eat something useless or otherwise disrupt your diet, you can say, “I need to stick to my diet”, i.e., “I need to diet.
Every diet usually has lists of foods that you can and cannot eat. There are plenty of different diets on the Internet; however, some people, having studied the issue, make their own dietary plan.
Short diets are often very extreme; for example, don’t be surprised if someone says, “My diet is only eating bananas and apples for a week! (I will only eat bananas and apples for a week).
Attention! In this post we do not discuss how useful this or that diet is. We are only interested in English words and expressions that describe it!
Juicing and Cleansing
Going on a cleanse is usually even more extreme than dieting. It is usually done with juicing and is called doing a juice cleanse.
Some juice diets allow for meals other than juices. However, usually only liquids are drunk during a cleanse diet.
For example, a popular cleaning diet is water, lemon juice with maple syrup and red pepper (lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper). This diet can last from three days to a week. It is believed that it can “restart” your digestive system (reboot your system).
Previously, it was thought that freshly squeezed juice (or simply “fresh”) added more vitamins into your diet. Today, however, there is a growing belief that juices are devoid of healthy fiber.
Cutting Carbs
Carbohydrates (or simply “carbs”) are sugars and starches. There are many carbohydrates in products such as bread, rice or pasta. Many slimming diets recommend reducing the amount of carbohydrates (cut carbs). Such low-carb diet is called “low-carb diet”.
Counting Calories
Another way to lose an extra kilo is to start counting how many calories you eat (count your calories). Calories are the unit of energy you get with your food. It comes not only from the foods you eat now, but also from the fat stored in your body.
People often try to eat less to burn off their fat and lose weight. If you do this, the process will go faster because you will burn calories. And if you consume more calories than you use, you gain weight.
Staying Hydrated
This expression has no direct Russian analogue. “Hydrated” means “moisture-containing”. When you are advised: “Stay hydrated” means “drink more liquid”, “avoid dehydration”.
It’s important that you stay hydrated when you are exercising!
It is important to drink plenty of water during sports activities.
In order to avoid dehydration, you can drink not only water, but also detox water, i.e. water with useful additives such as lemon or mint. You can also drink juice and sports drinks. It is especially important to drink a lot when you are sick.
Following a Meal Plan
A meal plan assumes that you are eating a specific set of products that a professional nutritionist or fitness instructor has prepared for you.
Nutrition plans like to publish health magazines. Usually this plan is for a month and has fewer restrictions than a diet. You are offered to eat dishes made from certain foods according to special recipes. All you have to do is stick to these recipes and the plan as a whole.
Watching What You Eat
It’s a pretty easy way to make your diet healthier. “To watch what you eat” means to “pay attention to what you eat”, i.e. to choose your food consciously, voting for healthier products and dishes.
For example, it is better to choose fruit salad between cake and fruit salad, fish between burger and fish, and so on. No plan or diet, just try to eat more healthy products.
Get Your Daily Dose of Vitamins
The word “dose” is a medical term that also applies to vitamins. There are recommended amounts of vitamins that people need to get every day to be healthy.
You can get this dose from fruits and vegetables or from vitamin pills.