Proper Human Diet
The PHD Glossary
Plain-English answers to the terms people get wrong about real-food eating. Search a word or browse by category.
44 terms
A1C (HbA1c)
A blood test showing your average blood sugar over the past few months.
Read more→Autophagy
Your body's natural cleanup process, where it recycles old and damaged cell parts.
Read more→Blood Sugar (Glucose)
The amount of sugar in your blood, which spikes from carbs and settles on a low-carb diet.
Read more→Bone Broth
A mineral-rich broth made by simmering animal bones, often used for electrolytes and gut support.
Read more→Carnivore Diet
Eating only animal foods: meat, fish, eggs, and animal fats, with no plants.
Read more→Cholesterol
A vital substance your body makes and uses, not simply something to fear.
Read more→Dairy
Milk-based foods like butter, cheese, and cream, which are optional on PHD if you tolerate them.
Read more→Electrolytes
Minerals like sodium, potassium, and magnesium that matter more when you eat low-carb.
Read more→Fasting Insulin
A blood test of your insulin level after not eating, a window into metabolic health.
Read more→Fat Adaptation
When your body has gotten efficient at burning fat for fuel after weeks of low-carb eating.
Read more→Ghee
Clarified butter with the milk solids removed, good for high-heat cooking.
Read more→Gluconeogenesis
Your body making the small amount of glucose it needs from protein and fat, so you do not need to eat sugar.
Read more→Glycogen
Stored carbohydrate in your liver and muscles, which empties as you go low-carb.
Read more→Grass-Fed
Meat from animals raised on pasture rather than grain, often with a better nutrient profile.
Read more→HDL Cholesterol
Often called good cholesterol, which frequently improves on a low-carb diet.
Read more→Hidden Carbs
Carbohydrates sneaking into sauces, seasonings, and packaged foods you would not expect.
Read more→Inflammation
Your body's response to stress or injury that, when chronic, drives many health problems.
Read more→Insulin
The hormone that controls blood sugar and tells your body to store fat.
Read more→Insulin Resistance
When your cells stop responding well to insulin, so your body makes more and more of it.
Read more→Intermittent Fasting (IF)
Going without food for a set window, such as eating only within an 8-hour period each day.
Read more→Keto Flu
Temporary tiredness or headaches in the first days of low-carb eating, usually fixed with salt and water.
Read more→Ketogenic Diet (Keto)
A very low-carb, higher-fat way of eating that shifts your body into burning fat for fuel.
Read more→Ketones
The clean-burning fuel your liver makes from fat when carbs are low.
Read more→Ketosis
The state where your body burns fat and makes ketones for fuel instead of relying on sugar.
Read more→Ketovore
A mostly carnivore way of eating with a few low-carb plant foods added in.
Read more→LDL Cholesterol
Often called bad cholesterol, a marker that deserves a fuller conversation with your doctor.
Read more→Low-Carb Diet
Any way of eating that significantly reduces carbohydrates, usually in favor of protein and fat.
Read more→Metabolic Flexibility
Your body's ability to switch smoothly between burning fat and burning sugar for fuel.
Read more→Metabolic Syndrome
A cluster of issues, such as belly fat, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure, that raise disease risk.
Read more→Net Carbs
Total carbs minus fiber, a softer number that PHD does not rely on.
Read more→Non-Scale Victory (NSV)
A win that the scale does not capture, like better sleep, more energy, or looser clothes.
Read more→Nutrient-Dense
Foods that pack a lot of vitamins and minerals per bite, like meat, eggs, and organs.
Read more→OMAD (One Meal a Day)
Eating all of your food for the day in a single meal.
Read more→Organ Meats
Nutrient-dense cuts like liver and heart, among the most nourishing foods you can eat.
Read more→Proper Human Diet (PHD)
Eating the whole, real foods humans thrived on: animal protein and natural fats, with very few carbs.
Read more→Real Food
Whole, single-ingredient foods with no label needed, the heart of the Proper Human Diet.
Read more→Satiety
The deep, lasting fullness that protein and fat provide so you stop fighting hunger.
Read more→Saturated Fat
The stable, natural fat found in meat, butter, and eggs that humans have always eaten.
Read more→Seed Oils
Highly processed industrial oils like canola, soybean, and corn oil that PHD avoids.
Read more→Tallow
Rendered beef fat, a traditional and stable cooking fat.
Read more→TOFI (Thin Outside, Fat Inside)
Looking slim while carrying unhealthy fat around the organs.
Read more→Total Carbs
Every gram of carbohydrate in a food, the number PHD counts (not net carbs).
Read more→Triglycerides
A blood fat that tends to fall when you cut carbs and sugar.
Read more→Ultra-Processed Food
Industrial food products with long ingredient lists, designed to be overeaten.
Read more→