Define Healthy
Healthy, defined — everyday wellbeing words in plain English
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Everyday habits

The patterns behind ordinary days: how, when and what we eat and drink, and how the gut takes part.

Breakfast table with a bowl of porridge, a cup of tea and an apple in morning light
  • Added sugarnoun phraseSugars put into food and drink during manufacturing, cooking or at the table, plus those in honey, syrups and fruit juice. Sugars naturally present in whole fruit and milk are not included.
  • Gut healthnoun phraseAn informal term for how well the digestive tract is working, including the community of microbes living in the large intestine. Diet, sleep, stress and medicines all play a part.
  • HydrationnounTaking in enough fluid to replace what the body loses through breathing, sweat and urine. Water, other drinks and the water in food all count.
  • Meal timingnoun phraseWhen, and how regularly, meals are eaten across the day. Studied under the name chrononutrition because the body's internal clock influences how food is handled.
  • Mindful eatingnoun phrasePaying deliberate attention to the experience of eating: the taste, the pace, and the signals of hunger and fullness. An approach to eating, not a diet.
  • SatietynounThe feeling of fullness that lasts after a meal and keeps hunger away until the next one. Protein, fiber, water content and eating pace all influence it.
  • Ultra-processed foodnoun phraseIndustrial food products made mostly from refined ingredients and additives rarely used in home kitchens. Defined by the NOVA classification's group 4.