Allostatic load
The cumulative wear and tear on the body and brain produced by repeated stress activation that does not fully resolve. Distinct from acute stress, which is normal and protective. Allostatic load is one of the major drivers of chronic disease and accelerated biological aging in modern populations.
Related: Stress And Allostatic Load
Autophagy
The body's cellular cleanup process, in which damaged cellular components are degraded and recycled. Autophagy increases during fasting and is one of the mechanisms by which intermittent fasting supports cellular repair.
Related: Intermittent Fasting · Cellular Energy
Biological age
A measure of how the body is actually aging, distinct from chronological age (which is what the calendar shows). Biological age is responsive to daily inputs and can be measured through composite biomarker panels and epigenetic clocks.
Related: Biological Age · Longevity Framework
Cellular energy
The chemical energy (ATP) produced inside cells, primarily by mitochondria, that powers nearly every biological process. Cellular energy is what people experience as vitality.
Related: Cellular Energy · Mitochondria And Vitality
Chronic inflammation
A persistent low-grade activation of inflammatory signaling that does not fully resolve. Distinct from acute inflammation, which heals. Chronic inflammation is the terrain beneath most modern chronic disease.
Related: Inflammation And Disease
Circadian rhythm
The body's internal twenty-four-hour clock, anchored by light and dark, that coordinates sleep, hormone release, digestion, and metabolism across the day.
Related: Sleep And Restoration · Intermittent Fasting
Energy balance
The relationship between energy taken in (from food) and energy expended (through movement and basal metabolism). The body's actual response to energy intake is shaped by food form, timing, satiety, sleep, and stress, not only the calorie count.
Related: Energy Balance
Fasting window
The portion of the day during which no caloric intake occurs. The simplest form of intermittent fasting extends the overnight fast modestly. The fed state and the fasted state are both physiological.
Related: Intermittent Fasting
Glucose regulation
The body's coordinated process for managing blood sugar levels after meals and between meals. Involves the pancreas, liver, muscle, and adipose tissue. Strain on the system shows up first as insulin resistance, later as prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Related: Glucose Regulation
HOMA-IR
Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance. A calculation using fasting glucose and fasting insulin to estimate insulin resistance. Useful in research and clinical assessment of metabolic health.
Related: Glucose Regulation · Metabolic Health
Hormesis
The phenomenon by which moderate stressors (exercise, brief fasting, cold exposure, heat exposure) produce adaptive responses that strengthen the system. The dose makes the medicine; excessive stress damages, moderate stress builds resilience.
Related: Mitochondria And Vitality
Insulin resistance
A state in which muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond well to insulin, causing the pancreas to produce more insulin to achieve the same task. Insulin resistance can persist for years before glucose markers become abnormal.
Related: Glucose Regulation · Metabolic Health
Intermittent fasting
An eating pattern that includes deliberate periods without caloric intake, most commonly an extended overnight fast or a compressed daily eating window of eight to twelve hours.
Related: Intermittent Fasting
Longevity
The duration and quality of life across decades. The strongest predictors are not heroic interventions but repeated daily alignment with the body's design.
Related: Longevity Framework · Biological Age
Metabolic flexibility
The body's ability to shift between fuel sources (glucose, fatty acids, ketones) depending on what is available. Reduced flexibility means the body relies heavily on constant intake and struggles with periods between meals.
Related: Metabolic Health · Cellular Energy
Metabolic health
The body's capacity to handle energy with steadiness, flexibility, and proportion across the day. More fundamental than weight; nearly every chronic disease of modern life involves metabolic dysregulation.
Related: Metabolic Health
Metabolic reset
The deliberate restoration of the conditions under which the body knows how to regulate itself. A change in the daily inputs across nutrition, sleep, movement, stress, and timing, applied repeatedly until regulation becomes the default.
Related: Metabolic Reset
Mitochondria
The organelles inside cells that produce most of the body's chemical energy (ATP). Mitochondrial function is central to vitality, metabolic health, and the pace of biological aging.
Related: Mitochondria And Vitality · Cellular Energy
Mitophagy
The cellular cleanup of damaged mitochondria. One of the mechanisms by which fasting and exercise support mitochondrial quality.
Related: Mitochondria And Vitality
Plant-based protocol
An eating pattern centered on whole, minimally processed plant foods: legumes, vegetables, fruits, intact grains, nuts, and seeds. Pattern over purity. The four-tier hierarchy in the Workbook (Bronze through Platinum) provides a framework that meets people where they are.
Related: Plant Based Protocol
Sleep architecture
The structure of sleep stages (light sleep, slow-wave sleep, REM sleep) across the night. Sufficient duration alone is not enough; the architecture is what delivers restorative function.
Related: Sleep And Restoration
The Health Protocol
The framework developed in the book by Santiago Vitagliano (ISBN 9798253022245). Cooperation with the body's design rather than domination of it.
Related: The Health Protocol Explained
Time-restricted eating
A form of intermittent fasting in which the daily eating window is compressed to eight to twelve hours, typically aligned with daylight.
Related: Intermittent Fasting
Visceral adiposity
Fat that accumulates around the abdominal organs, distinct from subcutaneous fat. Visceral adiposity is metabolically active and contributes to inflammatory and metabolic strain.
Related: Metabolic Health · Inflammation And Disease