Glossary: Integrative Medicine and Nutrition

Fasting and Detoxification Diets

Fasting involves abstaining voluntarily from food and/or liquid for a given amount of time and is usually done for spiritual, political, or health reasons. Certain types of fasts, like juice cleanse, the Master cleanse, or fruit and vegetable fasts may be beneficial for detoxification, improving digestion, immune health, disease prevention, and mental clarity.

Fibromyalgia

A syndrome of prolonged pain and tenderness in the joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues throughout the body.

Fight or Flight/Freeze Function

Part of the autonomic nervous system’s response to trauma that accelerates action by increasing stress hormones, heart rate, blood flow, and oxygen levels.

Flashback

Somatosensory images from memories of trauma that repeat themselves, visually, aurally, and kinesthetically, from the memories of traumatic events.

Flooding

An exposure technique that involves the use of highly feared stimuli to activate high levels of anxiety. It can be invoked either through imagination or in reality until anxiety reduction occurs.

FODMAP

Acronym for “fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols,” one of a group of compounds (mainly carbohydrates) thought to contribute to the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and similar gastrointestinal disorders.