Glossary: Integrative Medicine and Nutrition

Macrobiotic Diet

A diet high in whole grains, vegetables, beans, sprouts, seeds, nuts, seaweed, and small amounts of fish and seafood. Processed and packaged foods, as well as nightshades, are avoided. Focuses on eating according to the season and emphasizes specific methods of food preparation.

Marma

Special energy centers, to balance both functional and structural balance. Marmas are like the acupuncture points, but include larger areas of the body, such as the abdomen or heart region.

Mediterranean Diet

A diet based on the traditional foods of the Mediterranean region, emphasizing plant-based foods, whole grains, healthy fats (olive oil), fish and poultry, nuts and seeds, moderate red wine, and fresh fruit. Shown to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive decline, and diabetes.

Melatonin

A hormone produced by the pineal gland that regulates other hormones and maintains the body’s circadian rhythm, central to the cycles of sleep and wakefulness, puberty, and the aging process.

Microbiome

The genetic material of all the microbes - bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses that live on and inside the human body.

Mind/Body

Refers to aspects of one information system. Life is an information system. Mind and body are two facets or two ways of conceptualizing this single information system.

Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT)

Combines manual and psycho-educational approaches with mindfulness.

Mindfulness (Vipassana)

A Buddhist tradition of meditation, also called insight meditation; mindfulness encourages focusing attention on the rhythm of the breath, allowing whatever thoughts that come up to pass on through the mind, without judgment or effort to change them.

Miso

A smooth paste made from fermented soybeans or grains. Provides probiotics, protein, and several B-complex vitamins, as well as calcium, zinc, iron, copper, and magnesium.

Modified Carnivore Diet

A variation of the Paleo Diet that allows dairy for people who are not sensitive to lactose or casein. Helps to transition from a fast food diet.

Moxibustion

The burning of Artemis vulgaris directly on acu-points.

MTHFR (methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase) Variants

The MTHFR gene helps your body break down homocysteine, a type of amino acid, a chemical your body uses to make proteins. MTHFR mutations, or the variants called C677T and A1298C, affect the function of the MTHFR gene and may cause too much homocysteine to build up in the blood, leading to health problems such as depression, homocystinuria, increased risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and blood clots.

Multivocality

The concept that an artifact can have different meanings depending on its context; refers to the multiple ways people express themselves across cultures.