Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Well, it’s January.

  • And many of us make goals in January to be more fit and to eat more healthy.

  • So today were going to go over vocabulary relating to eating healthy and dieting.

  • Paleo, gluten-free, calorie, and so on.

  • Yes well focus on pronunciation

  • so that you're comfortable not just knowing this words, but using them in conversation.

  • Hmm. I've been walking for three minutes.

  • I think that’s enough exercise for today.

  • To begin, we'll focus on the word 'diet'.

  • This word actually has a couple of different meanings.

  • First, as a noun, it can be used to describe the kind of food a person, community,

  • culture, or even animal usually eats.

  • For example, koalas eat a diet of leaves.

  • So that just describes what someone eats.

  • But we also have a second meaning.

  • And this is not just a general way to describe what someone eats, but a restriction,

  • usually to lose weight or be more healthy in some way.

  • For this, we use the prepositionon’.

  • I’m going on a diet to lose weight.

  • I’m not going to have dessert because I’m on a diet.

  • Diet.

  • It’s a two-syllable word with first syllable stress.

  • Di-- the AI as in Buy diphthong. Di--

  • Di-et.

  • Then smoothly into the second syllable.

  • It's an IH as in Sit vowel and the T consonant. Diet.

  • Between the AI diphthong and the IH vowel, it can feel like you go thru the glide consonant Y.

  • Diyyyyet.

  • Diet.

  • The ending T is a Stop T unless it links into a word that begins with a vowel or diphthong,

  • like in the phrase, I’m going to diet all month.

  • Diet all, diet all. Die---rararara--

  • There, it's a Flap T.

  • It's also a Flap T in the word 'dieting'.

  • Dieting or dieted.

  • Dieted. There, also a Flap T.

  • I dieted last month.

  • He’s was dieting before the wedding.

  • Say these three words out loud with me.

  • Diet. Dieting. Dieted.

  • Diet. Dieting. Dieted.

  • Now let’s talk about some of those diets out there where you restrict what you eat.

  • We have a vegetarian diet and a vegan diet.

  • Vegetarian is a 5-syllable word with middle syllable stress.

  • Vegetarian. Vegetarian. Vegetarian

  • There is secondary stress on the first syllable.

  • Vegetarian.

  • Vegetarian.

  • Now, notice the wordvegetable’, which is related, is different.

  • It has first syllable stress.

  • Vegetable.

  • Vegetarian.

  • This is an adjective that can describe a person or a diet.

  • She’s vegetarian; she eats a vegetarian diet.

  • That restaurant doesn’t have many vegetarian options.

  • Vegetarian means no meat.

  • Vegan takes it one step further and is no meat or animal biproducts like things made with eggs, dairy, or gelatin.

  • Vegan with the EE vowel is the much more common pronunciation, though I have also heardvegan’.

  • Philly restaurants have a lot of good vegan options.

  • Vegan. Vegetarian.

  • Say these words with me.

  • Vegetarian. Vegan.

  • Vegetarian. Vegan.

  • You might also hear the term plant-based.

  • This isn’t totally vegetarian, but the majority of what you eat comes from plants rather than animals.

  • Plant-based.

  • Youll hear that with at Stop T.

  • Plant-based.

  • That’s because the next word begins with a consonant.

  • Plant-based.

  • Plant-based. There's no Ttt-- Plant-based.

  • Notice the AH vowel in 'plant' is not pure. That would be: pla-- plant, plant.

  • That's not how we say it. When AH is followed by N,

  • then we relax the back of the tongue a little bit, we get an UH vowel, plauh-- plant.

  • Plant. Plant-based.

  • That makes it sound much more natural, much more American.

  • Plant-based. Say that with me. Plant-based. Plant-based.

  • Another diet one might follow is gluten-free or dairy-free.

  • Gluten free. This means free of that ingredient.

  • No gluten in it, no dairy in it.

  • You might also see the phrasefat freeorsugar freeas well.

  • No fat, no sugar in that product.

  • The wordglutenis a little tricky, because what’s happening to that T?

  • Again, it's not ttt-- glutten.

  • It’s a stop T.

  • Glu-en

  • Put your tongue up into position, glu-- stop the air, glu-- nnn--

  • Then simply make the N sound. Your tongue is already in position.

  • Glut-en, gluten.

  • You don't need to move your tongue for that. Glu-- nn. Gluten.

  • Don’t try to put a vowel in the second syllable. IT’s just an N.

  • N is a syllabic consonant, it takes over the schwa.

  • Gluten. Gluten. Say that with me. Gluten.

  • Gluten free. Gluten. Gluten free.

  • Then we have more specific diets like paleo.

  • This is short for the Paleolithic diet, also called the caveman diet.

  • This is a diet that mimics the way humans ate in the Paleolithic period as hunter-gatherers

  • and it has been popular in the United States.

  • Paleo.

  • Three syllables. First syllable stress. Pa-leo. Paleo.

  • The L here is a light L.

  • Pa-le-o.

  • Paleo. Say that with me. Paleo. Paleo.

  • Also rising in popularity in the US is something called the Keto diet.

  • This is short for ketogenic.

  • It’s very low carb, moderate in protein, and high in fat from what I understand.

  • I’ve never done it.

  • I’ve never done any of these diets for the record,

  • but I have used calorie counting to lose weight after having children,

  • and I’ll get to that in minute.

  • I went to Youglish to see how people are pronouncing this.

  • And when theyre talking about the diet, theyre using the Flap T, keto.

  • When it’s a scientist talking about chemistry,

  • usually in that case it's a True T,

  • Keto. Keto. Keto. Keto.

  • Since were talking about diets here, well use the Flap T pronunciation.

  • Keto. Keto.

  • Say that with me.

  • Keto. Keto.

  • Whole Thirty.

  • This is an elimination diet.

  • You take out soy, diary, sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes

  • that would be a broad term that includes beans for 30 days.

  • Then you slowly reintroduce foods to see how your body reacts to them.

  • For example, do you get more stomach aches, do you feel more tired.

  • Whole 30.

  • The W inwholeis silent.

  • It’s a homophone with this word hole, as in, a hole in the ground.

  • Whole 30.

  • Whole.

  • That’s kind of a weird word, right?

  • The L is a Dark L.

  • Whole

  • We don’t lift the tongue tip for that.

  • It’s made with the back part of the tongue, whole.

  • It presses down the back just a little bit. Whole.

  • It affects the OH diphthong too, doesn’t it?

  • Whole.

  • It's not who-- whole. But it's who-- ohl-- Whole Thirty.

  • Whole Thirty. So the lips round more and the tongue is already pulling back a little bit for the dark sound,

  • it affects the diphthong. Whole.

  • Whole thirty.

  • Thirty is also a tricky word.

  • First an unvoiced TH, th, thirty.

  • The tongue tip has to come thru for that sound.

  • Then the R vowel-consonant combination, th-r, th-r.

  • Then a Flap T

  • Thirty. Thirty.

  • right in to the unstressed EE vowel.

  • Thirty. Whole thrity.

  • Say that with me.

  • Whole thirty. Whole thirty.

  • The Mediterranean diet has also gotten quite a bit of attention in the US,

  • and there are quite a few medical studies that back that this really will improve your health long-term.

  • This diet is based on the traditional cuisine of countries bordering the Mediterranean

  • and includes lots of vegetables, fish, and whole grains.

  • Mediterranean.

  • That is a long word. Six syllables.

  • With long words like this it does help to focus on stress.

  • There’s secondary stress on the first syllable, me-. Mediterra-.

  • Then we have primary stress on the fourth syllable.

  • Mediterranean.

  • Mediterranean. Mediterranean.

  • Notice the T in this word is a True T, this is an exception.

  • It comes between 2 vowels but it does not start a stressed syllable.

  • Normally, that would be a Flap T but we do pronounce this word with a True T.

  • Mediterranean. Mediterranean.

  • Say that with me.

  • Mediterranean. Mediterranean.

  • The next two are probably a little bit less popular than it were at one point,

  • but they're still very big in the US,

  • the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet.

  • The wordatkinsis actually trademarked, it’s named after the man who came up with this specific diet.

  • It calls itselfthe more flexible keto

  • and is a low-carb diet.

  • Atkins.

  • Notice we have a Stop T in there just like ingluten’.

  • At-kins.

  • This is because the T is followed by another consonant.

  • Atkins.

  • First syllable stress, begins with the AA as in BAT vowel.

  • AT-kins. Say that with me. Atkins. Atkins.

  • South Beach.

  • This is another low-carb diet that focuses on something called the glycemic index.

  • This is a way to measure how quickly a food makes your blood sugar levels rise.

  • This one has that tricky sound, the unvoiced TH.

  • South.

  • You may find that you want to substitute an S. I hear a lot of my students say: sous, sous.

  • Try to make a TH sound with your tongue tip coming through: south.

  • South. South Beach. Slow it down if you have to.

  • S consonant, OW diphthong, TH.

  • South. South. South Beach.

  • Beach with the EE as in SHE vowel.

  • South beach.

  • Say that with me.

  • South beach.

  • South beach.

  • Have you every tried fasting?

  • This is one where you don’t eat.

  • Skipping meals or entire days of eating has become a health trend lately.

  • Fasting. Fasting. We do say the True T as part of an ST cluster.

  • Fasting. Fasting.

  • Say that with me. Fasting. Fasting.

  • I want to go over two more terms for diets, calorie counting and yo-yo dieting.

  • Calorie counting is when you don’t care so much about what you eat

  • as long as you stay under a certain number of calories a day.

  • This is actually what I did to lose weight after having my two kids.

  • The wordcountingcan be pronounced with or without the T.

  • Counting, counting. I’m counting calories.

  • Calorie a three-syllable word, with first syllable stress.

  • There’s a Dark L in that first syllable.

  • Cal-- calorie.

  • The unstressed syllables, -orie, -orie, said quickly.

  • Simply. Calorie. Calorie counting. Or calorie counting. Say those with me.

  • Calorie counting.

  • Calorie counting.

  • Calorie counting.

  • Calorie counting

  • Now you may hear or see the term yo-yo dieting.

  • A yoyo is a toy, a thing on a string, you throw it down, it comes back up.

  • Yoyo dieting refers to people who go on a diet, lose a bunch of weight, go off the diet, gain it back,

  • and go on a diet again, lose weight, and so on.

  • Yoyo, the same syllable twice, first stressed then unstressed.

  • Yoyo.

  • Say that with me.

  • Yoyo.

  • Yoyo.

  • What do you think, are you going on any diets this year?

  • I’m intrigued by the Mediterranean diet and kind of want to try it.

  • My family really needs to be eating more vegetables and less processed foods,

  • there’s no question about that.

  • Learn more vocabulary, check out my vocabulary playlist.

  • And don’t forget to subscribe with notifications,

  • I make new videos on the English language every Tuesday

  • and I’d love to see you back here.

Well, it’s January.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it