The need to improve your appetite happens when you are experiencing a loss of appetite. A loss of appetite means that you have little to no interest in eating. This can be caused by various situations that include mental or physical illness.
Improving your appetite is also important because when you are not eating for more than a few days, you may start experiencing malnutrition or weight loss. Dealing with this is even more difficult for underweight people trying to gain weight or increase muscle mass.
Recently, Kounsel Live hosted Andrea Porter, a registered dietitian, to talk about improving your appetite and developing a healthy relationship with food.
What Causes Loss Of Appetite?
Many things can make you lose your appetite temporarily or permanently. A loss of appetite may mean losing interest in meals or feeling nauseous when eating for some people.
An example of a physical reason is when you are recovering from an illness or experiencing digestive trouble. This is usually temporary, and your appetite returns after recovery. For some people, appetite loss might be because of a condition like cancer.
How to improve your appetite
Here, we focus mainly on a holistic approach to improving your diet. Some recommended ways to improve your appetite:
- Start with your thoughts. Your thoughts determine how you live and the kind of food you enjoy. You must discern what you think about food, see the pattern of your relationship with food, and how it affects you or your response to food. Paying attention to your thoughts will help you better practice mindful eating, impacting your appetite.
- Journal your thoughts. Apart from journaling helping you constantly stay in tune with your thoughts, it also helps you and your coach identify patterns to help you design action goals to improve your diet. For instance, it is easier to develop habits to help you destress and eat better when you can track your stress levels and how it affects your appetite.
- Meditation. Meditation is a holistic approach that helps you heal from the inside out. Intentionally tell yourself encouraging sentiments. While these are not limited to food, you can rework your appetite by affirming and validating it with your words. Visualize yourself participating in activities that you love and trying out new foods. You can also link up with people that can help you.
- Develop an action plan. It's not enough to journal or visualize; you also have to create an action plan that will help you eat better. That means you will consciously decide when you can do the activities you planned, eat the foods you visualized, and talk to the people you identified. Also, make a list of the foods you want to try, find recipes for them, and allot a budget.
- Take action. Be intentional about doing the things that you plan to. Sign up and commit to activities, and make a point to reach out to family and people. You can choose to work with a licensed dietitian like Andrea, who can help you stay accountable to your plans and ensure that your plan is sustainable. Also, make it a duty to help others abandon their negative thoughts.
Are quick-fix diet plans suitable for you?
Although they produce quick results, quick-fix diets often do not last very long as they are unsustainable. When you take up plans like juice fast and intermittent fasting, you will experience increased tiredness and sleepiness. You start to struggle with showing up daily and impacting yourself and the people around you.
Also, these fad diet plans do not work for everyone. If you are one of these, you may be stuck in a cycle of self-condemnation where you think you've done something wrong or aren't doing enough. That is an unhealthy place to be.
Diets like Keto that help curb hunger are also unhealthy because they force you to ignore your hunger cues. This upsets your body balance and may have severe effects in the long run. So, make sure to fill your body with the right nutrient, even when trying to lose weight.
Does intermittent fasting help with weight loss?
A Harvard study shows that someone looking to lose weight by fasting intermittently may lose 7-10 pounds, but they usually derail from that point. The plan is not sustainable, so you gain the weight you lost back.
Other studies show that intermittent fasting induces increased stress levels, may trigger anxiety/depression, trigger overeating, and may cause a relapse if you've had an eating disorder.
On the other hand, it has been found that periodic, short-term fasting may improve your sleep and human growth hormone if you have a consistent bedtime.
6 diet mistakes to avoid at all cost
If you want to improve your appetite, here are 6 diet mistakes that may be costly and hard to recover from.
- Diets that are specific and extreme. Extreme and specific diets produce drastic results, but they aren't always what you want. Sluggishness, moodiness, nausea, and pain are all side effects that are more likely to be experienced. The long-term consequences include metabolic issues and rebound weight gain. They can also lead to serious medical concerns like malnutrition, muscle breakdown, brain issues, and change in blood sugar levels.
- Diets that focus on one nutrient. These diets deprive you of the nutrient your body will derive from eating balanced diets. Possible side effects include constipation, diarrhea, exhaustion, and increased irritability. They can also lead to other major health problems like anemia, osteoporosis, malnutrition, nutritional toxicity, and muscle catabolism. According to some nutritionists, following a strict diet that focuses on one nutrient like protein may indicate developing an eating disorder.
- Diets that focus on avoiding one nutrient. Every nutrient counts when you try to eat right and improve your appetite. This is why diets that focus on avoiding one nutrient are unhealthy. For example, a low-carb diet will constantly tire you because carbs are the body's preferred energy source. You will also experience difficulty concentrating, hormonal imbalance, and reduced muscle growth while risking an eating disorder.
- Eating less than 1000 kcal daily. Diets that encourage you to eat 1200/1400kcal/day or less are unhealthy. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the average female adult requires 1,800–2,400 calories per day, while the average male adult requires 2,400–3,200 calories per day. When you don't get this amount of calories daily, you will experience a nutritional deficiency, hair loss, slowed weight loss, and reduced fertility.
- Restricting foods with essential micronutrients. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals that promote healthy growth, sickness prevention, and overall well-being. Except for vitamin D, micronutrients must be obtained through food. Ensuring adequate intakes of vitamins and minerals can prevent side effects like reduced educational outcomes, decreased work productivity, and an increased risk of other diseases and health issues.
- Focusing on getting most or all of your nutrients from supplemental foods. Research shows that food nutrients may reduce mortality while excess intake of supplements does the opposite. Excess intake of supplemental foods may also lead to an increased risk of various cancers. Even though supplements improve nutrient intake, food dietary nutrients have positive effects that supplements lack.
About Andrea Porter
Andrea Porter is a registered dietitian in Idaho. Her passion revolves around the idea of nutrition – helping families work together to eat well and live a healthier lifestyle. You can connect with her on the Kounsel App.
