how to overcome lack of appetite?

Published on : 30/01/2023 – 11:45

Every Monday, we find the nutrition chronicle of Dr. Binetou Cheikh Seck, dietician-nutritionist at the Nutridéal Dietetic Cabinet in Dakar, Senegal. Today, she advises listeners who lack an appetite.

What can cause a lack of appetite ?

The lack of appetite or the desire to eat can be secondary to an organic disease (infection, pathologies that affect taste and smell such as Covid-19, digestive diseases, etc.). It can also have a psychic cause such as stress and depression. When this lack of appetite lasts only a few days, there are no serious health consequences. But when it lasts several weeks and months, it leads to weight loss, weakening, deficiencies and a drop in immunity.

When you notice a persistent lack of appetite, what should you do?

Above all, you must consult a doctor to determine the cause of the loss of appetite – and to treat the organic or psychic reasons. While waiting for the effects of the treatment, there are dietary solutions to adopt.

So what are these diet solutions?

1. Since you can no longer count on the feeling of hunger in case of loss of appetite, you have to plan to eat at specific times.
2. We must determine well in advance what we are going to eat because, if we wait until the last moment to decide, we risk giving up the meal.
3. You have to split meals: instead of trying to eat three big meals when you don’t feel like it, you eat 5 to 6 small portions a day.
4. Each meal must be dense in nutrients, whatever the quantity: meat foods + starchy foods + vegetables + fruits to correct deficiencies and stimulate the appetite (avoid filling the stomach with foods low in nutrients).
5. It is especially important to avoid stuffing with millet porridge because it suppresses the appetite even more and it is poor in micronutrients.
6. Avoid drinking just before a meal to avoid suppressing your appetite even more (one hour before).

What about appetite stimulants?

First, they must be prescribed by a doctor, only if the cause of the loss of appetite is treated and dietary management is not enough.