The causes of appetite disorders
There's no need to fear that fruit acids will overly acidify the body, because they break down completely into carbon dioxide and water. As the carbon dioxide is expelled through breathing via the lungs, the way is cleared for fruits' acid-buffering substances.
Symptoms of appetite disorders:
- Eating and drinking give the person no pleasure.
- Food intake is limited.
Main causes of appetite disorders:
There can be many causes of appetite loss. A commonly overlooked cause is blockage of the upper respiratory tract due to a cold, hay fever, or a deviated nasal septum. When the sense of smell is impaired, taste is also affected, which suppresses appetite.
BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CAUSES
When we're sick — especially when running a fever — the appetite center in our brain suppresses hunger, preventing our energy from being unnecessarily spent on digestion. Physical fatigue also reduces desire for heavy meals. The saying "exercise stimulates appetite" is only true in the long run; in the short term, the rise in body temperature during exercise increases thirst and suppresses the feeling of hunger. Psychologically, appetite disorders are often related to depression and fears; symptoms of extreme appetite loss, such as anorexia, have a dynamic that's difficult to understand and must always be treated by a specialist (psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychoanalyst).
CHILDREN NEED VARIETY
The most important cause of appetite loss in children is usually that their meal plans have been prepared in a one-sided way. A one-sided diet — whether made up of candy or fiber-rich foods — has a suppressive effect on the appetite center, because the repetition of the same stimuli in the same way results in the suppression of both stimulus and pleasure perception.
STIMULATING APPETITE WITH NATURAL COLORS
The color combination of meals has a great effect on the appetite center in the brain. While synthetic colors have a suppressive effect on appetite, natural colors stimulate it. Color psychologists have found that this effect stems particularly from the color orange.
FEWER SYNTHETIC COLORS
Children are often spoiled with overly colorful foods such as candy, ready-made ice cream, ketchup, and gummy candy. What all these foods filled with synthetic dyes have in common is
that they stimulate children's appetite. However, this leads to a preference against naturally colored foods with more pastel tones. No red cherry stands a chance against the red of a soft gummy bear, and no green salad can compete with a green jiggly gelatin dessert.
Those who want their children to enjoy beneficial foods should limit, as much as possible, the consumption of brightly colored ready-made foods, so as not to disrupt children's natural color perception. In addition, factory-made foods contain large amounts of simple sugar, which suppresses appetite.
APPETITE-STIMULATING BEVERAGES
Spices stimulate appetite in two ways: They enhance the flavor of food and the pleasure of eating.
In many countries, there is a custom of drinking an alcoholic aperitif before a meal. Campari is particularly beloved, and thanks to the bitter substances it contains, it truly has a stimulating effect on the appetite center. Of course, this doesn't apply to children.
GIVE YOURSELF TIME
Everything we do in daily life gives us pleasure in proportion to the time we devote to it. The same is true for eating. It's no accident that appetite disorders are far less common in France than in Germany, Turkey, or the United States.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR YOUR MEAL PLAN
Less sweets:
Even our grandmothers forbade eating sweets before meals. And they were right! Because the simple sugars and flavoring agents in chocolate, gummy candy, and cakes have a suppressive effect on our appetite center, even if only briefly. More importantly, over the long term, these substances dull the sense of taste, so that over time, there's almost no desire left for other foods.
Less intense flavors:
Overly fatty foods also dull the sense of taste. When meals are drowned in heavy animal fats and sauces, the subtle nuances of cooking are lost.
BIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES AGAINST APPETITE LOSS
Fruit acids stimulate the digestive organs and activate the metabolism. Together, the two have a stimulating effect on appetite. Fruit acids are found in all types of fruit, especially apples and currants.
- Bitter substances have a digestion-stimulating effect and stimulate the appetite center in the brain. Chicory and grapefruit contain these bitter substances in abundance.