A potentially life threatening and extreme eating disorder, anorexia nervosa drives people to lose unhealthy amounts of body weight, in their relentless quest for thinness. People with anorexia nervosa obsess about their eating habits and their body weight constantly. On the surface, anorexia nervosa is thought to be a simple eating disorder.
But the extreme unwillingness of the patient to maintain a healthy weight, along with his or her emaciated physical state and distorted body perception, is often the result of an underlying and deep seated psychiatric disorder. Anorexia nervosa or anorexia is widely prevalent among adolescent /adult females and young males. Since anorexics often equate thinness with high self worth, it has been noted that people with extremely low self esteem tend to have this particular eating disorder.
Home Remedies For Anorexia Nervosa
Frequent Meals
People suffering from anorexia nervosa should be gently coaxed to eat small portions of food frequently. Anorexics may be repulsed by normal portions of food. So, encourage the patient to eat small quantities of food every couple of hours or so. You should increase the amount of food served to an anorexic very slowly. Instead of calorie dense food, serve anorexics small portions of easily digestible food so that the patient’s aversion to food is not reinforced.
Apples
Anorexics should be served one or two apples every day. Apples contain certain natural enzymes which stimulate the production of pepsin. Increased production of pepsin by the digestive tract can hasten the digestion process.
Spicy Food
Serve spicy food to anorexics to improve their appetite. A healthy appetite will automatically stimulate a person to eat food. So, serve spicy food to people having this eating disorder a couple of times every week. Remember not to serve spicy food every single day of the week as it will only prove to be counterproductive.
Garlic
The pungent garlic can stimulate the production of digestive juices thereby improving the digestion process. Peel two cloves of fresh garlic.Crush the garlic cloves and add a dash of rock salt. You should feed an anorexic the crushed garlic flavored with rock salt first thing in the morning to kick start his or her appetite.
Sour Grapes
To recondition the digestive system, that has borne the burden of starvation for several years due to anorexia nervosa, feed the patient sour grapes. Sour grapes also help to kick start an anorexic individual’s appetite. Sour grape juice works just as well when it comes to stimulating the appetite.
Ginger and Rock Salt
As mentioned earlier it is important to increase an anorexics food intake slowly but in a consistent manner. One of the best ways to stimulate an anorexics appetite, is to feed him or her a piece of crushed ginger seasoned with rock salt first thing in the morning and that too on an empty stomach.Peel a quarter inch piece of ginger. Crush the peeled ginger using a mortar and pestle. Now add a pinch of ordinary salt (rock salt would be a better option). You can enhance its taste by adding a smidgen of lemon juice.
Soups
Individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa should be given plenty of fresh soups. Mildly spiced fresh vegetable and chicken soup can improve an anorexics appetite levels. Soups are not only a superb appetite stimulator but they are also nutrient dense as well. Ideally, you should give freshly prepared soup to a person suffering from this particular eating disorder, instead of instant soup that is simply poured from a tin.
