Appetite is the body’s innate desire for food. It’s a vital natural mechanism that ensures you consume enough food to meet your body’s energy and macronutrient needs.
While appetite loss is normal, it prevents you from getting the right supply of nutrients you need for your body’s growth, repair, and healthy body functioning. This leads to hunger and malnourishment.
And even though the reduced desire for food, hunger, and appetite loss affects both genders, it’s more common in women. To prevent fatigue, irritability, and in extreme cases, weight loss, here are seven ways women can boost their appetite.
1. Take Delta-8 THC Gummies
Delta-8 THC is a minor cannabinoid from the cannabis plant and is arguably the most popular new-age cannabinoid product. Like delta-9 THC, the primary psychoactive cannabinoid in cannabis, delta-8 THC has psychoactive properties, but its psychoactive effects are significantly milder than THC’s. Also, delta-8 THC is a hemp-derived product, hence is federally legal.
Although delta-8 THC is distinct from delta-9 THC, the two compounds share some properties, including therapeutic effects like appetite stimulation. Therefore, women experiencing appetite loss can visit reputable delta-8 THC brands, like Delta Munchies, for the best delta-8 gummies available online.
How do delta-8 THC gummies stimulate appetite? Like all cannabinoids, delta-8 THC induces its effects by stimulating the endocannabinoid system’s receptors. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is an elaborate signaling system that facilitates signal transmission between the brain and the nervous system to maintain a state of homeostasis. It modulates multiple body functions, including appetite.
According to one study conducted using mice, delta-8 THC stimulates appetite, causing a 16% increase in food intake. The cannabinoid’s stimulating effect on ECS receptors in the brain and digestive tract causes an increase in ghrelin (hunger hormone) production.
2. Share A Meal
Food aversion among women has multiple causes, including loneliness, and one study established a link between lone eating and appetite loss. The observational study arrived at this conclusion after collecting nutritional survey answers from over 800 adults living alone.
On the other hand, a different study showed that co-eating, especially with familiar individuals like friends and family increases appetite. Co-eating makes meals more fun, distracting one from their food aversion.
The study also showed that co-eating encourages individuals with appetite loss to eat energy-dense and nutrient-dense foods rather than focusing on their bias for energy-dense foods. Energy-dense foods typically include simple carbs and are generally more palatable but low on nutrition.
Besides loneliness, some health conditions cause appetite loss due to increased electrical taste detection threshold. One study showed that sharing a meal with good company significantly decreases the electrical taste detection threshold. Therefore, the simple act of hosting friends and families for dinner increases your appetite significantly.
3. Trick Your Mind
Appetite loss can result from physical or psychological problems. However, as stated earlier, the brain plays a role in appetite regulation. Therefore, playing perception games on your mind can help stimulate your appetite.
One trick that gets your ghrelin going is the plate-size effect, which utilizes the plate-food ratio to make the mind think that you need to eat more. According to one study, swapping average-size plates for larger dishware caused the test subjects to serve more food than they usually would and consume at least 50% of the served food.
Second, large food portions overwhelm the brain when experiencing appetite loss. However, you can split the standard food volume into multiple meals throughout the day. Nonetheless, ensure you schedule the meals because your hunger hormone does not function effectively when experiencing appetite loss.
4. Engage in Physical Exercise
Physical exercise triggers a metabolic reaction, causing your body to burn energy reserves to produce the energy necessary to meet the physical movements’ energy demands. According to one study, circulating ghrelin concentrations increase as an adaptation to counter metabolically and behaviorally stressful environments.
The body interprets the energy-producing reactions that exercise triggers as metabolic stress and respond by elevated ghrelin production. Elevated ghrelin production helps protect the body against plummeting blood glucose levels. Therefore, some physical activity could be the antidote to your appetite woes.
5. Consider Spices and Herbal Remedies
Appetite loss in women may occur due to an aversion to various food types or ingredients. However, some spices and essential oils from specific botanical herbs can help work an appetite.
Spices and botanical herbs have distinct aromas, and one study links increased ghrelin production to supra-threshold olfactory perception. Olfactory receptors are odor-detecting sensors in the nasal lining and the tongue’s test cells, and their capacity to detect tantalizing aromas stimulates ghrelin production.
However, only some herbs and spices induce ghrelin production. Therefore, an overview of select herbs and species that are proven to stimulate supra-threshold olfactory perception is below.
First is lavender; one study on rats showed that lavender’s primary terpene, linalool, excites olfactory receptors and the parasympathetic nerves in the stomach lining. Therefore, the terpene, responsible for lavender’s scent, induces appetite stimulation.
The second popular appetite-inducing herb is lemon balm, and one study shows it induces appetite while regulating fat metabolism to prevent obesity. On the spice front, one study shows that a cinnamon infusion increases satiety while increasing energy uptake.
However, the list of appetite-stimulating herbs and spices above is not exhaustive, so research and find other remedies that work for you. You can consume the recommended remedies via aromatherapy or tea infusions.
6. Drink Your Calories
Smoothies are popular for their nutrient-dense property. However, eating fruits and vegetables has a profoundly different effect on the hunger hormone than blending them into a smoothie.
According to one study, smoothies move through the digestive tract faster than an equivalent portion of solid fruits and veggies. Consequently, they often fail to trigger leptin (the satiety hormone) production, causing ghrelin levels to remain elevated despite food consumption. Therefore, drinking your fruits and veggies could help your body work an appetite.
7. Fish Oil Supplements
Fish oil supplements contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have multiple health benefits, including appetite stimulation. According to one study on high-fat diets, participants who ate a fish oil-rich diet registered the highest ghrelin levels, especially after fasting.
Conclusion
A healthy appetite means consuming neither too much nor too little food and is essential for overall health. Therefore, follow the tips above to stimulate a low appetite and achieve a healthy appetite. Appetite loss is typically short-term, so consult a doctor if it persists.
