4 home remedies to whet your appetite

Some home remedies, such as watermelon juice with ginger and mint tea, improve food digestion and reduce the feeling of a full stomach, stimulating hunger and helping to open up your appetite.

Furthermore, echinacea tea can also help whet your appetite as it contains alkylamides, bioactive compounds that act on the central nervous system, increasing the desire to eat.

However, a lack of appetite may also indicate a symptom of an illness. Therefore, in cases of loss of appetite for no apparent reason, it is recommended to consult a doctor to assess the possible causes and recommend the most appropriate treatment, if necessary.

Some natural home remedies to help whet your appetite are:

1. Mint tea

Mint tea improves food digestion and reduces the feeling of a full stomach, making it a great option for stimulating hunger and opening up your appetite.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of peppermint leaves;
• 200 ml of water.

Preparation mode:

Boil the water in a kettle and then remove it from the heat. Add the mint leaves, cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Strain and drink. Drink the tea 30 minutes before meals, a maximum of 4 times a day.

Care: mint tea is not recommended for pregnant or breastfeeding women, nor is it recommended for people with reflux, hiatus hernia, kidney or gallbladder stones, or gallbladder inflammation. This tea is also not recommended for children under 5 years of age.

2. Orange juice and brewer’s yeast

Carrots and brewer’s yeast are great options to help whet your appetite, as they are rich in vitamin B1, a vitamin that, when deficient in the body, reduces hunger and the desire to eat.

Ingredients:

• 1 small carrot;
• 200 ml of boiled or filtered water;
• 1 tablespoon of brewer’s yeast.

Preparation mode:

Wash the carrot well and cut into cubes. Place the carrot and brewer’s yeast in a blender and blend well until the mixture is homogeneous. Drink this juice once a day.

Care: Children, as well as pregnant or breastfeeding women, should not consume brewer’s yeast. Additionally, people with yeast allergies, Crohn’s disease, or those taking medications for depression should consult a doctor before consuming brewer’s yeast.

3. Echinacea tea

Echinacea tea has alkylamides, bioactive compounds with cannabimimetic activity, which act on the central nervous system by binding to cannabinoid receptors, stimulating hunger and opening the appetite.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon of echinacea root or leaves;
• 1 cup of water.

Preparation mode:

In a pan, boil the water and then remove from the heat. Add the echinacea root or leaves and cover. Let it rest for 10 minutes, strain and drink up to twice a day before meals.

Care: This tea is not recommended for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women. It is also not recommended for people who have tuberculosis, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, or autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or psoriasis.

4. Passion fruit juice with ginger

Passion fruit helps to whet your appetite as it contains kaempferol and quercetin, bioactive compounds that act on the central nervous system, reducing anxiety and stress, situations that can cause loss of hunger.

Ginger is a root with antiemetic properties, facilitating stomach emptying and preventing poor digestion, making it a good option for stimulating appetite.

Ingredients:

• Pulp of 1 passion fruit;
• 200 ml of filtered or boiled water;
• 2 cm of fresh ginger;
• 1 dessert spoon of honey or sweetener;
• Ice to taste.

Preparation mode:

Wash the passion fruit, remove the pulp and place in a blender. Add the water, ginger, honey and ice, blending in the blender for 2 minutes. Transfer the juice to a glass and drink it between meals or before bed.

Care: Ginger is not recommended for people with gallstones, bleeding diseases or those using anticoagulant medications. People who use medications to control high blood pressure and diabetes should only consume ginger under the guidance of a doctor.

Passion fruit is not recommended for people with low blood pressure, and for people using antidepressant, calming and anticoagulant medications.