Home Remedies For Underweight

What does being Underweight mean?

Simply put, being Underweight is a condition characterized by less than normal body weight. Like Obesity, being Underweight is also not a desirable condition. It may cause a number of growth and development related problems. Plus, it reduces immunity thereby making the affected individual susceptible to infections and other diseases.

Generally, BMI or Body Mass Index is used to determine whether an individual is Underweight or Overweight. BMI is the ratio of the body weight and height. It is calculated by the formula: Weight / (Height x Height). Here, the weight should be in kilograms and height in meters. In case the weight is measured in pounds and height in inches, then the formula is (Weight / (Height x Height) ) x 703.

BMI below 19.1 is indicative of Underweight in adult women. For adult men, it is 20.7. In case the BMI is 17.5 or even less, then it is considered way too low. Other factors to be considered are that of age, level of fitness and ethnicity. This index is generally not applicable to pregnant or breast feeding women.

To get rid of this problem, it is often recommended to aim at increasing weight at the rate of one kg per month or simply two to three pounds per week until the weight comes in the normal range. For attaining this goal, a number of natural home remedies for Underweight have been devised. These natural remedies have been popular since time immemorial and are highly beneficial in gaining weight naturally.

Causes and Symptoms of Being Underweight

Loss of appetite or weight loss could be caused by certain diseases like hyperthyroidism, chronic diarrhea or constipation, intestinal worms, inadequate digestion, dental pain, metabolic disorders, sexual disorders, hormonal imbalance, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic dyspepsia, tuberculosis, depression, type 1 diabetes, HIV/AIDS, cancer or other similar diseases.

Other less specific factors include genetic predisposition, unhealthy eating habits, malnutrition, excessive physical exercise etc. Certain drugs have also been found to cause this ailment.

The most obvious symptom of this ailment is loss of body weight. The condition may also be accompanied by loss of appetite and a general feeling of fatigue and weakness. Due to inadequate nutrition, the immune system becomes weak thereby increases the chances of contracting infections and diseases. Women tend to have irregular or completely absent menstruation due to malnutrition.

Natural Home Remedies for Underweight

• An exclusive mango milk diet is one of the most popular natural home remedies for Underweight. Take two ripe mangoes followed by a glass of milk three times per day for at least one month to gain weight and get rid of this problem in a safe and natural way.

• Regularly having a combination of milk and banana is also one of the most highly recommended home remedies for Underweight treatment. For this, add some milk/ curd/ buttermilk in mashed banana have this mixture in the morning for breakfast. Having banana followed by milk is also an effective natural remedy. This home remedy with banana therapy should be taken three times per day as a natural Underweight treatment.

• Simple milk diet is another tried and tested home remedy for weight gain. Milk can also be taken in combination with raisin and figs to increase weight.

• Take some water and soak three or four dried figs in it. Have these figs two times per day on a regular basis to heal this problem and gain weight quickly.

• Muskmelon diet is one of the most successful natural home remedies for Underweight. Begin the treatment by taking one kg of this fruit three times in a day and gradually increase the quantity. This natural remdy can give encouraging results within a period of one and a half month or more.

• Regularly eating about 30 grams of raisins is regarded as one of the easiest possible natural home remedies for Underweight.

• A combination of Indian Ginseng, pomegranate seeds and white muesli serves as a valuable home treatment for weight gain. These ingredients should be taken in powder form, mixed well and taken along with milk or water, two times per day. This natural weight gain home remedy should be continued for at least one month.

• Yoga is also beneficial in eliminating this problem in a healthy way.

Diet for Underweight

A starch and protein rich diet is useful in dealing with this ailment. Therefore, whole grains, pulses and legumes should be positively included in the diet cure this problem. Dairy products, eggs, beans, germinated wheat, rice, honey, dates, prunes, melons, bananas and unroasted nuts and seeds like pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, almonds and other such weight gain foods are also useful in this regard.

Plus, healthy desserts like berries with whipped cream also help in gaining weight. Mango shakes and banana shakes can also be taken as weight gain home remedies. Individuals suffering from this problem, especially the ones with digestive ailments too, should take frequent small diets, preferable high in calories. In fact, a simple weight gain tip in this regard is to consume more calories to make up for the calories being burnt.

Processed and fried foods should still not be taken freely as a means of weight gain as they are not healthy. Similarly, adopting a sedentary lifestyle is also not a good solution. Weight gain diet should not be given up all of a sudden in order to retain the gain in weight.