Does anyone ever talk about how to gain weight? Articles, blogs, and even videos about how to lose weight fast, and tips for successful weight loss, are too many on the internet, which is a good thing, but gaining weight has its importance as well.
Healthily gaining weight is highly recommended when you have very low body weight and there’s a need for talks about weight gain to save a life, as being extremely underweight has its own health dangers.
What are the Causes of unintentional weight loss?
- Diabetes, especially Type 1 diabetes, most children will actually start by losing too much weight before being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
- Certain types of cancers, that limit oral intake of food, digestion, and absorption of food.
- Stomach ulcers and other inflammatory bowel diseases can also highly limit food intake hence weight loss.
- Stress and depression, can affect a person’s relationship with food, often leading to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa.
However, as soon as a very low body weight is noticed, interventions have to be made to bring the weight up, and back to a healthy weight.
The aims are to;
- To seek treatment for any underlying causes.
- To increase calorie intake.
- To increase the number of meal times.
- To increase the size of your meals, increase portion sizes.
- Include regular exercises.
The type of food you eat is one important aspect to consider,
Here are the Top 5 healthy foods recommended for weight gain.
1. Rice
Common at our meal tables, rice is a food rich in carbohydrates.
It’s calorie-dense and can be eaten alongside other calorie-dense foods like eggs, and legumes that will not only increase your weight but also give you the nutrients you require.
Fried rice provides a very good option when you want to gain some weight.
2. Potatoes
Sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes are both sources of carbohydrates. When eaten severally they help build up your stores hence possible weight gain.
However, you want to choose healthy methods of cooking them and not always deep frying because we do not want to encourage the intake of too much unhealthy fat, as they will certainly increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases.
3. Whole eggs
Eggs are a rich source of proteins, in addition, they also contain healthy fats and other minerals like calcium.
Instead of unhealthy snacks, grab eggs, you can also use eggs alongside other meals like rice and bread.
4. Avocado
Fruits like avocado are a good source of healthy fats, this also reflects avocado leading to weight gain.
They also contain fibre and antioxidants necessary to promote good health.
You can add avocado to your meals and sandwiches for weight gain.
5. Smoothies
Smoothies have become famous and have come just in time to replace unhealthy processed drinks that have flooded our market. Smoothies can be calorie-dense as you can add in whatever Nutritious foods you like, for example, milk, dried fruits, natural fruits, and so on, smoothies are good for muscle building and weight gain.
What should you avoid when trying to gain weight?
- Unhealthy snacks cause more health problems like hypertension and diabetes.
- Overeating unhealthy foods that have too much fat, sugar, and sodium.
- Not exercising, you still need to keep fit even when you are trying to gain weight.
- Don’t stop drinking your water