Weight, losing too much; Cachexia

• Activate the appetite
• Support the liver
• Build up the diet

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Weight, losing too much; Cachexia

Losing too much weight (described as cachexia in medicine when it happens to a serious degree) is not something that is widely understood as a problem, at least that is until it actually happens.

Losing weight can be a source of much anxiety to those who suffer from it as well as those who care for them. It is instinctively understood that a loss of weight may be an ominous sign and there is certainly a sense of increasing vulnerability and decreased strength that comes with it.

Rapid weight loss, as happens in diseases that cause wasting, is obviously hugely worrying and there should be intense medical attention being given to the situation alongside any of the ‘old-school approaches’ I am suggesting here.

1. Activate the appetite
2. Support the liver
3. Build up the diet

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1. Activate the appetite

Most people with weight loss problems just try to eat more and end up struggling with the fact that if you t eat too much without an appetite you just end up feeling uncomfortably bloated and even less likely to eat more than the bare minimum at the next meal.

Activating the appetite has to be the first step and it is most fortunate that we have some herbs that are remarkably reliable at doing just that. The place to start is with the herb Gentian.

Gentian is phenomenal at getting the digestive ‘juices’ flowing and so activating the appetite. In fact I often compare the way this herb works to something everyone intuitively understands, a fire..

I cannot rate Gentian highly enough as a herb that can prime that fire and get it burning bright enough to take on the ‘logs’ of food we throw in its path. I have seen it work time and again.

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2. Support the liver

This is just as vital and just as ancient an approach to weight loss as is the ‘activating the appetite’. Sometimes (particularly in younger folk who are not gaining weight well) there is in fact nothing wrong with the appetite and they are eating like human horses, but just not getting any bigger for it. In most cases I have worked with there is a clear reason for this, namely the liver.

Our livers are about the hardest working organs in our bodies, they don’t jump around like our hearts or our brains but they just do their thing silently, and constantly, behind the scenes.

Amongst the many myriad jobs of the liver is that of making up the new proteins that provide the building blocks of rebuilding and re-growing tissues anywhere and everywhere in our bodies.

Livers take a pounding in the modern world and have probably never had an easy time of it given how much work they do just keeping everything clean at the same time.

Nature has several superb medicines to support and strengthen the liver, including Celandine, St Mary’s thistle and Dandelion root.

You should seriously consider the value of finding a good herbalist to get you on to the best stuff at the right dose.

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3. Build up the diet

With respect to gaining back weight and strength I simply want to emphasise the great importance of having slow cooked meat and vegetables as the basis of the diet.

Slow cooking meat and vegetables is like pre-digesting them so it is so much easier for you to use the energy from the food to make more bone, blood and muscle.

I hope this point makes sense to you, some people grasp it in a moment whilst others seem to get stuck in the mind-set of the more ‘raw’ the food is the better it must be for you.

Don’t cut the fat off the meat either, at least not all of it. Fat doesn’t make people fat, sugar does.

The best type of meat to gain strength and condition on is the cheap meat. That is meat with plenty of fat, gristle, cartilage etc. in it. Put that meat in a slow cooker or a casserole, or a soup with plenty of vegetables (especially root vegetables) along with herbs and spices etc, and watch what happens.

You will not only feel like you don’t have to go have a sleep for an hour after you eat but you will slowly but surely feel how your strength and your size come back.

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