A newborn’s gut is said to be sterile, and the first food exposure begins with breastfeeding, which expands during the weaning period (from 6 months to 2 years of age), when a variety of natural tastes (without adding sweetening agents, salt or spices) should be introduced to support healthy gut development and lifelong eating habits.

The increased use of packaged, artificially coloured, preservative-contaminated and ready-to-eat foods may seem convenient, but when these foods become a regular part of a child's diet, they influence regular appetite and reduce preference for fresh, natural foods. And make the children picky eaters.

Picky eaters are those who consume an inadequate variety of food by rejecting a substantial amount of foodstuffs, whether familiar or unfamiliar. Regular consumption of improperly processed foods at inappropriate times, such as late at night or in the absence of hunger, may impair digestion and further disrupt normal appetite.

Appetite is one’s ingestion and digestive (processing) ability, which depends on the digestive fire (agni). The appetite depends on digestive fire and is always individualistic.

Generally, food with sweet, sour and salt tastes will be considered heavy, and astringent and bitter and pungent will be considered lighter for digestion with certain variations. At the beginning of a meal the agni accepts heavy stuff but at the end needs supportive digestives.

The nature of appetite in the rainy season will be uncertain or reduced; in winter, it seems to be at its peak. Hence, consideration of age, season, appetite and nature of available foods with their processing techniques plays a great role in deciding their health benefits.

Proper digestion is a key indicator of overall health. A child with healthy digestion should experience a disease-free state, a clear and pleasant voice, healthy skin and complexion, good physical strength, and a natural appetite that develops only after the previous meal has been fully digested (generally 2-3 hrs after the previous ingestion of a meal) depending on the age.

They will be able to enjoy and appreciate the taste of food during meals, experience restful sleep at the appropriate time without disturbing dreams, and wake up feeling refreshed with a clear mind and properly functioning senses with regular and comfortable elimination of urine, stool, and intestinal gas (flatus).

Children do not have reduced digestive fire by virtue of it. But the current eating patterns are contributing to an increase in picky eating among children, limiting their ability to recognise natural hunger and appetite. These habits often stem from unhealthy and inappropriate feeding practices established early in life. However, consistent healthy practices and mindful dietary habits can gradually reverse these patterns.

At home level:

1. Timely food intake: Schedule a fixed time for breakfast, lunch and dinner and avoid unnecessary small meals or snacks at intervals between 2 meals.

2. Avoid dinner after 8 or 8:30 pm: As the physical work is less, excess food intake has to be avoided.

3. Physical exercise and appetite are interlinked. If appetite is good, followed by an ample amount of food intake, it results in good physical strength to do work. On the other hand, if there is the right amount of physical work, appetite will be generated, and overnutrition-related health issues can be avoided. This also marks the average screen time of each child with the associated unnecessary snack intake without actual natural hunger.

At school level:

1. Schools with 7am-1pm, 8am-3pm working hours will definitely alter the normal physiology of developing children related to sleep, appetite, eating habits, etc. Practices to regularise the appetite

Related to home remedies:

1. Avoid excess curd; make a practice of adding a pinch of asafoetida and rock salt to buttermilk to be drunk after lunch.

2. Avoid giving your children almonds, pistachios, cashews, walnuts, etc. in the name of dry fruits (none are actually DRIED FRUITS) every day – the high hot potency of which causes gastritis and other complications.

3. A regular practice of all fresh seasonal fruit usage (always need not search for kiwi or dragon fruits); properly washed, boiled, and salted vegetable salads; and sprouted beans for the snack boxes of toddlers to school-going children.

Herbal remedies:

1. Use of pepper powder in place of red or green chillies to increase appetite and to reduce gastric upsets

2. Dried banana, dried mango, dried jackfruit, and dry grapes can be used, which will reduce the untimely hunger, and the sour taste will improve the appetite.

3. Whenever there is a reduced appetite, a small quantity of lemon juice with a pinch of salt and elaichi powder with 3-4 drops of ginger-extracted juice will surely enhance the appetite.

4. Allowing the bodily systems for recovery is the best way to enhance appetite.

5. 1 part of water boiled and reduced to half has to be drunk, which will detoxify the body and enhance the appetite.

6. Addition of jeera, ginger, and tulsi powders to the water along with ushira grass (sariva in Sanskrit and khaskhas grass in English) will add to the appetite with a reduction in sour belching or nausea-like symptoms.

Dr.Kavya is an assistant professor-Department of Kaumarabhritya at SDM College of Ayurveda, Udupi