Too Skinny? Can't Gain Weight?

1.Rigorous exercise is one sure way to increase appetite. Raise the body's energy demands, and it will seek out more energy than it normally uses. If there's not much fat (stored fuel) in the body, it will seek it out in food-and hence, appetite will get bigger. But if food isn't consumed by the skinny individual to meet a significant increase in physical output, then a canabolic effect will result. The body will feed off its own muscle tissue.

2. Eat high-glycemic foods. Though white rice is not a preferred grain because it's heavily processed, it really does wonders to induce hunger pangs. The best bet is organic white rice. Next in line, and healthier, is organic white basmati rice. Rice is not cheap in calories, and a bowl, eaten with a meal, can cause annoying hunger within one to two hours of finishing the meal. Though whole potatoes are medium-glycemic, they too, can cause a lot of hunger shortly after being eaten.

High-glycemic foods include: dates, watermelon, mashed potatoes, corn flakes, millet, white bread, rice pasta, puffed-rice snacks, rice cakes and graham crackers. Some people report that hunger becomes intense after eating carrots or onions.

3.Foods ridiculously high in calories. All nuts, but this can be a two-edged sword in that a bowl of nuts may kill appetite for hours. Best time to eat nuts for weight gain, then, would be close to bedtime.

High-calorie foods that are sold in organic, all-natural versions: cheese, jams and jellies, nut-swirl breads, nut butters and peanut butter, flax and olive oil, salad dressing, dark and milk chocolate, some "energy" bars, many cereals (no sugar added), pancakes and waffles (opt for whole-grain varieties), corn, beans, muffins, potato salad, avocado salad, and whole-grain cookies containing chocolate chips and various nuts-just to name a few! Stuffing mixes, when a canola spread is added (this substitutes for butter) are outrageously high in calories per indicated "serving size." The whole box prepared can fit a giant cereal bowl: 1,000 calories.