Eat your way to great hair
You might spend a fortune on the best hair care products in the world - but are you eating the right things for healthy hair?
Hair responds to what you eat in just the same way as your skin and all of your body. And many of us just aren’t getting enough of what we need to keep our hair looking its absolute best.
Did you know that non genetic hair loss is much worse in women who are deficient in iron and those who have low levels of the B group of vitamins?
And - even worse - nine out of ten women aged 16-50 and a one in three of us over 50 are deficient in iron.
Surprisingly these figures are much worse nowadays than for our mothers. The reason? So many of us now prefer not to eat red meat and we haven’t replaced meat with other iron rich foods like fresh green leafy vegetables.
We can hardly complain about dull, thinning hair if we’re just not giving it the food it needs to be healthy, glossy and thick. So - here’s a quick checklist to guide you round the supermarket:
Eat lots of:
- Fresh vegetables - high colored and green leafy
- non-citrus fruits;
- live natural yoghurt
- cold pressed oils like olive oil, flax seed or sesame
- soy protein in the form of tofu, soya milk or soya yoghurts
- legumes (peas, beans and lentils)
- whole grains especially brown rice, oats and buckwheat)
- seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and linseeds)
- almonds, figs and dates
- fresh oily fish like salmon, tuna, herring, pilchards and sardines
Drink:
- lots of: pure still water to aid your digestive system and eliminate toxins - a sluggish digestion leads to limp, dull or oily hair
Cut down on:
- dairy (cow’s milk) products
- caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, soda drinks)
- sugar and salt
The good news is if you change your eating habits and include more healthy hair food - you’ll boost your body’s whole immune system and give yourself loads more energy in the process.
Energy, vitality and great looking hair - what could be more youthful?
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Nancy on Sat, 14th Jul 2007
Does sugar make your hair fall out?
eileen.gravelle on Mon, 25th Aug 2008
Hi Nancy - I think it’s all a question of balance when it comes to nutrition. A high sugar diet will certainly not be good for your hair but hair loss is a caused by other factors as well. Take a look at some of the other articles on hair loss on this site for more background.