EAT YOUR WAY TO HEALTHY MANE
Your low-nutritional diet can be the reason behind the unexplained hair loss. Here’s a breakdown of foods that can help you achieve healthy, strong and lustrous tresses.
“You are what you eat,” this is not just true for skin but also for your hair. A well-balanced diet ensures optimum nutrition for the body as well as for the skin and hair. Your strands are the first ones to suffer if you’re not eating right. The nutrients consumed are directed to important body parts like heart, kidney and liver before they’re sent to the hair follicles. So if you have dull, dry, brittle hair with retarded growth, you know what to blame it on. Ensure you don’t skimp on healthy foods, even if you’re trying to drop a size.
5 must-haves for the love of your locks:
Carbohydrates: This nutrient is an essential source of energy, and the hair cells, being one of the fastest-growing cells require energy to grow. Moreover, carbs give the body fuel to use proteins for repair and growth of cells. Complex carbohydrates like whole grains, brown rice, oats and beans can be consumed rather than the simple carbs like white flour, sugary products to maintain your hair’s health.
Proteins: Our strands are made up of a type of protein produced in our hair follicles called keratin. So, one can’t expect luxuriant hair when your meals lack the adequate amount of protein. Every single cell requires this nutrient for tissue repair and regeneration of new ones. It also contributes in making your tresses lustrous and soft by growing strands with flat cuticles that can reflect light and retain moisture. Add foods like cheese, meat, eggs, fish, soy, legumes, lentils, quinoa and yoghurt in your diet to attain the required amount.
Essential Fatty Acids: EFAs are natural components of fats and oils. So, while you would want to take out fats from your diet try not to do that as they’re the only source from which we can get these essential fatty acids. Adequate intake of essential fatty acids can leave you hair which is not dry and frizzy hair, and has improved texture. Fatty acids from vegetable oils, whole grains, nuts, oil seeds, pumpkin seeds and oily fish like mackerel are recommended.
Vitamins: Known for supplying energy to the entire body, vitamin B plays a vital role in hair growth. Popular B vitamins – such as B12, biotin (sometimes referred as vitamin H) and niacin – can help create thicker and conditioned hair. You can include eggs, milk, nuts, pulses, dark-leafy greens, soybeans in your diet to get this nutrient.
Iron: Thinning hair? Iron deficiency could be the reason. The nutrient helps in supplying oxygen to the strands and in absence of which your follicles will be starved, affecting the growth. Foods like lean red meat, dark green vegetables, whole grains and iron supplements (under supervision), are essential for building a healthy hair shaft.
