Experiencing Hair Loss? Try Changing Your Diet

Are you losing hair? Maybe a little? Maybe large patches? There may be a logical explanation—your diet.

It is everyone’s wish to have healthy, lustrous hair. Graying hair symptoms leading to hair loss have often been triggered by stress, disruptions to daily routines, physical weakness, or illness. There might be underlying problems with the body if this occurs. Many factors contribute to hair loss, including genetics, stress, illness, hormones, nutrition, and dietary habits ^[1].

Causes

Here are eight causes of hair loss:

•  Genetics. You cannot prevent this, but you can fight it.
•  Stress and immune imbalance. The result of this is often a patch of hair falling out.
•  Medication. Many medications cause hair loss. One needs to be aware before starting any new drug.
• Hormones. This can happen after postpartum or at menopause.
• Hypothyroidism. Any time a part of our body is not working correctly, the entire body suffers. Hair loss is an outward manifestation.
• Iron deficiency. Blood loss to the hair can make it fall out.
• Nutrient deficits. Not having the correct amount of nutrients in your daily diet can affect your hair.
• Diet. A poor diet will affect your hair quality. It is important to take care of yourself and eat right.

Treatment

While you cannot change your birth parents, treating hair loss and greying hair can be as easy as changing your diet. For starters, add iron to your diet. This is found in meats and dried beans. Most fortified cereals have added iron. Next, increase your protein. This is found in fish, poultry, and eggs. Dairy is also a good example of protein. After that, increase your intake of vitamin B. Once more, this is found in meat and poultry, along with potatoes, spinach, and bananas. While we do think of this in the winter, vitamin C is good for your hair health. This is found in bright citrus fruits like oranges and lemons. Lastly, add some zinc to your diet. Unlike freshwater fish, zinc is found in shellfish, pork, beef, milk, and nuts.

Conclusion

We may think that the winter is hard on our hair. Maybe it is not just the weather. Maybe we need to consciously think about what goes into our bodies. Although it is not summer with garden-fresh produce around, we need to seek out healthy foods to add to our diet. Especially after those holiday treats!