Nutrition Guide for Hair Growth and Preventing Hair Loss
Proper nutrition plays a pivotal role in supporting hair growth and preventing hair loss. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the world of hair-boosting foods, revealing the essential nutrients and vitamins that promote hair health. Discover the power of a well-balanced diet and bid farewell to hair loss worries. Get ready to embrace a mane that exudes radiance and confidence!
WHEN TRYING TO RE-GROW YOUR HAIR AND REVERSE baldness naturally, there are some foods you should minimize or avoid fully. In some instances, some food groups can actually trigger hair loss, so, reducing the amount of those can have a remarkable influence on your hairline .
On other occasions, it might not be one food, in particular. However, combinations of foods over long periods can have an effect. There are a few general rules when it comes to foods which are favorable to improving hair loss, while some specific foods should certainly be avoided .
Remember, vitamins and minerals we consume are vital to hair health, too. Ultimately, each constituent adds to the whole picture. Sometimes supplementation is needed because we don’t get enough from foods. Eating organic is also vitally important, where possible. Your blood quality is extremely important, and its oxygenation is vitally important for whole body health as well as hair health .
Cutting out simple carbs, avoiding excess red meat consumption, refined sugars, dairy, and wheat is necessary. Replace these with complex carbs including brown rice, pasta, vegetables, white meat, seafood, soy, and beans .
The first universal rule is to avoid foods that might be causing delayed allergic reactions. These are comparable to instant allergic responses that peanuts or shellfish can often induce. However, these would occur over a period of weeks or days and are, therefore, more deceptive, but no less detrimental .
The primary reasons delayed allergic reactions aid in causing hair loss is due to increased immune responses which cause our bodies to attack hair follicles and cause inflammation in the scalp. This then restricts blood flow to the hair follicles .
The second general rule is due to acidic and alkaline foods. This is a broad subject, although, the general rule of thumb is to maximize the intake of alkaline foods and reduce acidic foods in your diet. Over time, this can considerably reduce the rate of hair fall and potentially aid in hair regrowth, too. Let’s have a look at which foods can go toward causing hair loss, and should consequently be avoided as much as possible .
They include :
Dairy
Worst thing for your hair, ever! As well as being highly acid- forming once in our bodies, dairy can also cause delayed allergic reactions, and for both of these reasons, it ought to be avoided.
Commercially purchased dairy products are almost-always pasteurized, and this process of pasteurization essentially renders the naturally occurring enzymes useless or non-existent .
It is through this enzyme that humans are able to digest milk in the first place, and, without it, our bodies struggle to digest the dairy, making it bio-unavailable and of no use (nutritionally) to the body .
Dairy can also block the pores resulting in pasty skin. It also means epidermis plaque is more likely to build up on the scalp causing hair follicle shrinkage and thinning hair. For this reason, only try and consume unpasteurized dairy, or avoid it altogether. We get enough calcium from other foods, so, as long as your diet is whole food and nutritionally based, then you don’t need dairy .
Carbonated Drinks
These produce high amounts of acid and are, in fact, the highest acid-forming beverage. Not only this; the quantity of sugar in them also causes blood sugar levels to spike which is followed by a crash .
Dr. Mercola researched links between excess blood sugars and male pattern baldness, and this is what he had to say about it. “There is strong evidence that early male-pattern baldness could be a clinical marker of insulin resistance, a condition in which you lose your sensitivity to insulin, resulting in excess blood sugar .”
This specifies another overall rule: eat foods with a low glycemic index rating to help reduce the chance of spiking blood sugar levels. This has become a very significant concept for the reversal of hair loss and thinning hair. We must come to understand that male pattern baldness is an unusual problem; it is a modern ‘ailment .’
The majority of processed foods all have ultra-high glycemic indexes, while natural (unprocessed, unpasteurized) foods contain a significantly lower glycemic index. This leads to the conclusion that there might be a link between processed foods, and the activation of the male pattern baldness genes .
Although this link between the two might appear unsubstantiated to some, there is further research which also came to a conclusion which was very similar to Dr. Mercola’s. Alcohol consumption can also cause hair loss .
Rather than drinking carbonated or alcoholic drinks, stay hydrated with these instead :
1. Avoid pure tap water. Drink filtered, distilled or ionized water instead .
2. Drink fresh vegetable juices - not store bought, but naturally made .
3. Almond milk is exceptionally healthy, and also almond oil has been shown to stimulate hair growth in mice .
4. Herb and spice mixtures - anise, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and lemongrass, plus many others .
Sugary Cereals
Sugary cereals and dairy cause blood sugar level spikes which are correlated with early stages of male pattern baldness. These foods rank very high on glycemic indices, so they unavoidably cause blood sugar spikes which we now see as something very conducive to early hair thinning, as I have already mentioned. It’s no surprise that an ever-growing number of men suffer hair loss. And when you look at a usual westernized breakfast of pasteurized milk and sugar-filled cereals, it fits .
Processed cereals have a very high glycemic load as the majority of the natural fiber from plants is removed during their processing. If this remained, it would cause it to be digested and be absorbed more slowly by the body. When the natural fiber is removed, sugars go directly into the bloodstream causing significant spikes in blood sugar levels .
This fiber is also beneficial as it sweeps clean the colon of obstructed mucus and leftover feces. The fiber prevents it from being reabsorbed back into the body and causing the condition known as toxemia . The solution is eating natural, unprocessed foods which contain high amounts of fiber. This is why it is recommended to follow a fast juice detox if you wish to beat your hair loss problem for the long-term.
Greasy & Fried Foods
These clog the arteries over time and also cause oily skin on the scalp. This, in many cases, leads to hair follicle reduction, restricted blood flow, and clogging of pores in the skin. Once the pores become clogged, DHT and other damaging hormones can become trapped and can trigger the hair loss mechanism to continue .
SideNote: Besides wanting your hair back, these types of foods should be avoided anyway, because they are the major causes of many of the debilitating diseases like diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, which seem to be the ‘norm’ these days. I know you’re smart, so take care of your body; you only have one .
Foods That promote hair health
A raw vegetable and fruit diet can help you reverse male pattern baldness. This type of diet really gets the blood and lymph systems flowing at their best . I won’t talk a huge amount about every food, because this would require its own book. And, at the end of the day, fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole foods are what the body (not only the hair) needs. I highly suggest you Google or buy books on nutrition and diet, and I believe that The Tao of Balanced Diet by Dr. Stephen T Chang is priceless in many ways. I will, however, speak about watermelon as it was something I did and still use for my hair loss, and I will tell you why .
Watermelon could be the best for hair stimulation as it contains high amounts of citrulline which dilates blood vessels. People use this as a way to improve erectile dysfunction because it acts like nature’s form of Viagra. If it can help drive blood to your penis, there is a high chance it is improving blood flow to the top of your head, too .
Either by using a juicer or a blender, you can reap the benefits of watermelon; organic is best. You can also get similar results eating more of this fruit and by including other whole foods which are plant-based, like whole-grains, beans, nuts, and seeds .
Ginger - This common spice has been used for centuries in Ayurveda medicine in the treatment of hair. Ginger paste, when used on the hair, will reduce hair loss. Ginger is packed- full of essential vitamins and minerals, and the most important factor of all is it is an excellent stimulator of the blood .
Ginger can be an excellent remedy for hair regrowth, because it contains circulatory agents which aid in stimulating blood flow to the scalp. It also aids in activating the hair follicles and helps to grow new hair. Because ginger is a fantastic source of essential fatty acids, it prevents the thinning of the hair and eventually aids the prevention hair loss. It also has excellent anti-inflammatory properties by default. This can be combined straight into your watermelon juice, for use on affected areas of the scalp, via massage .
Remember, as mentioned earlier, vitamins and minerals we consume are vital to hair health, too. Ultimately, each constituent adds to the whole picture. Sometimes supplementation is needed because we don’t get enough from foods. Eating organic is also vitally important, where possible. Your blood quality is extremely important, and its oxygenation is vitally important for whole body health as well as hair health .
Cutting out simple carbs, avoiding excess red meat consumption, refined sugars, dairy, and wheat is necessary. Replace these with complex carbs including brown rice, pasta, vegetables, white meat, seafood, soy, and beans .
Alright, so a quick note on other foods commonly used in the community. The garlic, castor oil and chili methods can be really useful. I personally have used them and saw results; HOWEVER, I discontinued them because, well, chili juice can seriously damage your eyes if it touches them by accident, and garlic absolutely smells and makes you smell like it for weeks, including your bed when you sleep. And, castor oil just makes your hair greasy and it’s hard to wash out .
They are all great for hair loss because they are great penetrators. As we all know, rubbing garlic on your heel enables you to smell it on your palms within minutes. This is why they are so good, they penetrate the layers of the skin to get to the root of the follicle, to increase circulation and (in some cases) block DHT. But, I found something that was 100X more powerful without the smelly, greasy, and itchy consequences that come with the other methods.
