Food for thought- Food to help strengthen your hair

                         

Just like drinking at least 2 liters of water a day to help keep hair moisturized, and skin looking fresh as well as helping to keep your kidneys in working order, the condition of your hair and the cells that makes up each of your strands, really needs a great supply of key nutrients, in order to have nice healthy looking hair.

Food for thought, you are what you eat after all!! It is very important to eat the correct amount of vitamins and minerals, in order to supply your hair with what it needs, in return you will reap the benefit of having healthy, shiny, strong and lustrous hair.

Foods to consider

                                        

Protein

Our hair is made up for protein, and so we need to make sure that we are eating more than enough of this in our meals, this is important in helping our hair to be strong.  Lack of this will cause your hair to be dry, brittle and very weak, if this is one of your main problem, perhaps you need to consider if you are having enough protein in your balanced diet.  Foods that you can obtain protein from are, chicken, turkey, fish, diary products, eggs, nuts, seeds, soy products, cereal.

Iron

A good sufficient amount of Iron is important for your hair and general health, too little iron can cause hair loss and will experience anaemia.  Lack of this can disrupt the nutrient supply to get to the hair follicle, and will affect your hair growth and cause shedding.  Food that can help prevent this problem are red meat, chicken, fish, lentils, spinach and dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli, Kale, cabbage and salad greens.

Vitamin C

They say when you eat foods that has vitamin c in conjunction with iron rich foods provides ultimate absorption and supports the body better.  Vitamin C is important for your immune system and healthy nervous system function, it helps to reduce stress and to protect your body from illness and helps to relieve inflammation in your joints!! Vitamin C helps in the production of collagen, that helps to strengthen the capillaries that supplies the hair shafts. Foods to get this vitamin are blackberries, blueberries, broccoli, kiwi, guava, oranges, papaya, strawberries and sweet potatoes.

Omega 3

The greatest fatty acids and fats that our body needs and cannot produce on their own. This is great in helping cells that line our scalp and provides the oils that keeps our hair and scalp hydrated!! Foods to help our body to produce fats are oily fish like salmon, herring, sardines, mackrell, trout, plant sources, avocado, pumpkin seeds and walnuts.

Zinc & Selenium

Zinc is important in helping to protecting our scalp, if we do not have enough of zinc, we will experience hair loss, dry scalp and flaky scalp. Fortified cereals, wholegrain, oysters, beef and eggs is where we can get this wonderful vitamin.

Vitamin A

This vitamin A helps our body to create sebum, and sebum is created by our hairs, this provides a natural conditioner for a nice and healthy scalp.  If we have insufficient amount of vitamin A, you will experience itchy scalp and dry hair.  Foods to get this beaut are from orange/ yellow colored vegetables, carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and animal products.

I hope this has encouraged you into eating healthy, we all strive for healthy hair, while most strive for length, but either way, drinking plenty of water and eating healthy will help you to achieve your goal!