How Food Affects Your Hair

Besides the cosmetic reasons for desiring healthy locks, hair is also a great marker of overall health. A healthy diet, and smart lifestyle changes, can have your hair, and health looking luscious. By adding the correct foods into your diet you can have a healthier head of hair in less than a year. Hair is a great marker of overall health. Good hair depends on the body’s ability to construct a proper hair shaft, as well as the health of the skin and follicles. Good nutrition assures the best possible environment for building strong, lustrous hair. But this is not a quick fix. Changing your diet now will affect only new growth, not the part of the hair that is already visible. Starting a hair-healthy diet today will mean a more gorgeous head of hair within six months to a year, depending on how fast your hair grows. Hair growth rates vary between about 1⁄4" and 11⁄4" per month depending on age, gender, ethnicity, and other genetic and lifestyle factors. On average, a person can expect to have about 6 inches of new growth every year, so it will take about that long to notice the effects of your nutritional changes. Here are some healthy foods for this purpose. -     Water: consuming at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day will help transport the needed nutrients to your hair and help keep your hair strands hydrated and strong. -     Vegetables: while all vegetables will provide your hair with additional vitamins, the ones that offer the most benefits are those of the green leafy variety, including spinach, cabbage, etc. -     Fruits: melons, berries, bananas, oranges, apples and many other fruits can supply your body with the proper vitamins to reduce hair loss. -     Dairy: increasing your dairy intake, including milk, eggs and cheese, can increase your hair's overall health by providing it with the vitamin B-12 as well as protein. -     Lean, healthy meats?this includes chicken, fish, and organ meats (such as liver). By adding these to your diet, or increasing your intake of these items, you will supply your hair follicles with the vitamins they need for optimal operation and hair growth.