Hair fall is a common problem in women – across all ages and geographical regions. There are many factors that can cause hair fall – hormonal imbalance, lifestyle changes, wrong choice of hair care products, stress, lack of essential nutrients, etc. If you encountering severe hair fall, the first person to turn to help would be your physician, who would rule out underlying causes and prescribe you appropriate medicines to combat the issue. Stress, lifestyle changes, and hair care products is what you can look into and make necessary changes. However, if lack of essential nutrients is your problem, we are here to help. We have chalked down the top 10 Foods that can give you healthy hair and reduce and prevent hair fall. The major nutrients you need to include in your diet are vitamin C, iron, zinc, selenium, protein, potassium, vitamin A, and Biotin. Here’s the list:
1. Milk: Hair is essentially made up of protein blocks, so it’s but natural that increasing your protein supplement is gonna do a helluva lot of benefit to your hair. Proteins help in hair growth. The proteins in milk – casein and whey do a whole lot of good to the hair. If your hair lacks protein, it might stunt out hair growth and that’s why, for healthy hair, remember to include at least one glass of milk in your daily diet. If you hate milk like me, you can instead opt for a bowl of curd or a small block of cheese.
2. Eggs: Egg is a superfood. It has all the nutrients that are necessary for healthy hair growth and to prevent hair fall – protein, vitamins, folate, calcium, iron, phosphorous, zinc, selenium, biotin, etc. At least one egg a day would keep all your hair problems away.
3. Fish: Almost all types of fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Salmon in particular is also rich in vitamin B. Omega-3 fatty acid is not only good for the heart, it’s great for skin and hair too. Switch to steamed fish instead of fatty meat choices. Would like to also mention that chicken is also a good source of protein.
4. Spinach: Spinach is rich in potassium, an essential nutrient for healthy growth of hair. It is also rich in vitamin A and C. Actually, vitamin A, folate, and potassium deficiency can cause hair loss and supplementing your diet with spinach can give your hair a new boost.
5. Nuts: Nuts are not only rich in multitude of nutrients, they also provide trace essential elements that can nourish and help hair grow. For example, walnuts provide biotin, almonds are a rich source of iron, raisins are also high in iron. Pistachios stimulate hair growth as they contain fatty acids and also biotin to fight hair loss.
6. Curry Leaves: It’s not a myth, but those who include curry leaves in their daily diet have thick, lustrous, and long hair. There’s no secret – curry leaves are rich in iron and folic acid. Many people in South India boil curry leaves in coconut oil to reap its benefits apart from consuming it abundantly in their diet.
7. Gooseberry (amla): I needn’t elaborate about Indian gooseberry or amla’s benefits on hair growth/in preventing hair fall – all those hair oil advertisements might have enlightened you already. Amla is a superfood like egg, contains a great source of hair-beneficial nutrients like vitamin C, A, potassium, magnesium, calcium. Along with hair growth, it improves your vision and immunity too ???? So, chew into an amla for healthy hair.
8. Cabbage: You can directly apply cabbage juice to your scalp to prevent hair loss and to stimulate hair growth too. Cabbage is rich in biotin and sulfur, so that explains the magic.
9. Carrots: The vitamin A content in carrots keeps hair healthy and promotes hair growth. Vitamin A has antioxidants that reverses damage done and strengthens hair.
10. Sweet Potato: Like carrots, sweet potatoes too are rich in Vitamin A and help in nourishing hair and reducing hair fall.
11. Dried watermelon seeds: Zinc and copper are trace elements that are great for hair, to prevent hair loss, to let hair grow strong and healthy, but the problem is that it’s difficult to find foods that are rich in zinc and copper. Copper will also help prevent premature greying. But you can find these two elements along with protein content in dried watermelon seeds. You can roast the seeds up and include them in your green salads.
12. Peanuts: Peanuts are a great source of zinc and omega-3 fatty acids that are good for hair growth.
13. Onions: Onions are loaded with hair stimulating nutrients like sulfur, iron and can treat a variety of scalp and hair problems like itchy scalp, hair loss, dandruff, damaged hair, thinning hair, etc. You can make this hair stimulating potion with onions to prevent hair fall.
14. Tomatoes: The vitamin C content in tomatoes help prevent hair loss. Vitamin C helps repair tissues and cells. Vitamin C also has antioxidant properties that cancel out the harmful effects of free radicals that can make your hair weak.
15. Papaya: Papaya is a great source of Vitamin A and C, both great to prevent hair fall.
16. Sabja Seeds: If there’s one food that you should absolutely have, it’s sabja seeds! It not only prevents hair fall, it stimulates new hair growth as well with its abundant antioxidant properties. The amazing thing is it fights inflammation and neutralizes the effect of free radicals which otherwise damage hair follicles. Soak sabja seeds in a glass of water for one hour and consume it on empty stomach to reap its benefits.
17. Flaxseeds: Along with vitamin B, flaxseeds also have omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, all of which are good to arrest hair fall and aid in new hair growth.
18. Black Raisins: Munakka or black raisins have antioxidants and also hair-beneficial minerals like magnesium, iron, that are great for hair growth and to prevent hair fall.
19. Chia Seeds: Get a good dose of omega-3 fatty acids by including chia seeds in your daily diet. It will not only give you lustrous hair, but will accelerate weight loss process as well.
20. Beetroot: Rich in antioxidants, B vitamins, vitamin A, calcium – beetroot is a powerhouse of nutrition and does a great deal of good to clear up skin and to stop hair fall.
If you are experiencing hair fall, place a great deal of importance on the food that you eat and include healthy and organic foods in your diet.
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