Eat fruit and salad for healthy hair

                           (By Lisa Sarah John, Courtesy Bangalore Times, April 16, 2007)

Many people today suffer from falling hair and don’t have an idea how to control it. The causes can be many: tension, along with an imbalanced diet, can both cause hair fall. So, first of all relax. Secondly, make a promise to yourself never to skip any meals. Your body requires certain nutrients in specific quantities daily and these can be provided and absorbed only if you eat all three meals. Today, many people skip meals in order to lose weight but this really does not help. To lose weight, you must eat balanced meals and just learn to say no to fatty food. Your body requires water, minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates and protein daily and a tiny amount of fat from cooking. Protein is essential for your hair and skin. Your body requires 50-70 gm of protein daily. This could be divided into 20 gm at breakfast, 20 gm at lunch and 20 gm at dinner. Missing a meal means a deficit of 20 gm protein on that day and the hair can weaken and fall. Similarly, your body requires 500 gms of calcium daily. If you do not drink milk and/or curds in the quantity of 500-700 ml daily, then this need is not met and could lead to hair loss.

So never skip meals and ensure you consume protein-rich foods like dal/pulses, milk/curd and egg or non-veg with every meal. Also two glasses of milk daily is essential for all ages and fruits and salads too must be eaten daily to keep up a good supply of vitamin and mineral.

Use this as a measurement chart:

• 2 glasses of milk/curd
• 2 servings of dal/pulses (lunch and dinner)
• 2 servings of salad (lunch and dinner)
• 2 servings of fruit (11 am and 6 pm)
These are musts for healthy hair and skin.

Another reason for hair fall is when hair isn’t washed and cleaned regularly. Dust, dirt and other pollutants deposited on the scalp get lodged in the pores of a strand of hair, and this prevents the hair from breathing properly. That strand of hair then dies and falls out. Regular shampooing and a good diet are both important for thick, strong hair.

If you suddenly change from being non-vegetarian to being a vegetarian and stop or reduce the intake of egg and non-veg food which your body is used to regularly, then there will be a reduction in protein intake and you may see sudden hair fall. Protein in the form of dal, sambhar and pulses like channa, rajma, moong, lobia and skimmed milk/curd must be increased to compensate for the reduction of egg and non-veg.

Paneer, nuts and soya are other good sources of protein, but these contain very high amounts of fat and can be dangerous for those with heart disease, diabetes or wanting to lose weight. Avoid these as even small amounts can result in weight gain and blood lipid levels and sugar levels can go up by their consumption.

 

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