Part 2: Beauty Foods for Healthy Hair

Hopefully by now you've read last week's blog post:Part 1: Beauty Foods for Skin. This week is all about beauty foods for hair and next week's post is Part 3: Beauty Foods for Healthy Nails.

Beauty is of course the result of a healthy diet, good digestion and elimination. But another contributing factor to beauty is confidence. It's the most beautiful and sexy attribute a woman (or man) can have. Beauty truly does come from within.

Eat beautiful foods and you provide your body with the raw materials to feed the cells in your scalp nourishment.

When you do this, you create an environment for shiny, healthy hair to flourish! Of course, genetics play a small role in terms of your hair's texture or thickness. But nutritional deficiencies (lack of the right nutrients) are the largest factor affecting beauty. Other considerations that can impact hair health are pharmaceutical drug side effects, adrenal fatigue and thyroid problems.

The only living part of your hair is the hair follicle. This is why topical potions and treatments will have a limited effect. Healthy hair truly is the result of the inside health of your body so that the follice is given the nourishment it needs.

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Here are the beauty foods and beauty recipes for gorgeous hair and their health benefits. Next week I will share beauty foods for strong healthy nails.

These wonderful nutty and buttery seeds are one of my favourite additions to recipes both sweet and savoury! Hemp is a fantastic source of protein. Hemp is a fantastic source of protein. In fact, 3 tbsp is approximately 10g of completed protein. The only other plant-based food that contains as much protein is algae.

Hemp seeds are especially beautifying because they contain sulphur-bearing amino acids: methionine, cysteine and cysteine that are used to make strong hair as well as skin. Most notable about hemp and hemp products i.e. oil is that they are a wonderful source of a fatty acid called gamma linolenic aid (GLA). GLA has strong anti-inflammatory properties and helps maintain hormonal balance.

Hormonal imbalance is often a root cause of hair loss. Fortunately, hemp is sprayed with little pesticides because it is such a strong plant. Have you tried my Hempseed Maple Cinnamon Butter from Joyous Health page 220 or the Cauliflower Hemp Soup?

This beauty food has been around for literally thousands of years. How do you think the Greek gods and goddesses stayed looking so beautiful? ;) EVOO as I like to call it is a rich source of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids that have wonderful anti-inflammatory properties and vitamin E.

Rubbing EVOO onto your scalp is great for dry scalp because it's incredibly nourishing. Please buy the highest quality evoo because the stage of pressing really does make a difference when it comes to health benefits. You only want to consume evoo products that are from the first pressing, which is why "extra-virgin" is essential. If it is not extra virgin, it is inferior and research shows does not offer the same health benefits.

Of course, just like coconut oil you can use it to Tame the Frizzies & Add Shine! Last but not least, good fats are essential for hormonal balance (imbalance is often a root cause of poor hair health) because they help create responsive and healthy cell membranes, allowing hormones to adhere to the cell more easily.

Try my sundried tomato sunflower seed pesto or my Kale Walnut Pesto from my book page 245.

Eggs are a wonderful low-cost, high protein food with vitamins, essential fatty acids and antioxidants. These nutrients are all involved in giving you silky and shiny locks. The antioxidants increase the oxygen supply in the scalp and help mend rough brittle hair. Each strand of hair is literally made of protein. Eggs add amazing shine and body to your hair as a treatment too when applied topically! See my natural beauty guide for a hair treatment using eggs. Lots of yummy egg based recipes here on joyous health.

One of the most beautifying foods on planet earth is fish, particularly oily fish – sardines, salmon and mackerel. Extremely rich in omega-3 fatty acids including DHA and EPA, fish is truly a beauty superfood. Insufficient omega 3s manifest as dry, brittle and lack lustre hair. Fish oils provide moisture to the scalp by increasing healthy oils in the glands. More healthy oils in the scalp means shinier and well conditioned hair.

Research shows that a lack of omega 3s can literally impair the hair follicle affecting hair growth. Fish and fish oils are probably the most effective way to increase omega 3s, particularly DHA and EPA in the body. Another beauty benefit is that these oils are incredibly anti-inflammatory as they lower chemicals in the body that contribute to inflammation and hormonal imbalance.

You must try the baked salmon with lemon tahini drizzle from my book Joyous Health page 228 or theOrange Mint Baked Salmon.

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Your hair grows approximately 0.5 of an inch each month, this is why patience is necessary. Unlike skin health, changes to your nutrition and lifestyle may be reflected within a few days. However, you will need to be more patient with your hair to see results. Most of my clients have noticeable change within 3 to 6 months. For me personally, when I had a lot of hair loss in my early twenties and my hair was completely damaged it took a solid 6 months to a year to see significant change.

As I mentioned in my skin post last week, there are more foods than what I've mentioned above that contribute to beauty. The last thing I want for you to do is get fixated on eating only these foods. Variety is truly the spice of life. This merely provides you with a small sample of foods for healthy hair.

Have a joyous day,

Joy