by Stephanie Miller | photography by Joshua Curry
hahieralnthail
long strong nails and a gorgeous
head of hair have as much to do
with what goes in your body as
what you put on them
Mom knew best about hair
when she told you to finish
the food on your plate. A
diet in which protein pro-vides
at least 10-15 percent
of the calories, and which includes a variety of
fruits and vegetables, is going to meet the need
for healthy hair growth, says nutritionist Heidi
Kaufman. Oil — in the form of Omega 3 —
and unsaturated fats will prevent the hair from
getting dry and brittle. As with nails, Biotin is
a wonderful resource for hormonal-related hair
loss, says Dr. Rosalyn George of Wilmington
Dermatology Center.
“When we see people losing their hair and
it’s not related to hormones,” says nutritionist
Heidi Kaufman, “it’s generally because they’ve
decreased their calories so significantly that
most of their protein is being used as energy,
or they have put themselves on a low protein
diet.” Kaufman finds this sometimes with
vegans, who get enough calories but don’t eat
enough protein. Hair loss can also happen to
people who lose a lot of weight very rapidly.
People who choose gastric by-pass surgery are
candidates for hair loss down the road — usu-ally
in three to six months.
No matter how healthy a diet may be, how-ever,
hormones and heredity do play a large
part in hair growth or hair loss.
“People are extraordinarily disturbed by hair
loss,” says Dr. George. In most cases, there’s
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WBM january 2011