A Balanced and Nutritious Diet to keep your Hair Beautiful and Healthy

A common complaint today is that many experience periods of hair fall and most of us are confused as to how to control this. Tension itself along with an imbalanced diet can be the cause for hair fall. So, first of all relax. Secondly make a promise to yourself not to skip any meals. Your body requires certain nutrients in specific quantities daily and they can be provided and absorbed only if you eat all three meals. Today most people are skipping meals in order to control or lose weight. Please understand that skipping meals does not help you to lose weight. Even to lose weight, you have to eat all meals with a proper balance of Carbohydrate and Protein foods, along with vegetables, fruits, milk, etc. The foods you need to skip are all OILY and FATTY FOODS. Fatty foods can increase the oil secretion on your scalp which can finally result in hair fall.

Your body requires 60-70 gm protein daily, which is important for growth and maintenance of hair. This has to be provided as 20 gm at breakfast 20 at lunch and 20 at dinner. This protein is essential for your hair and skin daily. If you miss even one meal there is a deficit of 20gm protein that day and this will cause the hair to become weak and fall out. Similarly, the body requires 500 gms of calcium daily. If you are not taking milk and /or curds 500-700 ml daily, then this calcium need is not met and this too may lead to hair fall.

Therefore, we advise never to skip meals and please make sure protein rich foods like dhal/pulses, milk/curd and egg or non-veg are included in every meal. Also 2 glasses of milk is a must daily for all ages and fruits and salads too must be eaten daily to keep up a good supply of vitamin and mineral.

2 glasses of milk/curd

2 servings of dhal/pulse (lunch and dinner)

2 servings of salad (lunch and dinner)

2 servings of fruit (11 am and 6 pm) Are a must for healthy hair and skin.

Another reason for hair fall is that the hair is not kept washed and cleaned regularly. Dust, dirt and other pollutants deposited on the scalp may get lodged in a pore of a strand of hair and this will not enable proper breathing of the hair and then that strand of hair will die and fall out. Regular shampooing and a good diet are 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 which you are used to consuming regularly there will be a reduction in protein intake and you may see sudden hair fall. Then protein in the form of dhal, sambar 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 we must be aware that all these contain high amounts of fat and therefore must be consumed or included in the diet in limited quantities.