Diet

Your diet influences your physical stamina and energy levels. If most of your diet consists of sugary soft drinks, alcohol, crisps, sandwiches and chocolate, the body has a very difficult job trying to keep functioning smoothly. Imagine pouring petrol mixed with sugar water into the tank of your car – you would not be surprised if the engine gave you problems. And yet, when it comes to the food we consume every day, we expect our body to cope on junk.

A big problem for most people is that they are dehydrated because they don’t drink enough water. Every living cell requires water, just as it does nutrients and oxygen. In order to function properly, the body needs to be replenished with water throughout the day. The body functions because electrical impulses are sent through the network of nerve fibres which in turn trigger the activity of many organs and glands. In order to relay information efficiently, these electrical impulses need water as a conductor. Water also helps all the organs in the body work more efficiently by lubricating the digestive tract and detoxifying the body – two very important processes if you suffer from hair loss!

Another problem is sugar. If you eat lots of simple carbohydrates (sugars) such as sugar, honey, milk, wheat flour and white rice, you encourage your pancreas to go into insulin overdrive. If this happens on a regular basis, the body becomes incapable of utilising the insulin efficiently. The body responds by putting out even more insulin, and this produces a hormonal imbalance which ultimately can have a detrimental effect on hairgrowth in both men and women.

A basic rule of thumb for healthy eating is to eat lean meat for proteins and lots of vegetables. Don’t eat potatoes, pasta and wheat products (bread, pasta, biscuits/cookies, cakes, pasties etc.) on a regular basis, and if you do, only in small quantities. They immediately turn to glucose in your body and kick the insulin levels into overdrive so that your blood sugar rises very quickly. This in turn threatens hormonal functioning. Reduce alcohol consumption to not more than one drink a day, as alcohol robs the body of zinc, folic acid, B vitamins and vitamin C. Alcohol, as well as coffee and tea, act as a diuretic and can cause severe dehydration which directly affects your scalp and hair growth. The same advice applies to nicotine – avoid it if you can as it puts stress on your adrenal glands which makes hair loss worse.