Tips to Boost the Health of Your Hair and Nails

Looking good involves taking care of your body internally and also using the right products externally. You may have read many articles on improving the health of your skin, but today we shall discuss the health of your hair and nails, which are equally important to help you look beautiful. Nutritionists are of the view that a nutritious diet helps in promoting healthy hair and nails. This does not mean that you have to include a lot of additional food items in your diet. Since both hair and nails are made from keratin, it is believed that the nutrients which help one will also assist the other. We will now discuss about the food that will provide the added boost to your hair and nails.

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Add protein in your Meal

In order to produce keratin, hair requires protein and protein makes the hair strong. When  your hair doesn’t receive adequate protein , it may result in loss of hair. Try to add scoop of protein to the morning smoothie for a boost. Protein might be of help in controlling the appetite. This can be in the form of flax seeds, protein shakes, milk, milk products, pulses, non-vegetarian food etc.

Almonds                              

Besides being an excellent source of protein, almonds contain lots of magnesium that assists in maintaining healthy nails and hair. Magnesium is natural anti-stress mineral and stress is the major factor for loss of hair. The vertical ridges in nails might be indication of magnesium deficiency and this can be compensated by leafy greens and soya beans too.

Red meat

Juicy steak is full of protein and has iron essential for health of hair and nails. Those who have iron-deficiency are likely to have thin hair, so one way to boost your hair health to include red meat in your diet. It should be noted that Iron-deficiency results in koilonychias, which is a nail disease that causes spoon-shaped nails. For precautionary measure, red meat has lots of saturated fat and consuming too much of it increases risk of health problems including cancer, heart diseases and diabetes.

Blueberries                     

The antioxidants assist in protecting the cells of your body against drastic damages. Inflammation and the stress hormones get increased by this damage and this affects all the cells in body including those in hair and nails. Blueberries have highest antioxidant properties compared to other fruits.

Eggs                        

Eggs contain little vitamin D and biotin and are good source for protein. Biotin helps in development of keratin. Patients having deficiency of biotin generally have weak nails and hair. Add eggs to your daily diet and see the difference.

Oysters

Zinc is required for a number of biological processes which includes making protein like the ones in hair and nails. Oysters contain 74 grams zinc in each serving which is much more than other food. Poultry, beef, baked beans and fortified cereals can help in intake. 

The above article is a guest post written by Vinod Kardam, he loves to write on health and beauty web related articles. You can follow him on Twitter.