Diet for beautiful hair, skin, and nails
A healthy diet is an important part of your daily life. You often think of it only as a way to reduce your weight and lose "excess kilos", but the truth is that diet has a huge impact on the entire human body. You can thank a well-balanced diet for, for example, healthy, thick hair, strong nails, glowing skin or smooth skin. And although you often try to save yourself with cosmetics and expensive treatments, if you do not take care of the basics – and taking care of yourself "from the inside" is one of them – any external "enhancers" can do little.
If you are struggling with brittle and weak nails, have hair loss and dry skin, you probably need the right diet – a diet for beautiful hair, skin and nails. That is why we are telling you today how to enrich your diet so that your problems disappear and you can enjoy beautiful, thick hair and healthy-looking skin and nails.
We will also draw attention to deficiencies that can harm your body and contribute to hair, skin or nail problems, as well as to products that are certainly not good for your health. Of course, we will also present the good ones – rich in vitamins and minerals – thanks to which your problems will decrease or disappear completely.
What are the causes of brittle nails?
As is often the case with many problems in the human body, it may primarily be due to deficiencies in certain valuable and essential nutrients. If you do not provide your body with the right dose of vitamins and minerals, it will affect your appearance. One of the symptoms of such deficiencies is brittle nails, a weak nail plate, as well as "visual" changes, such as white spots on the nails or distortion and splitting of the nail plate.
In people struggling with brittle and weak nails, deficiencies in vitamins (mainly those from the B group and vitamin A), calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium or phosphorus can be observed. As we age, the level of silicon also decreases in our body, which causes hair graying, but also manifests as increasing nail brittleness.
Why can hair fall out?
Symptoms such as hair loss can also – although not necessarily – be associated with deficiencies. Sometimes excessive hair loss is caused by stress and nervousness, sometimes by hormonal changes, and sometimes by past illnesses and medications. However, hair loss, reduced hair shaft thickness or slowed growth is often associated with an improper diet, protein deficiency and a calorie deficit.
Other studies also indicate deficiencies in biotin, zinc and essential fatty acids in people with symptoms of excessive hair loss. As you can see, once again a seemingly visual problem boils down to deficiencies "on the inside" and is actually much deeper.
What can contribute to skin problems?
The proper functioning of the skin – and therefore also its healthy appearance – can be attributed to, among others, vitamin A, vitamin C, B vitamins, iron and selenium. Selenium mitigates the effects of free radicals, thereby helping to delay skin aging, while iron takes part in collagen synthesis, so their deficiencies and shortages manifest as pale and dry skin and a deterioration of its appearance. Vitamin C also takes part in collagen synthesis (as well as skin lipids), and its deficiency manifests as skin discoloration and petechiae, as well as general weakness of the gums, skin and teeth.
Minerals and vitamins essential for the health of skin, hair and nails
As you probably notice, whether it is skin problems, hair loss, or split and brittle nails, the common denominator remains a proper diet and the right intake of vitamins and minerals.
You can use cosmetic products or specialist "beauty" treatments, but if you do not take care of solving the problems comprehensively, by ensuring the right doses of the mentioned vitamins and minerals along with your diet, the chances of achieving a healthy appearance of the skin, hair and nails decrease.
Fortunately, these problems are usually not irreversible and simply changing your diet can bring a lot of benefits.
Natural ingredients in your diet that will allow you to take care of your complexion, hair and nails
Before we move on to what to eat, it will be useful to focus on what should be as little as possible in your diet or what would be worth eliminating entirely.
The more natural the diet, the better it can be for the body. Therefore, if you want to take care of your complexion, hair and nails, you should first get rid of highly processed foods from your diet – ready-made meals of questionable composition (for example, poor-quality sausages, packaged chocolate croissants or instant noodles), fast food, sweets, chips and other salty snacks.
Drinking water in amounts appropriate for your weight, age and lifestyle is also a good part of a healthy, natural diet, as is giving up sugary carbonated drinks and limiting strong black coffee and tea.
What to eat to strengthen hair and nails?
Fatty acids, vitamins and protein will be excellent support for hair and nails. You will get them from your daily food, but also by deciding to include beauty-enhancing products in your diet, such as beauty smoothies or mixes of products from the superfood category.
In turn, the following ingredients are worth using as the basis of your daily diet:
- Protein: an excellent source of which are eggs, legumes, fish and lean meat.
- Vitamin A and carotenoids: which we can find in dairy products (especially butter and cheese), eggs, carrots, some fatty fish, peppers, liver, peaches or cherries.
- EFAs – essential fatty acids: found in vegetable oils, nuts, freshwater fish or flaxseed.
- Zinc, copper and silicon: these are some of the most important mineral components in the diet of a person taking care of healthy hair and nails, we can find them in pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate, almonds, sesame seeds, bran, fruit peels, brown rice and herbs (such as horsetail or nettle).
If the mentioned ingredients become a permanent part of your daily diet, there is a high chance that you will get rid of your problems with brittle, weak and breakable nails and falling, weak hair.
What to eat to improve the appearance of the skin and maintain proper hydration?
Although a diet for healthy skin consists largely of the elements already mentioned for a diet for healthy nails and hair, it is worth paying attention to this issue separately.
The skin likes products rich in vitamin A and carotenoids, but also:
- Vitamin C: found in red peppers, citrus fruits, fermented foods, kiwi, strawberries, blackcurrants or tomatoes.
- Vitamin E: which you can find in, among others, grains, eggs, groats, nuts, butter, vegetable oils.
- B vitamins: found in, among others, legumes (peas, beans, soy), pork, yeast (baker's and brewer's), eggs, beef and pork liver, salmon, cauliflower, cabbage, bananas, peaches or spinach.
- Iron: sources of which include pork liver, poultry offal, pumpkin seeds, cocoa, white beans, red lentils, parsley leaves, peas, millet, sunflower seeds, oatmeal and barley flakes, almonds, coconut flakes, eggs or dried apricots.
To add some variety to the diet for healthy skin, hair and nails, you can also supplement your daily diet with products from the superfood group, which are plant-based products with the highest nutritional values.
You can find the full list of Polish and international superfoods in the article: List of superfoods. Which plants do we classify as superfoods?, while if you are looking for proven, high-quality products from this category, you will buy them in our store in the superfood – superfood products section.
And once you combine a proper diet – that is, you eliminate products that are not good for your health and appearance and replace them with healthier, more nutritious and valuable ones – with superfoods, there is a huge probability that all the problems you have with:
- dry body skin
- brittle and weak nails
- dehydrated and dull complexion
- falling and weak hair
…will be a thing of the past.
However, this will not happen on its own, even if you visit a pharmacy or drugstore in search of the best cosmetics for skin, hair and nails or invest in expensive treatments in a trendy clinic. Masking problems and trying to eliminate them from the outside may turn out to be ineffective. Only a proper diet – a diet for beautiful hair, skin and nails – can be the best weapon in the fight against such adversaries as dry skin, brittle nails or hair loss.
If you are struggling with these problems, we believe that you will find a solution for them in this article.
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