The Beauty Diet (24 page)

For fabulous hair, you need certain minerals in tiny amounts. These trace minerals affect everything from the growth rate of your hair to its color and texture—and the ideal way to obtain them is by eating the variety of whole, natural foods included in my Beauty Diet.

Iron plays a role in hair health because it helps red blood cells carry oxygen to the hair follicles. While anemia is sometimes an undiagnosed cause of hair loss in women, even if you are not clinically anemic, you can experience hair loss simply from not getting enough iron in your diet. It has been well established that women with alopecia (hair loss and baldness) often have low levels of iron in their blood. For these women, supplementary iron helps hair growth. Iron deficiency can also leave you with lusterless, dry, brittle hair. Among my Top 10 Beauty Foods, the best sources of iron are oysters, spinach, and tomatoes. Other animal sources of iron include clams, lean beef, turkey, duck, lamb, chicken, pork, shrimp, and eggs. Good plant sources of iron include soybeans, lentils, beans, and bran. (For more information on iron, see the end of this chapter.) Plant foods contain nonheme iron, which is not as well absorbed as the heme iron in chicken, fish, and lean beef; however, you can enhance your body's ability to absorb nonheme iron by consuming vitamin C in the same meal.

In addition to playing a role in the structure of hair shafts, copper is important to the color of your hair. Because copper is essential to the formation of hemoglobin, it also is involved in bringing oxygen to your hair follicles. If you follow my Beauty Diet, you will not need to worry about your copper intake. A deficiency usually comes either from genetic problems or from taking zinc supplements, which can inhibit the absorption of copper in the body.

Any discussion of healthy hair has to include selenium, because this trace mineral is important to the scalp. Selenium helps keep skin supple and elastic by preventing cellular damage from free radicals. Ironically, too much selenium (selenosis) can cause hair loss. Among my Top 10 Beauty Foods, you'll find significant amounts of selenium in salmon and oysters. Brazil nuts are an extraordinarily good source of selenium. Other selenium-rich foods include tuna, crab, whole wheat bread, wheat germ, garlic, eggs, and brown rice. (For more information on selenium, see
Chapter 2
.)

This element is found in abundance in our environment, although as we continue to deplete minerals from the soil, our consumption of silicon has declined. In the human body, silicon is found in high concentrations in skin and hair. It is important to the health of your scalp, plus it helps strengthen your hair. High-fiber diets contain lots of silicon, which is widely distributed in whole grains. Silicon is also found in bananas, root vegetables, rice, soybeans, and many other foods.

This trace mineral matters because it is present in cysteine, an amino acid that is crucial to hair growth. This means sulfur helps your body create longer, stronger hair. Sulfur is readily available in a wide variety foods, including eggs, meat, fish, dairy products, onions, and garlic.

We know zinc is important to terrific tresses and a healthy scalp because low levels of zinc can cause hair loss and even a loss of eyelashes. A zinc deficiency can also cause the scalp to become dry and flaky. As an antioxidant, zinc helps guard against free-radical damage to your scalp (and elsewhere). Many people are deficient in zinc, but taking zinc supplements can throw off your body's natural balance between zinc and copper. Among my Top 10 Beauty Foods, oysters are an extraordinarily good source of zinc, and yogurt is also helpful. Other foods that contain zinc include seafood, beef, lamb, eggs, whole grains, and nuts. (For more information on zinc, see
Chapter 3
.)

If you have healthy, straight, shining hair like Demi Moore or Heidi Klum, congratulations—you're the exception, not the rule! Most women have to use various tips and tricks to persuade their hair to behave.

Unhealthy hair is dull and dry, with breakage and split ends. Hair that lacks moisture is lightweight, which makes it unmanageable and flyaway. Short, broken strands escape any attempt to control them. If your hair is curly as well as frizzy, you could have a cloud of fuzzy hair instead of gleaming strands. If you suffer from dry, frizzy hair, be sure to check out my Beauty Diet Rx for nutritional solutions to bad hair days.

When my friend Rachel discovered her first gray hair, she shrieked—then immediately got her tweezers and plucked