So much of our lives are spent worrying about our weight, our heart health, our blood pressure, and doing the best we can to eat healthy foods to stay healthy. What we do not consider are the health of our skin, our nails, and our hair.
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Those all need attention too. Hair should have a shine to it, nails should grow and not be brittle, our skin should be smooth and hydrated. These things help us to feel younger, feel prettier and when we feel that way, we do our best in other areas of our life too.
Our skin, our hair, and our nails all need nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Most of these will come from the foods that we eat. Sometimes though, we may need to take supplements to just give a little boost to those outside factors of our body.
The Basic Nutrients You Need
You will also hear that many dieticians will still state for the record that the food you eat is all you really need to maintain healthy and shiny hair, strong nails that do not break easily, and also smooth, blemish-free skin. Let’s start with the nutrients and vitamins and minerals that are found in foods.
There may be times when, in our rush to ensure we are getting 100% of daily requirements, we take a supplement. However, that supplement could have the opposite effect for us. Too much of a good thing is never a good thing. If for instance, you take an excess of one vitamin, it could take away some of the potency of another vitamin or mineral.
Simply stated, if you are consuming a balanced diet of vegetables and fruit, healthy grains, proteins, and even healthy fats, you should be getting all the essential nutrition you need.
The basic nutrients needed are:
Protein
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Lean Red Meat
- Salmon
- Fish
- Shrimp
Healthy Fats
- Canola Oil
- Olive Oil
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Calcium
- Plain or Greek Yogurt
- Milk
- Cottage Cheese
The Nutrients, Vitamins, and Minerals Your Hair Needs
Protein
To begin, your hair, skin, and nails are mostly all protein. The three proteins: keratin, collagen, and elastin are the major ones we need to have gorgeous skin, hair, and nails. Eating more than what is recommended is not helpful if you want your hair to grow or your nails to be strong fast.
It really does not work that way. However, all that extra protein you would be consuming will be stored as fat on your body.
Healthy Fats
Seafood has the healthy fats that our bodies need. These are called essential Omega-3 fatty acids, and also essential Omega-6. They are essential for you to eat, your body does not make these itself. They are found in seafood. They help to prevent a dry and itchy scalp.
Iron
Iron is the nutrient or mineral you need to give luster and life to your hair, skin, and nails. When your body is low in Iron, nails could be brittle and have vertical ridges, skin is dry, you may feel lethargic, your skin may be lacking in color, you will be pale.
Your hair may also become dry, brittle, and lifeless. Red meats are the best source of protein, the leaner the red meat is what you need to look for. However, there is also protein in legumes and whole grains.
Vitamin E and B
Nuts are considered to be one of the most nutritional snacks there are. They are loaded with essential fats and Vitamin E and B. A lesson to be learned here, low-fat diets may be beneficial to your health, however, you do need to have those essential fatty amounts also. In other words, ditch the fried foods and bakery goods, stick with nuts and seafood.
- Muesli also is high in what is considered skin vitamins.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is the vitamin you want if you are searching for collagen. Collagen is what helps keep the skin puffed up. It is the layer under the skin. As we get older, our skin loses collagen.
Beta Carotene
Beta Carotene found in yellow, red, and green fruits and vegetables has the beta-carotene that your body changes into Vitamin A for healthy skin. Another few sources are liver, egg yolk, and oily fish.
Things to Avoid For Healthier Hair, Skin, and Nails
One of the most important issues it takes to obtain healthy hair, skin, and nails are hydration. Whether it is water, fruit juices, teas, as long as you are fully hydrated you will be helping yourself.
Another way of ensuring that you keep your skin as healthy as it can be is to avoid UV rays. The UltraViolet rays can do damage to the skin, by burning it, drying it out, and creating lines and wrinkles.
However, some of the best advice that anyone can be given is to remember not to smoke, do not allow stress to build, get plenty of sleep and limit your time when the sun is at its highest.
Recommended Brands of Supplements
- Olly Undeniable Beauty Gummies.
This brand contains keratin, biotin, and Vitamin C which are needed for healthy skin and hair. There is also Vitamin A and E, manganese, zinc, and selenium. These are highly recommended by dermatologists. These help with collagen production, metabolizing fats and proteins.
- Nature’s Bounty Biotin
Enzymes need Vitamin B for energy production. In other words, Biotin helps turn the foods you consume into energy, which also benefits hair, skin, and nail health.
- Nutrafol Women
This supplement combines biotin with Vitamin E, ashwagandha, biocurcumin, keratin, and resveratrol. They all work together to combat and rebalance stress hormones. This is considered one of the best to use if you are experiencing hair loss from something other than cancer or other underlying diseases.
- Viviscal Hair Supplements
Viviscal has the main purpose of hair regrowth. This works by combining Biotin with other Vitamins and minerals to help hair become fuller and healthier and to also promote nail growth that is strong.
- Pure Encapsulation
Along with the basic collagen and keratin, these contain hyaluronic acid which promotes skin hydration.
- Now L-Cysteine with Vitamin C and Vitamin B6
The L-Cysteine contains amino acid which builds the fibrous protein Keratin. This will produce disulfide bonds which help to maintain moisture.
- Solgar
Solgar is Vitamin A, which is the essential Vitamin that produces the oils that help prevent brittle hair or nails. It can also promote hair growth by improving the conditions of your scalp.
- Ritual Essential for Women
Here you have a multivitamin for females over the age of 18. This multivitamin contains folate, folic acid, Vitamin E, and Vitamin B 12. This vitamin will promote healthy hair growth, repair and improve damaged skin.
The Importance of Proper Diet
As this all shows, there are plenty of supplements that qualify for being the best of the best. These will all help with dull and dry hair. They could all help improve the skin texture and shine of your hair, they will also help prevent brittle nails that break easily. Supplements do cost money, but for many people, money is not a factor when it comes to how they look.
On the other hand, eating foods that are well balanced, rich in the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals will not only keep your hair, skin, and nails healthy, your body systems will all function better. A well-balanced diet may make more sense if you are a health-conscious individual who believes in watching what they eat and eating only healthy foods.
It really is not just a myth that food is helpful for all parts of you. It is no myth that a proper diet can help prevent acne and other skin issues. The proper foods will also help your body produce the necessary needs to complete its own tasks.
Fiber helps the digestive tract, Vitamins and minerals are beneficial for the heart, the circulatory system, the brain and even help to control the blood pressure. For those who have diabetes, eating balanced foods will help to keep your blood glucose in check, and lose weight. This could help in no longer needing the medications for diabetes.
Final Thoughts
Your body does give you signs of what you need, you need to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Whether it is that you need more hydration, more iron, or more greens and fiber. Your body knows what is wrong and what it needs.
So feed your body what it needs, not what it craves. Your body does not crave sweet things like pastries, candy, or other sugars. your brain controls what you want. A little training will have you on a path leading you to a healthy lifestyle with great foods that will give you a healthier life, healthy skin, healthy nails, and even healthy hair. You may even be surprised just how many great-tasting items you will find on a healthy plan.