Like your skin, your hair needs nutrition from the inside out. If your diet is deficient in hair-friendly foods, or your digestion is not efficient, all the expensive shampoos and hair treatments in the world won’t be effective at maintaining the color and longevity of your hair. So if you want a healthy, shining crown of hair, start by taking a hard look at what you eat, when you eat and how you eat.

What to Eat for Healthy Hair

Instead of focusing on specific nutrients or rigid quantities, ayurveda recommends a medley of wholesome, natural foods as the best and most palatable way of delivering a variety of nutrients to your hair. The key is to eat foods that are whole, natural, organic and fresh. The following are a general set of dietary principles--choose in each category foods that are best for your consitiution and dosha balance needs.

1. Include lots of vegetables in your daily diet. Dark leafy greens, beets, summer squashes, broccoli, carrots and white daikon radish, and fresh green herbs such as cilantro, mint and basil are excellent choices for a varied and rich supply of nutrients to your hair. Dice or chop vegetables and cook them until fork-tender for better digestibility. Add hair-friendly spices such as cumin and turmeric to vegetable dishes. Spices not only offer their own healing wisdom; they also help transport the nutrients from other foods you eat to the cells and tissues of the body. Vary the vegetables you eat from day to day.

2. Include lots of fruits in your daily diet. Choose from different types of berries, citrus fruits, melons and sweet grapes. Again, vary the fruits you eat from day to day. Soak a handful of raisins in warm water for about 30 minutes and eat them every morning to promote regularity, essential for hair health.

3. The coconut is revered in ayurveda for its ability to nourish the hair and scalp. Premature falling of hair or graying is associated in ayurveda with an imbalance in Pitta dosha, the heat principle in the body. To balance the fieriness of Pitta, add fresh grated coconut to vegetable or grain dishes, and drink the fresh juice of the young tender coconut. This juice is not only delicious and refreshing, it offers a variety of nutrients for your hair. Plus, coconut contains oil that prevents excessive drying out of the scalp and hair.

4. Dairy products are very nourishing for your hair. Ayurveda recommends in particular whole milk, fresh (not aged) cheese and lassi (a drink made by blending fresh yogurt and water). Milk is traditionally boiled and cooled to a comfortable temperature before it is drunk to improve digestibility. A type of fresh cheese, called paneer. Lassi can include a variety of ingredients in addition to the yogurt and water. Our Rosehips Lassi features rosehips, rich in vitamin C.

5. Whole grains and smaller legumes also offer nourishment to your hair without overtaxing your digestive system. Mung dhal (split hulled mung beans) cook quickly and are easy to digest while offering rich nourishment. Vary the grains you eat, and combine grains, beans, vegetables, herbs and spices into intensely flavorful, nutrient-rich one-dish meals that offer a cocktail of nutrients for your hair.

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