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Want To Have Amazing Hair, Skin & Nails? Eat Your Raw Foods!

By: Stephanie Heino

Want To Have Amazing Hair, Skin & Nails? Eat Your Raw Foods! | The Organic Beauty BlogWant healthy and glossy hair without supplements? Do you want it to grow faster, while getting strong nails and flawless skin? Keep reading!

A sound diet with lots of raw foods will give you the best possible nutritional advantage for getting healthy hair, nails and skin. Stock upon leafy greens and get in a serving of soaked raw nuts or seeds each day which deliver minerals, essential fatty acids and amino acids (the building block of protein that makes our hair, nails and skin). A mineral-rich diet with lots of raw foods is your best bet for creating beauty inside-out.

The health of our hair and nails depends on good circulation of the blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to the area. We need to move the body to ensure this circulation is working as it should. But mostly problems with hair and nails are due to an imbalance within, and that can always be re-balanced through healthy raw foods!

In fact, your body prefers to be nourished with raw foods. If your diet predominately consists of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, you will create a perfect balance within, which will show up on the outside (with some patience!).

Check out this guide to 5 amazing raw foods that will boost your beauty and give you fuller, shinier, healthier hair:

Dark Green Vegetables

Greens like kale, spinach, broccoli and Swiss chard, are an excellent source of vitamins A and C, which your body needs to produce sebum. They are also packed with minerals like silicon and sulfur that are vital to healthy growth of our nails and hair.

Nuts

Want To Have Amazing Hair, Skin & Nails? Eat Your Raw Foods! 2 | The Organic Beauty BlogDo you go nuts for thick, shiny hair? You should. Brazil nuts are one of nature’s best sources of selenium, an important mineral for the health of your scalp. Walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid that may help condition your hair. They are also a terrific source of zinc, as are cashews, pecans, and almonds. A zinc deficiency can lead to hair shedding, so make sure you eat nuts on the regular.

Flax seeds

The second step to beautiful skin, hair and nails involves including optimal amounts of essential fats in your diet. Fats are especially important for our skin and hair. They are an enormous part of how skin and hair are stay moist and lush as opposed to course and dry, and by including flax seeds and avocados you take care of this issue. If you feel like it will be a problem to eat enough of these foods to truly nourish, it can also be practical to use an essential fatty acid supplement in the form of a liquid oil. Although this is a post on raw foods, evening primrose oil is also a favourite of skin, hair and nails.

Wheatgrass

Want To Have Amazing Hair, Skin & Nails? Eat Your Raw Foods! 3 | The Organic Beauty BlogBy drinking wheatgrass, and washing your hair in it you will see some great results. By doing this, nutrients penetrate into follicles and stimulate growth of new pigment-producing cells. Getting results takes time, but be patient!

Sea Vegetables

Research shows sodium alginate, a compound found in most seaweed, binds with heavy metals and chemical poisons, flushing them from the body. They nourish the endocrine system, especially the thyroid and adrenal glands. Iodine in seaweed keeps the thyroid functioning normally, and is high in natural sodium. Sea vegetables, providing plenty of proteins, complex carbohydrates, carotenes, and chlorophyll, not only stimulate and strengthen the hair, but also the skin and nails. Brittle hair, caused by a shortage of minerals, too much salt or animal food, or use of drugs, can be restored by eating sea vegetables. Kombu comes in sticks which you can add to your soups, stews, beans and casseroles. It has a yummy salty flavour, and you also get a range of minerals that your skin, hair and nails love.

Holistic Treatment of Migraines and Headaches

Holistic Treatment of Migraines and Headaches | The Organic Beauty BlogHeadaches and migraines are among those pesky and debilitating health concerns that are more often than not a sign of an imbalance in the body. A healthy body may get an occasional headache from stress or dehydration, but when it’s a regular, frequent complaint, action needs to be taken.
If you’re getting headaches consistently once a week or more, the first step is to rule out anything neurological.  See your doctor for a CT Scan or MRI. Once these causes are ruled out, it’s important to identify your triggers and get to the bottom of your headaches.  Migraines are actually more often caused by gastrointestinal or environmental factors. Common causes and triggers of headaches and migraines are:

 

  • Alcohol, especially beer and red wine
  • Certain foods, such as dairy, chocolate, peanuts, some fruits, sugar, foods with monosodium glutamate (MSG), onions, meats, some cooking oils
  • Poor diet or nutritional deficiencies
  • Blood sugar imbalance (skipping meals)
  • Inflammation
  • Environmental toxins
  • Fluctuations in hormones — for example, during pregnancy, before and during your period, and menopause
  • Certain odors, such as perfume 
  • Stress, physical or emotional 
  • Too little or too much sleep
  • Caffeine
  • Smoking or exposure to tobacco smoke
  • Some medications
  • Heat, high humidity, and high altitude


Holistic Treatment of Migraines and Headaches | The Organic Beauty BlogTry identifying which of these factors play a role in your headaches, and eliminate them for at least two weeks.  Keep a symptom journal or tracker (I like Chart Myself) to help keep track of the factors that influence your headaches.  The specific holistic treatment approach you’ll take will be dependent on what your triggers are.  For example, if you primarily get headaches around your period, focusing on balancing your hormones through diet and supplementation will be key.  Or if your headaches come on when you are stressed or overworked, you’ll want to focus on stress management, relaxation, and, of course, a diet that supports your adrenals and immune system.

That said, there is definitely a holistic headache treatment protocol that can help all sufferers…

  • DIET:
    • It’s important to balance blood sugar with regular, filling meals, particularly in the first part of the day.
    • Avoid alcohol, caffeine, fast food or processed food, artificial or chemical sweeteners, preservatives, additives like MSG and artificial flavors and colors, sugar (which headache sufferers will want to cut out completely), dairy, gluten, excessive animal products (particularly red meat and any meat containing nitrates) and hydrogenated oils
    • Opt for a clean, whole foods, mostly plant-based diet of vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats
  • LIFESTYLE:
    • Stress management is vital for headache sufferers.  A relaxation practice like yoga or meditation are HUGE and non-negotiable for living headache free.
    • Regular breathing exercises
    • A consistent exercise routine
    • Quality sleep
    • Quit smoking and avoid being around cigarette smoke
    • Drink half your body weight in ounces of water a day
    • Rid your home of toxic chemicals
    • Naturalize your beauty regimen
  • SUPPLEMENTATION:
    • Supplementing your diet is vital to filling in the nutritional blanks left by food.  Consult a my supplement guide for some great general supplements everyone (especially headache sufferers) can benefit from.  Of particular importance are:
      • Magnesium (200-600 mg a day) — a deficiency in this nutrient is a common cause of headaches
      • Vitamin B2 (400 mg a day) or B Complex — another supplement especially beneficial for reducing the frequency and duration of headaches
      • Omega-3 Fish oil (2 g a day) — the most vital supplement to combat inflammation
      • Chlorophyll (1 tbsp in water twice a day) — a cleansing, purifying and detoxifying supplement
      • Apple Cider Vinegar (2 tbsp in water twice a day, or at onset of headaches)
      • Feverfew (50-80 mg a day) and Butterbur (50-75 mg twice a day) and two herbs known for markedly decreasing intensity and frequency of headaches when taken regularly for up to 4 months.
  • ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES:
    • Acupuncture
    • Reflexology
    • Massage
    • Chiropractic
    • Homeopathic treatment
 
Feel free to contact me for a consultation to develop your own holistic headache treatment protocol and to get healthy!
 
——-
Natasha Uspensky, CHHC

The Super-Duper Superfood You’re Probably Not Eating!

You probably remember chlorophyll from your 8th grade biology class… it absorbs energy from the sun to stimulate photosynthesis; it makes plants green; it helps plants grow and breathe; it’s like the blood that runs through the veins of plant matter… yada, yada, yada.  But what you may not know are the remarkable effects chlorophyll has on the human body.  Chlorophyll is actually really similar in composition to human blood, except it has magnesium as its central atom, as opposed to iron in human blood.  This unique similarity causes mineral-rich chlorophyll to have a whole slew of amazing benefits for the human body, including:

  • anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and wound healing properties
  • helps to grow and repair tissue
  • purifies the blood
  • neutralizes free radicals and prevents cell damage
  • stimulates red blood cells to improve oxygen supply
  • anti-carcinogenic properties that prevent carciogens from binding with DNA in organs
  • helps to assimilate magnesium and calcium in the body
  • helps to neutralize air pollution that we breathe in
  • fights bad breath, body odor, and odors in body waste

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