Is your dieting making you lose hair?

by Dr Yaman April 24, 2021

From Instagram stories to the silver screen, seeing a desirable image of a fit body is unavoidable. Although, we have recently seen a change in people's mindsets with the body positivity movements pushing us to accept our bodies as they are! But at the same time we have also seen an increase in demand for swift weight loss. And one of the most popular shortcuts happens to be FAD diets!

We want to understand the side-effects of fad diets on hair and health, but first we should understand what exactly fad diets are!

Fad diets are the diets that include drastically fewer calories to lose weight quickly, which is mostly why they include food groups that may not have all the essential nutrients that your body may need. These fad diets claim to help you lose weight in less than a month or a week. It does help you lose weight but in the wrong way and chances are your hair and overall health may be affected.

Different types of fad diets include:

Atkins diet: Atkins diet is a high-protein, high-fat diet that restricts carbs and gradually adds them back in, based on personal tolerance. But drastically cutting carbs in the early phase of the program can result in side effects like headache, constipation, weakness and disturbs metabolism of the body.
Keto diet: Keto diet is a very low carb and high fat diet. It works by lowering levels of insulin and shifting the primary fuel source from sugar to ketones. It promises weight loss only for a short period of time, and it is seen that people put all the weight back on their body once they start unfollowing it. The keto diet can cause low bloodpressure, constipation, nutrient deficiencies and an increased risk of heart disease inpeople following it regularly.
Paleo diet: Paleo diet restricts many foods including dairy, legumes and grains. Following a paleo diet makes the body deficient in macro minerals and lead to symptoms like fatigue, hair loss, dull skin etc.
Detox diet: These diets minimize the intake of whole foods with blended juices. People who follow this diet are at a greater risk of deficiencies of fiber and protein. Detox diets lead to low energy, muscle ache and dizziness.
Intermittent fasting:This type of fad diet mainly disturbs the food cycle, by eliminating some meals of the day which leads to malnutrition in the body. This may also lead to conditions like hypertension and inflammation in the body.

All these fad diets may help to achieve your goal of weight loss but what goes wrong is that it starts showing up on your skin, hair and health. Most people experience a sudden hair loss. A condition called Telogen Effluvium is mostly seen in people following fad diets. This results due to extreme weight loss and changes in diet which leads to deficiency of various essential vitamins and minerals needed for proper growth and development of hair.

Here are some points to keep in mind in order to lose weight healthily and not lose hair at all:

Make sure you are eating enough calories for the day. Too few calories makes your body energy deficient resulting in hair loss.
Even if you are dieting, make sure you load up on more protein because protein is one the major component essential for hair growth.
Incorporate whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet all of these ensure that the body is full of vital nutrients needed for hair growth.
Don’t forget to include fiber in your diet as it is necessary for the health of your gut. Also try to include probiotics for better digestion.

We at Traya conduct a detailed assessment of your hair and overall health, and customise the recommendations based on your present eating habits, lifestyle, chronic conditions and hair health. We have a complete lot of products that can help overcome these problems. Products like Minoxidil help to regrow the hair that you have lost. Hair root serum and Hair fall shampoo helps to improve the strength whereas Digestion herbs and Health Tatva herbs improves the digestion as well as metabolism of the body.

Slow and Steady wins the race, let's take a page from age old wisdom. Fad diets are called fad because they are fleeting. Follow real guidelines that are prescribed by experts to get fit in a sustained and healthy manner. For any guidance reach us at lime chat.

Don’t just eat right, Eat what’s right for your body!