This week we had the opportunity to talk with a good Kettle Care friend Abigail. She is a certified holistic health & nutrition coach that we have partnered with in the past for workshops.  We wondered about her take on hair health and the importance of nutrition when it comes to hair health. We specifically asked her about hair loss. Here is our interview with with Abigail, along with some links to free tools to help you on your healthy hair journey.

Abigail, as a holistic health & nutrition coach, what do you think contributes to hair loss and thinning?

Our hair isn’t an essential organ like the heart or brain, so it’s often the last place to receive minerals needed for proper growth. Hair loss or brittle and fragile hair is a common symptom for women that can have some sneaky underlying causes. Your body is trying to tell you something.

What causes of hair loss do you see the body is trying to tell us?

First thing I would look into is the health of your thyroid. Our thyroid controls our metabolism and therefore can affect hair growth and loss in addition to weight, temperature, our menstrual cycle, and so much more. It’s important that you ask for the full thyroid panel, not just TSH and T4 like many physicians order. Thyroid health actually goes beyond the thyroid gland with different thyroid hormones being found and converted in the brain, thyroid gland, gut, and liver. This is why running a full thyroid panel is necessary to getting to the root cause of what’s going wrong. I go into great depth about thyroid health in my blogs at https://chefabbalina.com/blog/ and the correct labs to ask for so make sure to check those out.

To make thyroid hormone, we need the minerals iodine and selenium and the amino acid tyrosine.

Iodine is found in sea vegetables (like kelp and seaweed) and wild-caught seafood. Selenium is high in brazil nuts (you only need 1-3/day max) and wild-caught seafood. And Tyrosine is high in pasture-raised and wild-caught animal protein.

"Our hair is often the last place

to receive minerals needed for proper growth."

In addition to making sure we have proper levels of these minerals, do we need to look out for toxins as well?

Yes, Halogens that are found in water and the environment such as fluorine, bromine, and chlorine can harm the thyroid and cause deficiency of the minerals it needs to make thyroid hormone. Make sure to filter your water with a reputable filtration system.

Reverse osmosis, distilled water, and reputable water filtration systems like Clearly Filtered are all great options but make sure to remineralize your water with trace mineral drops (I have all this on my websitechefabbalina.com or you can ask me for clarification. If you struggle with low thyroid, it’s worth doing a hair test (HTMA) to see if you’re struggling with toxicity from halogens and other heavy metals. I or your local functional medicine doctor can order this for you.

Are there any other organs that need to be looked at?

Yes, the aspect to consider are our stomachs, specifically our stomach acid. We need stomach acid to absorb vital nutrients for hair health including b vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium, and protein. Nutrient deficiencies are a huge factor in hair health because our hair is not essential for survival. Nutrients go to our vital organs first so that we can stay alive. Lack of vitamins and minerals or a lack of absorption because of low stomach acid can lead to deficiencies and thus poor hair health.

Low stomach acid can also lead to poor gut health in general because the acid kills bad bacteria and viruses. Bacteria that makes it past the stomach and into the GI tract can lead to leaky gut, autoimmune conditions, and inflammation in general.

Low stomach acid can be caused by poor diet, h.pylori (a stomach infection that doesn’t always present symptoms), low levels of the mineral chloride, constant use of proton pump inhibitors and antacids, smoking/chewing, age, a low protein diet, chronic stress, and low levels of zinc which is another nutrient for hair health and the production/utilization of collagen for hair.

How do you know if you are low in stomach acid? There’s a really easy test I use with my clients using betaine HCL capsules (this is contraindicated if you have ulcers), but here’s some symptoms to look for too:

-Burping or belching after eating

-Acid reflux

-Burning in the stomach, and trouble digesting protein

Yes, acid reflux is usually a symptom of LOW stomach acid not too much stomach acid because the acid is what triggers the sphincter between the esophagus and stomach to close! By taking antacids, the problem is only made worse in the long term. You need to get to the root cause.

When talking to our doctors, are there any other minerals we should be tested for?

The third aspect I would consider is low minerals, especially Ferritin and Iron. Ferritin it is a storage form of iron. If it is low, this can be associated with hair loss. Iron also needs stomach acid for absorption so if stomach acid is low, iron levels can become low too.

As I explained before, our hair isn’t an essential organ like the heart or brain, so it’s often the last place to receive minerals needed for proper growth.

Are there dietary supplements we should be adding to our diet?

Collagen is the fourth aspect I like to consider. It is key. Collagen is actually the second most abundant substance in our body after water. Collagen makes up our hair, skin, nails, connective tissues, bones, gut lining, and joints. As we age, we especially need more collagen.

Collagen is found in animals from all of those same tissues I mentioned above. In the past when we ate nose to tail, we obtained a lot more collagen through diet. It’s likely that our ancestors were a lot better about eating the cofactors needed to form collagen in the body too, mainly zinc and vitamin C.

There are a couple ways to get collagen.

You can buy collagen powder or gelatin (which contains collagen). These are both convenient and can be used in many ways. My favorite brand for both is Perfect Supplements because they do not contain heavy metals like most products on the market. Use my discount code ABBY10 for 10% off! However, this isn’t the best option for everyone, especially if you have problems with histamines or allergy-like symptoms.

You can also eat more collagen rich foods, like skin on chicken thighs and whole chicken, bone broth, and slow cooked roasts.These are all simple to prepare and some of my favorite foods personally!

Along with your collagen powder or collagen rich foods, make sure to be getting plenty of vitamin C and zinc from foods or supplements. Think acerola cherry, camu camu, frozen cranberries, citrus, broccoli, and strawberries for vitamin C. Zinc is high in grass-fed red meat and liver, cacao, and pumpkin seeds.

Are there other ways to find out what the cause of hair loss might be?

I want to emphasize that this isn’t a complete list. It’s important if you are struggling with hair loss to be working with a holistic practitioner to get to the root cause and start rebalancing your body with what it needs nutritionally!
This work takes time and it can be frustrating and discouraging to try and figure it all out on your own- I’ve been there and I have two gifts for you, that will help you get started optimizing healthy hair!

One is the Healthy Hair Cookbook that you can download below and the other is two additional health coaching sessions for FREE. (See below for more details)

Thank you Abigail for all of your valuable information about hair health and nutrition. We appreciate your time and knowledge very much.

Healthy Hair Cookbook Link -

subscribepage.io/Suh8ca

The second gift is 3 or 6 months of nutritional health coaching with two additional health coaching sessions for FREE! Mention this email and you’ll receive two bonus sessions with me at no extra cost when you sign up for my three or six month coaching packages.

My three and six month coaching packages are meant to meet you exactly where you are and help you rebalance your body and mind through dietary and lifestyle practices so that you CAN feel your best.

I meet with my clients over zoom weekly for a month then bi-weekly thereafter. I help clients save time and money by using my knowledge and personalized lab tests to get the root cause and make a plan together. The main reason why my clients get amazing results is because I teach healthy habits that are sustainable for a lifetime.

Head to chefabbalina.com or use the button below to set up a free 30 minute consult call!

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