Your hair is what you eat. The connection between healthy foods and fabulous hair.

Lately in my hair journey, I noticed a shift in my focus from supplementing my routine with traditional vitamins to supporting my hair with powerful nutrient-rich foods. Eating is one of those things where the act itself has many purposes. We eat for pleasure, we eat for survival, we eat to maintain or create our weight. I like to also think of eating as a way to promote optimal health, beauty and vitality.

Don't get me wrong, you'll still see me from time to time, munching on a bag of Miss Vickies Jalepeno chips, some Chik fil-A waffle fries, or enjoying something that pacifies my sweet tooth. That still doesn't mean that there aren't ample opportunities to fit in some ultra-nutritious foods into my lifestyle. I know there are countless overall benefits to injecting super-foods into our daily eating. For the sake of this discussion, let's just focus on the impact to our hair.

I have an unproven theory I'd like to share with you. I like to believe that when we eat foods comprised of the normal American diet, our bodies don't necessarily receive what it needs for operating optimally. If our diet is lacking in value, we only provide enough fuel for our body to survive, not to thrive. Let's look at it another way, think of the nutrient amount in your foods like a paycheck. If someone is making close to minimum wage, there's only enough money to pay for the most basic of essentials, living expenses, food, and other absolute needs. A person making a six figure income, however, can cover basic needs and allow for an extraordinary life full of luxuries beyond the bare minimum. Most often, it's easy to see the difference between someone making six figures and the person making minimum wage. I like to make the same comparison with our eating to the health of of hair. If we are consuming a "minimum wage" type diet, our body will function. Adding super foods to our diet is like adding pay bonuses to our check. The more we do it, the more increase we have available to create new possibilities. Just like the person earning more money, nutritional abundance in our diet will allow our bodies to go beyond the minimum needed to just keep us alive but to create beautiful skin and ultra healthy hair.

Eating a diet made up of 100% healthy foods is not only challenging, but somewhat unreasonable with our fast-paced lifestyles. So what I've decided to do instead, is supplement my diet with super foods so I know I'm getting what I need to thrive every day. When I speak of super-foods, I'm referring to food that provides an extreme level of nutrition even when consumed in small amounts. I'll give you some examples of these foods from my diet:

• Flax seeds
• Sea weed
• Chia seeds
• fruit/veggie juice
• Brewers yeast
• Wheat Germ
• Fish oils
• Cell food
• Spirulina/Chlorella

Obviously, there are many other super foods out there available to us. This is what makes it fun. With all the options available, you can take your pick based on taste and preference. I like to incorporate these foods into my already existing diet. For example, I'll add a spoonful of flax seeds, wheat germ, and/or brewer's yeast into a cup of yogurt and suddenly my snack turns into a nutritional powerhouse. Even a bowl of your favorite cereal can transform to an excellent source of omega-3 power with the help of a little chia and flax.

Some of these foods may sound a little foreign and uninteresting to you. That's alright. I started my journey here by first selecting healthy snacks. For example, instead of a sweet mid-day snack, I'd munch on some sliced almonds. Little by little, I'd add healthy foods here and there. The more my mind was open to the possibilities, the more I'd find foods that offered higher potential to my overall health. So how has all of this affected my hair? One of the most obvious, for me, is the quality of my new growth. Prior to including powerful foods, I touched up every 8 weeks. Not because my hair was growing so fast, honestly, it just seemed like my hair was wiry and untamable. Now, I stretch twice that long because my new growth is supple and healthy. My hair feels more like it's flourishing rather than just growing. It's the difference between living on $8.00/hour versus $150,000 a year.

Prior to incorporating super-foods, I toted around a myriad of vitamins pills. If I missed a day or two here and there, I'd beat myself up mentally about missing my promise to take my supplements. With nutritional foods, I just mix a spoonful with what I'm eating at the time. Best of all, I'm taking in foods that support my entire body versus scoping out supplements specifically and solely for hair for growth. This has opened up a whole new world for me. If maintained the mindset of only seeking out hair pills, I may have missed out the the amazing benefits of chia seeds, macca root, or whatever else is out there I haven't discovered yet. So, in all honesty, I wanted to share my experience with powerful foods because I'm sure there's benefit to each one of you. Do any of you have any recommendations of your favorite healthy foods? I'd love to try something new.