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Rushli
November 27th, 2014, 10:45 PM
Tonight DH and I ended up with some time to ourselves and spend over an hour talking about hair. (!!!!!) One topic we covered was protein. Protein helps hair grow, so he encouraged me to start drinking a protein shake in the morning. (such a sweetie, trying to help me reach my goal faster!) I usually skip breakfast unintentionally, so this would be good for me in general, but he also said that we often wake up protein deficient. He said one good way to help counter going protein deficient over night is to eat cottage cheese at night. It is largely casein protein which breaks down slowly so your body is getting some all night long. (vs whey, which breaks down quickly, but if you mix it with milk rather then water, it slows down absorption since milk as casein)


I also have been adding chia seeds to our meals. DH puts his on his nightly cottage cheese. I am not sure what kind of protein they have, but do know they are a good source along with many other vitamins and minerals. I believe they are 14% protein, so perfect for any vegans out there. (about 4g per oz of seeds)


What are your thoughts on the subject? Anyone else drinking shakes, or eating foods high in protein?

hennalonghair
November 27th, 2014, 11:00 PM
Good sources of protein definitely make a difference to the health and quality of hair. Chia seeds are a great vegetarian source for sure. A lot of people wonder why they have hair loss and diet has a lot to do with if. If you all of a sudden to in a crash diet then a month down the road start losing hair, that's usually a reason why.
Keratin is a protein needs for healthy hair

Rushli
November 27th, 2014, 11:27 PM
Eggs and beans are good sources of Keratin if I remember correctly. I love adding beans to things. DH gets a little sick of them, but my boys will just snack on them without them being in anything. (on their non-picky days anyway)

Thankfully pretty much all the hair on my head has been grown while being pregnant or breastfeeding, so I have overall been pretty good with getting lots of good food in my body. Now that I have no plans for either in the near future, I need to motivate myself to keep being healthy. I am terrible about not eating so that I can get things done around the house (SAHM) then crashing in the afternoon and eating whatever is easy to make lately....

ChloeDharma
November 28th, 2014, 04:27 AM
I think I probably struggle to get much protein, at least regularly. I did get into the habit of eating an omelette for breakfast and I snack on nuts and seeds but I'm one of those people who is likely to just have some pasta for dinner.
It's interesting you mention cottage cheese, that's one of those things I really like but forget to buy. Next time I go shopping I'll have to remember to pick some up.

Aderyn
November 28th, 2014, 04:44 AM
Protein is in pretty much everything and protein deficiency is really not something to worry about unless you have a really poor diet (whatever the cause may be) or some extraordinarily rare medical condition..

Great sources are from whole foods: fruits, certain veggies, beans/legumes, nuts/seeds, soy, rice, pasta even. All vegan, and most of which are completely affordable.

In2wishin
November 28th, 2014, 06:47 AM
Good sources of protein definitely make a difference to the health and quality of hair. Chia seeds are a great vegetarian source for sure. A lot of people wonder why they have hair loss and diet has a lot to do with if. If you all of a sudden to in a crash diet then a month down the road start losing hair, that's usually a reason why.
Keratin is a protein needs for healthy hair

A few years ago I went on a long term weight loss program but I was going for the most bulk for my calories so I wasn't eating nearly enough protein or fat. About six months in, I started shedding and lost about 1/3 of my hair, which has never fully recovered. I found one of my old diaries and plugged it in to a nutrition analysis. It turns out I was eating only 10% fat and 15% protein. This time, I am using an online site that tracks calories but also tracks protein, fat, carbs, and some other nutrients like fiber. My goals are 35% each protein and carbs and 30% fat. My hair is actually thicker since I started back in January!

I eat lean meats, beans, and dairy. I tend to not eat much cottage cheese because of the sodium in it (I'll save that for the hard cheeses) but almost every lunch will include 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt with a scoop of protein powder. I like the Body Fortress brand in either vanilla or chocolate and 1 scoop is 30 g of protein.

ETA: I also eat about a dozen eggs a week

Annalouise
November 28th, 2014, 10:53 AM
The advice I heard from a long haired person was that if you are growing your hair, you should have a protein with every meal, and you should eat three meals a day.

Other long haired persons have told me that diet is more important than what you put on your hair.

LauraLongLocks
November 28th, 2014, 11:13 AM
Protein is needed for every structure in the body, including hair. I think a high-protein, high fiber, unrestricted fat diet is best. I try to eat at least 100 grams protein every day when I am not pregnant, breastfeeding, or training for races. When I have additional stresses on my body, I increase my protein intake so that I am getting about 1 gram protein for every pound of my body weight. I do not restrict natural fats at all. I consume full-fat dairy, eat tree nuts and peanuts, and use coconut oil, butter, and olive oil in my cooking. Vegetables and fruit are great sources of fiber, and if you pair them with some healthy fat, it makes it easier for your body to absorb the vitamins and minerals in them. I try to keep my carbohydrate intake on the low side because carbs crowd out other, more nutrient-dense foods. When I am training for distance races, I need more carbs, but I try to time them when my body needs them most (right before a long run) so that I will burn them off.

optimisticStar
November 28th, 2014, 11:36 AM
Tonight DH and I ended up with some time to ourselves and spend over an hour talking about hair. (!!!!!) One topic we covered was protein. Protein helps hair grow, so he encouraged me to start drinking a protein shake in the morning. (such a sweetie, trying to help me reach my goal faster!) I usually skip breakfast unintentionally, so this would be good for me in general, but he also said that we often wake up protein deficient. He said one good way to help counter going protein deficient over night is to eat cottage cheese at night. It is largely casein protein which breaks down slowly so your body is getting some all night long. (vs whey, which breaks down quickly, but if you mix it with milk rather then water, it slows down absorption since milk as casein)


I also have been adding chia seeds to our meals. DH puts his on his nightly cottage cheese. I am not sure what kind of protein they have, but do know they are a good source along with many other vitamins and minerals. I believe they are 14% protein, so perfect for any vegans out there. (about 4g per oz of seeds)


What are your thoughts on the subject? Anyone else drinking shakes, or eating foods high in protein?

I don't take protein shakes, but do get my protein from other vegetarian sources. Milk and greek yogurt has good amounts of protein. Even soy milk also has good protein. Apart from this, my daily diet consists of lots of beans, lentils and brown rice for protein. Green smoothies with kale, spinach and fruits with flax and hemp seeds. Some nuts i.e. usually almonds and peanuts. Also, green peas, lima beans and edamame beans (I get the frozen ones from walmart) also has good amount of protein too. You can add them to your salads or I usually add them to my pastas. I used to have cottage cheese mixed with nuts, but then it started becoming too heavy for me.

optimisticStar
November 28th, 2014, 11:40 AM
Protein is needed for every structure in the body, including hair. I think a high-protein, high fiber, unrestricted fat diet is best. I try to eat at least 100 grams protein every day when I am not pregnant, breastfeeding, or training for races. When I have additional stresses on my body, I increase my protein intake so that I am getting about 1 gram protein for every pound of my body weight. I do not restrict natural fats at all. I consume full-fat dairy, eat tree nuts and peanuts, and use coconut oil, butter, and olive oil in my cooking. Vegetables and fruit are great sources of fiber, and if you pair them with some healthy fat, it makes it easier for your body to absorb the vitamins and minerals in them. I try to keep my carbohydrate intake on the low side because carbs crowd out other, more nutrient-dense foods. When I am training for distance races, I need more carbs, but I try to time them when my body needs them most (right before a long run) so that I will burn them off.

+1 to unrestrictive healthy diet. My hair was at it's best condition when I had a unrestrictive diet. My hair growth stalled when I went on restrictive diet to lose weight.

LauraLongLocks
November 28th, 2014, 11:56 AM
+1 to unrestrictive healthy diet. My hair was at it's best condition when I had a unrestrictive diet. My hair growth stalled when I went on restrictive diet to lose weight.

Well, I do restrict total calories because I'm purposely losing weight right now. I'm about 15 lbs heavy after giving birth to my stillborn son last month, and have no baby to help me with the weight loss through breastfeeding. The foods I am eating are unrestricted as far as content (though I try to make sure carbs don't take too much space and crowd out the nutrient-dense foods), but the total calories are designed for a half-pound loss every week. Very gradual weight loss is key, especially when you only have a few pounds to lose. If I tried to lose 1-2 lbs a week I would have to starve myself to do it. My body would burn my muscle for energy requirements. Best to lose weight gradually. Half a pound a week will get me to my goal weight in about 6 months and I'll not be destroying my metabolism in the process. I am only getting very light exercise right now (I am a long-distance runner and triathlete) because my knee might need surgery. All I am doing is walking and physical therapy exercises. I calculate my walking calories burned and eat back most of those calories so that I don't lose weight too quickly.

jacqueline101
November 28th, 2014, 12:04 PM
I know it's off topic how much protein should we consume. I was wondering if you can overdose on protein. I drink slimfast and I've started eating pb&j sandwiches. I'm hoping the protein helps.

Sunny_side_up
November 28th, 2014, 12:38 PM
Protein rich meals and good fats keep me going through the day, i definitely feel it when ive not had a decent amount of protein in the day, work schedule makes me go by three meals a day.(though evening snacking can get out of hand ha ha especially if the daytime foods have been carbs and naughty sugars) Im fuller for longer when i eat a buttery omelette for breakfast. lunches that are carby and medium- large make me sluggish in the afternoon.Read recently that protein spaced out during the day works well for hunger control and keeping some people feeling energetic and in a good mood. Find this applies to me. So generally every meal for me will have at least 20-25g protein.

kganihanova
November 28th, 2014, 01:08 PM
I have a spoonful of peanut butter at breakfast and try to eat protein rich food throughout the day. This actually helped me tone up a lot, I was surprised. I wasn't expecting that kind of effect.

tigereye
November 28th, 2014, 01:55 PM
I'd advocate a healthy diet over supplementing protein. But anyway, If you're drinking protein shakes, from a medical point of view, you would get more benefit from drinking them over the course of a couple of hours than downing one at breakfast. If you drink it all at once, your body just gets rid of it again to avoid excessive levels of amino acids or peptides in the bloodstream. If you drink it all at once without real food, it gets absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly, and most of it ends up going down the toilet because your cells can't take it up that quickly. So drink it slowly.

Katlette
November 28th, 2014, 02:09 PM
I like to mix (unflavoured and unsweetened) whey protein into porridges and smoothies to help me stay fuller for longer. I try to get 100 grams of protein a day and (as a vegetarian) protein powders really help me get there.

The official guidelines for protein intake vary across countries, but generally 1g of protein per kg of bodyweight is considered necessary for most people. If you do a lot of sport or are interested in gaining muscle 2g/kg is often recommended. I'd guess for hair growth you'd like to be closer to the latter. My hair has certainly grown faster since I started paying attention to my protein intake, but that might be a spurious correlation - I started exercising a lot around the same time, which might be the main cause of my hair growth.

kitana97
November 28th, 2014, 02:20 PM
A couple summers ago I ate chicken breast every day for whatever reason and I did notice an increase in my hair growth. However, now that I've been vegan for a couple months (3rd attempt ;P ) I've noticed an even bigger growth rate. I've been eating so much fat - coconut oil in particular - and daaang I can't believe my hair growth. It's never grown so much before. I had my yearly trim in August (about 1 - 1.5inches) and it's grown back plus some! Anyone else notice similar results from plant fat?

ChloeDharma
November 28th, 2014, 04:47 PM
A couple summers ago I ate chicken breast every day for whatever reason and I did notice an increase in my hair growth. However, now that I've been vegan for a couple months (3rd attempt ;P ) I've noticed an even bigger growth rate. I've been eating so much fat - coconut oil in particular - and daaang I can't believe my hair growth. It's never grown so much before. I had my yearly trim in August (about 1 - 1.5inches) and it's grown back plus some! Anyone else notice similar results from plant fat?

Sadly no but my skin does very well with the oils I eat so I'm more than happy to settle for that. I use coconut oil but mostly virgin avocado and rice bran oil. I try to add hemp seed oil and get fats from various raw nuts and seeds too. There's a blend you can get called "cool oil" which has a mix of oils including evening primrose, hemp seed, pumpkin seed and I think flax, that one is very good.

thefreakingmoon
November 28th, 2014, 06:04 PM
I had a bit of a problem with disordered eating (excessive restriction) during my senior year of high school/first year of college, and my hair growth nearly stopped. It grew maybe three inches during that time. Once I was on a less restrictive diet (one higher in protein and fat due to going paleo) my hair grew like a weed. Now I'm on a more moderate diet in terms of food groups and find my hair grows about at the average rate--about half an inch per month when well-cared for.

Now if only I could be as thin as I was during high school with that kind of hair growth, hahaha :P

Rushli
November 28th, 2014, 10:08 PM
So much to read! Thanks for sharing all this great info.

I'd advocate a healthy diet over supplementing protein. But anyway, If you're drinking protein shakes, from a medical point of view, you would get more benefit from drinking them over the course of a couple of hours than downing one at breakfast. If you drink it all at once, your body just gets rid of it again to avoid excessive levels of amino acids or peptides in the bloodstream. If you drink it all at once without real food, it gets absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly, and most of it ends up going down the toilet because your cells can't take it up that quickly. So drink it slowly.
I wish I would take the time for an omlet in the morning but that is just not realistic for me. I barely function in the morning. I am not good at downing shakes anyway and would drink it over the next hour or so. In the past I have tried oatmeal, yogurt, fruit and some protein powder smoothe in the morning. I would make it the night before. The problem was that my boys wanted some too. Maybe I will have to look for a larger glass that concels its contents.

I also use to snack on nuts thought the day. So much so that I am rather sick of everything but cashews... And they are spendy! Any other good protein snacks? I do some yogurt at snack time.

LLL, so sorry for your loss! I can't even imagine what you are going through.

LauraLongLocks
November 28th, 2014, 10:59 PM
LLL, so sorry for your loss! I can't even imagine what you are going through.

Thank you. I have been pretty numb to tell the truth.

Zindell
November 29th, 2014, 01:03 AM
I'm the odd fish in this matter. I keep protein intake (especially from animal sources) low to minimize the aging effects of IGF-1, TOR etc.

Sure, I want long hair asap, but I don't want to speed up the aging process to get there faster. :p