How to get thick hair superfoods will help you rejuvenate your hair. You can also prevent and treat split ends, hair loss, and premature graying. Keep reading to learn which superfoods to add to your diet (with tips on how to eat them!) and which foods harm your hair.
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How to get thick hair – Eliminate heat in the blood
Firstly, it’s helpful to understand why you might have problems with your hair. According to Chinese medicine, it is said that the hair is the odds and ends of blood. In other words, your blood nourishes your hair.
Advice to parents from the 12th century tells them, “If a young many is gray-headed, has lost his hair, or has a lot of dandruff, there is excess heat in his blood.” In the 16th century, Chinese medicine texts explains that plentiful blood flow makes the hair thick, moist, and lustrous, whereas insufficient blood supply wither
What causes problems with your hair?
Too much heat in the blood causes the hair to become yellow or dingy, and further disruption of healthy blood causes whitening of the hair. It also causes hair loss, split ends, and greasy hair.
As you age, maintaining healthy blood flow becomes more difficult, which is why eventually everyone will have whitening and thinning of the hair.
Since unhealthy hair has a close relationship with blood, you have the power to reclaim your lustrous hair. You can also turn white hair darker, stop hair loss, and fix other problems with your hair.
The right diet, physical exercises, breath work, and massage will improve the condition of your blood and hair.
How to get thick hair – What not to eat
You might drool looking at the foods pictured below. You’re not alone. Many people in the west cannot resist fried, fatty, sugary foods. The problem is that they create heat in your blood and cause hair loss, thinning hair, and other problems. They are the opposite of how to get thick hair superfoods. Furthermore, they cause a lot of other health problems.
For example, in 200 BCE, scholars included the topic of unhealthy hair, premature graying, and balding in the Huang Di Nei Jing, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic. In this famous work, people are cautioned that eating too much:
- Sweet food makes the hair fall out
- Salty food damages the blood and therefore the hair
- Fried, fatty food damages the kidneys and creates acidic blood
Eating a healthy diet for thick hair
The food you eat helps you build healthy blood and ensure healthy kidneys. Weak kidneys are the source of unhealthy blood and hair.
If you don’t eat a wide variety of foods, imbalances result, leading to gray hair and other problems. Balance the six tastes in your diet: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy, and pungent. If you are over 50, cook all food.
There are superfoods that really make a difference. You should add these foods to your how to get thick hair diet.
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RECOMMENDED SUPERFOODS
WALNUTS
- Properties: warm; sweet
- Functions: Reduce inflammation and alleviate pain, nourish Kidneys, adrenals, and brain.
- Contraindications: Do not eat if you have diarrhea, a red face, or strong thirst.
BLACK SESAME SEEDS
- Properties: neutral to cool; bitter, spicy
- Functions: lubricates intestines and Zang (yin) organs. Treats low back pain, stiff joints, dizziness, numbness, and headaches caused by deficient body fluids.
- Contraindications: Do not eat if you have diarrhea, which might come from a cold or yang deficiency constitution. Watch for allergy symptoms, which are rare but can happen. If you have Kidney failure or were told to avoid foods with phosphorous, eat in small amounts. Toast or cook to avoid blocking the intestines.
HOW TO GET THICK HAIR TIP – EAT WALNUTS AND BLACK SESAME SEEDS
- Walnut powder: grind 2 ½ T walnuts halves or pieces into a powder; mix with water and drink daily for 2 months
- Walnut & rice porridge: mix 5 tsp walnut powder, ½ cup rice (soaked for 20 minutes), and 1 ¼ cups water, then cook for 50 minutes to strengthen the kidneys, improve memory, and sharpen mental focus.
- Paste: crush 2 ½ T walnuts and 1 T black sesame seeds. Mix with 1 tsp honey (optional). Take dosage daily in the morning for at least one month for dry hair, spit ends, premature graying
BLACK SOY BEANS
- Properties: Neutral; sweet (soybean and soymilk). Cool; sweet (tofu)
- Functions: Treats rheumatism, Kidney disease, and Kidney related conditions such as low backache, weak bones, and painful knees.
- Contraindications: People with gout or high urine acidity should avoid too much tofu. Do not cook tofu with spinach. Combine with another protein and/or a little sugar to avoid producing too much gas. Make sure edamame (non-dried soybeans) have not been frozen too long. Too much soy can weaken the Kidneys, so eat in moderation.
HOW TO EAT BLACK SOYBEANS
- Simmer one cup of beans in five cups of water for an hour. Remove and save the juice and continue cooking the beans. Take ½ cup juice ½ hours before meals as a remedy for muscle spasms and cramps, inflammation, and chronic cough, which result from weak Kidneys.
KIDNEY BEANS
- Properties: Cooling; sweet.
- Functions: Increases yin fluids, treats edema and swelling. Increase yin fluids which helps the Kidneys.
- Contraindications: People who are generally thin, frail, or very dry in nature should limit their consumption.
HOW TO GET THICK HAIR TIP – EAT KIDNEY BEANS FOR LUSTROUS HAIR
- Soak for 12 hours or overnight in four parts water to one part legume. For best results, change the water once or twice. Soaking softens the skin and begins the sprouting process, which reduces or eliminates phytic acid. This makes the beans more digestible.
- Discard soaking water and add new water and beans to a pot (again four parts to one).
- Bring to a boil and discard foam on top.
- Boil for 20 minutes with lid off. Enzymes that make digestion difficult will disperse with the steam.
- Now the beans are ready to bake in a recipe. You can also drink the juice, ½ cup before a meal.
SWORD BEANS
- Properties: Warm; sweet.
- Functions: Warm the Kidneys and stimulate yang; reduce aches in the sides of the abdomen; decrease gas; stop yang weakness associated with hiccups.
- Contraindications: Must not be eaten raw and must be cooked long enough. Avoid if you have stomach heat have a burning sensation or hunger pains in the stomach
HOW TO GET THICK HAIR TIP – EAT SWORD BEANS
- Eat up to 1 ½ cups of sword beans per day. Add to your diet up to 2 times per week.
- Cook thoroughly at 212 degrees Fahrenheit to kill toxins. Cook until the beans are soft.
- Stir-fry: Wash and thoroughly cook sword beans with diced or shredded potatoes.
CHESTNUTS
- Properties: Warm; sweet.
- Functions: Tonify the Kidneys; strengthen the Spleen; strengthen tendons and brain functioning; nourish the Stomach; resolve swelling; stop bleeding
- Contraindications: Do not eat too much. Safe overall.
HOW TO GET THICK HAIR TIP – EAT CHESTNUTS
- Eat up to ½ cup of chestnuts per day for lustrous hair. Okay to add to your diet 3-4 times per week for lustrous hair.
- Roasted: Cut an T shape on the shells with a paring knife. Arrange on a baking rack or baking sheet. Roast until the shells pull back from the cuts and the nuts are soft, at least 15-20 minutes. Peel off the shell and eat.
- Roasted: Cut an T shape on the shells with a paring knife. Arrange on a baking rack or baking sheet. Roast until the shells pull back from the cuts and the nuts are soft, at least 15-20 minutes. Peel off the shell and eat.
PISATCHIOS
- Properties: Neutral; bitter, sour, sweet.
- Functions: Tonifies Qi. Nourishes Liver and Kidney yin. Lubricates the Large Intestine. Promotes blood circulation for lustrous hair.
- Contraindications: Avoid if you have a damp constitution. (Don’t know your constitution? Take the “My Body Type” quiz.
HOW TO GET THICK HAIR TIP – EAT PISTACHIOS FOR LUSTROUS HAIR
- Eat up to ½ cup of pistachios maximum per day. Okay to add to your diet 3-4 times per week. Alternate with other nuts.
- Roasted nuts are recommended.
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HOW TO GET THICK HAIR SUPERFOODS REFERENCES
Zhang, Y. & Yao, Y. (2012). Your guide to health with foods & herbs: Using the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine. Shanghai: Better Link.
Pitchford, P. (2002). Healing with whole foods: Asian traditions and modern nutrition 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.