Foods like salmon, sardines, and mackerel are packed with healthy omega-1 fatty acids.  Your body can’t make these healthy fats so you have to get them from food or supplements.  They help protect you from disease, but your body also needs them to grow hair and keep it shiny and full.

Greek Yogurt is packed with protein, the main building block of your hair.  Greek yogurt also has an ingredient that helps with blood flow to your scalp and hair growth.  It’s called vitamin B5 (known as pantothenic acid) and may even help against thinning hair and hair loss. You may recognize pantothenic acid as an ingredient on your hair and skincare product labels.

Like so many dark green leafy vegetables, spinach is full of amazing nutrients.  It has tons of vitamin A, plus iron, beta carotene, folate, and vitamin C.  These work together for a healthy scalp and mane.  They keep your hair moisturized so it doesn’t break.  Want to mix it up a little? Kale is another great green choice.

Getting too little iron can lead to hair loss.  You can find this important nutrient in fortified cereal, grains, pastas, soybeans, and lentils.  Beef, especially meats like liver, have lots of it.  Shellfish and dark leafy greens do too.

When you don’t get enough protein, hair growth “rests.” Since it stops and older hairs fall out, you can have hair loss. To get protein from meat, pick lean options like chicken or turkey, which have less saturated fat than sources like beef and pork.

Have dry hair that’s lost it’s shine?  Sweet potatoes are filled with a good-for-you antioxidant called beta carotene.  Your body turns beta carotene into vitamin A.  That helps protect against dry, dull hair.  It also encourages the glands in your scalp to make an oily fluid called sebum that keeps the hair from drying.  You can also find beta carotene in other orange vegetables like carrots, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and mangoes.

Article courtesy of WedMD.  To find other essential foods continue reading at: