Being in the field of Nutrition, I’m swayed to think that diet has far more to do with our state of health, our looks and the health of our minds than most people realize.

But before you come to the conclusion that Mimi Kirk is just a rare exception, I’d remind you of Jack Lalane and others of his ilk who dedicated their lives to cleaner diets, a daily nutrient-dense juice and lots of whole foods devoid of toxins.

When I was in college I worked in a warehouse for a huge retail company.

One of the fork drivers was a man in his mid thirties who had dandruff so bad that he combed his hair every ten minutes. It was sad that he didn’t know what to do and he was obviously self conscious about it.

I’ve also known people with itchy scalps, split ends and brittle hair.

Fortunately, there are simple nutritional suggestions that will help.

Your Hair, Inside and Out

There are two ways to approach hair and scalp problems — inside and out:

From the Outside there’s certain chemical components to avoid.

From the Inside there’s what you’re eating.

If you concentrate on both sides of the issue, so to speak, you’ll have more success.

Outside: Watch What You Put Up There

Be careful what you put on your head.

Obsession with appearance is a disease in this country and millions of people put chemicals on their heads without thinking twice.

They believe that if they go to a hair salon or a store the products have been approved by the FDA and are safe to use. Not true!!

Unnatural chemicals are never safe. They always create side effects and they accumulate in your body as toxins. This is bad for your hair, not to mention the rest of you.

So don’t poison your head with artificial ingredients in gels, dyes, straighteners, curlers, shampoos, conditioners, toners, softeners lighteners or darkeners.

Switch to organic soaps, sprays, gels, shampoos, conditioners and other hair products that contain herbs, not artificial chemicals.

Inside: Feed Your Hair Through Your Mouth

What you eat affects the quality of your hair and scalp.

If you eat foods that unbalance your hormones, your hair suffers. Among these are bad fats, fried foods, junk food and artificial ingredients.

Good fats and oils

Bad fats and oils can cause dandruff and do not feed your hair.

Eat the right fats and oils for a positive impact on your hair:

• Unrefined, organic olive oil
• evening primrose
• borage oil
• flax seed oil
• And, above all, organic COCONUT OIL.

Excellent Sources of many of these can be found here.

Substances that should be cut out of your diet:

• vegetable sprays
• margarine
• canola oil
• trans fats
• potato chips
• french fries
• fried foods of all kinds

Sugar is Terrible for Your Hair

Sugar is awful not only for your hair, but also your skin, scalp, fingernails, and hormonal system. Don’t eat sugar if you want to help your hair.

Adding more seeds and nuts to the diet also helps, because they contain not only good oils, but also vitamin E, which is a great hair helper.

Additional Nutritional Supplements for Your Hair Health

Taking daily whole food supplements and essential oils can give your body the nutrients it needs to improve your hair luster.

This excellent supplement regimen (combined with the dietary suggestions above) can make a big impact over the course of a few weeks and months:

Wheat Germ Oil: 1 capsule a day

ProMin Complex: 8 tablets a day

Borage Oil: 4 capsules a day

Coconut Butter: for all your cooking

All of the above are available in our Online Store click here to buy.

photos:
© 2005 Tudor

Doctors in the natural health profession agree that good, lasting, quality health depends on nurturing two aspects of yourself — mind and body. Your body means more than just your skin, hair and nails. And it means more than just going on a diet, because losing weight isn’t all it takes.

Did you know that many of the top models eat junk food and candy to lose weight? The result is that their hair falls out and they suffer from blood sugar problems, inflammation and poor health even while they look beautiful to the camera. They hide these problems from the public. These models should be knocked off their pedestals because they are setting not only a bad example, but a false impression.

So if you want to be healthy, lose weight by eating organic seeds, nuts fruits, vegetables and a little meat. Take enough nutrients to feed your cells (we have some great formulas for this including Cell Power and SuperGreens PhytoFood), practice yoga, meditation or Tai Chi for your mind, and exercise three times a week at least. Build yourself from the inside out and you’ll be not only healthier, but happier as well.

Avoid toxins in your skin care products. These are high quality skin care products.

I’ve written about this for years, but I am by no means the only one. I’m speaking about the poisonous potential of most skin care products on the market today, and how you can avoid soaking in poisons through your face and body.

Several years ago a publisher sent me a copy of Drop Dead Gorgeous (by Kim Erickson), then another couple years later another publisher sent me a copy of Stacy Malkin’s Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. These books are screaming at people to pay attention to what they are putting on their skin. Why? Because whatever you smear on your face, lips, back, neck, hands, arms and legs ENDS UP IN YOUR BLOOD STREAM. The fact that MOST skin care products and cosmetics contain artificial, poisonous ingredients should be alarming to everybody.

In my own book, Evil Genius in the Garden of Eden, I explore some of the health connections between artificial ingredients in skin care products and diseases you get through their absorption.

In my house we won’t use any poisonous products, because we understand that toxins can lead to cancer and other symptoms and diseases. This is why I was happy to find a few companies that are reliable in their pure ingredients. They offer skin care benefits without the toxic load.

If you want to SAMPLE some great products without a big outlay of money, CLICK HERE for our Botanica Hawaiian Home Spa Kit. It’s a very reasonable introduction into clean, nourishing, organic skin care.

What is the moral of the story, if there is one? It’s mythic. In the pursuit of vanity, death can result.

A recent Newsday article reported,

Close friend Roberto Piazza said the procedure involved injections and the liquid “went to her lungs and brain.”

“A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind,” he said.

Since when has the natural aging process and truly natural beauty become unacceptable? And why can’t young women accept their bodies and faces as is? We can blame media images of skinny supermodels or highly photoshopped photographs. And we can blame the vacuous magazines, tabloids and online scandal sheets. However, in the final analysis, it comes down to what we are willing to accept as healthy minds and bodies. Still, I doubt this tragedy to a gorgeous young woman will act as a wakeup call.

In the old Roman days, bath houses were used with less toxic exposure than most Americans get while bathing in the comfort of their own homes.

by Vic Shayne, PhD

The craziest thing about soap and other body products these days is that MOST ARE TOXIC. It’s amazing, but true. There are more toxic chemicals in personal care products than the average person realizes. There are even cancer-causing agents that people wash their faces with.

In the old Roman days, bath houses were used with less toxic exposure than most Americans get while bathing in the comfort of their own homes with most soaps, shampoos, exfoliators and conditioners on the market! And that’s even taking into consideration that sanitation in 30 AD was pretty pathetic.

Some of the ingredients to avoid in your soap (read the labels to spot them) are: ammonia, ammonium hydroxide, animal products, artificial ingredients, bleach, chlorine, citric acid, dyes or colors, formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid, isopropyl alcohol, lye, naphtha, nitrobenzene, perchlorethylene, perfumes or fragrances, phenols, phosphates, propylene glycol, sodium hypochlorite, sodium laurel sulfate, synthetic chemicals, thickeners, or trichloroethane.

Twenty years ago, when I discovered this, I got rid of all the soaps in the house and switched to simple, non-toxic soap. The one I use now is Neem Soap, which contains only two main ingredients are aloe and neem (an anti-bacterial ingredient from neem trees).

The insanity is that soap manufacturers don’t care about the HEALTH OF YOUR SKIN, but instead they care about softness, moisture, tightness and even cleanliness — but all at the expense of your health. In the long run, with most soaps you are poisoning yourself. This is especially true because the skin is your body’s largest organ and therefore features a tremendous entry point for poisons to reach the inside of your body. Your pores are entry ways into your blood stream, so be careful what kinds of soaps you use, as well as all other BODY, BEAUTY & PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS!

So facial masks are strange. Or are they? What exactly is in that mud anyway? For thousands of years, wet, muddy, green clay has been applied to the face, allowed to dry and then washed off. The result? Increased health and beauty.

French clay contains some pretty amazing properties, now that scientists have taken a closer look at the substance. There are minerals, yes, but also constituents that tighten the skin and clean out the pores. In fact, university scientists have discovered that green French clay contains antibiotic and antifungal properties. It even has the ability to kill off bacteria that drugs cannot.

Plus, French green clay exfoliates. This means it takes off a layer of dead cells to allow the skin to breathe and replenish.

CLICK HERE FOR the best source available. All you need is your face, a little water and the clay. And, by the way, men can use it too.