Health: Hair, Skin & Nails, Part 1

So you want to have hair like a movie star? Skin, smooth and silky, reminiscent of the first flush of youth or maybe you crave those long beautiful fingernails that seem to adorn the hands of every successful woman. Okay, let’s face facts. Movie star hair is only that on the screen. Even the movie stars go for a ponytail more often than not and call it good. Eyes can be enhanced with makeup. And we all know we suffer the tortures of the damned in nail salons attaining those perfect nails. But all this is merely glossing over a core problem we in this nation face. Poor health.

Your hair, skin and nails are the body’s barometer for your health. Any physician worth his or her salt can instantly tell the overall health of a patient with one look. The specifics take a little longer. But if you’re low in iron, specific B vitamins as well as about every other vitamin in the lot, if you’re on a lot of medications or fighting illness, stress, exhaustion . . . hey, let’s face it . . . if you’re breathing, you’re screaming along the highway of life looking for the nearest exit. This all shows in your hair, skin and nails.

In this series we’ll explore a number of options available for healthier skin, hair and nails. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to beat that tired old drum, diet and exercise. If you want to look healthy, you have to be healthy.

The sad truth women face in today’s world is a constant uphill battle in achieving the quality of hair, skin and nails we desire. When we were young and came by it naturally, we took it for granted. When we hit menopause we wonder what train has just smacked us in the backside and where in the world did it come from? Then we ride on into the twilight of life dealing with thinning hair, sagging and wrinkling skin, and nails that saw their better days a good thirty years ago.

There is a solution. Mother Nature has got us covered, always has and always will. The human body is a fascinating piece of machinery, each part and portion meant to work in perfect harmony with the other. When something goes a little askew, there’s a chain reaction that manifests itself in many ways. One of the first manifestations of imbalance will be in the hair, skin and fingernails.

A combination of, diet, exercise, and supplementation can provide us with the healthiest bodies possible, again manifested in the hair, skin and fingernails.

While my taste buds may love a big, juicy, well-stacked cheeseburger . . . my body doesn’t. Of course, how can I pass up those delicious chocolate covered cherries that come with the holidays? I’d better pass them up if I want to maintain any kind of health. Pizza, burgers, fried chicken, french fries . . . oh yeah, I crave them, I want them . . . but there are better, tastier alternatives. Foods that are low in saturated fats and completely devoid of trans fats. What are saturated fats? What are trans fats? Why are they bad for you?

Check in next Monday for the next installment in healthy hair, skin and nails, thereby enjoying all over health.

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