ridged and splitting nails

[pcat]

I wonder if anyone has experienced this or has any advice. I've been on a raw vegan diet for the last two and a half years and feel generally great. I did a 45 day juice feast last summer, looked and felt radiant. Now I'm back on solid foods though my eating patterns aren't that stable. I had ridges in my nails before I began, but nothing like as bad. My nails now split all the time. Similarly, I've been experiencing increased hair loss since the juice feast. Any tips?

[DebB]

For what it's worth - both of these are classic hypo-thyroid symptoms. *Ü*

[RawxyLiving]

I have similar problems, and yes, my thyroid is on the slower end of things. However, the best supplement I've found for hair and nails (and dry skin!) is Udo's 3.6.9 capsules. I started about 3 months ago and I'm pretty amazed at the difference in my scalp health and nails - both of which, are much more moisturized!

Hope that helps!

[pcat]

Thanks so much for the speedy replies. Very grateful. Hmm, that's interesting about the thyroid. I had a lot of blood tests recently and my thyroid was OK, but will re-check. I've taken thyroxin for yrs as I had low thyroid, even though I don't like taking stuff like that anymore. I'll also get the Udo's oil.

[mcster]

Maybe you're missing some nutrients? A lot of people automatically equate being raw with being healthy but all the information I've come across points to the fact that, as with every other lifestyle, there are multiple ways of eating raw and some lead to optimum health while others...well...don't.

Intuitively, it sounds to me like you might be deficient in vitamins and minerals (especially since you don't think it might be the thyroid). If this is in fact the issue, it could be because you're not consuming enough nutrient dense foods or because there is some imbalance in your body that is hindering absorption. Might be worthwhile trying to find the root cause but as a quick fix, you may want to consider upping fruit intake to get more vitamins and superfoods like wheat grass, spirulina and black strap molasses to give you a good boost in minerals.

Good luck!

[Stina]

I bet you and I both would benefit from generous amounts of sea weed in our diets!

[Arky]

Iron, Iron, Iron
Zinc
Sulphur

It can take a couple of years or more before nutritional deficiencies begin to make themselves known, after changing the way you eat. You state that you have been vegan for 2.5 years. Well, your body may be telling you that you have a deficiency in your nutritional intake. I suggest you examine your nutritional intake very carefully (and with a great deal of self-honesty). Your body is providing you with useful clues and I suggest you take full advantage of them. Both reduced hair growth and ridged nails can be related to iron deficiency, so I recommend investigating that possibility first. Also, as others have mentioned, thyroid insufficiency is a possibility. Also, as others have mentioned, a small amount of kelp is a useful source of trace minerals (including iodine). You can get lab-tested for thyroid insufficiency - eg:

Good luck.

[Bookish Lass]

strontium fixed this for me.

[fastfreedom]

About measuring the thyroid. I'm no expert, nor do I know much about what I'm about to say.

There's a horse guy near me that uses herbs and natural healing. He has helped horses that a top notch horse vet in the western US wasn't able to help. The vet said put the horse down, but the horse owner didn't give up and found the guy that uses herbs. Now the horse is fine. Sorry, just need to basically say that this guy is pretty competent.

He told me that the thyroid has two halves. And one half might be high and the other half may be low. So when a test is done to measure the thyroid it comes back saying, "all is good". But in reality it's unbalanced. On one of my horses this guy was using pressure points to see what was going on with him. And the thyroid PP caused my horse to react, that's when he explained the two halves of a thyroid to me.

I dunno if that info is of any help. It's just something I learned and wanted to share.

[Aleesha Sattva]

it may be another 'aspect' of fasting as well. i certainly wouldn't put that out of the pot of possible things...