Are you struggling with hair loss when you are fasting? I frequently get this question and I recently did a Youtube video, can fasting cause hair loss, to help provide some answers to those of you that are experiencing hair loss.

Hair Loss and Minerals

Healthy hair follicles need a balance of these 7 vitamins and minerals present in the body: Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin C, vitamin E, Iron, Selenium and Zinc. When these nutrients are out of balance, hair loss can occur. Why might your nutrient balance be off? It usually comes down to one of two things: 

1. A mineral deficiency in the body, where you’re not getting enough of the 7 essential nutrients, whether through foods or supplementation.
2. Or, it’s an issue of toxicity in the body, where you’re actually getting the right nutrients, but the nutrients are unable to enter the cells because toxins are blocking the cell receptor sites.

Hair Loss and Mineral Deficiency

What if you’re eating all the right foods, could you still be mineral deficient? The answer to that question is, yes. Since the early 1900’s, our soils have become progressively more and more depleted of vital minerals and trace minerals necessary for optimal plant, animal and human health. This is due to things like chemical spraying and single crop farming practices. Remember plants cannot manufacture minerals, so if any mineral is not in the soil where the plant is grown, it’s not in the plant no matter how good of a reputation that plant has for a particular mineral. I highly recommend you watch the documentary, Kiss the Ground for more on why our soils are failing, and why this is a serious issue for humanity. 

In parallel to the issue with our soils, we are also living in the most toxic time in history. Toxins like pesticides, glyphosate, heavy metals, and plastics are ever present in our environment, homes and workplaces. When these toxins enter the body, they clog up the cell’s receptor sites. Receptor sites are an opening in the cell wall that is essential for allowing hormones, information and nutrients to enter. If these sites are blocked by toxins, it doesn’t matter how well you eat, or how many quality supplements you take, nothing is getting in.

Supplementing with IonBiome can help fortify the gut lining, to strengthen the gut’s barrier function from toxins you ingest, preventing toxins from entering the body in the first place.

Could your hair loss be from fasting?

Yes and no. It may seem like fasting is the cause, but in actuality fasting will help lead you to the deeper underlying issue. If you are autophagy fasting regularly, which means 16-18 hours, you may experience hair loss. Here’s why. We love autophagy fasting because it turns on the intelligence of the cells, which allows the cells to repair themselves. However there are two things to keep in mind about autophagy fasting. First, autophagy won’t work on heavy metal toxicity or synthetic chemicals, only organic matter. Second, autophagy can stimulate something called apoptosis, which is where the intelligence of the cells decides to kill certain unhealthy cells, aka “cell death”. When this happens, the toxins from those cells will look for another cell to attach to. When toxins are circulating around like this, it can feel unpleasant.

So, while autophagy fasting can accelerate hair loss, it is only because there is an underlying issue of either mineral deficiency and/or a high toxic load. This does not mean you should stop fasting, but it does mean there may be more for you to uncover in your health journey. 

Also, hair loss can be more common in people who have thyroid issues. The thyroid is often the “canary in the coal mine” for patients. It is a warning sign that you might have mineral deficiency and/or a high toxic load, at the root cause of your thyroid condition. Once patiences address the toxicity issue, the thyroid issue usually clears up on its own. 

Here’s what you should do for hair loss:

Solution 1: Up your vitamins and minerals.

We like using MIN by Systemic Formulas, especially when doing longer fasts. You can also add Redmond Sea Salt to your diet for added minerals. Not all salts are the same, which is why we like this one.

Solution 2: Look at your toxic load.

As I mentioned, toxicity is often the underlying root cause of cell dysfunction, which is leading to hair loss. Take my Heavy Metal Toxicity Quiz here. Testing your heavy metal load is the best way of finding out whether heavy metals are at issue for you. This can be done with a Heavy Metal Test, specifically we would look for the presence of toxins that can cause hair loss, such as lead, cadmium and thallium. 

If we find that toxicity is an issue, we recommend doing a deep detox like the 90-Day Toxin Reset that will go deep into the cells, pull out the toxins and remove them from the body. 

Solution 3: Work on diet variation.

We often have a preference for specific fasts, our favorite fast, and find ourselves sticking to that fast over and over. However our bodies thrive from hormesis, a biological phenomenon whereby a you can improve health, growth or longevity through small stressors on the body, such as changing your fasting style. When we switch between shorter and longer fasting periods, the body begins to learn how to adapt and in turn, create better health. 

Ready to expand your fasting repertoire?

The best way to expand your fasting repertoire is through one of my Live Resets. Join me in the upcoming Forever Fat-Burner Reset, where over the course of 15 days, 4 LIVE calls and daily video lessons, you’ll learn:

• How to use diet variation, fasting and exercise to become a fat burner 
• Try different lengths and types of fasts, like Ketobiotic, Low Keto and Carnivore  
• How to complete a 36-hour water fast, plus how to re-feed your microbiome afterwards
• How to use protein cycling to build muscle
• What to balance your hormones