Hair loss can be devastating, especially if you’re not sure why it’s happening. I’ve been hearing from many Resetters that they have been experiencing hair loss while fasting, so I wanted to dive into some of the common reasons why you may be losing hair. 

4 reasons  you may  experience hair loss:

You’re not varying your fasting style.

I see this happen way too often. Clients are either fasting way too much, or they’re not varying their fasting style and/or incorporating enough feast days. It’s easy to get too zealous with fasting, especially when you start seeing and feeling the amazing benefits, but I encourage you to keep in mind that the magic of fasting happens through metabolic switching, the process of going in and out of fat burning and sugar burning mode. When I spoke to Dave Asprey on The Resetter Podcast, I asked him this very question about hair loss. He was certain that if you’re losing hair when fasting, you should stop fasting so much. My advice is to vary your style of fasting. For example if you’re consistently, day after day, doing OMAD, one meal a day fasting, try dialing it back to Intermittent Fasting and make sure to add in enough feast days.

You have a mineral deficiency.

 Our soils and waters are depleted of minerals so it’s no wonder 93% of Americans are deficient in at least one vitamin or mineral. Fasting act as a mirror, reflecting back to you any underlying issue that you may have had prior to fasting. So if you start fasting with an existing mineral deficiency, that deficiency may accelerate with fasting and show up as hair loss. When it comes to hair health, there are 3 minerals that we need: iron, zinc and selenium. If you think mineral deficiency might be an issue, supplement with mineral rich organic foods or take a mineral supplement, like MIN by Systemic Formulas or Body Bio Electrolyte Concentrate, which I recommend people take while fasting to keep essential sodium, potassium and magnesium levels up. 

You have a thyroid problem.

The western medical system provides a very narrow and oftentimes incomplete understanding of thyroid issues. There are 11 thyroid tests that I recommend your doctor run to determine if and/or why you may have a thyroid issue. Again, fasting is a mirror. So if you go into fasting with a thyroid dysfunction, it will show up.

You have mold or heavy metal toxicity.

Toxicity is one of the most overlooked root causes of not only hair loss, but overall poor health. 50% of homes and workplaces are believed to have mold. Mold disrupts our body’s ability to function on a cellular level. In my own clinic, we have yet to find a patient that doesn’t have some level of heavy metal toxicity. Remember heavy metals are present in our tap water, air, foods, cleaning, cosmetic and personal products like deodorant and shampoo! To read more on toxicity, read Everything You need to Know about Toxins. 

Toxins block cell receptor sites, so cells aren’t able to get the nutrients they need to create energy. This can also be a reason why you’re mineral depleted. If your cells are blocked by toxicity, it doesn’t matter how many minerals rich foods you eat or supplements you take, your cells won’t get any of the benefits. So if you’ve tried supplementing and you’re still experiencing hair loss, it might be time for a Deep Detox.