Please HELP Dukan diet and hair loss !!!

I was reading the article about the protien bieng bad for your hair on foxnews ... cant post the link here yet
I was on protien diet (Dukan Diet) for quite few months--- could this be the reason why I am lossing hair ??? so confused now -- please help

Thanks

Ugh...more restrictive diets for little short term gain and lots of long term pain.

Yeah, why not? I was destroyed by low-fat & low-carb so it's perfectly legit that you're losing hair on this...protein diet. The worst part is these side effects are never mentioned alongside the model pics that the ads claim you will look like, if you just follow their "super simple program". F*** diets. Every single one will wreak some kind of havoc on your metabolism, and chances are you won't recover just by starting to eat like a normal person again. I've been down that road.

Protein isn't bad for your hair, in fact it's needed. Eating only protein, is definitely going to be bad for your hair.

It's easy to take health for granted and do crazy things when you still have it, but once things start going downhill there is hell to pay when you try to regain it.

If you haven't already stopped that diet, stop it immediately and for a start...

-- Make sure you get enough carbohydrates per day, preferably >150g.
-- Get tests; thyroid (TSH, T3, T4, FT3, FT4, rT3, TPOAb, TGAb), iron, stress hormones

Yes, that diet could definitely contribute. From the sounds of it, its probably nutrient deficient and very carb deficient. Take a look at some of Ray Peat's work to learn more about how vital carb intake is, especially for thyroid. He has some articles on PCOS I believe as well. I'd get your thyroid levels looked at by the doc.

Diet will always be open to much debate because the ideal diet is not only unknown it is different from person to person.

The thing that changed my life (not just saying this) is cutting all wheat/gluten out of my diet. I looked like a different person (was bloated with flab, water weight and lethargic before) now I've never had as much energy. In fact, people tell me they're amazed at how long I can go without needing rest at work/etc.

I also don't eat any dairy (rarely). I'll have some Kefir or yogurt from time to time but I believe dairy gave me a lot of problems just like wheat did and avoid it.


Beyond that I would advise you to stop eating out unless you're eating clean, whole foods. This also made a huge impact on my well-being. I'm usually disgusted every time I eat out now by the quality and preparation of the food 'they' feed us.

That's all I know.

Ned,

Don't mean to derail the thread here at all, but just wanted to ask you one quick question. Did you notice your weight normalized after cutting out wheat/gluten? Were you doing other things including lowering calories or increasing activity at that time? Good post btw. Absolutely agree.

anthonyspencer54 wrote:Ned,

Don't mean to derail the thread here at all, but just wanted to ask you one quick question. Did you notice your weight normalized after cutting out wheat/gluten? Were you doing other things including lowering calories or increasing activity at that time? Good post btw. Absolutely agree.

My weight went from 200-210 lbs to what it is now, 170-175. This was over 6 months or so and I was running, weight lifting, yoga, basketball etc. during this time. My ideal weight is probably 175-180. I've always been thin but I realized the bulk I did have was just flab and water weight, no muscle. Now I have virtually no body fat, although I need to get this tested, and am in the best shape of my life. I know it was gluten + refined carbs that were the main cause of this. I realized I had been poisoning myself for my whole life and am so fortunate to finally figure this out. Like I said to a lesser extent cutting out dairy and vegetable oils made an improvement as well.

I would have never realized this if I didn't go on a juicing diet/cleanse for quite a while. I didn't do this on purpose but I stayed on it for quite a while and slowly reintroduced different foods to see how they were effecting me.

I have no desire to ever have anymore wheat, dairy, or fried ever again.

Things I'm still eating that I need to figure out how much (if any) I can eat: eggs, beef, brown/white rice, potatoes

I know carbs are important but I really need to figure out what kinds are best. I cut out carbs altogether for about 6 weeks and honestly had no drop off in energy (if anything an increase) but was not able to work out as strong as I could when I was eating good carbs. I don't know something to think about. Any input would be great.

I've read the books like the perfect health diet etc. which is great and a good starting point for everyone.

Very interesting. I was trying to gauge if cutting gluten was the biggest factor in your weight loss. But from the looks of things, it might be impossible to tell given that you seem to have been very active during this period and also had a pretty intense cleansing diet happening for many weeks. It is interesting though that you still had the weight loss despite not cutting out starches completely.

How much did your total calorie intake and your activity level change between the gluten period and the zero gluten period, i.e., did you alter your total energy intake and output during this period? I know you did a juice cleanse, which probably put you hypocaloric, but it might not have if you were eating enough.

anthonyspencer54 wrote:Very interesting. I was trying to gauge if cutting gluten was the biggest factor in your weight loss. But from the looks of things, it might be impossible to tell given that you seem to have been very active during this period and also had a pretty intense cleansing diet happening for many weeks. It is interesting though that you still had the weight loss despite not cutting out starches completely.

How much did your total calorie intake and your activity level change between the gluten period and the zero gluten period, i.e., did you alter your total energy intake and output during this period? I know you did a juice cleanse, which probably put you hypocaloric, but it might not have if you were eating enough.

As simply as I can describe it it:

As a starting point-
April 2011-April 2012 - Very little exercise (knee surgery), diet was OK but included lots of gluten, eating out, dairy, corn etc. Also drank fairly regularly. Weight in June 2012 was around 210 which was the heaviest I've ever been

April 2012-October 2012 - Exercised everyday, lots of cardio/basketball, yoga, with weightlifting 3 times a week or so (I'm not a heavy lifter). Diet was a little bit cleaner (less eating out) since June 11-12 period, still lots of gluten, dairy and other crap. My weight took a long time to decline to low 200's and I towards the end I was 195-6. Virtually no drinking (compared to before) maybe 1-2 a month.

Oct 2012- March 2013 - No gluten (I admit I still eat it if I'm an invited guest at someones house but maybe 2-3 times since Oct- I'm not one of those people!), No dairy (small amount of cheese on a couple 2-3 occasions), still ate other clean carbs though for the first 1-2 months - Starting losing weight although I don't have exact numbers unfortunately, cut out all carbs for about 4-6 weeks, lost more weight and got to 165 or so, started eating other carbs and am back to around 175. During this period I have usually been working out 5 times a week on average, minus a week here or there on vacation/work trips.

I hope this helps. I don't have total proof but I know cutting gluten out at least helped me start losing weight and cutting all carbs really added to the weight loss. Now that I have a moderate amount of clean carb intake I am back at a weight I feel comfortable with.

NevadaNed wrote:Diet will always be open to much debate because the ideal diet is not only unknown it is different from person to person.

The thing that changed my life (not just saying this) is cutting all wheat/gluten out of my diet. I looked like a different person (was bloated with flab, water weight and lethargic before) now I've never had as much energy. In fact, people tell me they're amazed at how long I can go without needing rest at work/etc.

I also don't eat any dairy (rarely). I'll have some Kefir or yogurt from time to time but I believe dairy gave me a lot of problems just like wheat did and avoid it.


Beyond that I would advise you to stop eating out unless you're eating clean, whole foods. This also made a huge impact on my well-being. I'm usually disgusted every time I eat out now by the quality and preparation of the food 'they' feed us.

That's all I know.

NevadaNed,

I had the exact problem ( bloated and water weight ) that was also the reason why I had to cut down on Wheat/gluten. I feel great if you leave the hair issue aside --- my nails ,skin, weight and energy levels has never been this good ---- I am thankful to the protien diet for this change, however, my hair is paying the price....

Thanks for the details, Ned. And good for you on the weight loss. You are right about where I want to be in the next 2-3 months.

Low carb gives me vicious hair fall very quickly. Possibly women don't tolerate it as well as men. Also, my blood type is A, which, according to the Eat Right For Your Type doctor, is the worst blood type for eating lots of protein. Don't know what your blood type is, nara, but A is a common Western European blood type so maybe that's something to do with it. Just guessing, though. High protein is supposed to not be good for fibroids, either. Any type of fibroids.

Fruit and protein with some veggies and occasional starchy carb is a good health diet for me. I feel good, look good, hair does good. Unfortunately I am also a junk food addict so am currently having problems being good.

NevadaNed, how is your hair faring with the low-carb?

I don't see any difference one way or the other in my hair since I halted gluten/corn/dairy and reduced my carb intake. It hasn't been that long but I certainly haven't been losing anymore hair. I don't know if gluten had any negative impact on my hair but it certainly was hurting my body as a whole.

Gluten will hurt. Excess of any tendency will hurt too.

Eat a plant based diet with good quality protein, low glycemic carbs and good quality fats. add in green veggie juices and avoid cooked oils and you are good to go.

M