Operation Peanut Butter...And Many Other Sources of Protein! (Let Food Be Thy Medicine Contest Entry)

For a number of years now, I have had a burnout. And in my recovery process, I seem to have hit a plateau. There came a time when I was not gaining weight, and I was not gaining more energy. No matter what I did, progress had stopped.

On top of that, I began to shed hair, severely. My hair was thinning as a result. I began counting the number of strands I would shed every day and when washing my hair. Daily, I was losing about 50 strands of hair, and when washing, close to 300 strands. That means that in a week, I was shedding more than 1000 strands of hair.

This caused me to pause and I knew something was wrong, something was up. I've always had a thick mane of hair, and I was finally seeing it become long like I wanted again. I had stopped going to the hairdresser's because of a mishap that cost me 5 inches of my hair. And while I know that as we get older, women tend to have thinning hair compared to at 20 years old, I'm only 36, at the time that I noticed this, 35.

I got in touch with a nutritionist to find a solution to my diet that might help. And then I experimented with that.

Okay, so before I jump to what saved my hair, I need to explain my title. In Quebec, there was a movie called "Opération Beurre de Peanut", which translates to "Operation Peanut Butter." In the film, the kids do some sort of weird experiment, I forget if it actually involved peanut butter, and the guy's hair just does not stop growing. It grows to the ground within hours. He has to continuously cut it every day and it's this weird spooky thing with ever growing hair.

Okay, so back to my solution to help me become more healthy, which also saved my hair. If you're guessing Peanut Butter, well it's part of it, but basically the solution was to eat a lot more PROTEIN! I had to cut the intense sugars and have them less often, but I still eat lots of fruit and my body assimilates that well. Refined and rich sugary foods (damn coconut ice cream dessert, I will cheat this summer with it), cut down on pasta and rice. I discovered a really great corn based gluten free pasta that is perfect for me. So now I rarely have those two starches. And lots and lots of protein. More meat, more peanut butter as snacks, not just for breakfast, more hummus, more of everything protein-y that is non-dairy and safe for me to eat.

Also, I stopped plucking out my white hairs. They're actually quite strong, and I am grateful to have white hair on my head that contributes to my shiny mane. The white hairs actually add some extra glimmer to the green, blue and violet, even if they're mostly visible where the brown roots are, hah!

Now, over a year later, my scalp is less sore, my hair is starting to be thicker again (I know this is a process that will take time). The amount of hair I shed now is maybe a few hundred in a week at most. Some days I can shed 15 strands of hair, when washing maybe 60. Plus all that protein has helped it grow much longer, so Operation Peanut Butter is practically applicable here in that sense too. And, AND, I have more energy, I have better ease sleeping, despite all the sleep troubles I still have, I'm more regular (because that's important too), and I'm keeping the weight I gain better and slowly gaining more. Not yet at my target wight of 125 lbs, but I'm around 113 now.

There are times when I cheat and have more sugar, but my protein intake remains the new increased amount. If I notice a few more hair strands than the new usual being shed, then I know to be extra careful. My hair is my gauge, and you can be damn sure that I'm going to take good care of my long hair so that it can re-become Lady Godiva-esque again.

I just want to make a note that this isn't any kind of specific diet, like paleo or keto or anything like that. It's a unique diet to my specific needs, geared for my body, and my body has its signals for me to look out for and listen to. And I am constantly readjusting it. Sometimes I eat less hummus because it's a blood thinner (so... women things). At other times I allow myself more sugars, other times I eat meat heavy meals, and sometimes I eat vegan but full of protein meals. And through it all, every day the fruits my body enjoys, the fruits that help with my hypoglycemia, because I have that to take into account as well. As long as my protein intake is relatively high and refined sugar intake fairly low, and as long as I eat when I'm hungry and I don't let myself starve, I'm good. And I hope that over time, I'll gain even more weight and energy, and maybe by then I'll be sitting on my hair.

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This was my entry for the "Let Food Be Thy Medicine" Contest at @NaturalMedicine. You can find the original post here: https://steemit.com/naturalmedicine/@naturalmedicine/exploring-the-healing-power-of-food-win-over-40-steem-in-prizes

Images in this post are royalty free images from Pexels.com. The last image is a selfie of myself, which I took with my Canon Powershot SX730 HS.

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