I would by lying if I said that everything on this way of eating (a starch based diet) is all sunshine and roses. While I love eating this way, and I truly do, I am experiencing some annoying effects as well. A couple are a direct result of this drastic change but the big ones... I dont know if they are just coincidental.
To what am I referring?
For one, after cutting out overt fats and oil, my skin and scalp are DRY! No amount of moisturizer seems to fix that.
Next up..Almost immediately after I switched from an 80/10/10 diet to a starch based diet, my hair began to fall out. Six months later, it still hasnt stopped. By way of a miracle, there is still hair left on my head, and because my curls give it the impression of fullness, it looks like I have far more than I do. What can I say? It's depressing. At first, I thought I could attribute it to detox but how long could that really last? At around the same time, my skin had started breaking out and that too has not righted itself.
I decided to have some blood work done to see what was going on. In July, my results indicated that my ferritin and iron levels were very low as was my D. Right away, I started supplementing. Everything else seemed to be fine. I also noticed that my cholesterol levels were pretty high for someone who is trying to prevent heart disease. Going full throttle WFPB corrected that. About four or five months later, I had my blood tested again to see that everything was okay. My iron levels were improving but still had a ways to go. On other hand, my bloodwork indicated that I had heart disease proofed myself! Woo hoo! All my cholesterol numbers were amazing, to say the least. It felt great.
Still, no indication of what could be behind the hair loss. I went to a dermatologist who didnt think I had a problem, told me it was probably just genetic (this doesnt run in my family!) and suggested I use some sprays to help the situation. Im pretty sure that it is internal and that sprays arent going to help much. Sadly, an email to Dr. McDougall himself didnt yield anything helpful.
A visit to the gynecologist (my recent periods have been inexplicably painful!) resulted in a referral to an endocrinologist to make sure that my hormones are working properly. I was very grateful that he thought to point me in that direction because I am starting to think that the hair loss isnt due to a nutritional deficiency but rather something else. My moods have been rather off lately- I was in funk for quite a few weeks, so I'm thinking they're connected. I've also been suggested to try iodine, so Im going to investigate that route as well. In addition I'm starting to add back some overt fats such as avocado to help restore a healthy sheen to my skin and scalp.
To sum up, I'm loving my eating life except for the hair and skin issues. I refuse to believe that it's because I stopped eating meat. For me, taking the steps back into a meat eating diet is just not an option. Fingers crossed.
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