Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

okay well im not exactly a pure vegatarian, i eat fish.

im 16 and ive been a what ever i am for 3 years now

my hairdresser said i have a 1/3 of the hair i used to have and i believe her my hair is soooooooo thin and my dad complains that i get sick wayy to much (but i dnt agree w.him)

neways i have vitamins but i hateee them i know thats not a good excuse but id rly prefer not to take them

and i rly dnt research what im supposed to be eating or pay attetion at all but i wanna start

does ne1 have any food that they know help when it comes to protein and stuff like that? or any recipes or tricks.. please help

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

Sorry this a long answer. I wanted to be as informative as possible. Rest assured I didn't just copy paste a whole mess of info!!!! :-)

First of all, I would go to a doctor if you can afford it to rule out any serious medical conditions apart from possible vitamin deficiencies.

Secondly, it sounds like you would like to get more vitamins and protein. If you do not like supplements b/c the pills upset your stomach (like me), try kiddie vitas or vitamin powder (can get at Trader Joes, Whole foods, etc). However, if you are avoiding supplementation because you do not want the "unnaturalness" of pills, here are some suggestions:

-- Eat lots of dark leafy greens (spinach, kale, etc).Dark leafies have so many good vitamins and minerals. I like Kale and make it with a miso dressing (miso paste, vegan mayo, rice vinegar, sweetener). Miso, incidently has about 2g protein per serving- not a huge amount, but these little bits add up.

-- try using blackstrap molasses in place of some sweetener in recipes. For a sweetener, it is surprisingly nutritious and has significant amounts of Ca, K, Mg, and Fe (Iron).

-- Nutritional yeast. NY can be a vegan's (like me) best friend, but it is also good for vegetarians or semi-vegetarians as well. NY has B12 (hard to get elsewhere if vegan) and lots of amino acids

Key vitamins for healthy hair include, A, C, E, biotin, B3, B5, B6, and B12. Information about these and good food sources can be found here: http://hairloss.about.com/od/preventingh...

If you would like to monitor how much of what vitamins you are getting each day, make a free fitday account (fitday.com). This website allows you to enter each food and see nutritional info including vitamins of your diet.

Thirdly, you expressed an interest in upping your protein uptake. Here are some suggestions for food sources:

--Since you stated you eat fish, I would suggest eating oily fish ((like salmon) the most since there are good amounts of omega 3s (flax seeds are a veg source of some fatty acids, fyi). However, be sure to not overdo the fish intake b/c fish (especially swordfish, mackerel, and tilefish) because of mercury levels in the fish (for more info on Hg levels, see http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.h...

--Good sources of non soy veg protein are beans and quinoa. Quinoa is a grain (or seed, rather) with a high level of protein and complete essential amino profile.

-- Fermented soy is a good, healthy choice as well. If you get tired of tofu, try tempeh. It is my favorite. Tempeh is a fermented soy product originating in Indonesia. It has a less gooey/spongy texture than tofu and is more nutty tasting. Here is a recipe I personally use to marinate the tempeh. It give it a very savory, meaty taste. You can put tempeh in stir firy, salads, sandwiches, and even on pizza. It is very verstile so experiment with different marinades and applications.

Tempeh Marinade (no fixed amounts of ingredients below)

-Balsmic vinegar

-soy sauce

-nutritional yeast

-spice (I use montreal steak seasoning)

-miso (optional)

Just mix and marinate!!! After, grill, bake, or fry up your tempeh!!!

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

i would go to your doctor and have yourself check out to make sure that it not something really wrong

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

make a doctor appointment right away, make sure you can rule out something else not being wrong with you and make sure you are eating balanced

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

If you're not willing to do research, you probably shouldn't jsut blindly cut yourself off from meat. Why are you a vegetarian? If it's for animal rights, you may want to consider which is more important: the little piggies or you. Meet with your doctor and come up with a healthy alternative for meat, or go online and look up vegetarian diets. You can even buy books on it, vegetarian- and vegan- ism are in style now, you shouldn't have a hard time finding something.

If you're not committed enough to take your vitamins you should probably just opt for adding that steak to your diet.

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

Start here:

www.vrg.org/nutrition/teennutrition.ht...

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

The protein in vegetables is incomplete: it does not contain all of the amino acids necessary for health. If you eat the right vegetables, you can get all of these, but it sounds as though you aren't. Also, a vegetarian diet does not supply vitamin B-12, an essential nutrient. Bottom line: eat some meat; you will be healthier.

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

I think because you lack of B complex( which is very important for your hair). Try to eat more bean sprout( my secret tips to keep my hair pretty =D ). I eat bean sprout mostly everyday unless the salad bar out of it or I cant access to the salad bar

Do you ger enough rest? Stress could be the problem.

I know that people always make a big deal about being vegetarian. My mother always complain I am being vegan too.

Also, watch the list of ingredient in your vitamin. your hair need good source of zinc , magnesium to grow. There is some kind of vitamin that support your hair, nail and skin. it is kinda expensive though( i think around 15 or 20$$)

I gave some hair care tips in other questions. Check my profile( I think I answered those questions about 3 moths ago)

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

Sounds like you don't have a very balanced diet!

Try eating more Citrus fruits, Peanuts, walnuts, Sunflower seeds, Flax Seeds, Oatmeal, and Brown rice.

Get some of those Birds Eye Frozen vegetables too. They come in steamer bags and you can pop one of them in the microwave for about 5 %26amp; 1/2 minutes. Eat one of them everyday!

By the way, you are not a vegetarian if you eat fish. Vegetarians do not eat any kind of animal meat.

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

As you stated, you aren't vegetarian.

I love that people are jumping immediately to the "it's because you're vegetarian %26amp; aren't getting vitamin b%26lt;number%26gt;/protein". Wrong. Read the question. TROLLS: TAKE NOTE before you try to add this to your arsenal of crap. NONVEGETARIAN.

Go to the doctor.

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

You're probably missing some mineral in your diet. Go to the doctor and get a blood test, and then check out the results.

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

those are also some signs of anerexia, you might not be eating enough and you also do need more protien

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

A balanced and moderate diet will restore you to good health. Google "Flexitarian Diets" and check out the websites.

Teen vegatarians.. so im losing my hair, and i get sick easily..not enough protein?

It sounds as if you're not getting enough nutrients from your diet.

If you just stopped eating meat and didn't bother replacing it with healthier, plant-based alternatives, it's no wonder you're sick.

I would recommend going to a nutritionist, she should be able to analyze your condition and what foods you need more of. Doctors are generally very ignorant of nutrition, so don't bother going to them.

Good luck!