Your Nails are Digestive Report Card
Your nails are like a digestive report card!! Yep, just like your tongue!!! I’ll share more about the tongue next time, but for now let’s look at your nails.
What are the causes of Nail Changes?
Low Stomach Acid
Longitudinal Ridging - Sometimes described as "vertical ridging". You can often see it when you look at your nails at an angle, but sometimes you need to run your fingers over the nailbed crosswise to feel it. Often its not every finger, just some. If you see this, it’s time to look at symptoms of low stomach acid. If you’re also experiencing indigestion, bloating, or heartburn then the key is to increase the level of stomach acid. Longitudinal ridging also sometimes shows up in people who are deficient in iron.
What to do? ESSENTIALZYME!!!! It’s great for helping the body produce enough stomach acid AND break down the foods.
GI Tract inflammation
Bumpy" Nail Beds - By these I'm referring to the horizontal bumps/ridges you can feel when you run your finger lengthwise along the nail bed. (Note they run across the grain of the nail). Again, this is often not on every finger, but when it's present, you can certainly feel it. These are the beginning of what are called "Beau's lines". Commonly there is inflammation in the GI tract which is the root cause of the nutrient deficiency. So this is when I start talking to folks about their digestion and bowel habits.
What to do?? Life 9 Probiotic & for kids MightyPro! That’s a good start!
Low Zinc
Do you ever notice white spots on your fingernails or on the nails of others? You hear a lot of theories including calcium deficiency or nail damage. The actual underlying cause of those white spots is a zinc deficiency. Other signs of a zinc deficiency include a weakened immune system, change in taste, loss of appetite and diarrhea.
What to do: The best food source of zinc is from oysters. If you’re not an oyster fan then other options are beef, crab, cashews and chickpeas, to name a few. YL’s ImmuPro tablets does have a source of zinc, I take them nightly!!!
Soft/Peeling Nails
This happen when your nails seem to break off/peel of in layers when you damage them during everyday activities. Note this is different from a "chip". Often nails that peel are also very soft/bendable when you push on them. This problem is sometimes an essential fatty acid deficiency, but can also be related to protein intake/absorption. Again... we discuss digestion.
What do you do? Omegagize (healthy fats), Essentialzyme (to help your gut breakdown + absorb proteins & fats)
Pale nails or lack of “half moons”
Healthy nails are generally pink (underneath). Very pale nails may indicate illnesses, such as anemia or support in heart/liver area. Pale skin under nails can also mean the gut isn’t able to absorb nutrients properly. Sometimes if you don’t see a half moon near your cuticle, it “could” mean lack of vitamins, too.
What to do? Essentialzyme or Essentialzyme-4 to help your body break down and absorb nutrients. Also, a multivitamin like Master Formula would be great!
(Nail bed inflammation can just mean that bad germs are present under there - Tea Tree and essential oil topically is a nail health favorite!)
GOOD TO KNOW INFO
Have you noticed a theme here?
Healthy digestion and absorption of nutrients is important for healthy fingernail growth. Indeed it's important for all growth and repair in a healthy body.
Two MUSTS for nail health: Sulfurzyme & Ningxia Red!!! Sulfurzyme aids in strong healthy nails, but also aids in strong healthy liver & gut! Ningxia Red is fantastic for nutrients, which both our gut & nails need!
Foods that can improve your nails include fruits, lean meats, salmon, leafy greens, beans, eggs, nuts, and whole grains.
