The John Kender Diet for Trichotillomania
In the late 90s, John Kender found success by eliminating certain foods from his trichster daughter's diet, to see which foods increased her urges to pull her hair. Since then many others have kept detailed food diaries, testing certain foods against their urges. Many people have stopped pulling completely by following the John Kender diet Alone.
The basis of the JK diet is that people with trichotillomania seem to experience irritation and itchiness from Malassezia, a naturally occurring skin and stomach yeast. The foods on the right hand side of the table (the red foods) are known to increase the skin yeast, Malassezia.
| FOODS THAT HELP STOP HAIR PULLING | FOODS THAT INCREASE URGES | |
| Oranges | Sugars & sweetener aspartame found in Diet drinks |
|
| Apples | Glucose | |
| Fructose | Egg Yolk | |
| Red wine | Caffeine | |
| Lemons | Chocolate | |
| Cherries | Popcorn and corn | |
| Beef | Tomato seeds | |
| Garlic | Nuts, especially peanuts | |
| Onions | Monosodium Glutamate | |
| Kiwi | Alfafa sprouts | |
| limes | Apartate/asparagine | |
| Ripening bananas | crustaceans (lobster, prawns, crab) | |
| Decaffeinated tea | Soy products of any kind | |
| ginger root | Legumes | |
| papaya | Butterfat | |
| guava | fatty fish, e.g. tuna, herring | |
| Kefir with yoghurt | sardines, salmon, mackerel | |
| Pineapple | Most shellfish : Mussels Shrimp, Prawns, Lobster & Crab | |
| mustard | Nitrites | |
| cabbage | Peas | |
| unsweetened live yoghurt | Beans of any sort | |
| Brussel Sprouts | hair roots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! | |
Vegetarians and Vegans : Check out specialist John Kender sites to see what you can and can't eat as soy products are not recommended for people with trichotillomania.
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