Nails Aren't Just For Painting

As Sara was filling out her nutrition history form, I took a glance at her nails. Her nail beds showed up as thin, concaved, and had raised ridges. I suggested she gets her iron tested. People don't come into a nutrition consultation reporting nail problems but I check them anyway. They offer so many clues to what is going on inside of a person.

Sara returned to our next session with a doctor's report of iron deficiency. Her nails gave us a great lead to not only what is going on with her health but also what nutritious foods to bring into her life to make it healthy and happy. The imperfections that may not look like much to you can provide valuable clues about your overall health to a trained eye.

Many people's lives have been saved by an observation of their nails. A possibility before a person is aware that they have fluids in their lungs is their nails can show up with a bluish tint, a sign of not receiving enough oxygen. Another common symptom that shows up in nails is hormonal changes. My nail technician confide in me that she knows when/if her clients are pregnant long before they're prepared to share the news and sometimes even before they themselves know. But it's not just the strong hormonal changes that come with pregnancy that have an impact on your nails; have you ever noticed that a prolonged period of stress results in nail quality change for you? Even the common disorders like thyroid disease can cause abnormalities in the nail beds, producing dry, brittle nails that crack and split easily. The good news these are clues for your body to regain its equilibrium.

With all this said, people typically manifest other signs and symptoms of disease before nail changes become evident. For instance, a person with emphysema will typically have shortness of breath before clubbing of the nails become evident. Another consideration is certain illnesses may cause nail changes in some patients but not in others. A person living with liver disease may have white nails while another person with the illness may not.

Here is a list of what your nails could possibly say about your health conditions:

White Nails: Liver Disease
Yellowish nails with a slight blush at the base and/or clubbing: Lung Disease
Red nail beds: Heart Disease
Pale or white nail beds: Anemia

What you can do if this is already happening?

If you are finding yourself taking a good look at your fingernails and noticing subtle variations in the texture or color then first and foremost schedule a call with your primary care physicians, dermatologist and/or with a nutrition counselor to get the proper nutrition and lifestyle to support and enhance your health. This way you and your team can identify which of the many causes might be the culprit in your situation. What's most important is to learn about what's causing your imbalance and then to proceed through a healing process that addresses these underlying factors - including proper nutrition, support of the organs, and stress management.

To begin your process now, cut back on sugar and caffeine to help your body respond to stress better, and engage in a moderate physical activity that makes you feel happy, it's more important that it puts a smile on your face as serotonin helps you with the impact of stress on your bodies balance.