Please note, this page was last edited 27 June 2024 and will not be amended again. We’re leaving it online because it has helped so many people, but we won’t be reviewing it from now on. To test the effects of a food, such as sugar or glucose, on your urges, eliminate them from your diet for three months before introducing them back on one day per week only, for a further four weeks. Keeping notes to observe patterns. In our experience the majority of people do not recognize food-related urges to skin pick or pull hair out, because they don’t eliminate foods for long enough and/or keep adequate records.

Some children have stopped pulling completely by following the John Kender diet alone.

The basis of the JK diet (see table below) 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 dark foods) are known to increase the skin yeast, Malassezia.

Vegetarians : 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.