7 foods that BOOST your sagging testosterone levels (helping you restore energy, muscle, strength, and sex drive)
by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist
& Dr. Richard Cohen, MD
High levels of testosterone are, quite literally, what make you a man and keep you healthy and vital throughout your entire life.
The loss of youthful levels of testosterone can greatly diminish your energy, strength, mental, emotional, and sexual function and contribute to fatigue, premature aging, and disease.
Luckily, your testosterone level—and overall state of well-being—are within your control if you do some of the right things.
Do you remember having an almost endless supply of energy? What ever happened to those days anyway? More than likely, the testosterone that was once responsible for making you feel alive and full of energy isn’t quite what it used to be.
The typical American male will lose testosterone at an alarming rate of one to two percent each year beginning at age thirty.
So a 55-year-old man could quite literally be half the man he was at age 30!
Very recent studies indicate that the
testosterone level of the average male today is 25% less than it was in 1992.
The average male
estrogen level has increased an alarming 40%
during the same time period.
Some of the causes of this are increased stress levels, as well as increasing exposure to estrogenic chemicals (xenoestrogens) from pesticides, plastics, lotions, shampoos, chemical sunscreens, shaving creams, and other cleaning and beauty supplies.
Luckily, in addition to reducing your exposure to xenoestrogens which are stealing your manhood, there are some simple foods that you can add to your diet that are proven to help either boost your Testosterone levels, or decrease the problematic estrogen levels in men.
Here are a few of those power foods that can help boost your T levels:
Saturated Fat and Cholesterol
-- That's right... all of the incorrect diet advice that's been beaten into your head for the last 20-30 years about eating less saturated fat and cholesterol has actually LOWERED your testosterone levels, making you weaker, fatter, and with possible increased sexual performance problems.
The fact is, saturated fat and cholesterol are literally the main
"building blocks" for Testosterone
production in your body, so if you've been purposely avoiding them both thinking that they are "bad for your health", then you've actually been harming your health.
But of course, you still have to choose HEALTHY versions of foods that are rich in beneficial saturated fats and/or cholesterol, such as pasture-raised meat, eggs, and dairy (instead of grain-fed meat, eggs, and dairy), and also by choosing healthy saturated fats like coconut oil and cocoa butter.
In addition, getting adequate monounsaturated fats from olive oil, avocados, pecans, macadamias, etc can also be important for maintaining healthy Testosterone levels for all men.
Eat more fat!
Make sure at least 30-50 percent of your diet comes from healthy fats. As mentioned above, most men don’t realize that testosterone—and other important male hormones—are actually produced from cholesterol and fats. When fats and cholesterol are deficient, testosterone levels will decline.
When you eat more monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil), saturated fats (from healthy grass-fed meats) and medium chain (MCT) fats (found in coconuts), you are providing your body with the building blocks of testosterone. A low-fat, high-fiber diet will have the opposite and adverse effect on T levels!
An important note:
It’s not really the amount of fat, but the type of fat (and how it’s processed) that can adversely affect your health. Grass-fed meats and butter, organic whole eggs, avocados, wild fish, seeds, nuts, olive and coconut oils should be the primary sources of your fat calories. Make sure to also eat omega 3 essential fats (found in wild, cold-water fish; macadamia nuts, pumpkin, hemp and chia seeds) on a regular basis.
Strictly
avoid
the inflammatory omega-6 fats found in soy, corn, safflower, canola, and cottonseed oils; and the trans-fats found in margarines, deep fried foods, and other processed foods. Keep in mind that almost ALL processed foods such as potato chips, other types of chips, crackers, candies, cakes, etc that you buy at the grocery store or corner markets are usually processed with highly inflammatory omega-6 based vegetable oils. This is just yet another reason to avoid processed junk food.
Other Potential T-Boosting Foods:
In addition to getting adequate healthy monounsaturated, omega-3's, saturated fats, and cholesterol to help your body produce Testosterone, these foods below can also help boost your T levels and/or reduce problematic estrogen:
Button (white) mushrooms
, raw or cooked. Button mushrooms inhibit estrogen production.
Pomegranate juice or powder.
Pomegranate blocks the harmful effects of estrogen.
Turmeric root tea
(brewing the fresh root is best); turmeric powder in cooking. The phenolic compounds in turmeric stop estrogenic chemicals from getting inside the cells.
Cruciferous vegetables
(like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radishes, turnips, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts). They enhance the liver’s ability to metabolize and excrete excess estrogen.
Fermented foods
such as raw, organic, grass-fed yogurt and kefir, kombucha, and organic, fermented vegetables like sauerkraut or Kimchi. These foods contain beneficial, pro-biotic bacteria that have the ability to break down xenoestrogens and reduce their intestinal absorption.
On the
next page
, we're going to show you at least a dozen more powerful strategies you can use to start boosting your Testosterone, reducing estrogen, and protecting your manhood, while also avoiding the 5 biggest testosterone killers: