13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels
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13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 6/12/2006 3:15:54 AM
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mholly1973
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i figured i would post this article since i found some things in it that i didnt know would help with raising your testosterone....
The normal level of testosterone in your bloodstream is between 350 and 1,000 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dl). Like combable hair, those quantities silently start to wane around age 40. You lose about 1 percent a year -- a harmless decline in the short term, but a cause of obesity, brittle bones, muscle loss and impotence by the time you reach your 60s -- if you live that long. Testosterone levels in the low range (a blood serum score below 350 ng/dl) may increase your chances of dying of a heart attack.
It's not just an old man's problem, either. Men in their 30s and 40s also fall prey to low testosterone counts. It's a disorder called hypogonadism, and it can be caused by an undescended testicle, a testicular injury, a pituitary gland disorder or even prescription drugs. It usually goes undiagnosed until a man hits his doctor with a telltale complaint: "I can't get an erection."
"If you have reduced levels of sexual desire, have your testosterone level checked immediately," says Dr. Allen Seftel, a urologist at Case Western Reserve University Hospitals of Cleveland. You can replenish your testosterone stores with injections, gels, pills or patches, but these medical treatments are no panacea: Side effects include acne, high cholesterol, shrunken testicles and liver damage. Further, don't take supplements like DHEA or androstenedione to boost testosterone; they might increase your risks of prostate cancer and heart disease.
"For men with borderline testosterone scores, I advise them to try to raise their levels through exercise and weight loss before going on testosterone therapy," says Dr. Goldberg. And it might pay to start young. "Since your testosterone declines at a steady rate, it's conceivable that raising your hormone levels naturally in your 20s and 30s could help you maintain higher levels later on," he says. Either way, the reward can be a stronger physique and better bedroom sessions than you'd otherwise deserve. Below are 13 tips designed to get your juice up -- safely.
Get Rid of the Flopping Belly
Or you'll grow a pair of fetching breasts to complement it. Carrying excess body fat elevates your estrogen levels, and that may cause your testosterone levels to sink, says Joseph Zmuda, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh. Louie Anderson is proof enough of this. Two or three extra pounds won't cause this hormonal shift; it really occurs once you're 30 percent over your ideal body weight. "Unfortunately, that's pretty common now," says Dr. Dobs.
But Lose Only One Pound a Week
When you want to trim down quickly, you probably starve yourself while exercising like a madman. One of the many reasons this stops working in your 30s, when your natural testosterone levels start dropping, is pretty simple: Cutting your calorie intake by more than 15 percent makes your brain think you're starving, so it shuts down testosterone production to wait out the famine. "There's no need to reproduce if you're starving," explains Thomas Incledon of Human Performance Specialists in Plantation, Fla. Ironically, this dive in circulating testosterone stops you from burning body fat efficiently, so you're actually thwarting your hard efforts to melt that tire off your gut.
Skip the Atkins Fad
Research suggests that eating a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet can cramp your testosterone levels. High amounts of dietary protein in your blood can eventually lower the amount of testosterone produced in your testes, says Incledon, who observed this relationship in a Penn State study of 12 healthy, athletic men.
Your protein intake should be about 16 percent of your daily calories, Incledon says. So, if you're the average 170-pound man who eats 2,900 calories a day, you should eat about 140 grams of protein daily, which is about the amount in two chicken breasts and a 6-ounce can of tuna.
Have Morning Sex
German scientists found that simply having an erection causes your circulating testosterone to rise significantly -- and having one in the morning can goose your natural post-dawn testosterone surge. It's a sure bet you'll burn a little fat, too.
Stick With Tough Exercises
To beef up your testosterone levels, the bulk of your workout should involve "compound" weight-lifting exercises that train several large muscle groups, and not just one or two smaller muscles. For example, studies have shown that doing squats, bench presses or back rows increases testosterone more than doing biceps curls or triceps pushdowns, even though the effort may seem the same. This is why doing squats could help you build bigger biceps.
Make Nuts Your Midnight Snack
Nuts are good for your nuts. Research has found that men who ate diets rich in monounsaturated fat -- the kind found in peanuts -- had the highest testosterone levels. "It's not known why this occurs, but some scientists believe that monounsaturated fats have a direct effect on the testes," says Incledon. Nuts, olive oil, canola oil and peanut butter are good sources of monounsaturated fat.
Squeeze Out Five Repetitions per Set
Throwing around 5-pound dumbbells won't help you effect a rise in testosterone. Start off by using a heavy weight that you can lift only five times. That weight is about 85 percent of your one-repetition maximum. A Finnish study found that this workload produced the greatest boosts in testosterone.
Do Three Sets of Each Weight-Lifting Movement
Researchers at Penn State determined that this fosters greater increases in testosterone than just one or two sets. Rest a full minute between sets, so you can regain enough strength to continue lifting at least 70 percent of your one-rep maximum during the second and third sets.
Rest Harder Than You Work Out
If you overtrain -- meaning you don't allow your body to recuperate adequately between training sessions -- your circulating testosterone levels can plunge by as much as 40 percent, according to a study at the University of North Carolina. The symptoms of overtraining are hard to miss: irritability, insomnia, muscle shrinkage, joining the Reform Party. To avoid overtraining, make sure you sleep a full eight hours at night, and never stress the same muscles with weight-lifting movements two days in a row.
Drive Home Sober
To maintain a healthy testosterone count -- and titanium erections -- cut yourself off after three drinks. "Binge drinking will kill your testosterone levels," warns Incledon. Alcohol affects the endocrine system, causing your testes to stop producing the male hormone. That's one reason drinking often causes you to go limp at the moment of truth.
Have a Sandwich at 3 p.m.
As any sensible woman knows, the way to put hair on a man's chest is to fill his stomach. Your body needs a ready supply of calories to make testosterone, so regularly skipping meals or going for long stretches without eating can cause your levels of the hormone to plummet. Then again, that's probably the warden's plan.
Buy the Fried Tortilla Chips
If you want to raise your testosterone score, eat a diet that includes about 30 percent fat, and not much less. Your body needs dietary fat to produce testosterone, so eating like a vegetarian aerobics instructor will cause your testosterone levels to sink drastically. This is bad, unless you actually are a vegetarian aerobics instructor.
Stop Surfing for Porn at 2 a.m.
Sleeping less than seven to eight hours a night can screw up your circadian rhythm. That's why it's no wonder your testosterone levels are higher in the morning after a good night's sleep. So if your work or social schedule keeps you stooped in perpetual jet lag, don't be surprised if you stop craving sex. At least that'll make it easier to stay out of bed.
By Ron Geraci, Men's Health
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 6/12/2006 11:52:48 AM
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mholly1973
Posts: 143
Joined: 5/26/2006
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maybe you need to send it to him from an anonymous email lol...but yea i noticed just since i got back into weight training that it helped alot with my testosterone...so my wife will be sure not to let me quit...i guess ill have a spotter and someone who will motivate me aslong as my testosterone stays up that is lol
(in reply to womanwonder)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 6/16/2006 10:08:01 PM
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ado
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quote:
ORIGINAL: mholly1973
Stop Surfing for Porn at 2 a.m.
dammit!, what about 3 a.m.?
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(in reply to mholly1973)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 6/16/2006 11:21:50 PM
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mholly1973
Posts: 143
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yea what do they expect us to do lol
(in reply to ado)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/21/2007 9:03:48 PM
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Stonewall
Posts: 7
Joined: 8/6/2007
From: Peachtree City, GA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: danmirage
A few comments and corrections...
quote:
Make Nuts Your Midnight Snack
Then it goes on to recommend peanuts...wrong again. No roasted nuts if you want the best result. Instead every emal should have a lean protein and starchy carb and a fibrous carb...then toss some ground flax and walnuts in the salad. Top with virgin olive oil.
I can't entirely agree with this. Many nutritional journals and books recommend peanut butter as a good way to increase testosterone production (the Abs Diet is one that comes immediately to mind). Uncooked peanuts are not good and will give you a major case of the GI trots. Uncooked pecans are ok, but not readily available everywhere except certain times of the year.
I do agree that uncooked nuts seem to have higher testosterone production according to the research, but peanut butter is a better choice than fried tortillas.
I usually supplement with both wheat germ and peanut butter.
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/21/2007 9:21:22 PM
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danmirage
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The point is, if the goal is optimal testosterone production
then the ideal nut to snack on is NOT PEANUTS.
Peanuts have to be roasted to be edible.
This damages the fats, which you want to aid in anabolic hormone production!
Choose an un-roasted nut that you like and snack in moderation.
quote:
but peanut butter is a better choice than fried tortillas.
Agreed. Fried tortillas are, in fact an anti-anabolic food.
However, we are not trying to make the lesser of two evils choice,
rather we want to make the choice that gives us higher testosterone!
The ideal is to get quality essential fats and other quality fats.
Quality means they have not been damaged through processing, chemicals or overheating.
Wheat germ is for added fiber.
No essential value beyond that and no benefit for test production that I have ever read about.
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(in reply to Stonewall)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/21/2007 9:34:17 PM
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Stonewall
Posts: 7
Joined: 8/6/2007
From: Peachtree City, GA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: danmirage
The point is, if the goal is optimal testosterone production
then the ideal nut to snack on is NOT PEANUTS.
Peanuts have to be roasted to be edible.
This damages the fats, which you want to aid in anabolic hormone production!
Choose an un-roasted nut that you like and snack in moderation.
quote:
but peanut butter is a better choice than fried tortillas.
Agreed. Fried tortillas are, in fact an anti-anabolic food.
However, we are not trying to make the lesser of two evils choice,
rather we want to make the choice that gives us higher testosterone!
The ideal is to get quality essential fats and other quality fats.
Quality means they have not been damaged through processing, chemicals or overheating.
Wheat germ is for added fiber.
No essential value beyond that and no benefit for test production that I have ever read about.
I wonder about boiled peanuts?
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/21/2007 10:24:25 PM
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AWishForWings
Posts: 6
Joined: 9/16/2007
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wow all this is confusing
< Message edited by AWishForWings -- 9/21/2007 10:25:25 PM >
(in reply to mholly1973)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/21/2007 11:09:46 PM
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crx81
Posts: 144
Joined: 7/15/2006
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Stonewall
Uncooked peanuts are not good and will give you a major case of the GI trots.
What the heck are "GI trots"??? I eat raw peanuts all the time.
(in reply to Stonewall)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/21/2007 11:10:50 PM
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crx81
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quote:
ORIGINAL: danmirage
First, good luck getting raw peanuts.
As a consumer you can not.
Huh? I buy them all the time. Heck, even my local Wally World carries them on occasion.
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/24/2007 4:00:27 PM
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Stonewall
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From: Peachtree City, GA
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quote:
ORIGINAL: danmirage
Raw boiled peanuts?
First, good luck getting raw peanuts.
As a consumer you can not.
Second, as long as the heat is kept lower and not for an extended period of time...the oils shoudl not be degraded.
LOL....I live in Georgia. I can walk out my back door and pull peanuts out of the ground. And, around the south, at least, you can buy green peanuts just about anywhere they sell groceries and at roadside stands.
I'm going to do a little research and will post some more later. For now, I can't argue with your assessment of the effects of heat on the peanut. Like a lot of things in the supplement world, there is some conflicting information out there.
(in reply to danmirage)
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RE: 13 Ways to Naturally Boost Your Testosterone Levels - 9/26/2007 8:44:37 AM
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jheft
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What nuts can be eaten raw? Seems like most/all are roasted...
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(in reply to danmirage)
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