Increasing Testosterone

You will want to be sure and get enough zinc in your diet. Zinc is essential for testosterone production, and increasing testosterone production, and it may be the reason that oysters are considered by many to be aphrodisiacs: their high zinc content. If you don't get enough zinc in your diet, your body cannot produce more testosterone. Zinc is found in large quantities in meat; there is the most zinc in red meat, but there is also some zinc in chicken, as well as fish. You can also get some zinc from various legumes, such as peanuts and kidney beans.

In addition to being high in zinc, salmon is said to be especially good for increasing testosterone production. The natural oils in salmon may keep sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) low; this is a good thing. Sex hormones, of course, include testosterone, and SHBG attaches to testosterone and prevents it from doing anything good for you.

Be sure to get enough vitamin A; beta carotene will simply not cut it. The latest research is suggesting strongly that beta carotene is not converted in the body into vitamin A as readily as was previously believed. Sorry, vegans.

Avoid quick-absorbing carbohydrates; that means sweets, refined carbohydrates, etc., Learn about and come to understand the glycemic index. The high the glycemic index of the carbohydrates you're eating, the worse; that isn't to say that you need to entirely avoid carbohydrates, and moderately glycemic carbohydrates. Eliminate refined sugars (cakes, candies, pie, donuts, soft drinks, etc.,) from your diet, and you will quickly see increases in your vitality; refined sugars harm the body's ability to handle insulin, which can result in metabolic syndrome, diabetes, syndrome X, and others. When your body's ability to handle insulin is impaired, your body can't absorb nutrients in the way that it should, and so it can't get everything it needs to make enough testosterone. When you load your body with refined sugar, it simply cannot operate at optimal efficiency. Keep your sweets to fruits and vegetables and the occasional raw syrup or honey. Your body will thank you.

Do not skimp out on the saturated fat or the cholesterol either. You may stop me there and tell me I'm crazy, but it's a fact that saturated fat and cholesterol are an integral part of testosterone production. If babies are denied saturated fat, they simply do not grow as well; children who do not have saturated fat and cholesterol in their diet (by eggs, meat, cheese, butter, lard from healthy pigs, coconut, etc.,) do not sexually mature as fully as children who do.

Tribulus terrestris is an herb that has been reported to increase testosterone through increasing lutenizing hormone, a hormone that indirectly stimulates the pituitary gland to secrete more testosterone.

Furthermore: avoid soy like the plague. One of soy's chemical components, genistein, has been shown to cripple testosterone production. Soy is a source of phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens imitate naturally occurring human estrogens in their chemical behavior inside the body. There are phytoestrogens, which come from plants ("phyto" referring to plants), and there are xenoestrogens (literally "foreign estrogens"). Xenoestrogens are things like bisphenol-a that are now beginning to get leaked into the environment and the food supply by dangerous forms of plastic. Xenoestrogens behave like naturally occurring estrogens... sort of. They can throw the entire endocrine system out of kilter. These environmental estrogens can damage your testosterone production and testosterone levels. You will want to refrain from drinking out of plastic bottles as frequently as possible, and definitely avoid heating up in the microwave anything with plastic in or on it (that includes styrofoam bowls and the like). Highly processed foods, such as cheese slices, are likely culprits for contamination with xenoestrogens. Avoid them, and your testosterone levels will benefit.

One of the best things about testosterone production is that it is, as if by some ingenious design, increased by sexual activity. It is a fact that men who have sex increase their testosterone. Will masturbation work? Probably. There's no reason to think that it won't. So be sure to have sexual pleasure; it will enhance your testosterone production.

Vigorous physical exercise also increases testosterone levels. After exercise, testosterone is slightly elevated, and frequent exercise prevents testosterone levels from being lowered so quickly after exercise. But be wary; not all exercise is comparable in terms of testosterone increasing. Marathon-running, and other forms of extreme endurance sports, actually result in decreased exercise, whereas shorter, more intense sports such as sprinting and weightlifting, result in increased testosterone levels on average.

Testosterone is advantageous for you, your health, your sex life, your athleticism, and more. Testosterone is part of what makes being a man so darn manly.