Andropause: Dealing With Male Menopause – blogspot.com

Testosterone Basics

The hormone testosterone plays an important role in mens health. It helps maintain muscle mass, bone density, and sex drive for starters. For men, testosterone production is at its highest in early adulthood and drops a little each year after.

A disease called hypogonadism makes it harder to produce the right amount of testosterone. Men diagnosed with hypogonadism can benefit from testosterone therapy. Therapy isnt usually recommended, however, if your testosterone levels fall within the normal range for your age.

Theres no magic solution to boosting your testosterone, but there are some natural things, mostly lifestyle changes and diet, you can do to help.

1. Lose Weight

If you're overweight, shedding the excess pounds may increase your testosterone levels, according to research presented at the Endocrine Society's 2012 meeting. Overweight men are more likely to have low testosterone levels to begin with, so this is an important trick to increase your body's testosterone production when you need it most.

If you are serious about losing weight, you have got to strictly limit the amount of processed sugar in your diet, as evidence is mounting that excess sugar, and fructose in particular, is the primary driving factor in the obesity epidemic. So cutting soda from your diet is essential, as is limiting fructose found in processed foods, fruit juice, excessive fruit and so-called "healthy" sweeteners like agave.

Ideally you should keep your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day and this includes fruits. This is especially true if you have insulin resistance and are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol.

In addition to eliminating or severely limiting fructose, it will be vital to eliminate all grains and milk (even raw) in your diet. Milk has a sugar called lactose, which has been shown to increase insulin resistance so it will be wise to avoid it if you are seeking to lose weight.

Refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods also quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.

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