How to Increase Testosterone Naturally: PaleoEdge

The sports world has been riddled with the use of performance enhancing drugs. These can be anabolic steroids, HGH, artificial stimulants, or blood boosters. We have seen steroids rock the baseball world over and over again and blood doping shatter the cycling world. Although more under the radar, it is pervasive in high school sports. Its hard for athletes to feel like they are playing on a level playing field, when guys are injecting steroids and look like bodybuilders.The truth is, using these drugs are completely unnecessary. You could spare the disgrace of getting caught and dealing with the harsh side effects and instead spend a little time with a biochemistry book.

Testosterone promotes lean body mass, increases recovery time and gives a psychological edge of confidence, concentration, cognitive function and determination. Low testosterone leads toobesity, loss of muscle, weak bones and depression, but also increases the odds of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimers and other major health problems. Its at its peak throughout puberty, and continues to serve you well until around 40. However levels are changing dramatically in every age bracket, making it especially important to understand what keeps testosterone from dropping. Researchers have been reporting that testosterone levels are getting lower with each generation, evident in the ability of guys able to zip up skinny jeans. Studies are showing substantial drops unrelated to age, showing a drop of 1 percent per year. This means a65-year-old man in 2002 would have testosterone levels 15 percent lower than those of a 65-year-old in 1987 and a proportion of men in 2002 would have had below-normal testosterone levels than in 1987.A Finnish study found that a man born in 1970 had 20 percent less testosterone at age 35 than his fathers generation at the same age.

While it may appear more clear on how to increase testosterone, there is much speculation at the moment as to the exact reasons why men have lower testosterone levels. Itseems fairly clear that it is a combination of xenoestrogens (chemical agriculture, cologne, plastic water bottles, face and body washes, creams) environmental pollutants, medications, sedentary lifestyle and a low-fat, high grain/sugar dietthat is contributing to this problem.In a recent Harvard study, men with the highest chlorpyrifos (organophosphate insecticide from chemical agriculture that has an affinity for fat and accumulates in feedlot meat, dairy and eggs) exposure typically had 20 percent less testosterone than those with the lowest exposure. This makes complete sense, since chemical agriculture was introduced in the early 1900s and has increased pesticide and insecticide use each year (since 1996, GMOs have pushed this amount even further).

Swimming is an excellent workout, but you might want to think twice about using chlorinated pools.Adolescents having attended indoor chlorinated pools for more than 250 hours before the age of 10 years old or for more than 125 hours before the age of 7 years old were about three times more likely to have an abnormally low total testosterone. I can verify this with teenage swimmers Ive seen in our practice with low total testosterone. Seek out salt water pools or use the ocean if you live on the coast. I would like to see parents, swimming coaches and water polo coaches taking this seriously and start lobbying schools to make the switch to salt water pools.

Anotherstudyfound thatthat high spikes in blood sugar was enough to drop testosterone levels by as much as25%in a random grouping of healthy, prediabetic, and diabetic men. Here we find the fallacy of loading up on refined grain carbohydrates and sugary sports drinks; these are making you weaker not stronger. Oxidative stress from exercise and pollutants also tax testosterone, making dietary antioxidants and adaptogens very important.

For a long time, the medical community pushed the avoidance of cholesterol rich food like eggs, meat (muscle and organs) and whole fat dairy due to the fear of high cholesterol levels. Then it became clear that dietary cholesterol has no barring on cholesterol levels, and actually is extremely important to consume.Meat, egg yolks, liver, heart and dairy products contain significant amounts of dietary cholesterol. In the body, this serves as an essential component of cell membranes, especially nerve tissues. In fact, cholesterol is a pre-cursor to vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen and adrenaline. The rate-limiting step in testosterone production is the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone. What happens if cholesterol is too low, and testosterone and vitamin D is too low? You get one depressed, weak and anxious individual. Let that sink in for a moment as you contemplate cholesterol lowering drugs and the push for low cholesterol levels.

Here is the conversion: What else can you see from this conversion chart? Cortisol (the stress hormone that wrecks havoc on your muscle) competes for building material (cholesterol) with testosterone. The adrenal gland rests on top of the kidneys and is composed of layers. On the outer layer you have the mineral corticoids which control your electrolyte balance. If you are not refueling with electrolytes, your body goes into the next later of corticosteroids that controls sugar and generates stress hormones. Overtraining, mental stress and emotional stress will lead to the third layer where you generate growth hormones and sex steroids. This is when you increase cortisol levels, robbing you blind of muscle, confidence and mental clarity; disrupting your ability toincrease testosterone.

The feedback mechanism called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or HPA axis controls reactions to stress, regulates digestion (stress causes indigestion), immunity, mood, emotions, sex drive, glycogen storage and calorie expenditure. This is why I recommend using Cordyceps, which have been found to balance the HPA axis and help you adapt to stress and prevent the catabolic effects. Especially for athletes, overtraining can be a chronic issue. It can be very hard to convince someone that taking a day off can sometimes be more productive than training. Overtraining will lead to excess cortisol, lowering testosterone, impairing long term performance, increasing muscle loss and decreasing mental function. Nothing will deplete your body and take your hard earned muscle and strength faster than cortisol.

A study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine reveals that men who consumed the most fat also had the highest testosterone levels, while a study from theJournal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolismreported that a low-fat, high-fiber diet reduced testosterone levels in middle-aged men. A study also found that a high fiber diet with wheat bran also depletes vitamin D 43% faster.Adiet with less than 40 percent of energy as fat (including saturated) lead to a decrease in testosterone levels.Wait a second? You mean all of this time of promoting a low-fat diet fearful of saturated fats built upon the grain pyramid has been completely destroying muscle building testosterone and depleting vitamin D? Yes. So if you see someone pushing a diet that promotes low-fat, carbo-loading with bagels and asking if you ate your Wheaties this morning, run the other way with your testosterone rich body. They wont catch you.

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How to Increase Testosterone Naturally: PaleoEdge

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