You’ve
seen the commercials, heard all of the retorick. What’s your T score? BigPharma has succcessfully created life time
drug customers by the reductionist theory of health care. What do I mean? 1
test = 1 number = 1 drug solution. The problem with this marketing/financial
wind fall AND lie, is that the body is much more complex than this silver
bullet solution.
The
metabolic teeter tooter is a delicate balancing act that our body chemistry
will maintain. The diagram to the left shows a normal balanced metabolism. The
left side of the teeter tooter is hormones that breakdown tissues and the right
side are those hormones that make new tissues.
The diagram
to the right shows a low sex hormone (low T). Here’s the problem you don’t get
lowered sex hormones for no reason, it doesn’t just indiscriminately pick you
and not your neighbor. What is the easiest way to put the whole system out of
balance?
The most common is
the Standard American Diet (SAD) which is high in carbohydrates and low in
protein and essential fats. Add to this junk food snacks and convenient fast
food restaurant food. All of these pound the body and cause an increased
production of insulin. See the diagram to the left. Now your metabolism has too
much insulin and everything is out of balance. He easiest solution is to reduce
the hormones on the right side (insulin side) of the teeter tooter. Solution is
low Testosterone!
The
Consequences of Low Testosterone
1. Loss of Morning Erections! Once you lose your morning erections, you can
count on the fact that you've lost your testosterone. This is usually the first
symptom most men notice.
2. Increased Body Fat! If you've started to carry
weight around your butt, hips, and thighs, cortisol and/or estrogen is winning
the battle over testosterone in your system.
3. Loss of Muscle Mass! If your
testosterone levels are low, it will be impossible to maintain muscle because
testosterone builds and maintains lean muscle mass. Hitting the weights hardly
helps because without testosterone the pump of iron won't stick.
4. Lack of Sex Drive (Libiido)! The
desire to procreate, to pursue woman is a sign that all is well with the
hormones in your system. Once your sex drive and desire goes, you've lost it,
AND it's not just your sexual desire that you lose.
5. Mood Disorders! A man with
low testosterone goes flatline in the personality department. You lose your
wit, your sense of humor and your personality. Depression is common among men
with low testosterone. So is moodiness, irritability and passive aggression.
Reliable, Healthier Solutions To
Impact Your Testosterone Levels
1. Lower your cortisol and stress
levels. High stress produces increased cortisol production.
Cortisol lowers testosterone. Taking iStressedOut 1 tab 4x/day modulates
cortisol back to normal and has a positive track record to increase
testosterone. The results of this study support evidence from previous research
that high cortisol levels impair male biosynthesis of testosterone in the
testes, which might help explain why AUC for plasma testosterone was higher
following supplementation with S-PS (serine-phosphatidyl serine) when compared
to placebo [1],[2] The study
recommends 600 mg/d of S-PS (4 tabs of iStressedOut).
PS
supplementation with 600 mg per day for 10 days blunts the cortisol response to
exercise-induced stress. In addition, PS significantly increases the
testosterone to cortisol ratio. These findings suggest that PS is an
effective supplement for combating exercise-induced stress. PS supplementation
promotes a desirable hormonal balance for athletes and might attenuate the
physiological deterioration that accompanies overtraining
and/or overstretching.
2. Use compound exercises as the basis of your workouts. The
exercises that use the most number of the biggest muscles of your body. Like
Squats, deadliest, bench presses, rows, chin-ups, dips, leg presses, lunges,
military presses. These exercises put the greatest amount of stress on your
neuromuscular structure and as a result will force your body to rev up
testosterone production.
3. Always push yourself to the limit during every workout. If you want to build muscle mass then you
must push your els to the point of Concentric Muscle Failure. The point in the set where no further
positive repetitions can be completed using proper form despite your best
efforts. If the last 2 reps aren't extremely difficult and uncomfortable to
perform, you are NOT training hard enough! Decreased training intensity =
decreased testosterone production.
4. Train your legs equally as hard as your upper body. Muscle growth is not merely a localized event.
Total Body Stress = Higher Testosterone and Growth Hormone secretion = Total
Body Gains. Hard, heavy leg workouts
performed intensely are THE most EFFECTIVE way to produce this total body
stress. Major problem here! There is also increased production of the steroid
hormone cortisol. The more cortisol you produce the more you WILL suppress
testosterone production.
5. Increase your EFA consumption. The good
fats that we must have every day, the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are
converted into an interim hormone called 17-ketosteroids. This stash of raw
materials can then be converted into a plethora of hormones including
testosterone, progesterone, estrogen and yes, even cortisol. At least 20% of
your daily calorie intake should be from good fats. The ideal sources are
unsaturated EFAs.. There is an entire science on this alone. We need a
combination of plant source (flax seed oil, black current seed oil, evening
primrose oil . . ) and animal source (deep sea fish like salmon, cod, halibut .
. .). There are called essential fats because we MUST intake a source of these
every day.
6. Reduce your intake of soy. Soy
protein will increase estrogen which will lower your testosterone. Avoid soy
foods like soy beans, soy proteins,soy milk, soy nuts.
7. Limit your consumption of alcohol. Alcohol causes blood sugar problems; liver
problems; decreased protein synthesis; increases fat storage; depletes vitamins
and minerals; causes dehydration AND lowers testosterone levels. An episode of alcohol intoxication can lower
testosterone by 25%.
8. decrease your carbohydrate intake.
Increased carbo intake will cause production of insulin. If you are continually
stimulating insulin production then your metabolic teeter-tooter will be forced
to compensate and balance the increased insulin – the simplest solution is to
decrease reproducive hormones YS testosterone.
9. Get adequate restful sleep every night. Restful
sleep helps increase recovery form workouts; increases testosterone; increases
growth hormone; reduces cortisol. The minimum ideal sleep should be around 8 hours a night or more EVERY
night.
[1] Wheeler GD, Wall SR, Belcastro AN,
Cumming DC: Reduced serum testosterone and prolactin levels in male distance
runners. JAMA 1984, 252(4):514-516.
[2] Fry AC, Kraemer WJ, Ramsey LT:
Pituitary-adrenal-gonadal responses to high-intensity resistance exercise
overtraining. J Appl Physiol 1998, 85(6):2352-2359