Natural ways to boost Testosterone?
06-13-2015, 10:56 AM
Vincent (and others), you give good advice and it is well meant.
However, to me, this is not “testosterone boosting” advice. This is general health advice. This is “do not fuck up your own test production” advice.
If someone complains about his health and energy level, these are the first questions that should be asked: “How long do you sleep every night?”, “How are your stress levels?”, “What is your diet like?” and “What is your physical activity level?”
However, if someone gets enough sleep 90% of the time, eats healthy 90% of the time, does not have excessive stress and does not live a completely sedentary lifestyle, and this person still has a low testosterone level, then no natural cure will take him to high levels.
No amount of saturated fat, heavy weights, herbal supplements, detoxing, meditation, sex or risk taking behavior will take him to high levels.
You used yourself as an example and I will do the same.
- I sleep 9-10 hours every night. Most of the time I’m in bed by 10.30 pm. I do not put an alarm clock in the morning.
- I sleep in a pitch black, cool room. I sleep with ear plugs.
- I have no electronic devices in my room and I switch off all electrical devices at night.
- I do not carry my cell phone close to my balls.
- I take cold showers.
- I do not eat canned food, processed food, soy, gluten or pasteurised dairy (I do use raw dairy products).
- The staples of my diet are grass fed beef, grass fed butter, coconut oil, olive oil, organic free range eggs and organic vegetables.
- I take vitamin C, D, E, K, magnesium and zinc.
- I have cycled tribulus, maca, yohimbe, mucuna, horny goat weed, tongkat ali, icariin (the working substance of horny goat weed).
- I limit my alcohol intake to 2-3 drinks a week.
- I don’t use other recreational drugs.
- I don’t drink tap water, coffee or soft drinks
- I don’t accept cash receipts.
- I don’t use shampoo, shower gel, shaving gel, sunscreen or fluoride containing toothpaste.
- I walk 30 minutes daily.
- I lift weights 2-3 times a week. I do big compound movements and limit the duration of my workouts to 45 minutes.
- I have sex 4-5 times a week – with a very pretty girl.
- My job is low stress and I’m in a comfortable financial situation.
All of this should lead to near perfect health. And indeed, my liver and kidney function is perfect. My blood lipid profile and my blood pressure are perfect. My vitamin and mineral levels are near perfect. My homocystein and crp are very low.
Despite all of this my this test level is only 450 ng/dL and my dhea level is only 110 microg/dL at age 28. And I feel and perform like shit (or at least I used to before HRT).
How is this possible? You need to understand that the maximum test level that your body can reach is determined by genetics. Your hypothalamus contains the set point for your test level and you can do nothing to change this. By living as healthy as possible, you make sure that all of the organs that are involved in test production further down the chain (pituitary, liver, adrenals, testicles) are functioning optimally and that you have the necessary nutrients for hormone production. However, when your setpoint is low, the outcome will remain low no matter how good these organs do their job.
Consider this example. Guy A has a good natural setpoint of 1000 ng/dL. He parties 3 times a week, doesn’t eat very healthy and has 10-20 drinks a week. As a result, his hormone production only reaches 70% of his genetic setpoint and he is left at 700 ng/dL. Guy B was a weak kid for as long as he could remember. He has finally realised that his test levels are low and he does everything in his capacity to raise them. He goes to extremes and manages to make his body work at 99% of optimum. Since his setpoint was 400 ng/dL, that leaves him at a test level of 396 ng/dL…
Unfortunately, the setpoint for your testosterone levels later in life is determined by your test and estrogen exposure in the womb. For instance, if your mother was on birth control until a couple of weeks before she conceived you, there’s a chance you’ve been royally screwed before you were even born.
This is why my advice might come over as “just get on TRT”.
If you feel great at the moment, do not go on TRT.
If you do not feel great, please look at your sleep, stress levels, diet, physical activity and exposure to endocrine disruptors.
However, if you do these basic things right 90% of the time and your hormonal levels are still low, then going all the way will not take you to high levels. Only exogeneous hormones will.