Welcome back to the final video in my series on testosterone nutrition.
When boosting your T levels naturally, there are a variety of things that you can do that
synergistically work together.
But if you don’t have your nutrition dialed in, none of the other things that you do will
work that great.
In this video, I’ll share with you the final piece of the testosterone nutrition puzzle...
foods that you want to avoid. Foods that you want to eliminate from your testosterone nutrition plan.
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Alright, if you haven’t been following this series of videos on testosterone production,
there are links to the first 2 episodes below.
If you have been following this series, then you know that in the last 2 videos, we discussed
how stored fat can convert testosterone into estrogen, how it can disrupt the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal
axis, how good nutrition can provide the building blocks for the synthesis of testosterone,
the importance of macronutrients for good hormone health and which foods to eat to obtain
those macros and which vitamins and minerals are essential to healthy testosterone production.
In this video, I’ll wrap up the series by going over those foods that you should avoid
in your testosterone nutritional plan, which foods you want to eliminate, but I'll also explain why.
So, in the last video I talked about how most nutrition plans come with a list of foods that you want to eat,
and a list of foods that you don't want to eat.
Most nutritional plan come with a list of foods that you want to either avoid like the plague,
or that are OK to eat but only in really limited quantities.
a testosterone nutrition plan is no different.
Just as there are foods that you want to include in your diet to boost your testosterone levels,
there are foods that you want to avoid.
Foods that are toxic to your testosterone production.
Most of these foods fall into 2 classes.
Foods that cause chronic inflammation or foods that are estrogenic.
So, chronic inflammation is toxic to testosterone production.
When the human body experiences any type of inflammation, it ramps up the production of
cortisol. Now cortisol is the stress hormone, it's produced in the adrenal glands,
and it 's regulated by the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland.
So, cortisol is considered by the body to be absolutely critical when you're in survival mode.
And it has a number of functions, but on of it 's functions is to shut down systems
that are consuming energy that are not considered to be critical to your survival.
Systems like the digestive system, and the immune system and your reproductive system.
So cortisol is synthesized from cholesterol, which is the precursor for cortisol.
Since cholesterol is also the precursor for testosterone, when your cortisol
production is up, testosterone production is down.
Because testosterone is not considered to be critical to your survival.
Cortisol can actually destroy
testosterone molecules that are circulating in your blood system.
So, cortisol can shut down your reproductive system, it uses the same resources as testosterone and
gets a higher priority, and it can destroy testosterone molecules.
Cortisol is really bad for testosterone production.
Consequently, you want to avoid anything that causes chronic inflammation, and there are
a number of foods that do this.
Refined sugar can cause inflammation.
Trans fats can cause inflammation.
Feedlot beef can cause chronic inflammation.
A diet high in omega-6 fatty acids and low in omega-3 fatty acids can cause inflammation.
So these are all foods that you'll want to avoid like the plague.
Gluten can also cause chronic inflammation, as can lactose, it can cause chronic inflammation.
But these are foods that are tolerated by the body in small amounts,
so it's OK to include these in your nutrition plan if you really limit them.
So, the other type of food that you want to avoid are estrogenic foods.
Estrogenic foods are foods that contain a high level of estrogen, the female hormone,
or that contain a molecule that mimics estrogen, producing many of the same effects as estrogen.
So, estrogenic foods can contain high levels of natural estrogen, because they're either injected directly
into the animal to promote rapid growth, like feedlot beef,
or they contain high levels of natural estrogen due to lactation, like dairy.
So, in the first group, I’m talking talking about cattle, pigs and chickens that are a
product of industrialized farming.
In an effort to get animals to market-ready weight in the shortest possible time, they
are injected with growth stimulants which include 3 different types of estrogen...along
with synthetic growth hormones and antibiotics.
All these chemicals remain in the meat and they are all toxic for your testosterone production.
The second type of food is high in natural estrogen because of lactation, and I'm talking about dairy.
Dairy cattle are milked about 300 days out of the year, and they’re pregnant for most
of that time.
The later they are in the pregnancy, the higher the estrogen levels.
The Harvard Gazette has reported that dairy accounts for 60%-80% of the estrogen that
we consume in our diets.
So eliminating dairy, along with beef, pork and chicken that has been produced in an industrialized
farming environment is key to eliminating estrogenic foods from your diet.
A much better option is to eat organic, grass-feed beef and dairy that comes from organic, grass-fed
sources, and free range chicken...animal products that come from animals that are raised in
an environment free from chemicals, estrogen, growth hormones and antibiotics.
Some foods are estrogenic because they contain a molecule that mimics estrogen,
A lot of these come from plants that produce a type of enzyme called isoflavones,
also known as phytoestrogens. Now, isoflavones are a type of xenohormone that mimic estrogen.
And two of the worst offenders are flaxseed and soy, whether it’s soy beans, soy milk or soy protein.
Fermented soy is OK, so soy sauce is fine.
I know that these foods are touted as super healthy foods, but if you’re focus is on
boosting your testosterone levels, these foods are your enemy and you need to avoid them at all costs.
Now, on the list of things to avoid, there’s a final entry that isn’t really a food, but you
consume it by eating or drinking it.
Remember earlier when I mentioned xenohormones? Xenohormones are chemical compounds
that mimic estrogen and they can occur naturally, like isoflavones, but typically they're man-made.
And they fall into a class of compounds called endocrine disruptors,
which disrupt your body's endocrine, hormone producing organs.
And there’s a whole list of man-made endocrine disruptors that are deadly to your testosterone
production.
Endocrine disruptors can really screw up your endocrine system.
They increase production of certain hormones, they can decrease the production of certain hormones,
they can change certain hormones into other types of hormones,
they imitate hormones, they interfere with
hormone signaling, they tell cells to die prematurely, they compete with essential nutrients,
they bind to essential hormones, and they build up in organs that produce hormones.
And unlike other toxins, damage is not dependent on dosage, but can be dangerous in very small
amounts.
Expose levels are measured in parts per billion, which is equivalent to one drop in 20 olympic-sized
swimming pools.
So, some of the endocrine disruptors that you absolutely need to avoid are:
BPAs...Bisphenol A. BPAs are a compound that mimic estrogen and is found in plastic water bottles.
If the symbol on the water bottle is either a 3 or a 7, don’t buy it, or throw it away.
I only use glass or metal, or in a crunch, plastics that are BPA-free.
Next on the list is Phthalates.
They’re in everything because they smell good, and they’re as bad a BPAs.
They’re in #3 plastic wrap, vinyl products, air-fresheners, shampoos, kid’s toys, cosmetics
and paint.
Dioxins.
Dioxins are found primarily in animal products and can be avoided by using organic meats.
Altrazine, which is a weed killer, which is so powerful it can turn male frog into female
frogs.
You can avoid it by putting a filter on your water tap that is certified to remove Altrazine.
And finally we have PFCs, or perflourinated chemicals.
PFC have a really strong chemical bond and they don’t break down, either in the environment
or in the human body.
They’re used in non-stick cookware, the coating inside microwave popcorn, fast food
containers, waterproof clothing and car wax.
I can’t overstate the importance of good nutrition to the goal of elevating your testosterone
production.
You may be doing the right kind of exercises to promote healthy testosterone production,
you may be getting
enough sleep, and the right kind of sleep.
You may be meditating and eliminating stress from your life.
But if you’re not getting the right kinds of nutrients in your diet, then all of that
other great behavior is going fall short of what’s possible if you include great nutrition
in your plan to naturally elevate your testosterone production.
Without good nutrition, you’re just not going to be able to get your T levels up to
where you want them.
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Thanks for watching.