How to start optimizing your testosterone levels (if you consider...

How to start optimizing your testosterone levels (if you consider hopping on TRT try these first).

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*Standard disclaimer that nothing in here will be substitute for medical advice*

Testosterone isn’t only crucial for muscle building or libido.

It's also crucial for things such as:

-Managing stress

-Bone density

-Growth

-Blood pressure

-Red blood cell production

-Fertility

and hundreds of other processes which is why low testosterone levels increase the risk of:

-Cancer

-Cardiovascular disease

-Alzheimer's

-Diabetes

-Osteoporosis

-Depression

-Anxiety

all of which can be easily found with a search.

Example:
https://t.co/Sgg6BnpGOx

Now what can you do in order to optimize testosterone levels?

Step 0: If you have the following symptoms, go and get blood work done.

The symptoms include:
1. Low libido/ED

2. Fatigue

3. Man boobs

4. Infertility

5. Bone-related issues

6. Inability to put on muscle mass

7. Overthinking

8. and even in some cases IBS

The blood work includes:

1. Total testosterone
2. Free testosterone
3. SHBG
4. LH
5. FSH
6. E1
7. E2
8. Prolactin

Step 1: Optimize sleep

Proper sleep is one of the pillars of proper health and insomnia is a real problem with catastrophic health consequences that need to be addressed as soon as possible.

Without getting proper sleep regularly everything takes a hit.

Your productivity, your mood, your hormones (even moderate reductions for just one week, disrupt blood sugar levels so profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic and can drop testosterone levels by close to 400ng/dl), your gut health, your immune system, OXPHOS, everything gets out of balance.

Let's start with the boring stuff first regarding sleep before going into the practical tips.

Sleep is controlled by two processes: circadian and homeostatic.

During waking hours, the sleep drive gradually increases until it reaches a critical threshold.

This drive is referred to as homeostatic.

Circadian rhythm, on the other hand, is a signal generated by the master clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) located in the anterior hypothalamus.

Circadian rhythm, derived from the Latin term “circa diem” which literally means “approximately one day” is the body's internal clock.

This clock is set at slightly over 24 hours.

It controls sleep as well as most biological processes, including hormone production, metabolism, core body temperature variations, and cell regeneration among others.

This clock is normally highly synchronized to environmental cues such as the light-dark cycle and eating. Disturbance of the circadian rhythm and homeostatic drive (circadian misalignment) can lead to various sleep disorders.

So, a lot of people today experience sleep problems and the problem is usually a dysregulated CR (circadian rhythm).

So here's how you can improve a possible circadian rhythm dysregulation.

Step 1: Avoid the main things that dysregulate our CR which mainly are:

-An unhealthy light environment

-Shift work

-Irregular sleep and wake up times

-Stimulants (this includes certain supplements(*) and medications as well)

-Alcohol

-Stress

-Eating way too sporadically in terms of timing and portions

-Working out too late in the day

-Frequent traveling and changing time zones

Step 2: Try the following:

-Wake up at roughly the same time every day.

-Expose yourself to natural light first thing in the morning.

-Have a healthy breakfast.

-Do not have caffeine or any other stimulant for the first 90 minutes of the day.

-Do not do any form of intense exercise in the first 90 minutes of the day. You can go for things such as walk obviously*

-Block the artificial blue light within reason throughout the day.

-Eat lunch.

-Do not consume caffeine or nap in the afternoon.

-Destimulate twice daily. Once for 30 minutes before bed (you can read a book for example) and once mid day if possible.

-Do not have huge meals late in the day.

-Roughly have the same bedtime and preferably before 11 p.m

-Try to avoid snacking unless you’re sensing that your blood glucose is too low.

-Do not make significant changing to your meal timing and workout time every day.

Step 2: Fix your nutrition

First, don’t be afraid of dietary cholesterol and go get some pasture-raised eggs.

Pasture-raised eggs are an excellent source of bioavailable protein, choline, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin K, B vitamins, saturated fats and cholesterol all of which are crucial for optimal testosterone production.

Choline for example has the ability to methylate (methylation is a process that involves the removal of one methyl group from one substance, placing it on another substance and takes place predominantly within the liver) to estrogen molecules leading to a change in the shape of said molecules and thus they cannot bind well to its dedicated receptors in the body and can be excreted out of the body.

Then, go to a local farm and go get some raw dairy if your gut is fine. If it’s not, keep reading.

“But i’m lactose intolerant”.
Got you.
https://t.co/fKmZnh9gE1

Now raw dairy are an excellent source of pro testosterone nutrients such as zinc, vitamin A, CLA and even iron binders such as lactoferrin.

Raw dairy products are also an excellent source of bioavailable calcium and vitamin K2 both of which are crucial for the health of the Leydig cells.

When it comes to vitamin K2 for example, in multiple rat studies it was concluded that the MK-4 form of Vitamin K2 affected the testes ability to produce testosterone by up to 70% and an almost 90% increase in the testosterone levels in their testes.

Then if you can find some organic, organ meats like beef heart for example go and get some once a week or two.

Things like beef heart (but also kidneys for example) are some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet.

They are an excellent source of B vitamins such as folate, biotin, B12 and B6, zinc, selenium, iron, choline, vitamin A, copper, vitamin K2 and coenzyme Q10.

Can you also get some oysters and shellfish?
Great.

Oysters and shellfish are some of the best sources of selenium and zinc.

They have an incredible amino acid balance and greatly help the production of sex hormones D-Aspartic-Acid and N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) as well.

Zinc helps the pituitary gland to produce LH (among other things), it is required in hundreds of enzymatic reactions in the body that help it break down food and other nutrients and is critical for the production of antioxidants.

A zinc deficiency can lead to a 30% drop in testosterone in just 16 weeks.

Zinc can also reduce estrogen and SHBG levels.

Then get rid of fats such as canola oil and use things such as grass fed animal fats and coconut oil.

Fats such as canola oil, will harm the Leydig cells but on the other, in many studies, rats who were fed coconut oil daily had lower stress levels in their testes and significantly higher testosterone levels.

The caprylic acid in coconut oil (a type of saturated fatty acid) also has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties and can speed up the T4 to T3 conversion which will further boost testosterone,

Obviously we can not neglect vitamin E and sources of it such as red palm oil.

Vitamin E affects testicular and hormonal health, helps us combat the oxidative damage that PUFAs have caused, is a “progesterone-sparing agent”, reduces histamine, inhibits the oxygen in the blood, is an estrogen antagonist, an aromatase inhibitor, increases free testosterone but it also protects the vitamin A from oxidation.

We also can not neglect foods such as beef gelatine or quality bone marrow and salt.

They both are a great source of aminos, minerals, trace minerals and fat soluble vitamins.

Salt will greatly support adrenals, thyroid, reduce stress and thus improve testosterone.

Vitamin C will also be crucial in this journey since it protects the Leydig cells in the testes from oxidative stressors, up-regulates enzyme activity in them and can even regenerate damaged testosterone molecules.

Also (raw) garlic and onions could also be helpful.

Garlic for example contains allicin which lowers cortisol levels and diallyl disulfide which can increase testosterone levels in the testes.

And last but not least magnesium and potassium are crucial as well.
https://t.co/imY4YNWQA2

Some potassium rich foods (low in antinutrients) include:
1. Coconut water
2. Guava juice (no pulp)
3. Cantaloupe
4. Sun-dried fruit
5. Pomegranate juice (no pulp)
6. Pumpkin

Now you probably read that fat soluble vitamins are important.

But, if you have harmed bile ducts this will lead to their poor absorption.

So you might want to check this as well.
https://t.co/iZRmE4HIZa

Step 3: Fix your gut

Messed up gut = messed up testosterone levels
https://t.co/8icXc6HnrZ

What can you do in order to improve your gut health?

Here are some suggestions.

Suggestion number 1: Avoid the wrong foods

The main list includes:
•Foods fortified with iron
•Most grains (some sprouted grains like einkorn can be different)
•Bad fats such as canola oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil and corn oil (the most safe fats in general gut health wise will be organic coconut oil, grass fed tallow and EVOO)
•Corn
•Soy
•Lentils
•Peas
•Oxalate rich foods
•Spices such as black pepper
•Phytic acid rich foods
•Nut "milks"
•Alcohol
•High fructose corn syrup
•Glucose syrup
•Things such as almond flour, cashew flour, corn flour and flours that are marketed as "healthy alternatives" but they're far from it •Inorganic fruits and vegetables (herbicides are antibiotics by default)
•Canned foods

A list of relatively safe foods would include things like:
•Ruminant bone in meats
•Sea salt
•Pasture-raised eggs
•Organic organ meats
•Quality bone marrow
•Unheated honey
•White fish and oysters if you can source them right •Soups
•Low FODMAP organic fruit such as berries
•Coconut oil
•Grass fed tallow and EVOO

Now the gray area which includes things that will be beneficial in some cases but harmful in others, would include things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, white rice, ACV, lemon juice, fruit juices without the pulp (it contributes to endotoxins), mushrooms, cucumbers, onions, olives, garlic, carrots, beets, ginger, asparagus and of course, raw dairy which in order for them to be helpful one needs to not struggle with any pathogen related issue and consume them properly (not too close to meals).

Suggestion number 2: Avoid the toxic additives

Some of the common additives that the average person consumes through his diet and supplement routine but mess up his gut (remember, this is about the gut and not about toxic additives in general) include:
•Xanthan gum
•Silicone dioxide
•Titanium dioxide
•(Artificial) colorings
•(Artificial) sweeteners

You can avoid these by simply cooking your own foods and reading the ingredient labels on your supplements.

Suggestion number 3: Provide enough gut supporting nutrients
There are certain nutrients that are necessary in order to sustain a healthy gut environment.

These are:
•Vitamin K
•Vitamin A
•B vitamins
•Zinc
•Magnesium

Where can you find all of the above nutrients?
1) Beef liver
2) Beef kidney
3) Oysters
4) Egg yolks
5) Chicken liver
6) Beef heart
7) Mineral water

Suggestion number 4: Lower stress
Relax and do not eat stressed.

Stress severely decreases the expression of lysozyme which is responsible for killing bacteria (way more than even stomach acid).

An effective way to distress while eating is eating in nature (parks etc)

Three other suggestions that you can implement right now are: getting more sunlight, not cooking in non stick cookware and post meal walks.

Step 4: Address aromatase

To put it simply, aromatase converts androgens into estrogens (testosterone to estradiol and androstenedione to estrone) and can be found in tissues such as the gonads and the brain.

So you can not have healthy levels of androgens with high aromatase activity.

It is impossible by default.

Some things that you can do about this are the following.

-Avoid the regular consumption of main 5-AR inhibitors which include: soy products, flavonoids, DIM, sulforaphane, black pepper, grains, saw palmetto, herbicides/pesticides and flax seed since DHT is probably the most powerful aromatase inhibitor that exists.

-Lose fat
Fat tissue is a part of our hormonal system and our fat tissue contains aromatase, which converts testosterone to estrogen.
So after a certain body fat percentage, the more fat you have the more estrogen you will have.

-Get enough calcium
Low calcium -> High aromatase

-Raw or A2 dairy
-Eggshell powder
-Pearl powder

"Testicular aromatase cytochrome activity was significantly increased by 2.4-fold in the Ca-deficient diet group compared to that in the regular diet group, and the aromatase mRNA level was also significantly increased 1.45-fold".

https://t.co/4hpIqItVmq

Then you can add some mild natural aromatase inhibitors in your diet such as: -Citrus fruits (or anything that contains naringenin)
-Chamomile
-Olive oil (and olives)
-Red palm oil
-Mushrooms
-Turkey tail

Note: Chamomile also contains apigenin which helps deliver cholesterol to the mitochondria in the testes and without sufficient amounts of apigenin, testes can not produce enough testosterone but it also contains chrysin which helps to block the enzyme aromatase.

Step 5: Get sun

Vitamin D directly affects the amount of total but also free testosterone in our blood.

Our bodies naturally produce vitamin D when we expose our skin to the sun and we should favor sunlight for vitamin D over supplements.

"But i sunburn"
There:
https://t.co/lR1ACr4ngD

Step 6: Exercise
What type of exercise?

-Low intensity cardio 7/7
-HIIT 2/7
-Weights 3-4/7

*Adjust this based on your goals obviously*

Then of course, your testosterone levels will be determined based on your overall lifestyle but i can't help you with that.

My advice can be summed up to, join a fighting gym, win more and instead of being a degen p0rn viewer, just get women.

https://t.co/fokNX1RABE

That's it.

Most are too brainfried to read something without pictures (testing this once again) but for the ones of you who did read it, i hope that you found some pieces of it helpful.

If you did, leave a like or RT.
https://t.co/CsRm5nNLwS

And if you want to know more about each one of the things that where mentioned here and other various health topics such as your thyroid, nnEMFs, skin, hair and so on, you can check this.

https://t.co/9i2LNHzu9R