Natural Testosterone Boosters – Let’s Get Started
If you’ve ended up here, it is likely because you are searching for natural testosterone boosters to help you overcome a common struggle for men who have passed the age of 30. It may well be that you suspect you have low testosterone. It could be you have been formally diagnosed with low testosterone. And further, than that, it could be that you’ve tried testosterone replacement therapy and it failed for you. If you have tried testosterone replacement therapy and found that it wasn’t for you, you might skip the “my struggle” portion of this article and move directly into the natural testosterone boosters section. Otherwise, you might read my struggle and decide if you want to do some further research on testosterone replacement therapy and possibly opt for a more natural testosterone booster.
Above and beyond all of this, as depressing as it may seem, there are solutions. Many men feel as though the world is ending and that low testosterone is “just life,” but nothing could be further from the truth. There is an entire page dedicated to the top testosterone boosters. And there are plenty of lifestyle changes you can make that are proven to work.
What You Shouldn’t Do When You Have Low Testosterone
You shouldn’t give up. You shouldn’t think negatively. And you should never stop searching for the solution. Natural testosterone boosters have helped lots of men overcome this dark time. And lifestyle changes have helped many men become even more energetic and sexually excietable than before they made the effort. What I’m saying is, with some small changes, you might come out better than you were before. The human body is an amazing machine that thrives under the right conditions. Unfortunately, the modern diet (SAD) has brutalized our bodies.
Age happens. Low testosterone is a given. But we can certainly milk the process by changing what goes into our body. We can serve ourselves natural testosterone boosters. We can eat better. We can move more. We can learn to sleep more productively.
My Low Testosterone Struggle – Sound Familiar?
When it first happened to me, I was all over the medical map. And sadly, so was my Doctor. Because low testosterone is something of a variety show regarding symptoms, it can really confuse a diagnosis. My low testosterone symptoms felt like a lot of random singular experiences when in the end, it was truly one big low testosterone monster doing the work of the devil.
At first, I thought it was life happening. My sex drive ultimately seemed lower. I had just turned 40; the timing was almost too perfect. The weight gain came next. I couldn’t stop belly fat from piling up. I was suddenly the guy counting calories on a treadmill every day and living on steamed broccoli. The most concerning, and what would turn out to be the most impending issue, became fatigue. I was tired all of the time. In fact, my inability to get a full erection almost seemed related to the fact that I hardly had any energy left to give to anything, much less sex. I was doing all the right things: working out, eating right, even meditation. But the downward spiral continued to lull me into its trap.
Doctor visits mostly focused on my “anxiety.” Anxiety, it was determined, was causing my lack of energy and lack of libido. I bought this for a while, hence the meditation, but after doing some research on my own, I found that many of my symptoms, combined with my age, seemed to point to low testosterone.
When I alerted my doctor of the findings, he agreed that my Google doctor diagnosis might, in fact, be the reality of my circumstances. Typically, doctors get upset when you tell them what you think is wrong; I was lucky that this was not the case for myself. My doctor ran tests and found that, indeed, my testosterone was low. Hearing this news made me feel like I was dying a little, even though I really wasn’t.
Low testosterone is everywhere these days. What I mean to say is that low testosterone marketing is incredibly prevelant. Pharmaceutical companies are advertising testosterone boosting solutions like crazy. And that was the first road my doctor went down.
I didn’t do much reading into these types of testosterone medications, and I didn’t immediately care to. The formal diagnosis of low testosterone almost gave me a feeling of desperation. I’d have swallowed razor blades if my doctor had suggested I do so on the day he showed me those blood tests. I was an exposed man desperate to find a solution.
Synthetic Testosterone Side Effects
I learned a hard lesson about a month and a half into my “solution.” Those pharmaceutical testosterone boosters are really just synthetic testosterone. And the body, as science would have it, doesn’t always appreciate foreign substances being planted into the body. I went from a man that’s marriage was falling apart and someone who wanted to sleep more than make love to a man who was going through a teenage boy’s acne phase. My sleep also began to suffer. I’d wake in the middle of the night with terrible anxiety. And it felt as though I was losing my voice.
Synthetic testosterone side effects were happening. And it was a huge let down for me. Because at the time, I felt this was the only possible remedy.
Natural Testosterone Boosting Solutions
Acne face and all, I wasn’t about to give up. Sometimes just knowing what’s wrong can almost inspire you to make things right. At least I understood what I was up against.
This led me to search for natural testosterone boosters. And what I found is that there are two main things you can do:
1) Buy natural testosterone booster supplements
2) Make lifestyle changes.
I did both. Here’s my comprehensive testosterone booster list. Feel free to comment and ask questions or even debate any of the points, or, add your own wise sage.
Intermittent Fasting
This was the first lifestyle change deployment. It was quick and easy to begin. And not as hard as you might think it to be. You can look at a million different intermittent fasting schedules, but I will keep things simple. Intermittent fasting means you take in zero calories for longer than normal stretches of time. The easiest way to do this is to skip at least one meal per day. I chose breakfast because, unless you go on Ambien kitchen raids, you should already be fasted when you wake up. Skipping breakfast is a simple extension of that already compiled time.
Intermittent fasting has been studied to show that a man can have upwards of 200% and higher increases in testosterone production. Here’s one study that shows exactly that.
Some people choose to skip a full day’s meals once a week. There are lots of ways to spin intermittent fasting formulas. My advice is to keep it simple. And yes, you will lose weight most likely. And your brain function will be sharper (the brain loves a healthy fast).
Weight Lifting
Approaching 40 meant seeing the loss of muscle. I don’t need to be a beefcake; I’m a dad, not a Gladiator. But the fact is, I’d often laughed about guys my age who went to the gym and lifted when I should have realized that they were on the right path. Men over the age of 40 need to lift heavy things. Lifting heavy things not only preserves muscle mass and builds new muscle mass, but it also helps with weight loss and increased testosterone. In fact, the research is clear in the case for interval weight training as a natural testosterone booster.
I Ate Fat
Fat is bad, they said. Fat will make you fat, they said.
Well “they” were wrong. Very wrong. My low-fat diet likely contributed to my low testosterone situation. I didn’t start drinking bacon grease or anything, but I began to use coconut oil, grass fed butters and olive oils a heck of a lot more. And the effects were amazing. I noticed my concentration and focus became more crisp and clear. And I felt less hungry for refined carbs. I felt satiated more often than I had before.
Vitamin D3
I started supplementing with vitamin D3. It is essential that you not be deficient in vitamin D when you are trying to fix a testosterone issue. The fact is, the best way to get vitamin D3 is to sit in the sun for 15 minutes a day and truly expose over half of your body.
But if you are like me and have a job and have kids, you probably aren’t going to be bumming on the beach anytime soon. If you can get out daily and get some sun, do it. If not, get a vitamin D3 supplement.
Learn To Sleep
Like so many bodily functions, testosterone production hinges on healthy sleep. And most of us just don’t get good sleep. I began to deeply research sleep and learn more about how I could improve my own sleeping.
I removed the TV from my room (I know, it sounds like a tragedy, but it turned out to be a nice change). I kept with the meditation (I got a guided meditation app on my phone). I started taking a little magnesium and zinc before bed (it did wonders). Essentially, I learned to sleep again. Not only did my testosterone spike, but I also noticed a whole wealth of other improvements. When you lack sleep, you increase anxiety; you get sick more often, you don’t heal from injuries as easily. Not sleeping enough is brutal on the body.
I Took Testosterone Booster Supplements
I’m not going to spend any more time on synthetic testosterone replacement. I covered that enough above. This is about natural testosterone boosters as supplements.
I was initially adverse to taking any of these because it seemed too good to be true. But the fact is, there is a lot of science supporting natural testosterone boosting ingredients, much like all the science that supports my previous lifestyle changes.
There is an entire list of top testosterone boosters you can peruse. I use TestoTEK. But in all honesty, I found the others in the top 5 to be damn worthy.
I want to make sure I am clear here: I do think the supplements helped me a lot, but, I also committed to those lifestyle changes above. If you have low testosterone, there are no easy fixes. You need to make some changes, which include supplements and lifestyle changes. You can’t just swallow a pill or skip breakfast once a week and expect earth shattering results.
In conclusion, don’t get down on yourself if you have low testosterone, there are solutions. But don’t expect it to be the easiest thing you’ve ever done. Expect to spend a little money and do a bit of work. No one wants to change their diet or lift weights or remember to take a capsule every day. But, no one wants low testosterone, either (at least not anyone I know of).
You are going to be OK. You now know what you need to do. That’s about as much as a man can ever ask the world for.