Happy Valentines Day!

When Natures Fare and I were brainstorming ideas for February blog posts, I decided to focus on a few questions I commonly get emailed to me. Warning, this is not going to be your typical warm and fuzzy Valentines post. I’m not going to tell you what frilly underwear you should wear for your date tonight or the perfect sex position to keep things going all night long. First of all, I already have the perfect underwear picked out. Secondly, who has all night?

Today I’m going to start with the question, “Why don’t I feel like having sex?” and significant role that hormones play in answering this question. When trying to increase your sexual health, the first step is to consider what foods you are putting into your body. Some of the top sex-drive killers are refined foods such as, gluten, soy , fried foods and dairy. Many people are highly sensitive to these types of foods which can often interrupt many pathways and processes in the body affecting sexual health and hormone levels. Rather than try and give you a science lesson, Sarah from Natures Fare and I broke this down into some simple tips to help you increase your sexual health. The following are some foods that will help balance your hormones and increase your libido.

Pumpkin Seeds. These tasty little seeds help increase testosterone levels which is especially helpful for men and women alike who struggle with higher than normal estrogen levels.

Any fermented foods such as Kombucha, sauerkraut, and Kefir. These foods help to increase sex hormones, decrease estrogen and help with digestion. Drink Kombucha on a empty stomach in between meals (my favourite is third eye chai). Add sauerkraut to your salads at dinnertime. Sauerkraut is a huge asset to our digestive system. To maximize the benefits of sauerkraut, eat it with your greens before you digest protein or carbs.

There are also some great supplements that will help get your hormones back to healthy levels.

Maca Energy (Preferred Nutrition ) is number 1 on our suggestion list! It’s safe to use for all ages. It balances hormones and increases energy and libido. Maca comes in powder form for your protein shakes or in caplet form. You can add Maca to your recipe or pick up Vega’s Macas chocolate (great valentines gift.)

Sarah’s thoughts…

Maca is a well-known and powerful adaptogen, which means that it is a substance that helps to increase the body’s natural resistance to environmental stresses. Traditional uses for maca include increasing energy, balancing hormone levels, supporting healthy thyroid functioning, reducing stress, enhancing sexual function, and relieving the symptoms of menopause and PMS.2 Recently, human clinical studies have provided convincing scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of maca for many of these uses. For example, supplementation with maca root has been shown to have significant benefits for balancing hormone levels, improving sexual desire and function, increasing fertility,improving mood and reducing various symptoms of menopause.

Vitex (Natural Factors) helps increase progesterone and balance hormones in woman. It increase sex drive and is helpful in increasing fertility.

Sarah’s thoughts…

Many menstrual problems are traced to deficient progesterone production during the second half of the menstrual cycle, called the luteal phase. Insufficient progesterone during this phase results in estrogen dominance, leading to a shortening of the luteal phase, (called luteal phase defect). A shortened luteal phase with too much estrogen and not enough progesterone can cause heavy periods, scanty periods, too frequent periods or no periods at all. Prolactin, another pituitary hormone, may also be elevate during this time, causing breast tenderness and pain, classic symptoms of PMS. Vitex is not a phytoestrogen, rather it works through the hypothalamus-pituitary axis, (an important chemical pathway) to balance female hormones. Vitex extract has been extensively studied in Europe, particularly Germany, where it has been used since the 1950’s. Clinical studies show that vitex extract reduces headaches, breast tenderness, bloating, fatigue, cravings for sweets, feeling of anxiety and irritability, depression and mood swings, often after only one month. Vitex is also recommended for teenage acne.

Male Energy (Brand King) is essential for hormone protection as it eliminates harmful hormones.

Sarah’s thoughts…

Numerous men experience a negative body transition with advancing age known as Andropause. Andropause is often described as “A noticeable decline in male hormone levels, often with the accompaniment of high estrogen levels. It is often these negative forms of estrogen—called 16 hydroxy estrogens—that create a host of problems within a man’s body, making it extremely difficult to maintain a healthy metabolism. Andropause is often associated with: loss of muscle mass and strength and increased belly fat, low energy, poor concentration, irritability, depression, decreased interest in sex and/or erectile dysfunction, among others.

I hope these tips give you some valuable insight on how to increase your sexual health. My next few blog posts will be focused on how to better your sex life, with tips on activities and foods to help bring balance to your mind and body, so that you can focus on the one you’re with, and not your list of things to do!!

Happy lovers day!