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How to Increase Testosterone and Toxic Fruits and Vegetables
Jim GoetzChantea GoetzDr. Mike BrandonHow Do I Boost My Testosterone?Jim GoetzThere are ways to boost ones testosterone and ways not to. The most common ways individuals (mostly males) look to boost their testosterone; in actuality has no effect on boosting any testosterone but is phenomenal in lowering ones bank account. This is through supplementation. Before taking any supplement, if you are tested in any athletics, ensure you are well within the World Anti- Doping Association (WADA) regulations.If you are a teenager or individual in their 20's, your testosterone levels are already most likely super high. A secretagogue supplement purchased over the counter is not going to raise your levels anymore than they already are. The only thing that can happen if you increase testosterone levels when they are already super high is to shut down your body's own natural production and as a result, make you reliant on exogenous testosterone for the remainder of your life. It sounds fine now but when you are a 40 year old male whose physiology is that of a 90 year old- you may reconsider this as being a good idea.The hype of advertising for these supplements is insane. Know fact versus hype. There are a crapton of supplements on the market that make claims to boost ones testosterone. In reality these overhyped and over marketed supplements are garbage. They have inferior ingredients that fail to stimulate the natural production of testosterone.First lets do a brief overview on total testosterone levels to get a bit of an understanding on what is being looked at to be increased.Tightly bound testosterone- 2/3 of testosterone is bound to sex hormone binding globulin. The human body is incapable of utilizing this.Loosley bound testosterone- 1/3 of testosterone is bound to the protein, albumin. Some of this testosterone is able to be utilized but not all of it.Free testosterone- 1% to 4% of testosterone floats freely in the blood, able to bind to androgen receptors as the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase converts this free testosterone into hihydrotestosterone, which is a very potent androgen.Some nutritional supplements inhibit CYP19A1, which is an aromatase enzyme. An anti- aromatase actually can act as a testosterone booster in men as testosterone is converted to estradiol, which is then converted to estrogen. Yes, the more testosterone men have, the more estrogen they have and this goes for women as well. Now men actually do need estrogen (in lesser amounts than women). So when estradiol is low, testosterone is naturally increased. Therefore, if an individual were to lower their estradiol levels, testosterone will be increased. This is a negative feedback loop of hormones. However, in pre-menopausal women, as ovaries produce the majority of estrogen, aromatase inhibitors are less effective (but not ineffective) than in men.Some supplements that are supposed to increase testosterone act on the testicles. Others act on the hypothalamus in the brain. Those that act on the testicles could effect HPTA stimulation (causing testicular atrophy (or shrinkage). Other supplements acting on the hypothalamus cause symptoms of that some may call adrenal fatigue.The most boring ways to increase testosterone are quality sleep (and I do stress quality), moderate physical activity, and weight management. Individuals who stay up too late to watch a game while they rise early in the morning, work a desk job, have a little belly (dad bods or more) and fail to engage in moderate physical exertion for a minimum of three days per week at 30-45 minutes of actual movement, are destined for low testosterone levels and as a result, a lowered quality of life and perhaps lower life expectancy.Lowered testosterone levels have been attributed to lowered libidos, the development of metabolic syndrome- x, and depression (to name a few symptoms).Middle aged and older men have a natural decline in testosterone by 0.4% to 1.6% per year. Some experience lower than average testosterone levels as young as 30. This is why anti-aging therapies have become so important to increase vitality and longevity in individuals. What's the point of living if ones quality of life sucks?Contrary to popular belief, there is no single one best level of testosterone! Different lab results vary as a wide range of free testosterone levels are used between different labs. An example of this is one male was tested at 360 ng/dL. He is lethargic, depressed and cannot seem to lose an ounce of body fat. Another male was tested at the same testosterone level. This individual is confident, successful, full of energy and looks like an adonis. A few supplements have been shown to increase testosterone. But before they are disclosed, there is a caveat on them. As previously discussed in a podcast, there is a bell curve of optimal levels. Too little of these levels in your body and you will greatly benefit from a supplement. Too high levels of these in your body and the supplement will begin to give adverse effects.The first supplement is vitamin D. Yep, good ol' sunshine. Vitamin D is essential for the development and creation of a multitude of hormones to include testosterone. Enough research has been done to back this up.The second supplement deficiency is zinc. Zinc is lost through sweat so athletes may need to get their levels of zinc checked to see if a supplement may be beneficial to improve testosterone levels. Zinc rich foods include meat, some grains (whole new caveat on how grains are linked to cancer development) and nuts (stick with walnuts and almonds to avoid the excess lectethins or heavy metals).Another supplement is magnesium. In the United States, it is understood most are deficient in this vital mineral. Magnesium both directly and indirectly aids in the conversion of vitamin D into it's active form to be used in the body. Like zinc, magnesium is lost through sweat. A favorite food of this authors that contains a plethora of bioavailable zinc is 100% cacao. If taking a magnesium supplement, one should avoid magnesium oxide, which is only bioavailable at a rate of 4% in humans. Maca is marketed to increase testosterone. However, maca has been shown to increase libido but not testosterone. Be wary that just because one is in the mood more than usual does not mean that one has higher testosterone levels.The same may be said about horny goat weed. A good form may over time improve sexual desire but has no effect on testosterone levels.D- aspartic acid had some prelimiary research showing increased testosterone levels. However, further studies have showed the opposite of it not effecting testosterone levels whatsoever.DHEA is a hormone that converts directly to testosterone. Individuals with low levels of both have shown an increase with DHEA supplementation.Pregnenolone, which is synthesized from cholesterol, provides a building block for many of the steroids present in your body. Athletes may take this hormone to hide their use of anabolic steroids. However, as this does convert directly to DHEA; some studies have shown increased testosterone and estrogen levels in both deficient males and females.
Some pure forms of tribulus such as the original Tribestan might actually have increased testosterone. Unfortunately most of the stuff on the market today is garbage. If you can put it on your fingers and simply blow it off like a powder, it's either not tribulus or it's a terrible form. It should be a tar-like consistency made from the root, not the leaves of the plant.
HOW TO DETERMINE HIGH QUALITY TRIBULUS
There's a plethora of other ingredients that are thought to increase testosterone. There's not enough human research on some SARMS such as RAD-140 (testabol) When it comes down to it, plenty of rest, adequate nutrition, moderate exercise and a way to decompress stress and testosterone levels will raise up. During your middle aged years, you may consider seeing an anti-aging specialist to ensure your testosterone levels are where they give you the greatest out of life.
How to Wash Fruits and Vegetables to Rid Them of Neurotoxins
Dr. Mike BrandonJokes have been made about what clean eating is, and how the simplest answer is that it's when you wash you food before you eat it. All kidding aside, especially when it comes to produce, this is a highly suggested action with the justifications mainly being to remove dirt, pesticides, and bacteria. With one quick internet search, multiple sources will say to lightly rub the produce under cold water for 30 to 60 seconds. What's interesting to me is how to wash your hands for that result, it's suggested to do it vigorously for about double that time. So either we should have our hands more clean than the produce we eat, or there's a fallacy or assumption somewhere here.Multiple studies on both washing our hands and washing produce show that most of the cleaning aspect of the process is from the friction of rubbing the dirt and grime away more than the soap use. With produce, using most soaps can actually add a small residue layer on the produce, or even have the soap seep into the flesh of the fruit/vegetable, so this practice is discouraged and you are probably better off rubbing vigorously with running water. Naturally this wont work for all produce, as you can only rub berries so hard before it turns into juice.A larger concern over dirt and grime on our food supply is the pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on them. These are the only toxic substances released intentionally into our environment and they have the sole purpose of killing living things. There are over 15 common pesticides used, and it is almost never just 1. These sprays are very well known to be neurotoxins and have been linked to Parkinson's disease, asthma, cancers, leukemia, thyroid and infertility complications, and autism, to just name a few. These neurotoxins also appear to destroy many of the antioxidants in produce, as seen by the difference in content of organic vs standard produce. The most common reason as to why people switch to organic is to avoid these pesticides, but unfortunately, they are still there, but about 70% less. This can occur due to wind and water runoff from 1 farm to the next, or from the soil itself. These neurotoxins absorb into the soil, and many have a half life of 4 to 5 years. So even if no sprays have been used for 10 years on the soil, they could still be being absorbed into the vegetation.So what can we do to limit the amount of toxins we digest from trying to be healthy by eating our fruits and veges? A study was done comparing the ability of tap water, a Clorox bleach solution (which is the industrial standard to wash produce before going to the stores), and a soak in baking soda for 12 to 15 minutes to remove pesticides. This study looked at 2 common pesticides, thiabendazole and phosmet. Baking soda did appear to clean off the majority of both of these pesticides, especially compared to the other methods which is great news, but it comes with a few catches and precautions. First of all, it did not remove what was absorbed into the peels of the fruit, and assuming, if pesticides go into the peel, its likely going into the flesh as well. Also in this study they took organic fruit and then sprayed it down with thiabendazole and phosmet, which is a decent method to try to replicate a farm, however, if these apples were sprayed in the study a few hours or even days before the cleaning process, how much more is absorbed or harder to remove from produce that was sprayed weeks prior before it even made it to the grocery shelf? Even with the forward movement towards more organic food, there are still a few scary statistics that show the extent of this public health issue. Chlorpyrifos, which are in the same pesticide family as organophosphates and has the same neural damaging mechanism as nerve gases used in the military, is found in the urine of 93% of Americans! It's estimated that only 1 out of every 10 Americans eat enough produce, which can make this a little more alarming that either we are getting them in our bodies from another source, or the little bit that we eat is still being absorbed and metabolized by us. Then DDT, which is a pesticide that was banned in the 1970's, was found in 99% of Americans. It's illegal to use and is still getting into literally almost all of us.So since we are still getting these toxins in our body, what is there being done to help off set this? There's actually quite a few alternatives to pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, etc, but the difficult part is getting the large farms to jump in with it. Smaller farms in the USA, and most farms outside of the country use a few methods which are cost effective and work.Polycutlure is one method that is used quite frequently. Basically how many home gardens have multiple types of produce in 1 area, that's the concept but on a large scale. Instead of having acres of corn, it would be acres of corn, cucumbers, broccoli, etc. Having multiple types of plants together has been shown to both decrease many pests that only target 1 food, as well as increase the overall immunity of plants to deter more pests and make sprays less required.Trip crops, or sacrificial crops, is another method. Think of a child that is staring at a plate of broccoli and a bowl of icecream; most children will go for the ice cream. That's the concept. Putting “ice cream” type crops in the field to attract the pests away from the yielding plants. Examples are:Nasturtiums distract aphids (black fly, green fly, white fly).French Marigold helps to attract slugs, thrips and nematodes.Radish attracts flea beetle and root fly.Then there is also Entomopathogenic fungi, which are parasitic to most insects. The spores will attach to the majority of insect kind, and rather rapidly kill them off and has appeared to be effective in drastically lowering the procreation rate of bugs. Obviously going organic and washing our produce effectively is better than not at all, and is recommended, however, the environmental and physiological impacts are still a major concern, but at least there are a few methods we can use to help lower the amount of “-icides” that our body absorbs.
biohackhumans.com
Find us:
Instagram (@biohackhumans)
Facebook (@biohackhumans)
Twitter (@biohackhumans)
Tumblr (@biohackhumans)
Contact Us: [email protected]
View all episodes
By Dr. Chantea PhDJim GoetzChantea GoetzDr. Mike BrandonHow Do I Boost My Testosterone?Jim GoetzThere are ways to boost ones testosterone and ways not to. The most common ways individuals (mostly males) look to boost their testosterone; in actuality has no effect on boosting any testosterone but is phenomenal in lowering ones bank account. This is through supplementation. Before taking any supplement, if you are tested in any athletics, ensure you are well within the World Anti- Doping Association (WADA) regulations.If you are a teenager or individual in their 20's, your testosterone levels are already most likely super high. A secretagogue supplement purchased over the counter is not going to raise your levels anymore than they already are. The only thing that can happen if you increase testosterone levels when they are already super high is to shut down your body's own natural production and as a result, make you reliant on exogenous testosterone for the remainder of your life. It sounds fine now but when you are a 40 year old male whose physiology is that of a 90 year old- you may reconsider this as being a good idea.The hype of advertising for these supplements is insane. Know fact versus hype. There are a crapton of supplements on the market that make claims to boost ones testosterone. In reality these overhyped and over marketed supplements are garbage. They have inferior ingredients that fail to stimulate the natural production of testosterone.First lets do a brief overview on total testosterone levels to get a bit of an understanding on what is being looked at to be increased.Tightly bound testosterone- 2/3 of testosterone is bound to sex hormone binding globulin. The human body is incapable of utilizing this.Loosley bound testosterone- 1/3 of testosterone is bound to the protein, albumin. Some of this testosterone is able to be utilized but not all of it.Free testosterone- 1% to 4% of testosterone floats freely in the blood, able to bind to androgen receptors as the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase converts this free testosterone into hihydrotestosterone, which is a very potent androgen.Some nutritional supplements inhibit CYP19A1, which is an aromatase enzyme. An anti- aromatase actually can act as a testosterone booster in men as testosterone is converted to estradiol, which is then converted to estrogen. Yes, the more testosterone men have, the more estrogen they have and this goes for women as well. Now men actually do need estrogen (in lesser amounts than women). So when estradiol is low, testosterone is naturally increased. Therefore, if an individual were to lower their estradiol levels, testosterone will be increased. This is a negative feedback loop of hormones. However, in pre-menopausal women, as ovaries produce the majority of estrogen, aromatase inhibitors are less effective (but not ineffective) than in men.Some supplements that are supposed to increase testosterone act on the testicles. Others act on the hypothalamus in the brain. Those that act on the testicles could effect HPTA stimulation (causing testicular atrophy (or shrinkage). Other supplements acting on the hypothalamus cause symptoms of that some may call adrenal fatigue.The most boring ways to increase testosterone are quality sleep (and I do stress quality), moderate physical activity, and weight management. Individuals who stay up too late to watch a game while they rise early in the morning, work a desk job, have a little belly (dad bods or more) and fail to engage in moderate physical exertion for a minimum of three days per week at 30-45 minutes of actual movement, are destined for low testosterone levels and as a result, a lowered quality of life and perhaps lower life expectancy.Lowered testosterone levels have been attributed to lowered libidos, the development of metabolic syndrome- x, and depression (to name a few symptoms).Middle aged and older men have a natural decline in testosterone by 0.4% to 1.6% per year. Some experience lower than average testosterone levels as young as 30. This is why anti-aging therapies have become so important to increase vitality and longevity in individuals. What's the point of living if ones quality of life sucks?Contrary to popular belief, there is no single one best level of testosterone! Different lab results vary as a wide range of free testosterone levels are used between different labs. An example of this is one male was tested at 360 ng/dL. He is lethargic, depressed and cannot seem to lose an ounce of body fat. Another male was tested at the same testosterone level. This individual is confident, successful, full of energy and looks like an adonis. A few supplements have been shown to increase testosterone. But before they are disclosed, there is a caveat on them. As previously discussed in a podcast, there is a bell curve of optimal levels. Too little of these levels in your body and you will greatly benefit from a supplement. Too high levels of these in your body and the supplement will begin to give adverse effects.The first supplement is vitamin D. Yep, good ol' sunshine. Vitamin D is essential for the development and creation of a multitude of hormones to include testosterone. Enough research has been done to back this up.The second supplement deficiency is zinc. Zinc is lost through sweat so athletes may need to get their levels of zinc checked to see if a supplement may be beneficial to improve testosterone levels. Zinc rich foods include meat, some grains (whole new caveat on how grains are linked to cancer development) and nuts (stick with walnuts and almonds to avoid the excess lectethins or heavy metals).Another supplement is magnesium. In the United States, it is understood most are deficient in this vital mineral. Magnesium both directly and indirectly aids in the conversion of vitamin D into it's active form to be used in the body. Like zinc, magnesium is lost through sweat. A favorite food of this authors that contains a plethora of bioavailable zinc is 100% cacao. If taking a magnesium supplement, one should avoid magnesium oxide, which is only bioavailable at a rate of 4% in humans. Maca is marketed to increase testosterone. However, maca has been shown to increase libido but not testosterone. Be wary that just because one is in the mood more than usual does not mean that one has higher testosterone levels.The same may be said about horny goat weed. A good form may over time improve sexual desire but has no effect on testosterone levels.D- aspartic acid had some prelimiary research showing increased testosterone levels. However, further studies have showed the opposite of it not effecting testosterone levels whatsoever.DHEA is a hormone that converts directly to testosterone. Individuals with low levels of both have shown an increase with DHEA supplementation.Pregnenolone, which is synthesized from cholesterol, provides a building block for many of the steroids present in your body. Athletes may take this hormone to hide their use of anabolic steroids. However, as this does convert directly to DHEA; some studies have shown increased testosterone and estrogen levels in both deficient males and females.
Some pure forms of tribulus such as the original Tribestan might actually have increased testosterone. Unfortunately most of the stuff on the market today is garbage. If you can put it on your fingers and simply blow it off like a powder, it's either not tribulus or it's a terrible form. It should be a tar-like consistency made from the root, not the leaves of the plant.
HOW TO DETERMINE HIGH QUALITY TRIBULUS
There's a plethora of other ingredients that are thought to increase testosterone. There's not enough human research on some SARMS such as RAD-140 (testabol) When it comes down to it, plenty of rest, adequate nutrition, moderate exercise and a way to decompress stress and testosterone levels will raise up. During your middle aged years, you may consider seeing an anti-aging specialist to ensure your testosterone levels are where they give you the greatest out of life.
How to Wash Fruits and Vegetables to Rid Them of Neurotoxins
Dr. Mike BrandonJokes have been made about what clean eating is, and how the simplest answer is that it's when you wash you food before you eat it. All kidding aside, especially when it comes to produce, this is a highly suggested action with the justifications mainly being to remove dirt, pesticides, and bacteria. With one quick internet search, multiple sources will say to lightly rub the produce under cold water for 30 to 60 seconds. What's interesting to me is how to wash your hands for that result, it's suggested to do it vigorously for about double that time. So either we should have our hands more clean than the produce we eat, or there's a fallacy or assumption somewhere here.Multiple studies on both washing our hands and washing produce show that most of the cleaning aspect of the process is from the friction of rubbing the dirt and grime away more than the soap use. With produce, using most soaps can actually add a small residue layer on the produce, or even have the soap seep into the flesh of the fruit/vegetable, so this practice is discouraged and you are probably better off rubbing vigorously with running water. Naturally this wont work for all produce, as you can only rub berries so hard before it turns into juice.A larger concern over dirt and grime on our food supply is the pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on them. These are the only toxic substances released intentionally into our environment and they have the sole purpose of killing living things. There are over 15 common pesticides used, and it is almost never just 1. These sprays are very well known to be neurotoxins and have been linked to Parkinson's disease, asthma, cancers, leukemia, thyroid and infertility complications, and autism, to just name a few. These neurotoxins also appear to destroy many of the antioxidants in produce, as seen by the difference in content of organic vs standard produce. The most common reason as to why people switch to organic is to avoid these pesticides, but unfortunately, they are still there, but about 70% less. This can occur due to wind and water runoff from 1 farm to the next, or from the soil itself. These neurotoxins absorb into the soil, and many have a half life of 4 to 5 years. So even if no sprays have been used for 10 years on the soil, they could still be being absorbed into the vegetation.So what can we do to limit the amount of toxins we digest from trying to be healthy by eating our fruits and veges? A study was done comparing the ability of tap water, a Clorox bleach solution (which is the industrial standard to wash produce before going to the stores), and a soak in baking soda for 12 to 15 minutes to remove pesticides. This study looked at 2 common pesticides, thiabendazole and phosmet. Baking soda did appear to clean off the majority of both of these pesticides, especially compared to the other methods which is great news, but it comes with a few catches and precautions. First of all, it did not remove what was absorbed into the peels of the fruit, and assuming, if pesticides go into the peel, its likely going into the flesh as well. Also in this study they took organic fruit and then sprayed it down with thiabendazole and phosmet, which is a decent method to try to replicate a farm, however, if these apples were sprayed in the study a few hours or even days before the cleaning process, how much more is absorbed or harder to remove from produce that was sprayed weeks prior before it even made it to the grocery shelf? Even with the forward movement towards more organic food, there are still a few scary statistics that show the extent of this public health issue. Chlorpyrifos, which are in the same pesticide family as organophosphates and has the same neural damaging mechanism as nerve gases used in the military, is found in the urine of 93% of Americans! It's estimated that only 1 out of every 10 Americans eat enough produce, which can make this a little more alarming that either we are getting them in our bodies from another source, or the little bit that we eat is still being absorbed and metabolized by us. Then DDT, which is a pesticide that was banned in the 1970's, was found in 99% of Americans. It's illegal to use and is still getting into literally almost all of us.So since we are still getting these toxins in our body, what is there being done to help off set this? There's actually quite a few alternatives to pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, etc, but the difficult part is getting the large farms to jump in with it. Smaller farms in the USA, and most farms outside of the country use a few methods which are cost effective and work.Polycutlure is one method that is used quite frequently. Basically how many home gardens have multiple types of produce in 1 area, that's the concept but on a large scale. Instead of having acres of corn, it would be acres of corn, cucumbers, broccoli, etc. Having multiple types of plants together has been shown to both decrease many pests that only target 1 food, as well as increase the overall immunity of plants to deter more pests and make sprays less required.Trip crops, or sacrificial crops, is another method. Think of a child that is staring at a plate of broccoli and a bowl of icecream; most children will go for the ice cream. That's the concept. Putting “ice cream” type crops in the field to attract the pests away from the yielding plants. Examples are:Nasturtiums distract aphids (black fly, green fly, white fly).French Marigold helps to attract slugs, thrips and nematodes.Radish attracts flea beetle and root fly.Then there is also Entomopathogenic fungi, which are parasitic to most insects. The spores will attach to the majority of insect kind, and rather rapidly kill them off and has appeared to be effective in drastically lowering the procreation rate of bugs. Obviously going organic and washing our produce effectively is better than not at all, and is recommended, however, the environmental and physiological impacts are still a major concern, but at least there are a few methods we can use to help lower the amount of “-icides” that our body absorbs.
biohackhumans.com
Find us:
Instagram (@biohackhumans)
Facebook (@biohackhumans)
Twitter (@biohackhumans)
Tumblr (@biohackhumans)
Contact Us: [email protected]