Low-N and Erectile Dysfunction - a Vegetarian and Vegan Approach

First a couple of definitions. A Vegetarian Diet consists of no meat, fish, foul, or other (previously) living creatures. A Vegan Diet goes one step further, and does not include any products of animals either, most commonly milk, cheese, and eggs. In a perverse way, veganism is better for you inasmuch as dairy is so bad for erectile health.

Is there a vegetarian diet that addresses the issue of erectile dysfunction? Yes. Is there a vegan diet? Yes. Is there a diet that includes meat and dairy that can reduce or eliminate ED? Yes.

We know that meat and potato guys can get erectile dysfunction. Likely, you are one. But can a man eating a vegetarian or even a strict vegan diet get ED? Absolutely.

It’s the proportion of meat to vegetables that moves your diet from one that promotes and even directly causes impotence, to one that reduces or eliminates dysfunction.

The primary cause of erectile dysfunction in men who do not have physical injury is inflammation of the arteries. I write about this extensively in my book, linked at the bottom of this posting. Sub-clinical inflammation, an irritation that does not cause diagnosed disease, is present in almost everyone living on an American diet. Arterial walls are the primary producers of nitric oxide which is essential for getting an erection. Low nitric oxide and you have ED. Yes, the problem is Low-N, not Low-T.

Inflammation of the arterial walls reduces the concentration of nitric oxide in the blood and, with time, brings on erectile dysfunction. That time usually happens in a man’s fifties or later, but has become more frequent in men in their thirties and forties. What produces inflammation and Low-N? I’ve already mentioned it. The American Diet.

There are proponents of Vegan diets that will assure you – with religious zeal – that veganism is the healthiest diet and will cure all ills. But one can include Arsenic in a vegan diet without violating any of its precepts. And vegans do consume many harmful substances. One naturopathic doctor told me that her vegetarian clients were as unhealthy as any others, and those that claimed to be vegan were sometimes worst.

Processed non-animal products such as wheat and flour, rice, and vegetable oils have had all the nutrition stripped from them in processing, leaving them to be non-healthful by their very nature. They can fill you up at a meal, but provide none of the nutrients required by your immune system, endocrine system, or digestive system to insure a long and healthy life. Sugar – including so-called natural sugar as honey, cane, etc. – and all the myriad preparations of sugar products are okay with vegetarians/vegans, but they are unhealthy beyond just their empty calories. They inflame the body and cause acidosis. Neither vegetarian nor vegan diets prohibit carbonated drinks or artificial sweeteners. Both directly cause irritation and inflammation of nerves and arteries. All cause Low-N and erectile dysfunction.

I could go on at some length, I did in my book, but here’s a quick cheat-sheet on what a Potency Diet would look like:

• 90%+ raw or cooked vegetables, including salads and fresh fruit and melons.
• Less than 10% lean meat, and not more than 1% real dairy (no margarine or other processed milk products).
• Little or no bread, flour, or other processed wheat or grain products.
• Little or no sugar, processed or otherwise.
• Not more than one cup of coffee and one alcoholic drink per day.

Sound hard. It is. Impossible? No. Because the first thing you can do is to trade one meal a day, perhaps lunch, for a healthy, vegan dish. A large – humongous, if you’d like – salad with lots of spinach and baby greens, some red and yellow bell peppers, a tomato, cucumber, and sprinkled with some walnuts or sunflower seeds. Do without the dressing if you can, but if you must, just a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinaigrette.

At first, you may hate it. Force it down. Finish it. It’s not just the replacement aspect that will help you, that you won’t be eating a burger with fries, it’s also the micro-nutrients in the greens that are essential to calm inflammation, bolster your immune system, and bring life back into your sex life.

I don’t advocate vegetarian or vegan diets only because I know they’re impractical. You guys that are impotent aren’t going to give up a burger or ribs or a steak. But if you could replace even half your meat meals with vegan equivalents, you might begin to see a difference in the way you feel, the way you smell, and the way you perform. Nitric oxide levels might normalize, certainly cholesterol and blood pressure challenges will be affected, and you will be on the way to a longer healthier sex life.

For more information, pick up a copy of my book:

2nd Edition updated May 2012 is not just for men with erectile dysfunction.

HARD! Maintaining Potency, Eliminating Erectile Dysfunction, and Enjoying Healthy Sex for Life is for all men who want to keep functioning throughout their life. This concise and powerful men’s health guide provides a protocol for how to do everything right.

Available at BN.com/Nook, Apple, and Amazon/Kindle.

Also available in all eBook formats for immediate download: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65109.

Erectile Dysfunction, Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs, and Nitric Oxide

I’ve been asked what part vitamins, minerals, herbs and other supplements might play in restoring erectile function and perpetuating a healthy sex life.

The erectile process is complex. There are many things that can go wrong in a man’s body to cause erectile dysfunction, so there’s no silver bullet. However, inasmuch as both of the most popular ED drugs, Viagra and Cialis, operate in the same fashion – though from different angles – I’ll take aim at their target as well.

Arguably, the most important activator of erectile function is Nitric Oxide. This is not the same as nitrous oxide, laughing gas, as used by your dentist. Nitric oxide is produced throughout the body. It relaxes the walls of blood vessels, dilating them, and allows increased blood flow. You can see where this is going, right?

Nitric oxide cannot be taken as a pill or liquid supplement. It’s a gas, and a very unstable gas at that. Each molecule – which consists of a single nitrogen atom bound to a single oxygen atom – breaks down in the body about a second after it is produced. Biological processes occur very rapidly, so that’s not a problem; in that second, nitric oxide does its job. In a healthy individual, nitric oxide is being produced in sufficient quantity in a steady stream, so there’s plenty to do what it’s gotta do.

As we age – this is true for women as well as men – less nitric oxide is produced. In our thirties and forties, the decline in the concentration of nitric oxide has reduced markedly, and continues as we get older. It’s a natural process.

There are a few substances that can increase the concentration of nitric oxide in our tissues.

• L-arginine. 

The body breaks down this amino acid and produces nitric oxide through an intermediary, citrulline, which can also be taken as a supplement. 
 

The body produces some arginine, but not enough to sustain you. Academic sources cite that the body does produce enough, but they’re likely presuming that most people eat a healthy diet – one that promotes the production of the full complement of amino acids naturally. We all know that’s just not true.

Supplement your diet with L-arginine, preferably through food sources. It is available from a variety of animals and plants. The ones I’d like to recommend include: chicken and white turkey, halibut, lobster, salmon, and shrimp among the animal donors. Plus, wheat germ, buckwheat, oatmeal, peanuts, pecans, cashews, walnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, chick peas, and seeds, including pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower are good sources.

• Folic acid (vitamin B9)

Leafy vegetables are the best food source.

• Anti-oxidants: garlic and green tea are excellent sources.

The importance of anti-oxidants is less about producing nitric oxide and more about preventing its destruction. Oxidants burn up nitric oxide and drop the level in the blood.

• Exercise

A daily routine of physical exercise – sex does not count toward your quota – will increase nitric oxide production throughout the body. Increased blood flow demands that vessels be dilated. The body responds by producing more nitric oxide and the increased production increases the body’s ability to produce more even when you’re not exercising.

L-arginine, folic acid and anti-oxidants can also be taken as supplements. They must be taken every day, not just on occasion, or when you’re feeling “down.” And seek out a high-quality supplement. Not all off-the-shelf brands are the same.

Bonus: if you increase the ambient level of nitric oxide in your body, it will reduce your susceptibility to heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. More about that another time.

As always, for more about maintaining your erectile muse, and men’s health in general, pick up my book:

2nd Edition updated May 2012 is "NOT just for those with Erectile Dysfunction"

HARD! Maintaining Potency, Eliminating Erectile Dysfunction, and Enjoying Healthy Sex for Life is for all men who want to keep functioning well  throughout their life. This concise and powerful men’s health guide provides a protocol for how to do everything right.

Available at BN.com/Nook, Apple, and Amazon/Kindle.

Also available in iBooks, Kobo, Sony and all eBook formats for immediate download:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65109.

Nexride “Noseless” Bike Seat Review Gets 4-1/2 Stars

In this blog, I deal with many issues concerning men’s health, with an emphasis on eliminating or preventing Erectile Dysfunction. Back in April, 2011, I posted a discussion warning men how a bad-fitting bicycle seat can injure vessels and nerves essential to erectile function. I pointed out that the nerves that lead to a woman’s most important erogenous organ – her clitoris – also run between the legs and these, too, can be damaged by sliding forward on a conventional bike seat. So, this issue is universal.

I ride about twenty miles, five or six days a week. I’m not a power rider. I spend about an hour and a half road-cycling the treacherous streets of Palm Beach County, Florida. About half my usual route is on the street proper, the other half along broad, well-paved pedestrian paths. Yesterday, I saw a 6-foot alligator in one of the canals. It’s a beautiful ride.

In January, I received an email from Karl Ulrich at Nexride. Keeping up with issues that relate to his business, he had come across my blog posting. He offered me a seat for evaluation. Always willing to take something for nothing, I sent him my address and received the saddle a few days later. Unsure as to whether I needed the new seat, it sat in my garage for a month until I finally installed it. It took me about 6 minutes with 1 tool. For the past week, I’ve been riding with my Nexride.

I was aware and always careful to keep myself up on my pelvic bones – the ischial tuberosities – which are designed by nature to support our weight. The area between genitals and anus – the perineum – is not. It is through this channel – adjacent to the pelvic arch – that the nerves and blood vessels travel from spine to penis/clitoris. Even mild pressure, including through padded biking shorts, can irritate nerves and reduce sensation (men and women), and in men, the irritation of the blood vessels can reduce blood flow and impact one’s potency.

I was aware, as I’ve said, but that doesn’t mean I was truly protecting myself. Five minutes out on my Nexride, I realized that, in spite of my best efforts, I had been terribly abusing my man machine. I said out loud, “Wow! I’m sold.”

Nexride is the bicycle equivalent of going Commando. It is liberating, allowing a level of comfort that I could not have imagined. The seat is not wide, but even for a large-boned guy like me, it supports at those pelvic protuberances perfectly.

Much of my ride is on well paved roads and paths, but some of it is not. There’s the occasional curb-cut, and poorly paved pothole. With Nexride, bumps are not transmitted through to my gonads – no more jolts to the jewels. It was at those moments that I understood that even though I tried not to slide forward on my conventional seat, to some degree I still was.

The Nexride seat swivels, so there is no interference with leg motion. Because I am not a professional rider – not expertly trained – I found myself spreading my legs wide around the “nose” of my conventional bike seat, losing power and increasing exertion.  Without the “nose” my legs face straight forward. I get more efficiency out of every stroke, and there is less strain on my aging hips and knees.

Reality check: Be prepared to adjust the seat several times on that first ride. Because the mount is a little different, you won’t be able to eyeball the positioning. Static sitting, or a quick circle around the driveway isn’t going to work either. Ride a mile or so, then stop, make the adjustment, and continue on. Once you find the “sweet spot” you shouldn’t have to do that again.

Also, it took me a couple of rides to get used to the pressure on those pelvic bones... another demonstration that I was not seated properly on my previous seat. And it just feels different. You must allow yourself two or three rides just to become accustomed to the feel of the seat. Once past the “getting used to it” stage, it’s the most natural ride in the world.

Bottom line: The overall experience is terrific, and I would be loath to go back to a conventional seat.

So, why only 4-1/2 stars (out of 5)? 

First, in reviewing Nexride’s web site, I had to read “Noseless” three times. I thought it said “Noiseless.” Didn’t make sense to me. I always called that thing a “Tongue.” Okay, that’s a bit of wishful thinking, but it cost them a quarter of a point. 

 

Second, I don’t give anything 5 stars, except for Monique G., a French-Canadian woman with whom  I spent a glorious week back about 1975 (yeah, I’m that old). Monique, if you’re out there...

Note: take a close look at the name. It’s  N  E  X  R  I  D  E. There's no “T” in there.

 

Rating: Nexride gets top marks and my highest recommendation. 

Visit http://www.Nexride.com for more info and to order. Today!

 

As always, for more about maintaining your erectile muse, and men’s health in general, pick up my book:

2nd Edition updated May 2012.

HARD! Maintaining Potency, Eliminating Erectile Dysfunction, and Enjoying Healthy Sex for Life is not just for those with ED, but for all men who want to keep functioning throughout their life. This concise and powerful men’s health guide provides a protocol for how to do everything right.

Available at BN.com/Nook, Apple, and Amazon/Kindle.

Also available in all eBook formats for immediate download: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65109.

Strong Women Need Strong Men

Ladies,

An overall men's health guide that will keep your man totally healthy -- in bed and out. The simple "cafeteria plan" of lifestyle modifications is not a one-size-fits-all. Help your guy choose those dietary and exercise habits that he'll find easiest to do... then introduce some others. 

He will become the man you deserve. This is not just about sex... it's about all the time you spend together. It's about improving his attitude toward you and all of life. It's about making him live longer and happier... so that you will, too.

 
2nd edition
May 2012 updated and enhanced.
  
 

Available at BN.com/Nook, Apple, and Amazon/Kindle.

Also available in all eBook formats at

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65109.

Andropause - Male Menopause

NOTE: I get a bit wordy in this posting. But you've arrived here seeking to overcome a challenge, so take the extra minute or two to read it through. You need all the information and understanding you can get.

Men and women are the same but different. Overall anatomy, physiology – the function of anatomy – and biochemistry are almost identical. An aspirin, antibiotic, or diabetes treatment in men will work basically the same and as well as in women.

Even some of the sex organs are more similar than most people recognize. Women have as much erectile tissue as men, it’s just inside rather than exposed. The nerves that give that special sensation to the head of the penis are wired to the exact same place in a woman’s brain from her clitoris. The sensation of orgasm is the same in women as in men, though women do have a distinct advantage in the rapidity with which they can recharge for a second, third... you get the idea.

But when it comes to reproduction, men and women are distinct – almost to the point of being different creatures. If you’re old enough to be reading this, you understand the contribution men make to reproduction, and the greater contribution to the species – gestation – borne by women.

Newborn humans are the only animals brought into this world in a state of complete disorientation. All other animals can walk, cling to mothers, or feed independently from the moment of birth. Only human babies need to be nurtured for several years – a significant percentage of their lives – before achieving a state of independence sufficient to allow them to survive to also reproduce. With this reliance on maternal care – especially in pre-industrialized society where breast milk was the only food on which an infant could survive – one can clearly see that the survival of a child depended entirely on the survival of the mother.

In the 21st century, ninety year old women should not give birth as the likelihood of them living long enough to nurture their child to independence is small. But back when the biology of the mother-child relationship was being established, women over thirty should not have born children for the exact same reason.

Tens of thousands of years ago, when the life expectancy of humans was perhaps thirty-five years, nature learned to turn off the reproductive machinery in women above a certain age because the metabolic burden on a woman’s body of menstruation became too great for her aging body. She needed to live longer – but without new reproduction – to assist in the survival of her children to pubescence and the beginning of their own reproductive lives. The cessation of the monthly cycle has evolved to occur later in life, as life expectancy increased. Now, most women experience menopause near fifty years of age.

Men, on the other hand, can reproduce until their death. The number of people in a population is determined by the number of women – active uteri – not by the number of penises. It just doesn’t matter whether a man can or can’t reproduce. The biological burden of sperm production is negligible and has no downside.

So, why is there andropause? Within the medical community there is a debate as to whether andropause even exists. The promoters – those who consider it a distinct condition – point to reduced levels of testosterone and loss of activity in cells that produce a spectrum of male sexual hormones. The symptoms include loss of libido, depression, nervousness, inability to concentrate, fatigue and a few others. In this regard, symptomologically, andropause is a close parallel to menopause.

The opponents of considering andropause as a distinct condition cite most often the failure of andropause to shut down the male reproductive system as menopause does in women. A woman that is still producing eggs and menstruating at eighty will be elevated to a level of a very special oddity in the medical community. A man who sires a child at eighty, is just a very rich old man.

I side with those that do not accept andropause as a condition, and I take it one step further: Those symptoms that proponents would identify as male menopause are the exact same symptoms as are found in much younger men who are just not healthy.

Poor eating habits, a lifestyle devoid of physical activity, and the cumulative effects of taking prescription drugs to deal with other health issues take their toll. People take medication to address metabolic issues brought about by their terrible diets and lack of exercise. By themselves, testosterone levels will be reduced, adrenal glands – that direct almost all hormone production in the body – will be impacted, and brain chemistry is tilted out of balance causing the symptoms some wish to identify as andropause. The drugs taken to adjust cholesterol, blood sugar, heart rate, blood density and chemistry, all stress the adrenal glands and put the body further out of kilter.

And these all occur later in life, when men are at about the same age as women who experience menopause. Our egalitarian bent in the Western world is to make men and women equal. Men and women are the same but different. And this is one of those differences. Women have a biological, genetically defined cessation of reproductive ability to which medical science has applied the moniker "menopause." To try to twist the symptoms that men experience that are the result of entirely other causes – lifestyle not genetics – is scientifically wrong. Women have their menses. Men do not. No amount of political correctness or negotiation is going to change that.

But men still experience “andropause.” While women have an advantage in the orgasm department, we have an advantage when it comes to our libido. We don’t have to lose our desire or ability to enjoy sex. As an aside, women don’t have to either and they don’t need HRT; they just need to work a little more at it, but that’s a topic for someone else's blog.

I have written a manuscript describing what men can do to prolong their desire and ability to perform – and admirably at that – in the bedroom. It is a cafeteria plan of lifestyle alterations. Within that list, every man can find some small concessions that will stave off erectile dysfunction, or restore ability lost to diminished erectile function. I also suggest some simple exercises, just 10 minutes a day, which will promote erectile health.

Read the book and avoid the pitfalls of a make-believe disease, andropause, which can lead to complete erectile dysfunction.

2nd Edition updated May 2012 is "NOT just for those with Erectile Dysfunction"

HARD! Maintaining Potency, Eliminating Erectile Dysfunction, and Enjoying Healthy Sex for Life is for all men who want to keep functioning well  throughout their life. This concise and powerful men’s health guide provides a protocol for how to do everything right.

Available at BN.com/Nook, Apple, and Amazon/Kindle.

Also available in iBooks, Kobo, Sony and all eBook formats for immediate download:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65109.

Erectile Dysfunction: Do you lose it before you can use it?

One of the most common forms of erectile dysfunction is what I call the Transitory Stiffy, TS. Your woman arouses you by touch – or by just her very presence – and you engage and penetrate. Then you lose your erection while making love. Sometimes you just soften a bit, other times you lose it all the way to involuntary withdrawal. You feel like you’re trying to shoot pool with a rope.

It's the most embarrassing type of ED. Your woman has high hopes for the thrill and you punk out after she's gotten aroused.

There’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news, of course, is that you can’t keep an erection. The good news is that because you were able to get hard for a while to begin with, your basic erectile mechanism is intact and there’s still hope for you. First, let’s take a very brief look at the biology of boners.

Your penis is a big sponge wrapped in a closed tube. There’s a valve that allows blood into the sponge to fill it up and make it grow. There’s another valve that closes the outlet from the tube so that the blood is trapped inside. That makes it hard. All this is controlled by nerves that connect to your spine and carry messages up to and back from your brain. Even in the absence of her touching you, you can go from fully at rest to erect in moments:

“... your woman exits the shower, that single drop of water dangling from a nipple made erect by the cool air conditioned breeze wafting across her wet breasts... the image induces a cascade of thoughts in your brain and without any physical contact...”

Your brain sends a message to your penis that open the inflow, close the outflow, and in moments you’re on your way to a full woody.

The biochemistry is complex and far beyond our discussion here, but one of the most important compounds that regulates your erection is a very simple molecule called Nitric Oxide. NO – one nitrogen atom attached to one oxygen atom – it is not the same as nitrous oxide (NO2) which your dentist uses, so don’t expect to get a boner while in her chair unless, of course, she worked her way through dental school as a dancer. But I digress.

Viagra does its magic by increasing the concentration of NO in your lower body. The problem with depending on erectile dysfunction drugs is that at some point in your later life, you’re likely to need to take other life-prolonging  medications that will prohibit you from taking boner pills – Viagra, Cialis or any of the others – so you want to eliminate your problem without the need for them now, so there's no conflict later on.

Reducing and ultimately eliminating inflammation in your body is the key. You know what inflammation is. That’s the irritation, the redness and soreness around a pimple or boil, a cut, abrasion or even a sunburn. If you have TS or any other symptoms of ED, then you undoubtedly have sub-clinical inflammation in your body. The walls of your veins and arteries are likely inflamed, and the walls of these vessels produce a large amount of the NO in your body. They become irritated and they stop generating the life giving NO that your pecker so desperately needs.

How to deflame? There are some big offenders that directly irritate the walls of blood vessels and other organs. Caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar, foreign chemicals such as food dyes, carbonated beverages, artificial sweeteners, and chlorine and fluorine in drinking water all assault the tissues of your body. Eliminate them and your body will rapidly move toward a greater state of health... that is... just in time for you to kill yourself because life itself will be rendered unlivable.

Bad news and good news. Bad news: I can’t explain how you can comfortably adopt a lifestyle that will detoxify your body and return erectile function without the use of drugs in a blog posting. Good news: I’ve written it all down in a concise, easy to read manual.

I present a cafeteria plan of options to wean you off of the greatest offenders, reducing your intake without eliminating it altogether. You can still enjoy the things that currently make life interesting AND get back your ability to retain an erection during sex. But you’ve gotta read the book. It’s an eBook and if you don’t have a reader, you can get a free app that will allow you to read it on your computer, tablet or smart phone. It’s just a few bucks and may save your life including the most enjoyable parts of it.

Do it now!

2nd Edition updated May 2012.

HARD! Maintaining Potency, Eliminating Erectile Dysfunction, and Enjoying Healthy Sex for Life is not just for those with ED, but for all men who want to keep functioning throughout their life. This concise and powerful men’s health guide provides a protocol for how to do everything right.

Available at BN.com/Nook, Apple, and Amazon/Kindle.

Also available in all eBook formats for immediate download: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65109.