Vitamin D Likely to Increase Testosterone.

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Testosterone in men is waning.  Especially after middle age, and stats are now showing that this is happening to not only more men than ever, but also measuring lower levels than ever before.

I blame this easily on all sorts of environmental/pollutant causes, essentially endocrine disruptors, a primary culprit likely being plastic exposure as a xenoestrogen.

We also know most people north of Georgia on the longitude line are under-exposed to sunlight on a chronic basis.  This represents a huge number of people world-wide.  And the sun being the best possible source of natural vitamin D production in the human body, this presents an obvious problem.

In an article in Clinical Endocrinology published January 2, 2012 revealed a pronounced relationship between a man’s vitamin D levels, and his level of testosterone.  And I know a couple professional male body builders who use as much as 5000 iu daily of vitamin D3 in an effort to up their testosterone.

The jury is still out on how much vitamin D to get in daily.  I’ve seen some people take minimal amounts and do just fine, and others take the 5000 iu daily and have it barely move their vitamin D levels when tested.  It should also always be complimented with magnesium, such as the topical magnesium I promote and love, since the two work in a synergistic manner.  My personal choice as a supplement would always be only D3, and I’ve taken 5000 iu on an every-other-day basis in the past, but I do not plan on taking that amount again (would do one thousand IU/day instead), but my preferred route of obtaining vitamin D above all else is of course to go tanning, focusing on the UV-B ray-type booths or beds (I prefer stand-up booths personally), where I can count on my body naturally producing maximum amounts, while having the built-in-stop mechanism that assures I can’t possibly “take” too much (I never allow myself to burn, and my exposure is calculated and prudent).

I can tell when my testosterone levels are off.  I will also use maca added to my protein shake as a way to boost my endocrine balance, and it without exception adds to my vigor…and my libido.  Two sure signs my testosterone levels are doing just fine.

Are We Avoiding the Easter Candy?…Please? ;p

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When I was a kid, I participated in the sugar-rush ritual of finding the hidden easter basket filled with approximately ten pounds worth of sugar-filled chocolate, jelly bean, marshmello and who-knows what other forms of colored and disguised sugar cube treats that I would absolutely devour over the coarse of the rest of the day.

While on my sugar high and annoying the living hell out of the rest of my family between my complaining, whining, possibly swearing and other altered-personality traits associated with the consumption of the various forms of legalized and tasty coke, crack and meth substitutes, I had little interest in just about ANY other form of food.

I could have literally LIVED off of this basket of dopamine-enhancing dope, and would have had it not been for family intervention (appropriate word, no?) to force me to eat something…anything…worthwhile with which to obtain more nutrition.

I remember going to a local family-owned store that was within biking distance back in those elementary school days with my friends, all of us having saved up and/or somehow borrowed (stolen?) enough money to afford to buy the candy that this store sold to all the neighborhood kids who could bike out to it.  The store sold only bare-bones groceries, cigarettes, and candy, and little else.

We would get our little brown bags filled with as much of a wide assortment of the candy as we possibly could afford, and eat it both on the way home, a couple miles worth of biking, and then dump it out on the floor to the jealousy of the siblings who did not give us some of their spare change to have us pick up for them, the candies of their choice in turn.

This was our “drug” of the day.

We discovered cigarettes and the rest later on.

But make no mistake…this was most certainly our drug fix.  Some kids would become irritable, impatient, moody and other unpleasant behavioral patterns would emerge if this “fix” was not tended to on a near-daily basis.

Ever see the children at a fast food restaurant, non-stop crying or screaming, sugary soft drink and junk on the plates in front of them?

When will the health of us all over-ride the demands of our tastebuds and the pockets of processed food company shareholders?

Have Your Appendix Removed?

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I did.

Back when I was a kid, in the late 1800‘s, before they know what they know know about the benefits of retaining the appendix if they possibly can as compared to removing it if there is lower abdominal pain.

I awoke one night at the start of 8th grade with excruciating abdominal pain.  It was unlike any pain I’ve felt before, and I’m fairly convinced it was in part stress-induced (school was intensely stressful for me).

Next thing I knew, I was in the hospital, being given some intense narcotics, then put to sleep, then waking who-knows-when to promptly vomit (“that wasn’t supposed to happen!” the nurse said) and then about a week’s recovery in the hospital.

Once thought to be a “vestigial organ,” an organ left over from evolution that serves no purpose in our bodies, we have since discovered that it appears to be the bacterial “feed” for our colon when our intestines run low on the healthy bacteria we depend upon for much of our immune system; our sort of septic tank that requires treatment from time to time to assist with maintenance.

What I discovered the hard way, was that if the removed appendix is not made up for…by helping the colon repopulate the healthy bacterial colonies that it and you depend upon for optimal health…one can suffer all sorts of consequences, some of which can be severe and even life-long.

We do this mainly via probiotic supplements, which can be very effective at accomplishing our goal.  Perhaps factor some of the new “prebiotics” in, which can be found in a variety of sources, and we’re relatively assured of having an immune system that is intact and functioning the way it needs to.