11th Edition

What is Nutrition? Why is Nutrition Important? 

Why nutrition is important. Eating a balanced diet is vital for good health and well being. Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly. We need a wide variety of different foods to provide the right amounts of nutrients for good health.
read it all….

A Personal Statement

A speaker stood before a group of alcoholics determined to demonstrate to them,
once and for all, that alcohol was an evil beyond compare.
On the platform he had what appeared two identical containers of clear fluid.
He announced that one contained pure water and the other was filled with
undiluted alcohol. He placed a small worm in the container while everyone watched
as it swam around and headed for the side of the glass, whereupon it simply crawled
to the top of the glass. He then took the same worm and placed it in the container
with alcohol. The worm disintegrated right before their eyes.
“There,” said the speaker. “What’s the moral?”
A voice from the rear of the room said quite clearly: “I see that if you drink alcohol,
you’ll never have worms.”

This story indicate that you hear and perceive exactly what you want to hear based
upon many of your own values, beliefs, prejudices and personal history.

Men who kept highly fit in midlife reduced their cancer death risks in older life

Men who kept a high level of fitness in their midlife would then have around a third lower risk overall of dying from certain cancers after the age of 65. The benefit was in comparison with those men maintaining low cardio respiratory fitness against treadmill tests in a study that followed nearly 14,000 men from 1971 to 2009.
read it all..

More Health & Nutrition from Nutrobalance:
An extra hour sleep boosts women likehood of sex
The truth about counting calories and weight loss
Nutritional Supplements for Athletes

The Truth About Counting Calories And Weight Loss
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

Do calories matter or do you simply need to eat certain foods and that will guarantee you’ll lose weight? Should you count calories or can you just count “portions?” Is it necessary to keep a food diary? Is it unrealistic to count calories for the rest of your life or is that just part of the price you pay for a better body? You’re about to learn the answers to these questions and discover a simple solution for keeping track of your food intake without having to crunch numbers every day or become a fanatic about it.

In many popular diet books, “Calories don’t count” is a frequently repeated theme. Other popular programs, such as Bill Phillip’s “Body For Life,” stress the importance of energy intake versus energy output, but recommend that you count “portions” rather than calories…

Phillips wrote,
“There aren’t many people who can keep track of their calorie intake for an extended period of time. As an alternative, I recommend counting ‘portions.’ A portion of food is roughly equal to the size of your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. Each portion of protein or carbohydrate typically contains between 100 and 150 calories. For example, one chicken breast is approximately one portion of protein, and one medium-sized baked potato is approximately one portion of carbohydrate.”

Phillips makes a good point that trying to count every single calorie – in the literal sense – can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It’s one thing to count portions instead of calories – that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. However, it’s another altogether to deny that calories matter.

Calories do count! Any diet program that tells you, “calories don’t count” or you can “eat all you want and still lose weight” is a diet you should avoid because you are being lied to. The truth is, that line is a bunch of baloney designed to make a diet sound easier to follow.

Anything that sounds like work – such as counting calories, eating less or exercising, tends to scare away potential customers! The law of calorie balance is an unbreakable law of physics: Energy in versus energy out dictates whether you will gain, lose or maintain your weight. Period.

I believe that it’s very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for portion control and the law of calorie balance. I also believe it’s an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis – including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

The law of calorie balance says:

To maintain your weight, you must consume the same number of calories you burn. To gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

If you only count portions or if you haven’t the slightest idea how many calories you’re eating, it’s a lot more likely that you’ll eat more than you realize. (Or you might take in fewer calories than you should, which triggers your body’s “starvation mode” and causes your metabolism to shut down).

So how do you balance practicality and realistic expectations with a nutrition program that gets results? Here’s a solution that’s a happy medium between strict calorie counting and just guessing:

Create a menu using an EXCEL spreadsheet or your favorite nutrition software. Crunch all the numbers including calories, protein, carbs and fats. Once you have your daily menu, print it, stick it on your refrigerator (and/or in your daily planner) and you now have an eating “goal” for the day, including a caloric target.

Rather than writing down every calorie one by one from every morsel of food you eat for the rest of your life, create a menu plan you can use as a daily goal and guideline. If you’re really ambitious, keeping a nutrition journal at least one time in your life for at least 4-12 weeks is a great idea and an incredible learning experience, but all you really need to get started on the road to a better body is one good menu on paper. If you get bored eating the same thing every day, you can create multiple menus, or just exchange foods using your primary menu as a template.

Using this meal planning method, you really only need to “count calories” once when you create your menus, not every day, ad infinitum. After you’ve got a knack for calories from this initial discipline of menu planning, then you can estimate portions in the future and get a pretty good (and more educated) ballpark figure.

So what’s the bottom line? Is it really necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don’t count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same – you lose weight. Which would you rather do: Take a wild guess, or increase your chance for success with some simple menu planning? I think the right choice is obvious.

For more information on calories (including how calculate precisely how many you should eat based on your age, activity and personal goals, and for even more practical, proven fat loss techniques to help you lose body fat safely, healthfully and permanently, check out my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle.

About the author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s program,visit==>
www.perfectformulaoline.com/tom

Are We Getting Enough Vitamin D In Our Day?
As we all know, too much sun can cause skin cancer and we in Australia and also in
New Zealand already have the highest rate of skin cancer in the world.

But the sun is also the main source of vitamin D and a significant part of our population
is deficient in this vital nutrient.

UNIQUE VITAMIN D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin (which means it can be stored in the body) and
it is unique because unlike most vitamins which we get from foods and drinks,
most of our vitamin D is produced when a fatty substance in our skin reacts
with the sun rays.
The body then convert this into vitamin D and stores it for when we need it.
Circa 90% of our vitamin D is produced in this way and circa 10% comes from our food.

Are we getting enough?
It is important to get enough vitamin D for several reasons.

Healthy Bones
Vitamin D is essential for bone health because it helps to absorb calcium and other
minerals we need to build strong bones and teeth.
Over time, low vitamin D levels can lead to conditions like rickets in children and
osteomalacia (soft bones) in adults. Low levels in the adult years also increases the risk
of osteoporosis, a condition that’s characterized by porous bones which in turn
increases the risk of fractures and falls.

Healthy immune system
Low blood levels of vitamin D have been linked with a wide range of health problems
including polycystic ovary disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, muscle weakness, memory loss and some cancers.

Skin health
Although it is well known that too much sun exposure can cause skin cancer, vitamin D
and related compounds in our skin may actually protect against damage from UV radiation, according to a current research by Professor Rebecca Mason from the University of Sydney.
This is because vitamin D compounds in skin reduce DNA damage after UV exposure.

Low Levels in Australia
Low vitamin D levels are a proven problem, even in the sun-drenched
southern  hemisphere.
Generally there are few symptoms of deficiency except general aches, pain and tiredness.
When the deficiency is severe, extreme symptoms like bone deformities and intense
pain can be observed.

A large Australian Study (AusDiab) indicated that 40% of females and 27% of males have low levels of vitamin D in summer-autumn and these figures increase to 58% of females and 35% of men in winter-spring time.

Reasons for deficiency
Professor Mason explains: we use a target value for vitamin D based on a concentration of
vitamin D where most bone and muscle function are close to normal.
This is a little higher than the figure we used to use.

There are other reasons as well. There are more people in higher risk groups like older people (who are not going out in the sun much and may not be able to make vitamin D
quite so effectively. More people with naturally dark skin, as melanin absorbs the UVB
that converts a compound in the skin to vitamin D and/or who cover up with closing.
More obese people (vitamin D gets into fat, but doesn’t get out again until you break down
the fat). More people working indoors and entertain themselves indoors (Computers,
video games,etc.)

People with osteoporosis and babies of mothers who are low in vitamin D, especially
if they are being breast-fed, also fall into the high risk group for vitamin D deficiency.

The USA recently increased the recommended daily intake of vitamin D in order to reach
optimum blood levels of the vitamin. Our last NHMRC recommendations were made
about a decade ago and are currently being reviewed and it looks like the daily levels
are set to rise.

According to Professor Mason,’Most people agree that the minimum acceptable level
is 50 nmol/L’. At this level, bone and muscle function is close to normal and also the
handling of calcium by the body.

‘This is also the minimum level recommended by the AusNZ Bone and Mineral Society,
the Endocrine Society of Australia and USA, and the Institute of Medicine of USA.
Some groups recommend even higher levels, with some, though not conclusive evidence’.

Combination of safe sun and food.
As we know, our major source of vitamin D is the sun. We can also get it from food,
like oily fish (salmon, sardines) and cod liver oil, eggs, butter and meat.

A combination of safe sun and vitamin D containing foods is wise.
The energetic UVB-rays that make vitamin D are there for most of the day in summer,
but only around noon in winter, particularly in southern parts of Australia.

When we expose the skin of our arms and hands during the peak UV periods, which is between 10 am and 3 pm in summer for 6 – 10 minutes should be enough for our body
to produce the required vitamin D. In winter we need to extend this for seven minutes
in Cairns to 40 minutes in Hobart and it has to be at noon.

Vitamin D Supplements.
Vitamin D supplements are suitable for people who are advised not to go outside,
people with sun-sensitive skin and those who are immune suppressed,
says Professor Mason.
People with naturally very dark skin may need three to six times this amount, so it may
not be possible to maintain vitamin D levels and supplementation may be needed.

Commenting on USANA’s Vitamin D supplement, Professor Mason said:
“Vitamin D3 supplements as cholecalciferol provide the same form of vitamin D
as we make in the skin and supplements are a reasonable way to improve vitamin D
status if more sun exposure is not practical.
For those with a higher degree of deficiency, more than 1000 IU per day might be required.

Cellular nutrition has become more important in our modern society than ever before.
Our bodies have to face daily an over-production of free radicals, caused by our
polluted environment, stressful lifestyles and malnutrition.

However,we can reduce the production of free radicals by avoiding smoking,
toxic chemicals and decreasing our stress levels.
But the majority of our bodies are still unable to fight the overwhelming daily attack
on our natural defence system.

Balance is the key.If there are not enough antioxidants available to neutralize
the free radicals, oxidative stress develops.

Over the past 50 years, nutritional medicine has been concentrating on supplying
a nutritional deficiency. Many hours and dollars have been spent trying to determine
exactly which nutrients our bodies are depleted of.
Blood and urine tests,hair samples, muscle testing and more have been conducted
in an attempt to determine which nutrients we need to supplement.

However, we have been aiming at the wrong target.
The problem is not a nutritional deficiency, but rather underlying oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress has shown to be the root cause of over 70 degenerative
diseases, like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease,
dementia, lupus,MS… and the list goes on!

Because the problem is oxidative stress, rather than specific nutritional deficiencies,
the best approach to prevent or to control oxidative stress is to strengthen
our natural defence system through cellular nutrition.

Cellular nutrition means: supplying the cells with all nutrients at optimal levels,
without having to worry about determining which nutrients the cell is deficient in.

By providing all the important nutrients at optimal levels,which has
been shown to provide a health benefit in the medical literature, we correct
automatically any nutritional deficiencies over the next few months.

Cellular nutrition is providing the body with all the antioxidants,
along with the supporting B vitamins & minerals at optimal levels.
This is “preventive medicine” at it’s best, because we can attack the
disease process at the core by preventing oxidative stress.

Australians enjoy high level of health and longevity….at least that is what we have been
led too believe.
Yet when we look at the almost fairytale level of health and extraordinary lifespan
of primitive people,nagging doubts begin to arise that we may not be doing so well
after all.
To find out, we only have to look at the facts and figures for the disease status of our
population.

If this sounds like a forecast of doom and gloom, please don’t be put off! After all, the
statistics are no worse than the reality around us – they merely put the spotlight on
what is already there.

The great value of getting the picture straight – that is, putting Australia’s health in true
perspective is the motivation that comes from discovering our true potential for physical
and mental well being.
Setting ourselves the goal to get closer to this potential can bring rewards that are out of
all proportions to the effort required.

Firstly, let’s look at how the mix of diseases in Australia has changed since the beginning of
this century.
Some years ago, a Sydney pharmacist turned naturopath. Michael McInerney took out some statistics-which where reported in “Natural Health”, April 1987, page 8.
They showed that in 1905 there were 25 people per thousand of thee population dying of
infectious diseases, like influenza, pneumonia, cholera, etc. with only one per thousand
dying from degenerative diseases like heart disease.

Eighty years later, in 1985, he found that deaths from infectious diseases had dropped
to only one per thousand, seeming to reveal a considerable improvement.Not so!
Deaths from heart disease alone had reached 38 per thousand, more than neutralizing
the improvement in the former.

Infectious diseases are no longer a major threat, thanks largely to modern sanitation,
but instead there has been an explosion of degenerative conditions.
Besides heart disease, many other diseases add to the death toll in modern Australia.

You can avoid becoming another victim of these conditions by protecting yourself with
nutritional supplements by visiting: http://www.nutrobalance.net

  10th edition

America’s doctors are trained to treat disease with drugs.
But they are not trained in the most powerful tool for your health.

“I know from personal experience, Dr. Strand offers a priceless gift to improve quality and quantity of life.
Laser accurate, and scientifically documented, it will help you win the war against degenerative disease and premature aging.”
Denis Waitley, Ph.D., Author of The Psychology of Winning.

What Your Doctor Doesn’t know about Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You
will teach you:
* Why the government’s recommended daily allowances (RDA) of key nutrients aren’t equipping your body’s natural defenses to protect you from disease –
and what amounts you do need.
* How the breakdown of oxygen inside your body is wreaking havoc – and what you can do to repair the damage.
* How you can fight back against allergies and constant sinus infections.
* Why the drugs your doctor can prescribe are not your best defense against chronic degenerative diseases.

What’s the secret to getting kits to eat veggies?
Let them play first!

When recess takes place before lunch — as opposed to after —
kids eat 54 percent more fruits and veggies, a new study shows.
read it all…

More Health & Nutrition from Nutrobalance
Cellular Nutrition
Our Great Health Delusion
Vitamin D

What’s the Secret to Getting Kids to Eat Veggies? Let Them Play First!
by Shannon Hall, Staff Writer | January 16, 2015 02:52pm ET

Left to their own devices, most kids will choose to gobble down ice cream or chocolate rather than broccoli or brussels sprouts. So, at school lunch, they’ll likely eat the yummiest items first and then drop the rest in the trash. But a new study finds that kids eat more fruits and vegetables when school recess takes place before lunch, rather than after.

“Recess is a pretty big deal to kids,” said lead researcher Joe Price, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. “If you’re going to make a kid choose between going to recess and eating their veggies, recess is going to win.”

The study, led by Price and David Just, director of the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, looked at seven elementary schools in a Utah school district. Three of the schools switched recess to before lunch, while four schools continued to hold recess after lunch. For four days in the spring and nine days in the fall, the researchers measured how many fruits and vegetables each student ate during lunch. The three schools that made the switch, did so in the fall. [The Top 5 Benefits of Play]

In the schools that switched recess to before lunch, children ate 54 percent more fruits and vegetables than they did before the switch, the researchers found. Moreover, there was a 45 percent increase in the number of kids who ate at least one serving of fruits and vegetables a day. But in schools that kept recess after lunch, children actually ate fewer fruits and vegetables as the year went on.

Previous studies had attempted to encourage children to eat healthier by increasing the variety of fruits and vegetables available or providing small incentives for the kids to eat them. Although both methods worked relatively well, they can be costly, the scientists said. This new study shows that “it’s not just what’s on the tray that matters,” Price told Live Science. Rather, “by setting the scheduling right, you can have a big impact.”

Price also speculated that switching recess to before lunch helps kids build up an appetite immediately before they sit down to eat.

As an added bonus, the switch also reduced waste by roughly 40 percent, the researchers found. The results should be encouraging for most schools because “it means that you can end up with more items in the tummy rather than in the trash,” Price said.

The findings should also help parents get their kids to eat healthier, Price said. Parents who regularly sit down and eat with their kids for a specific amount of time may be more successful in getting their kids to eat well. However, parents who allow their children to run along as soon as they’ve finished dinner are less likely to encourage healthy eating habits.

In the future, Price and Just hope to study how to use digital media to advertise and encourage healthy eating at school. But for now, switching lunchtimes to after recess may just do the trick.

The findings will be published in February in the journal Preventive Medicine.

Follow Shannon Hall on Twitter @ShannonWHall. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

You probably heard it before: we are what we eat. But I like a more accurate
definition:
We are what we can get out of our food. Because it is the bio-availability
of the nutrients we take in and more importantly: the cell’s ability to absorb
those nutrients,that are the determent factors defining a person’s health
and well being.The nutrients have to be in a form that the cells can except them
and the cells have to be in optimum condition to be able to absorb the nutrients,
are the keys to successful nutrition. These are two often overlooked facts.

That’s why most supplements miss the mark. They don’t address the cellular
condition of the body. Worse, many are in a form that is unacceptable for
the cells themselves.They don’t contain biological available substances
that are useful to the cells in the body.They contain inorganic versions of
those nutrients, which the body can’t use.
There is however, one remarkable exception on this depressive trend and that
are the nutritional supplements,designed and manufactured by USANA Health Sciences.

To help you understand,I like to take you back to the basics.
Have you ever thought about where our body is made of?
The human body is built up of 100 trillion cells, each cell with his own DNA,
which contains a blue print of the entire body.

Today, life begins at conception.When the sperm of the male and the egg of the
female join together and a cell is formed.The single cell contains DNA,the blue
print of what the entire body will be like. Including the sex of the individual,
right down to the colour of the eyes.

It’s amazing when you realize what happens after the sperm and egg unite.
The original cell divides into two cells,each with there own DNA.
The two cells become four, the four eight, the eight 16, the 16 become 32 and
on and on these cells continue to multiply with an unbelievable speed for the
next eleven months. After 11 months, two months after birth, the body has his
full complement of cells.

Why are cells significant? Because they are the simplest living biological unit
in our body.They convert the nutrients we ingest into the energy we need and
determine the health of the body.
To slow down aging, limit sickness and prevent disease we must protect and
properly feed our cells.

There are 210 different types of cells. Red blood cells, white blood cells,
braincells, heart cells etc. The body’s organs and tissues are composed of cells.
Everything from our eyes to our hair is made up of an collection of cells.
One billion cells have to be replaced every hour,
that is 24 billion every day. Our skin is replaced every 27 days.
Every two months, every heart cell is replaced.

So, the question is: Will our new body be stronger or weaker than the old one.
This depends entirely upon the building materials we provide; that is:
the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breath in.
The human body is a truly remarkable creature.
I like to tell you more about it in my next issue.
Until than: take care and God bless!

There are two common fitness goals – to gain muscle mass and to lose body fat.  Unfortunately, for the most part, the two goals are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Building muscle mass is going to require you to take in a surplus of calories because, well, let’s face it, you can’t build muscle out of nothing (unless of course you have some chemical help going on).

Losing fat mass on the other hand is going to require you to be in a negative calorie balance because that is what will get your body burning off additional body fat as fuel for its tissues.

Striving to accomplish both goals at the same time is rarely a good approach because more than likely you will just end up spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.

Most weight lifters will have to accept some fat gain when they are looking to gain weight, however how much fat gain they need to add is question. It is this variable that we are hoping to influence.

Can you really gain weight without getting fat?

When adding muscle mass there are two approaches you can take.
Some take the approach of just eating as much food as they can possible cram into themselves. Their life suddenly becomes one long 24-hour buffet in their quest for muscle mass as they are under the thinking that the more food that goes in, the more muscle synthesis that will go on.

This thinking is heavily flawed. The body can only assimilate so much muscle tissue at once and after it has done so, any remaining calories are simply going to be stored as body fat. Plain and simple. You my friend, are no exception to the rule.

For those guys who are out there taking in five thousand or more calories per day, this is obviously going to be way more than they need and will result in a considerable amount of unwanted fat weight over a period of three to six months (how long most people will ‘bulk’ for).

The second option is to adopt a more moderate approach and only eat so many additional calories to support this muscle growth and that’s it. This will allow you to hopefully get as much lean tissue gained as possible without the accumulation of a monstrous rise in body fat.

So that leads us to the next question you’re probably wondering. How much muscle can you build? How many calories over maintenance should you be eating?

You’ve probably already heard of the guy who claims he’s added 20 pounds of muscle in the short time frame of six weeks.  While this may be a very rare occurrence among an individual who is brand new to weight lifting, has insanely good genetics and utilized an excellent training and nutritional program, the fact of the matter is that most guys are simply not going to be able to come even close to adding this much muscle tissue.

A natural trained individual can hope to achieve about half a pound to one pound of muscle per week – if he’s doing everything correctly.  If he doesn’t have the greatest genetics or isn’t feeding himself optimally, this will decrease even further.  So as you can see, at a measly two to four pounds of muscle growth per month, you aren’t going to be needed to eat insanely high calorie intakes.

The higher your intake is, the more you risk putting on additional body fat.  As a general rule, keep it to about 250 to 500 calories above maintenance in hopes of putting on mostly muscle without too much body fat.  Keep track of your current body fat levels and appearance and if you see that too much of your weight gain is coming on as fat mass, reduce your calorie intake slightly.

It is always best to go by REAL WORLD results since you are in the real world after all. You can read as much as you like as to how many calories you should be eating, but this does not mean that’s going to be the exact number that will produce results.  Different people have different metabolisms that will respond to an increase in calories in various ways. So as you go about your bulk, adjust according to the results you are getting.

Remember that the more patient you are with your muscle gains and the slower you go, the more time you can spend adding muscle mass and the less time you have to spend dieting off the additional fat you gained – which as I’m sure many of you already know, is not a pleasant experience.

So next time you decide you are going to do a ‘bulking’ phase, take a slower approach. Not only are you much more likely to maintain a favourable appearance this way but your mind will thank you as well.  Nothing kills confidence levels faster than seeing all muscle definition go out the window in a matter of weeks, so keep the weight gain under control so you don’t have to deal with this.

———————————-
About the Author:

Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at http://www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com
He teaches skinny guys how to get big muscles, without supplements, drugs and training less than before.

© 2006-2008, Vince DelMonte Fitness. All rights in all media reserved. You may reprint this article so long as the article and author bio are reprinted intake and all links are made live. This article may never be sold individually or as part of a package.

Testosterone levels is by far the most important muscle building factor in the body. Bodybuilders for decades have been trying to increase testosterone levels, be it artificially or naturally. Artificially it is done with the use of Steroids, but in this article we will discuss how to help maintain or increase testosterone levels through your own bodies natural production system. This article is mainly for men, although following the advices here can help women maintain healthy levels of testosterone and estrogen and other hormones, making them feel healthier and vibrant.

Ways to increase testosterone levels:
– High fat diet. Countless research has shown that fats help maintain and even increase testosterone levels. Omega-3’s, monounsaturated and even saturated fats in diet, have all shown to increase testosterone levels.

– Quality consistent sleep.
Your body can’t recuperate it’s hormone levels if you don’t get at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. People who work swing shifts or change the times of day they sleep constantly, also throw their hormones out of balance.

– Long term dieting.
When you are in a calorie deficit, you release cortisol and lower your testosterone levels. It also lowers other hormones such as Thyroid. During dieting, people generally aren’t as healthy or energetic.
– Don’t over train. Excessive weight training and other exercise like cardio, eventually leads to a gradual build up cortisol and lowering of testosterone.

– Prescription / Over the counter drugs.
Find out if a prescription drug or over the counter drug interferes with testosterone or DHT. Some drugs for hair loss (Nizoral, proscar, etc), block or interfere with the conversion of testosterone to DHT and may cause side effects, since DHT is more responsible for masculinizing sex effects than testosterone in males.

– Zinc.
A few years ago, Zinc was shown to boost testosterone levels in football athletes, when taken together with Vitamin B6. This led to the ZMA craze among bodybuilders, which was a proprietary blend of Zinc and vitamin B6. Zinc prevents the conversion of testosterone to dht, helping to maintain healthy testosterone levels. It is also good for the prostate and if taken before bed, very helpful for getting a good deep sleep. Most people are deficient to some degree in zinc. You can supplement with extra zinc even beyond your multi-vitamin. Taking ZMA specifically is not necessary for the benefits of Zinc, as vitamin B6 only helps aid in Zinc’s absorption.

– 6-OXO.
A anti-estrogen supplement developed by the well known bodybuilding supplement chemist Patrick Arnold. Anti-estrogen supplements available on the market today help boost natural testosterone production, by lowering the estrogen in your body. They should be safe for those over 21, as long as it is for brief occasional cycles. Unlike steroids, they do not shut down testosterone production or create supraphysiological levels many times that of natural levels. Instead they increase testosterone levels to a level moderately higher than you normally would have. When you get off of anti-estrogens, your testosterone levels will decrease again as your body goes back to equilibrium.

-Warmer weather.
I’ve come across studies that showed that in the cooler months, men’s testosterone levels dropped. I’m sure there is a genetic basis for this, so living in warmer weather most of the year is an advantage for maintaining testosterone levels.

– Lower bodyfat %.
The higher your bodyfat % is, most likely the lower your testosterone levels will go. Your fat cells aromatize testosterone to estrogen instead of DHT. Estrogen in the body tends to decrease natural testosterone levels.

– Exercise regularly.
Exercise helps keep your testosterone and other hormones at healthy levels, just don’t over train.
I hope you learned from this article, how to effectively increase your testosterone levels. This is the list I’ve compiled after reading research studies and bodybuilding articles for years.