Diet Choice

Atkins?  Mediterranean?  Low Fat?  Low Carb? Ornish?  What diet choice is best for us males?

I think we all know instinctively how important what we eat is to our health.  But it can be incredibly confusing when we try to decide which diet to choose from.  The subject is actually quite complex and involves a significant body of research. 

I'll start out by saying that I am probably going to skip the diet that is most popular on most bodybuilding and fitness web sites: the Atkins or Low Carb or Paleolithic Diet. There are so many problems with this diet that I cannot possibly cover it here, but these can VERY easily lead to the Land of Erectile Dysfunction if you are not careful.  You can read the above link if you're interested, but this is not the diet I would choose!  Here is just one thing to think about:  none of the Super-Healthy cultures around the world eat a truly Low Carb/Atkins-like Diet.  And the few Super-Healthy cultures that eat what I would call low-medium carbs, also eat a lot of fish.

In fact, most readers who have somehow ended up Peak Testosterone have extensive endothelial and arterial damage and they are already experiencing symptoms of erectile dysfunction and impotence because of it.  After eating a Western diet for decades, these guys need to repair and heal.  The last dietary choice they need is to pump a bunch of saturated fat into their veins. 

What they really need in almost every case is to decrease the plaque in their arteries and increase their Nitric Oxide output in order to increase blood flow.  That’s where a Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) diet choice comes in because it has been proven in the research to:

1.      Actually reverse cardiovascular disease and arteriosclerosis (which will be fantastic for your penis)

2.      Actually reverse prostate cancer

3.      Dramatically lower blood pressure

Do you know the foods and drinks that increase erection-boosting Nitric Oxide? Check out the Peak Erectile Strength Diet where I show you how to dramatically and naturally improve your erectile strength.

4.      Lower cholesterol to near 150 which is the magic number for the most ultra-healthy societies in the world

5.      Increases telomerase

In other words, the Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) has been shown in the research to reverse the #1 and #3 killers (for males), lower most of the risk factors for erectile dysfunction and improve what is probably the #1 sign of aging.  There is no other diet that can boast all this and I would recommend the Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) for almost any middle aged and beyond guy with erectile dysfunction because it will actually repair the damage done to your veins and arteries.

And there are three other very important reasons a Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) is the best choice for most guys:

1.      It limits saturated fats and saturated fats temporarily decrease blood flow and therefore your erectile strength. 

When does low testosterone cause erectile dysfunction or harden your arteries? 300 ng/dl? 400? Find out what the studies say in Low Testosterone By The Numbers.

2.      It is so healthy that one only needs to exercise a half hour per day to get the benefits.  This is again a huge time saver and is practical for many guys in modern cultures.  Some guys are just never going to go to a gym but they probably will go for a half hour walk.

3.      A low fat diet will get your cholesterol at or below 150 and that is the magic number in virtually all of the ultra-healthy cultures around the world.  Heart disease and cancer, etc are drastically reduced in these cultures.

A Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) does have powerful epidemiological evidence through 1) the results of The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and 2) the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico (and a few other cultures).  In particular, the Tarahumara peoples eat a low fat, high fiber diet and are among the healthiest people on the planet.  They have almost no heart disease and are known for having one of the highest rates for centenarians, i.e. people over 100. Clearly this is a big vote of confidence for the Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) as the best dietary choice. (The Tarahumara also exercise extensively.)

The only major piece of evidence missing for a Low Fat (or Ornish Diet)  is a traditional mortality study.  It would be of great benefit to see a study showing decreased mortality Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) to show mortality is decreased for all causes for its adherents.  But part of the reason for this is that there are virtually no real studies that actually examine diets at 10% total fat - almost all of the studies are looking at people in the 15%, 20% or greater range, which is really not a true Low Fat Diet. In addition, and I cover this elsewhere on this site, some of the studies that look at cholesterol levels and mortality have confused the situation by including sickly members, who often have low cholesterol, in their study populations.

Do I have any cautions regarding the Low Fat (or Ornish Diet)?  I actually have two:

1)  A Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) may decrease testosterone somewhat, although this has never been proven. However, several studies show that certain fats and total fat contect can raise total testosterone. So if your testosterone is already low, you may have to take this into account. (Check out my link on The Two F's, Fat and Fiber, for more detail.

In my opinion the relatively small decrease in testosterone is well worth the incredible importance of cleaning out the delicate veins and arteries supplying blood to your penis and brain!  I should also mention that there is evidence that vegetarians in general may have higher testosterone levels than their carnivore counterparts.  See my link on Testosterone and Vegetarianism for more information.

2) Be very careful about using adding too much sugar, corn syrup and even fruit into your diet if you go on a Low Fat (or Ornish Diet).  Fructose, the chief sugar in fruits and about half chemically of corn syrup and table sugar, does nasty stuff to the liver.  It leads to insulin resistance and so on.  Going on a Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) does not mean substituting a bunch of sugar and corn syrup and simple carbs for all the fat you've been eating - you'll get no benefit from that because of the fructose. 

However, if you are concerned, you can go on a Mediterranean Diet instead, which is approximately 30% fat and often incorporates  monounsaturated fats, both of which are pro-testosterone.  But there's some potential problems with this:  Olive Oil, and therefore monounsaturated fats in general, have now been shown to cause (in animal studies) arteriosclerosis as significantly as saturated fat. Olive Oil is Looking Just Plain Dangerous because it negatively impacts a key liver enzyme called ATAF2. 

You can probably see the dilemma here:  the most pro-testosterone aspect of the Mediterranean Diet is actually quite negative for your heart and erectile strength, making it a questionable dietary choice.  And if you back off on Olive Oil and substitute polyunsaturates such as canola oil, nuts, etc., then you lose the testosterone optimizing aspects of the Mediterranean Diet.  At that point you might as well go to the Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) anyway.

Again, all roads seem to lead to a Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) or something similar as the best possible diet choice.  NOTE:  Adding some nuts and canola oil to the Low Fat (or Ornish Diet) should not have a significantly negative impact to your goals. 

Most guys will notice a dramatic improvement when going with a dietary choice such as this and I have recieved many letters saying just that.  Grains, vegetables, (some) fruit - these all dramatically help your brain, your cardiovascular system and your penis.