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More "Men Questions": Natural Weight Gain and Natural Testosterone Enhancement
Written by Wellness Club on February 8, 2010 – 5:37 pm -By Nurse Mark
Our recent article “Girlie Man Water” drew some feedback – like this note from our friend “Ninja” Ron;
Wow this article’s just in time. Hey Doc & Mark, Its me Ron still in Iraq . But went on R&R did a dose of Test [testosterone] (IM) and took some nolvadex… anyway I took a few doses and decided NOT – I’ll try and stay natural, I have enough health problems… How about an article about how to gain weight and natural ways to really raise test levels. Anyway thanks – I should be home in 5 weeks. Ron
Now, Ron is a martial arts student and instructor, and weight trains regularly. I’m not sure if Ron would call himself a “bodybuilder” in the competitive sense but he is serious about staying fit and “pumped.” He is also having to work harder at it as he is no longer a young man – it takes more effort for us fellas to keep and build muscle as we age and our hormone levels change away from those of youth. As a result, the temptation to “help out mother nature just a little bit” with some synthetic drugs becomes a siren song for some.
This is not without risk, and Ron hit the nail on the head when he said “I’ll try and stay natural, I have enough health problems…”
As many bodybuilders and other athletes have discovered, there is more to it than just a simple injection of testosterone or other steroid hormone, or a quick fix in a bottle of pills to alter or block the normal metabolism of our naturally occurring hormones. Fooling around with any one of these things in isolation is a recipe for health disaster!
Yes, plenty of guys do “‘roids”, and plenty of guys seem to get away with it just fine – until they don’t. Like the person who says “well, I was in great health – until I had my first heart attack!” they are fine until their bodies rebel – then they can find themselves “in a hurt-locker” very quickly.
Here at The Wellness Club we really, strongly recommend that nobody ever fools around with their hormones unless they are doing so with the guidance of a physician who is well-trained in hormone balancing and who has the benefit of a Hormone Profile from which to work.
If hormones are deficient, or excessive, or unbalanced a Hormone Profile will reveal it and a good physician can recommend effective natural ways to correct and optimize for maximum performance and best health.
So, Ron, when you get back Stateside we’ll look forward to doing a Male Hormone Profile, or better yet a Comprehensive Plus Hormone Profile with HGH on you – that way we’ll know what we are working with.
Gaining weight (fat) is easy – just eat a bunch of carbohydrates! Gaining muscle mass is a little trickier – proteins and essential fatty acids are, well, essential to our diet while carbohydrates are certainly not essential to human dietary intake. The limited amounts of carbohydrates that are required by some specialized tissues of our bodies are easily supplied for us by our livers through a process called gluconeogenesis. Eating for muscle mass is easy – get plenty of high-quality, hormone and antibiotic-free proteins and fats, and avoid carbohydrates as much as possible. As muscle mass increases and fat mass decreases things get even easier, as the fat cells are not there to produce estrogens. Guys, you did know that fat cells make the female hormone estrogen didn’t you…? When you lose the fat you lose a source of estrogen!
There are some herbs that tend to stimulate an increase in endogenous testosterone – maca is one and tribulus is another. Are they “magic bullets” or some form of “herbal viagra?” Heck no! But they can be helpful as a part of a carefully planned male wellness and longevity protocol and we use these and other herbal supplements routinely for our male patients. Should you just go ahead and get a bottle of each and start taking them, hoping to increase testosterone? NO! If you are having trouble with that concept, please re-read the paragraphs above dealing with hormone testing and balancing – simply “increasing testosterone” could do the very opposite of what you want if you are not careful!
Hormones are a tricky thing – foods are converted to hormone precursors that are converted to pro-hormones, that are converted to hormones, that are converted to other hormones, and so on – and a problem in any one of the biochemical steps in this process can result in imbalances. It is not so simple as just getting a shot of testosterone!
We will be running some additional articles about eating for optimal athletic performance and supplementation for healthy male hormone balance in the near future – so stay tuned…
Until then, Ron, watch your six, stay alert, stay safe, and get back home to us in one piece real soon!
Cheers,
Nurse Mark
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