Hormonal problems

[pioneer]

Hi guys, I have been horribly struggling with secondary hypogonadism for 2 years. This diet has been raising my testosterone pretty fast in the first few months. However, they only have leveled off around 5-600 which is not that good. I wanna be around 800. I'm wondering if any of you have had issues like this before and cured them or resolved them with this diet or other ways. My friend has the same issue as me. We both incured these problems around 17 years old and have no idea what caused them. We both did way too much exercise though and we think that it is EIH or exercise induced hypogonadism. Either way, since this diet, I have gained much manliness and chest hair with extra T. Im just wondering if levels of 5-600 is all I am going to get. I feel that I am in the prime of my life and need to have more. My friend does not even believe me that this diet raised my testosterone, he thinks I'm lying. Although, he is starting to gain more interest in it. Do you guys think that it will slowly go up to higher levels? What are your guys experiences with this diet and hormones, sex, and fertility, all are welcome to comment. Thanks.

[kurite]

Have you been getting a lot of sun? Your testosterone  will raise through sun exposure, especially full body sun exposure.

[pioneer]

yeah, and that is half the battle, I know. In the summer my levels were about 700, but now I am in college barely getting any sun at all. Thus, they dropped. Is it really that simple that all I need is sun?

[kurite]

No, its also diet, exercise (you want low rep high weight exercise), even having sex in the morning...but sun is a major component. What kind of climate are you in?

[pioneer]

I know its diet, but also sleep and sun. And the exercise thing, I hate to say it but that exercise raises testosterone levels long term is a myth. Testosterone levels have been shown to be elevated after workouts with low rep, high weight and sometimes extremes like the 20 rep squat, but that is only temporary. Its not like exercising this way will permanently raise your levels. The only way I see exercise raising testosterone long term is by the fact of having more muscle and less fat= more testosterone. So that has some validity.

I live in a moderate climate with summers in the 90s and winters going as low as 15 degrees, but normally in the 30s.

[Raw Kyle]

Have you tried eating testicles?

[kurite]

Actually its not just more muscle that makes you have more testosterone its also having less fat which means less estrogen,
"The more overweight you are or the higher your body fat percentage is = The higher your estrogen levels will be because body fat contains an enzyme called aromatase that converts your 'manly' testosterone into 'womanly' estrogen making your testosterone levels drop so..."

http://www.nowloss.com/ways-to-increase-testosterone-levels-naturally-without-using-steroids.htm

That link has some other tips you may wanna look over.

[raw]

i agree with kurite. sun is the major tool. you also should try the testicles, which is hard to find. and than comes right diet which you're doing already. our entire system is screwed up really bad. the most important time we pass either being in school or going to work in day time when you can enjoy the sun entirely. i'm afraid of putting my toddler in a school, not because all children eat different than him, but the timing is like a gold for me. i rather keep him under the sun to play.

even my self i found the dramatic result of using this amazing sun. i eat 90% raw meat and last 10% i eat fruits or cooked meat/fish. without sun, your paleolithic diet is incomplete. so this is a vital componant. there's no excuse that you can't be in the sun. at least couple of days a week you can do that. 

[pioneer]

Have you tried eating testicles?

I actually just got some testicles in the mail from north star bison. I ate one yesterday and it was actually pretty good. Reminds me of a sweet potato. I did not notice any immediate effects though so IDK. I ordered 4 testicles and a pair of adrenals. I think I am on the right track with this diet anyway, but I am just wondering if you guys had experience with hormonal issues and if this diet did anything in that regard. When I went on cooked paleo, my testosterone went from 226 to 379 in one year, so I was already on the right track with that. I am now around 500 so since cooked paleo I went up a lot. I want to be around 800 because at 700 I felt great, but not optimal.

[Arthas_]

Besides sun, vitamin A and zinc are very important nutrients needed to boost testosterone production. I guess liver and oysters would be of great help.

[pioneer]

yeah, thank god for liver, I am starting to eat a 1lb liver at least once a week. For some reason though I heard it wasnt good to eat it too often as it causes goiter. I dont know if that is true, but that is why I limit it to 1 lb a week.

[Arthas_]

Apparently magnesium is also very important for hormone production. I've been reading lots of stuff on magnesium recently. I'll get some Mg supplements and see if I get results. There're some studies that found Mg increases free testosterone.

[Salidroside]

I have had gynocomastia since I was 11-12 (big puffy nipples with breast tissue underneath), and have always been conscious about how I look in a shirt. So I think I have too much aromatase activity, so I ordered some simple aromatase inhibitors from iherb, like chrysin and DIM, Although there are many compounds and foods that work. I've been trying to get to a low body fat 5-7 percent, but it's been very hard, and I'm at 10 right now so I think it's necessary to address the root cause, not the symptom which is low T.

How long has it been since you said you overtrained from exercising? Ive had that problem too and could not workout for nearly 2 months from overtraining (simply no desire to lift heavy weights).  If you have elevated cortisol still from that, it could be a huge factor in your diagnosis. I don't know the full story, but I recommend some sort of adaptogenic herb. Also how would you rate your drive to exercise? Do you feel as fresh as you did before?

Rhiodiola Rosea - very good for the adrenals, and the entire HPA axis, which is often devastated from overtraining
-stimulating in low dose, sedative in high dose
Ashwagandha - another adaptogen for restoring the HPS axis, but a gentler less stimulating one
Reishi
Ginseng - supposed to be a stimulating tonic herb to balance hormones
Tribulus - boosts the testosterone more than any other herb, almost, but could be too stimulating, I've had roid rage on it and I don't know if that's helpful if your HPA axis is down.

Make sure to get in the right fats. I eat plenty of cheese now because I feel really amazing when I do. When I eat less saturated fat and too much plant fats I do not feel nearly as good.

If you go to a local herb shop, you can probably get a decent amount of any of those herbs. I got an ounce of cut up rhodiola root for 4 bucks and it lasted about 2 weeks for making tea everyday.

I'd recommend mindandmuscle.com/forum - they could give you more details on how to solve your problem based on the chemistry of everything, but they're not into healing through diet, so they'll recommend drugs.

[chucky]

yeah, thank god for liver, I am starting to eat a 1lb liver at least once a week. For some reason though I heard it wasnt good to eat it too often as it causes goiter. I dont know if that is true, but that is why I limit it to 1 lb a week.

Because the high amounts of copper from the liver inhibits thyroid function.

[pioneer]

Because the high amounts of copper from the liver inhibits thyroid function.

I am actually copper deficient, so liver would be good for me then.