Sexual health is an important part of health. Problem is, thanks to many chemicals and things we are consuming, Americans’ sex drives are statistically decreasing! Here are some things to eliminate in order to get your hormones back on track and rev up your sex drive. So cut these sex-drive killers out of your life.
- Soda: We’ve told you the health problems by sodas before and why you should eliminate them completely. In case you needed another reason: some sodas, like Mountain Dew, list brominated vegetable oil—or BVO—as an ingredient. Bromine products are linked to male infertility, impotence, and decreased libido. Another libido killer is aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in diet sodas, which is notorious for causing both headaches and low libido in both men and women.
- Store Receipts: Approximately 40% of receipts today are coated with the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA), which has been linked to fertility problems and heart disease. A recent study published in the journal Fertility and Sterility discovered that men with higher BPA levels in their urine experienced low sperm counts and lower sperm quality than men with lower levels. We recommend turning down unnecessary receipts and also avoiding canned foods and foods in certain plastics, which also contain high levels of BPA.
- Microwaveable Popcorn: Non-stick chemicals that are used in the inner lining of microwave popcorn bags and in non-stick pots and pans often contain perfluoroalkyl acids which are linked to testicular tumors, lack of sex drive, and male infertility, even in small doses. Opt for cooking cast iron pans and pop corn in a brown bag instead.
- Sugar: A 2009 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that men with normal blood sugar levels enjoyed better sexual health. Studying about 800 men with type 2 diabetes, researchers compared blood sugar levels to sexual health questionnaires. Men with higher blood sugar were more likely to report erectile dysfunction more often. Another reason to cut out sugar!
- Birth Control: These contraceptives have the ability to alter a woman’s testosterone production by putting the ovaries to sleep. The fake estrogen in the pill renders the natural testosterone the body can produce useless and female libido decreased.
- Pesticides: Atrazine, a common weed-killing chemical, can drastically suppress a man’s sex drive. Scientists were tipped off to this fact when they noticed that male frogs exposed to trace levels of the chemical suffered a decrease in male sex hormones and fertility. Worse yet, about 10 percent of the frogs actually turned into females. Many other pesticides are considered to be hormone disruptors, so eat organic as much as you can.
- Tonic Water: It’s main ingredient, quinine, which has shown to lower testosterone levels according to research conducted by Germany’s Institute of Reproductive Medicine.
- Fish: Pay close attention to the source of the fish. Industrial waste chemicals, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), banned in the U.S., can mimic natural hormones, causing cancer in adults, and adverse health and reproductive effects in both human and wildlife offspring, according to a 2013 study. Although they were banned in the U.S. in 1979, PCBs have remained in the environment for decades, possibly erasing sex drive in women. Certain other countries where fish is imported from does not have this same ban and can end up in the fish we are consuming.
- Fried Foods: The trans-fat found in all fried foods is known to dramatically decrease the male and female libido. The adverse effects of consuming these trans fatty acids includes an increase in the amount of abnormal sperm production for men and interferes with gestation in women. Time to put the fries down!
- Stress: Stress greatly affects sex drive in both men and women, but even more so in women. Chronic stress can throw a woman’s hormones off and kill sexual desire. During high-stress times, the female body actually converts progesterone, the precursor molecule to testosterone, into the body’s “stress hormone,” cortisol, instead of sex hormones that make you crave intimacy. A great remedy to stress is physical fitness including cardio, strength training, and yoga!
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