Nutrients to boost men’s health

June 2, 2016

Despite a huge cross over in the nutritional needs of men and women, men have certain unique needs that can be enhanced with specific herbs and nutrients. Here, I take a look at 5 of the most common herbs and nutrients.

Brain Boost: Herbs to help boost brain power include an Ayurvedic herb known as Bacopa. Bacopa has long been used as a ‘brain tonic’ to help enhance brain function. This amazing herb has been used for centuries. It works wonderfully in aid with other brain booster herbs such as Gingko – though check with a health professional that you’re ok to take this before doing so.

Erectile dysfunction: The herb gingko has been used by many cultures for centuries. It is an incredibly well studied herb, and one that’s used for a variety of reasons including anti-ageing and to help prevent against cognitive decline. When it comes to circulation, this little gift from Mother Nature packs one very powerful punch too! Circulation is incredibly important for mens erectile function. Good blood flow is critical to the microcirculation of mens reproductive organs, so if you suffer from any such problems, gingko is something you may wish to look further into. Just a word on this one (and on all herbal medicines for that matter!), gingko should never be taken with certain medications as it can cross react causing unwanted outcomes. For anyone on blood thinners, warfarin, aspirin and a list of other medications, you need to check in with a health professional such as a herbalist or naturopath before taking this one (or any other herbs).

Beer belly help: Cinnamon is a wonderful blood sugar balancer. Use this revered herb to help balance blood sugars and enhance insulin to ensure those extra few mouthfuls don’t end up where you least want them! Just a word on cinnamon though – try to stay away from too much of the ‘cassia’ species of cinnamon. This one has been linked to some detrimental health effects, so try to ensure you are using mainly the ‘Ceylon’ species of cinnamon. As always, you get what you pay for, and Ceylon cinnamon is more expensive, but better for you. The ‘cassia’ species contains coumarins, which over time can be problematic in susceptible people. Cinnamon is available in a herbal picture form too, and is often found included in ‘blood sugar balancing’ formulations. Check the container to see which species it contains, if it doesn’t say, my guess is that it’d be the cheaper cassia species and I’d look for something else.

Muscle power: Acetyl-n-carnitine helps to dump fats into the blood – so perfect to boost this nutrient prior to exercise to help you burn that excess fat off. This nutrient is present in red meat. Always ensure you get a good quality, grass fed piece of meat to avoid an overload of toxins primarily, but also importantly, that you get good levels of nutrients from ingesting it. It’s been shown that grass fed, pasture grown cows contain a huge amount more beneficial nutrients including vitamins A and D, when compared with their conventionally farmed, factory produced cousins. Grass fed, pasture grown meats are also fed a natural diet, rather than one filled with inflammatory grains, decreasing the inflammatory load on your body. Inflammation is at the root of all chronic diseases, so it’s a good idea to avoid it wherever possible. Acetyl-n-carnitine is also available in supplement form.

Stamina: Korean ginseng is another herb thats been used by many cultures for centuries. It helps to reduce the effects of physical stress, it’s a brain tonic, a heart tonic and is a wonderful male tonic! It’s not one to use in times of acute infections (e.g. colds and flu), it has a much better and potent effect when you are well. There aren’t too many tonics I make for males that don’t contain this one. It’s like putting a little extra fuel into your tank!

I see a lot of men in clinic for a huge variety of health concerns. I also make a lot of tonics for men, ranging from a simple liver and stress tonic, to general wellbeing tonics, to preventative tonics for thing like prostate health. Come in and chat to me if you would like to know how to go about boosting your health…

In health.. tiina..

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