Inflammation, Low Testosterone And Infertility

Over the weekend I attended an event for authors. I love these types of events as I always meet people in my field. I did a quick spiel about my book on inflammation, The Vitality Secret (which got to No.1 in Nutrition and No.1 in Immune Systems a few weeks ago…sorry to plug! I’m not really…) and an enthusiastic woman came up to me who’s a naturopath. She works with couples who can’t get pregnant who have been trying for many years to conceive. She is very aware of inflammation and we talked about how it’s one of the first things to clear up if you’re trying to have a baby. I’ve previously written how inflammation is directly linked with low testosterone if you’re a man. This is often overlooked. Inflammation leads to hormonal imbalance in both men and women. Mostly through diet, this woman is able to help the couples get pregnant in months and has an 84% success rate. This compares with conventional methods that have a 24% success rate (from memory). I’ll be doing a webinar with her soon. Watch this space.

Something she said really resonated with me; in 50% of cases when couples can’t get pregnant, it’s down to the man being infertile. It’s not the woman and men do not want to admit this. We’re too proud. As I’ve written in Mojo Multiplier, a lot of what we find in our food supply and environment is negatively affecting our hormones.  Hormone disrupting chemicals and compounds in our food supply, our water supply, cosmetics, deodorants, shower gels, plastics, fumes etc are causing testosterone levels and sperm counts to plummet. Testosterone levels are 22% lower today than they were two decades ago. Sperm counts have as much as halved in half a century. Operations to correct gynecomastia (man boobs) is the 4th most popular cosmetic surgery carried out on men in the United States. Male fish are growing eggs. Alligator penises are shrinking. Don’t ask me how I know this but they are! Something very scary is happening in our environment and it’s causing problems with men, and women.

Hippocrates said it: ‘Let Thy Food Be Thy Medicine,’ and each day I come across my examples of people reversing health conditions by changing what they eat. The crazy thing is that two of the most inflammatory foods we eat, are 2 staple foods; wheat and milk. I’d say dairy, but many can consume butter and mature cheese without any problems. In America, the quality of the wheat crop is of a very poor quality compared with its origin 10,000 years ago at the start of the agricultural industry. It has been so genetically modified and causes a plethora of health problems. It’s not only celiac sufferers are sensitive to gluten. Many of us just don’t know it yet. Most people don’t realise that all sorts of health problems can be cleared up or managed by simply removing wheat from their diet, particularly wheat. Gluten, the protein in wheat, has been dubbed a gut poison. This triggers an immune response and leads to inflammation:

It is estimated that at least one in six people are non-Celiac gluten intolerant. Common symptoms are bloating, gas and/or abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, hard to flush bulky, fatty stools, bloating after meals or waking up bloated, itchy skin rash or eczema, discolored teeth or loss of enamel, aching joints, fatigue, canker sores, mood swings, anxiety, depression, poor appetite, weight loss or weight gain, ringing in your ears, headaches or migraines, muscle weakness, low sex drive, poor concentration and/or memory problems, infertility and/or irregular menstrual cycles. Long term, more serious consequences of gluten exposure in sensitive individuals can be degenerative organ damage, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.

Wheat, barley, rye and oats contain toxic chemicals produced by the plant itself. These wheat-poisons have evolved to help the plant with its own reproduction and survival, at the expense of the animal that eats its seed. Read more on OwnDoc.com.

I know what you’re probably thinking: How can our most staple food be so harmful? In Europe the quality of the wheat crop is far superior but it still contains three anti-nutrients: gluten, phytates and lectins. I have spoken to quite a few people about how they feel when they go to Europe and eat bread and pasta, compared with how they feel in the US. In the US, people complain of severe bloating and also weight gain. What’s often overlooked in Europe though, is that cases of Type-2 diabetes are particularly high, in France and Italy. You don’t have to be fat or obese to have type-2 diabetes. Wheat is a trigger for this as it is very high glycaemic so triggers a blood sugar spike and insulin response. Continuous over exposure to insulin is what leads to insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes, inflammation (which leads to almost every other disease) and of course an imbalance of hormones including low testosterone.

I challenge you to take our wheat for one month and see how you feel. In 7 days you will notice a difference. Eating clean with tons of organic vegetables is also essential in combination with lots of healthy fats that are essential in hormone regulation. For $7.99 you can purchase The Vitality Secret in which you’ll discover more about this and have access to meal plans.

Check out this post about one simple method to reverse inflammation.