The Feminisation Of Men?

That was the topic of my talk yesterday at my co working space in Bali. My intro incorporated an event that happened about a year ago, when a woman said to me: “You just can’t find any real men these days”. I was in a salon. What kind of salon I hear you say? A beauty salon. Yeah, that’s right, I was having my back waxed. Does that make me less manly?

She didn’t actually say that in regard to my treatment. She said that in response to my telling her what I did for a living. I told her that I’m helping men increase testosterone naturally through nutrition and fitness. She asked me how that worked. Among the online course, coaching, fitness and nutrition training, I told her my main focus was to spread awareness of what I’m calling in “oestrogen epidemic”, which is causing men to be feminized – and of course to provide the solution.

I revealed some startling figures; Testosterone levels in men have dropped by 22% in two decades, sperm counts have as much as halved in the last half century and operations to correct gynecomastia are now the forth most popular cosmetic surgery carried out on men.  Her ears immediately pinned up when I said this. (I can’t back that up, I couldn’t see her ears as I was lying on my front – let’s just say she got engaged).

The reason she got engaged is because she talked about how her own daughter was having problems with her menstrual cycles, linked to an imbalance of oestrogen, namely, too much of it as a result of external, environmental oestrogen – or xenoestrogens. We take these in from our food supply, our water supply, cosmetics, deodorants, shower gels, fumes we breathe, plastics and more. Gender bending chemicals in lakes and rivers are causing male fish to grow eggs. Alligator and otter penises are shrinking. How on earth do I know that I bet you’re asking.

She said: “That’s really interesting, it’s not just causing imbalances with women and girls, but men too.” She was well versed on the origins of all the environmental oestrogen as she had been thoroughly researching this topic for the sake of her daughter. Excess oestrogen is also linked with polycistic ovaries and other illnesses and diseases including cancer. It’s pretty serious! Yet very few people know about this. We then started talking about men again and the effects it’s having on men, and that’s when she said “You just can’t find any real men these days”. I had never thought about it from a psychological point of view – my focus is on our physiology. It did make me think though; I wonder if it’s affecting us in that way too?!

So quickly, how do we avoid exposure to environmental oestrogen? Stick to organic as much as you can – otherwise you’re susceptible to the hormones or unnatural – often GMO – feed given to animals that increase oestrogen levels, and pesticides and herbicides on plants which also increase oestrogen. Avoid GMO anything as this has been proven to increase oestrogen levels and avoid packaged and processed goods – most of them contain some kind of preservatives, added sugar, artificial flavours, nasty chemicals that play havoc with our hormones and also cause inflammation.

By mindful of your drinking water. It’s often contaminated with drugs as a result of the female contraceptive pill which ends up being recycled in the water that we drink. If you can, drink glass bottled spring water of have a decent filter installed in your home, like a reverse osmosis filter or similar. Make sure it’s one that leaves in the minerals or at least replaces them after they’re extracted.

Drink water with freshly squeezed lemon every morning. This is an amazing liver cleanse (your fat metabolising organ), very effective alkalising strategy and energy booster. You’re also dehydrated after your 8 hours sleep so your brain and body needs water.

Avoid soy like the plague – it’s a phytoestrogen – meaning, a plant-derived oestrogen. It mimics the effect of oestrogen in the body and I’d avoid it completely. Small amounts of organic and fermented soy are ok, such as a tiny helping on your sushi. If you’re in the US avoid tofu and most meat substitute products as they’re mainly made from heavily processed soy. Pay particular attention to protein shakes – a lot of them have soy in them!!

Eat cruciferous vegetables – the cabbage family. They contain Indole-3 carbinol – excellent in breaking down oestrogen in the body. Get plenty of mushrooms, garlic and onions too.

Keep insulin flat! That means reducing high GI carbs and sugar. Our Testosterone levels drop when we consume foods that turn to sugar in the body.

We need to protect our manliness! If you’re interested to learn more, check out my ebook. You can buy it right here for the price of a pint of beer. I’d love your feedback!