Health

Plant Steroids by Ori Hofmekler

Can they help restore male power?

As a testosterone driven species, human strength, vigor and youthful appearance positively relates to the balance between the steroid hormones testosterone and estrogen as well as testosterone and cortisol. Testosterone plays a key role in regulating the development of male sexual characteristic and reproduction capacity. Among its numerous functions, big T works as a neuro-chemical inducing vigor, aggression and competitiveness in males and females. It is a most formidable anabolic agent, engaging in the regulation of protein utilization in the muscle, positively promoting tissue recuperation, muscular development and strength gain.

Maintaining a healthy hormonal balance is critically important. Low ratios of testosterone/estrogen or testosterone/cortisol are associated with metabolic disorders, loss of strength, muscle waste, fat gain, lowered libido, lowered virility, a weakened immunity and accelerated aging. We're facing today a serious problem – as a species we are shifting away from our evolutionary trend – from being under testosterone dominance to being under estrogen dominance. This shift is certainly not a secret, neither are the main causes of this phenomenon – excess of estrogen is most prevalent in our society and we pay the consequences with ever growing rates of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

There is a growing public awareness to the fattening, sickening and mortal effects of industrial chemicals on our bodies, particularly xenoestrogens, which have penetrated our food chain and our environment and are now disrupting our ability to regulate our body weight and sustain a strong, vigorous and healthy body. We have been falling victims to hormonal shattering substances, largely man made. Our testosterone driven ancestral program for having a potentially lean and powerful physique has been shattered, softened and weakened by estrogenic substances.

This issue is not just about how we look or perform, but mostly it's about how can we SURVIVE as individuals and as a species, and what can we do to tackle this problem?

In my book The Anti-Estrogenic Diet, I presented the "anti-estrogenic" approach. Its premise:

1) Avoiding estrogenic foods and chemicals

2) Consuming anti-estrogenic foods and herbs

3) Increasing intake of testosterone (and progesterone) promoting foods and herbs

The last element is critically important in view of the fact that our food chain has been FEMINIZED not just chemically but also biologically. Though largely unknown, the fact is that estrogenic chemical have been feminizing not only our animal food (meat, pork, poultry, etc.) but also the plant food that we eat – our last nutritional resource. The lower food chain, mostly plant food – the main source of essential human nutrients – has been now severely compromised and here is how: plants are inherently controlled by steroid-like substances which, like in mammals, dictate their reproduction capacity, rate of growth and structure. There is evidence that estrogens and androgens have different effects on plant development and structure. For instance, while estrogen has shown to promote flowering and inhibit root growth, testosterone has shown to promote root elongation, pollination and germination. Most importantly, chemicals in the soil can manipulate the feminine or masculine qualities in plants. Apparently, an estrogenic environment yields a more estrogenic plant with higher concentrations of naturally occurring estrogens. The existence of plant estrogens is common knowledge. Plant estrogens were first detected in the 1920s and since then, over 2000 phytoestrogens have been found, some out of which have shown to possess potent estrogenic activity.

What's remained largely unclear is the fact that plants inherently contain the male steroid hormones androgens. Extensive studies detected a large variety of androgens including androstenedione, DHEA, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in over 100 plant species out of 130 species investigated. These findings are most revolutionary since they add a critical element to the human diet – plant androgens can potentially serve as an estrogen balancing factors, thus increasing the capacity to fight excess estrogen and restore a prime state of health. Plant androgens could be the MISSING LINK to our nutrition today. The knowledge how to choose testosterone dense plants over estrogen dense plants may make the difference between being lean, powerful and healthy, and being fat, weak and sick.

Researchers have been speculating that human nutrition was primarily BALANCED between male food and female food. Most likely that's how things were millenniums ago. But what about our nutrition today? Have we been losing the gender balance in our food? Interestingly, the activity caused by male plants was several times lower than that caused by the extract from female plants. It is becoming evidently clear that our food chain has lost its ecological balance becoming more and more feminine with less and less testosterone promoting male foods. In other words, our food chain that was once balanced between masculine and feminine properties has been polluted with estrogenic petro-chemicals, and is now becoming biologically FEMINIZED. The farm animals that we eat have been largely feminized by estrogenic chemicals and the plants that we eat have been losing their masculine qualities due to petro fertilizers and pesticides. Our typical variety of vegetables and fruits may NOT be sufficient enough to balance and counteract the excess of estrogen in our food and we certainly need to know what to do to address this problem.

The solution

Increasing intake of male plants

More studies need to be done on plant androgens and how they affect our health, but based on anecdotal evidence, male plants do work. Testosterone boosting foods and herbs such as garlic, onion, celery, radish, almonds, pine nuts, bee pollen, mucuna, ashwaganda and ginseng respectively have shown great impact on sustaining and boosting testosterone, virility, strength and vitality. In future reports I will present male supportive foods, spices and herbs in more details, but for now let me just suggest that any plant food harvested before and right after pollination, is more likely to have higher concentrations of plant androgens than during other seasons. Evidently phytoandrogens reach max concentrations in plants during pollination and then drop rapidly thereafter. Also, there is evidence that young "green" grains are more "male oriented" than old grains (such as with green oats). The germ in grain is a great source of male hormones supportive compounds vitamin E, phytosteroids and nutritional cofactors – naturally occurring in the fat component of the germ. Note that stabilized wheat germ or rice germ could be highly beneficial in this regard.

Increasing intake of anti-estrogenic foods

Certain foods and herbs have shown the capacity to help balance estrogen in the body by inhibiting its formation or by modulating it metabolism. These include broccoli, cabbage, omega 3 oil, flax, hemp or fish oils, nuts, seeds, turmeric, garlic, onion, oranges, berries, and all greens.

Supplement with estrogen inhibitors

Certain compounds in plants have shown to inhibit estrogen by blocking the aromatase enzyme that produces estrogen (converting androgens to estrogens) and by shifting estrogen metabolism to favor the production of the beneficial metabolites 2-hydroxy estrogens over the harmful fattening and sickening metabolites 16-hydroxy estrogens. These include the flavonoids chrysin from passion flower, apigenine from chamomile, and indoles from cabbage. (More information on estrogen inhibitors at http://www.defensenutrition.com/cart/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=63.)

Cleanse your liver, kidneys and digestive tract

The liver and kidneys are the sites for steroid metabolism. There is a positive correlation between liver and kidney's health and testosterone activity. Testosterone's impact on the body depends on the level of free testosterone and what becomes evidently clear is that levels of free testosterone DECLINES when the liver is strained or overwhelmed with toxins. Toxicity promotes a process in the liver that DEACTIVATES testosterone by binding it to certain proteins called sex hormone binding globulins (SHBG). Moreover, toxicity increases the level of estrogen and cortisol over testosterone – a process that further diminishes testosterone's impact on the body. At this point, it doesn't matter whether and how much testosterone was ingested or even rejected – due to high levels of SHBG, or an excess of estrogen and cortisol, much of the testosterone pool will be rendered inactive. To avoid this problem, which also accelerates with aging and stress, it is important to CLEANSE all the body's detoxifying organs on a daily basis. Fruits and greens on empty stomach have a detoxifying effect on the body, nonetheless it is also important to supplement with detoxifying herbs (see www.warriordiet.com/Detox Kit).

In conclusion

The incorporation of testosterone boosting foods and anti-estrogenic foods with estrogen inhibitors supplements and liver, kidneys and digestive tract cleansing herbs will most likely grant the means to counteract excess estrogen and restore vigorous health. Note that excess of estrogen is not gender specific and therefore the above information can benefit both men and women.