Four years ago on a hot summer day I went to a local middle school track to exercise. It was one of those days that makes you sweat as soon as you step outside. In the middle of my workout, I looked up and noticed a large man walking around the track. I was impressed with this man’s tenacity to be out on such a warm day attempting to improve himself. As my fellow big man walked around the track, and closer to me, he screamed out, “Hey, what in the world are you doing here!?” I looked up and noticed that it was someone that I had known for years. For his privacy, I won’t disclose who he was, but this person is very special to me and impacted my life in a powerful way. I was taken back about his weight gain but I was inspired by the fact that he was taking responsibility to get healthier.
Sadly two months ago, this friend of mine passed away due to complications of COVID-19. I believe that he had avoidable pre-existing conditions. Over the years, I saw him gain more weight and lose his vitality. I think I only mentioned my concern to him once. I regret not doing more.
This experience, along with several others coupled with a lot of research and my faith birthed a new opportunity. A study from the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism states that there is an association of low testosterone when you have type two diabetes, hypertension and obesity. The same source states that a 45 year old man living in the 21st century has lower testosterone than a 45 year old man living 30 years ago.
I believe that obesity, type two diabetes and hypertension can be elevated if we focus our nutrition NOT on being skinny or avoiding certain macronutrients but by eating for our hormonal heath. I think it’s a matter of having a fuller life and sometimes a matter of life and death. The issue that we face is that we can’t depend on big food companies, they make food with cheap ingredients that taste good. Pharmaceutical companies and Low T centers push testosterone boasting creams and pills that disrupt endocrine systems. We get to take our health into our own hands.
For example Kind Bar who buys approximately 3%-5% of the worlds almonds (per the former CEO) was just acquired by Mars for 5 billion. Almonds have been shown to lower testosterone by increasing SHBG. SHBG is kind of like a car with the doors locked that testosterone drives around in. SHBG binds testosterone up so that our bodies can’t use it. Can we expect Mars, a candy and dog food company, to stop putting testosterone lowering foods into their products? The answer is no. We get to come up with the solution.
