Supporting Men’s Health with Nutrition & Lifestyle

men's-health-with-nutrition-lifestyle

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Father’s Day is coming up! So I thought I’d write an article
on how to support men’s health with nutrition and lifestyle practices that
anyone can adopt. Although Dads are celebrated once a year on this special
day, in general, their health is not the focus or priority. Studies show that
women tend to pay more attention to preventative health, nutrition, and
wellness. And, if there are children involved, the children often take
priority over the grown-ups. That leaves the adult male of the family lagging
behind in the basic steps to maintaining good health.

The first step for any man, whether he is a father or not, is to
just simply be aware that he has unique nutritional needs. Men can
become vulnerable to all sorts of health issues, and can cut short their
access to their own awesome male vitality, if they fail to
nurture themselves sufficiently. As a man, I plan to enjoy my unique male
biorhythms for as long as humanly possible, and I want all men to be able to
as well. So here are my thoughts on things to be aware of, and practices to
consider adding to your life, in order to support male health for optimal
physiological performance, disease prevention, and longevity.

Key
Insights for Supporting Men’s
Health 

When caring for ourselves from a functional nutrition standpoint,
it is crucial to consider not only the basic nutritional requirements of our
bodies, but also external factors like life stressors and exposure to toxins.
It’s also important to maintain a positive outlook and self esteem that
supports the natural, curious-yet-honorable role men play in the world. The
following points are not an “eat this not that” approach, but more
of a holistic checklist of
things to be aware of as an adult male living in the modern
world.

1. Stop Trying to Be
Invincible. 

Superman is an awesome guy, but he’s make believe. Women do a much
better job of preventative self-care than men. Often times I’ve helped
couples in my office. The woman does all the talking, and the man says,
“I’m just here to make her happy.” Men tend to think they don’t
need to worry about their own health, until they start experiencing seriously
troubling symptoms. On top of that, men tend to have unconscious programming
that says “you can power through your job, hold your liquor, and still
get up the next day and run a marathon. You’re awesome! You don’t need to
worry about a thing!” This may work for a small section of a young man’s
life, but eventually, this approach to lifestyle will wreak havoc on a man’s
endocrine system and metabolism. Once that starts to happen, all sorts of
things start to go wrong, like weight gain, metabolic syndrome, impotence,
and more.

Men need to nurture themselves just as much as their female
counterpart. For every spa day a woman takes, a man should also be on the
massage table, or sitting on a surfboard in the water, or engaging in some other
therapeutic activity that doesn’t require “Superman” to come in and
be invincible. Studies show that men don’t go to the doctor for check-ups as
often as women. This results in a higher risk of mortality for men, purely
based on their not being aware of important risk markers for prostate cancer,
cardiovascular disease, and other known morbidities, in time to do anything
about it. So if you’re a man, get a regular check up, get a regular massage,
swim with some dolphins, and be nurturing and kind to
yourself.

2. Eating Red Meat Does Not Make a
He-Man

The average non-athletic male needs about 50-75 grams of protein a
day. A single, 12-oz. serving of ribeye steak provides around 84 grams of
protein, along with an excess of cholesterol, and probably sodium, depending
on how the steak is prepared. In general, men consume too much protein with
the misconception that they need it. But the truth is actually the contrary.
The oxidative stress caused by too much animal protein takes a toll on the
body and accelerates the aging process on all levels. Protein excess can lead
to weight gain through a process called gluconeogenesis. When a human
consumes an excess of protein, the body may choose to convert it to
carbohydrates. And if those carbohydrates don’t get used as fuel, they get
stored in the form of fuel reserves, better known as fat! Meats, and all
animal products are acidic when digested. This can place a burden on our
system to maintain a balanced pH, as well as on our kidneys, whose job it is
to process and refine all that extra acidic ash.

Our liver also takes a hit from excess meat, which can lead to
fatty liver, insulin resistance (the root of type 2 diabetes), and
complications digesting our fats and other nutrients. Another known risk for
men who consume the “he-man” diet is iron overload. Studies have
shown that iron overload is more of a concern for men in general than anemia
from iron deficiency. A high meat diet combined with iron supplementation
from a basic daily multivitamin supplement can likely provide an overload of
iron to the male body. Men lose very little iron, because the body recycles
most of it. Their needs are only about 10 mg daily. These considerations
prompted the National Academy of Sciences to set an upper limit on iron, in
2002, to 45 mg per day for individuals 14 years or older.

3. Embrace Your Inner “Foraging Cave
Man.” 

Men are genetically programmed to hunt and gather, to drag
provisions over hills and across rivers, and that kind of physical stuff.
You’d think the caveman ate tons of meat. Ironically, the actual caveman diet
was supported mostly by plants and is more similar to what we would consider
a vegan, or whole-food plant-based diet today. Brenda
Davis RD
did a nutritional anthropological study of Paleolithic
humans. What she found was that in Paleo days they ate more than 100g of
fiber daily. Fiber comes from plants. That is about ten times more than what
the average American currently consumes in daily dietary fiber. Our modern
male bodies are being left unfulfilled by lack of activity and the absence of
fiber and plant nutrients in our diet.

For diet, this implies that more
whole vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds and some whole grains are favorable
for true evolutionary support of the male body. Putting fish and seafood
before other animal products will provide a wider spectrum of key nutrients
as well as male endocrine and overall cell metabolism support. A good
example would be a portion or two of wild salmon or tuna per week, and some
shellfish once per week. Much more than that increases exposure to toxins.
For exercise, a high intensity, rest-based
routine that keeps the body guessing and builds lean muscle mass can boost
testosterone and HGH levels and support a healthy metabolism. Engaging in the
same jogging or calisthenic exercise routine month after month will
eventually have negative effects on a man’s overall well being. The male body
thrives on physical dexterity. So eat lots of colors and textures from plants
like you’re a foraging cave man. Switch up the exercise routine like you need
to build a new emergency shelter for your cave family. Go on some athletic
adventures that scare you a little, without stressing you out too much, like
you’re running from an aggressive woolly mammoth– and feel that awesome male
vitality begin to restore itself.

4. The Billboards Lie- Booze Doesn’t Make You
Sexy

The ill effects of alcohol consumption on the male body have been
widely studied. The bottom line- if you want to lose your sex drive faster, keep
drinking. If you drink regularly, and have been getting bored with your
orgasms, try an experiment. Don’t drink for at least 10 days and see what
happens to your ability to truly enjoy your orgasms after your body has had a
chance to completely detoxify. If that doesn’t have you convinced enough that
alcohol is not supporting your manhood, here are some more facts: Alcohol
taxes the liver, which can lead to fatty liver and eventually cirrhosis of
the liver. Fatty liver has been linked to high cortisol levels, insulin
resistance, and other factors associated with metabolic syndrome. Alcohol
also causes oxidative stress to the body, destroys neural pathways, and in
general reduces a man’s ability to feel like a normal person. When a man
drinks regularly, his body needs to use resources to process the alcohol–
resources that he could be using to become the top performer in his company,
create a new business idea, begin a life changing creative project, or
achieve an athletic goal. Alcohol consumption also increases a man’s risk,
simply by association, of being exposed to other factors like tobacco smoke,
processed foods, refined sugar that comes in mixed cocktails, and an increase
in the chance of being arrested for a DUI. Having a bourbon on the rocks or a
slick martini can be sexy. But that little sexy friend in a glass can be a
brutal back stabber if not enjoyed in extreme moderation. I wrote an entire
article about the many misconceptions of alcohol consumption and
health.
You
can read it here.

5. Supplementation, Medication & Hormone
Therapy Are Not a Substitute for Poor
Diet. 

Men’s nutritional needs are generally not that out of the
ordinary. The need for supplements, medication or hormone therapy to support
testosterone levels or gonadal health, for example, are greatly reduced when
a man simply feeds his body what it needs to perform its basic physiological
functions, and to heal and thrive. This can be achieved by eating a variety
of plant-based, whole foods, with the animal products kept in check, while
keeping alcohol, and coffee, and other substances that can inhibit our
metabolism of nutrients to a minimum. Healthy fats and sterols are needed for
brain health and hormone development, but the amount of fats and cholesterol
men get from the Standard American Diet (SAD) can put their cholesterol at
risky levels. One can usually get a sufficient mount of healthy fats from
whole foods like nuts, seeds, fresh fish, and vegetables. Here is a good
general nutrition recommendation for adult men, taken from one of my favorite
nutrition experts, Elson M. Haas, MD. You can
download a printable copy here!

men's health

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about how to better support male
health. If you liked this article, you’ll love this upcoming webinar where I
will present some facts around male health, along with Heidi Hoffman, RD, MPH
of Vibrant Living Wellness Center.  You can
register for the webinar here!

If you are reading this after the webinar date has passed, but
want to learn more about how you can support your own unique body to heal and
thrive, you can schedule
a 15 minute phone consultation
with me. We can get on the phone and
discuss how I can help you use nutrition and lifestyle choices to become a
better, more vibrant version of yourself. I look forward to seeing you out
there somewhere soon!

Sources:
https://www.masteringdiabetes.org
https://elsonhaasmd.com/products/staying-healthy-with-nutrition
https://www.newbridgefoundation.org/addiction-blog/top-10-health-risks-of-drinking-alcohol-part-ii/
https://www.metaboliceffect.com

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