The testosterone diet: finally, a meal plan with one utterly important muscle-building goal: to ramp up your body's levels of testosterone

Muscle & Fitness, July, 2006 by Jim Stoppani

The name says it all. The Testosterone Diet. No need to give this meal plan some cute, fancy label. Besides, there's nothing cute or fancy about building big-time muscle. Want cute and fancy? Buy a Thigh Master. Lease a Mini Cooper. What you're looking for is a nutritional plan of attack that will provide your body with boatloads of the most hardcore hormone in existence so you can build optimal muscle and the most insane strength possible. That's what we offer here. While many anabolic hormones in the body influence muscle growth--growth hormone, insulin and insulinlike growth factor-1 all do it--testosterone is the handsdown most important. Not only does it drive muscle growth, but testosterone also has numerous other qualities that make it man's most crucial hormone--namely, masculine traits like body hair, a deeper voice and, of course, larger, stronger muscles. But testosterone also keeps you lean, since it elevates metabolism and increases the release of fat from fat cells and inhibits its storage in the body.

And there's more good news: Keeping your testosterone levels maxed out doesn't mean you have to resort to using illegal steroids or pro-hormones. Simply knowing how to eat properly can make a world of difference in keeping your testosterone at muscle-building levels.

TEST PRIMER

To understand how diet affects testosterone levels, you first must understand testosterone production and its actions. It all begins in the brain. A hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is released from the hypothalamus (a small section deep within the brain) and travels to the pituitary gland. From here, GnRH stimulates the release of luteinizing hormone, which travels via the blood all the way to the testes, where it activates enzymes that convert cholesterol into testosterone. What you eat can positively or negatively affect any one of these steps.

Your nutritional regimen can also influence testosterone after it's produced. Testosterone travels in the blood to muscle cells and other tissues either as free (or active) testosterone or bound to a carrier protein. Only the free kind can work to increase muscle size by entering the muscle cells. At some tissues, such as fat cells and the brain, fat can be converted into estrogens--yes, the female hormone you don't want in excess in your body, since it can lead to fat gain and inhibit further testosterone production by decreasing brain hormones. Diet can influence the amounts of both active testosterone and estrogens in the blood.

FOOD & TESTOSTERONE

To boost your testosterone levels, your first step is to consume an adequate number of calories. Following a low-calorie diet can result in less GnRH being released from the brain, as well as decreased activity of testosterone-catalyzing enzymes in the testes, and the consequence of both incidents is decreased testosterone production. The catch is that you also don't want to overeat and gain bodyfat, which contains more of the enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogens. The Testosterone Diet gives you enough calories to support muscle growth and testosterone levels without adding bodyfat. Our sample diet uses a 180-pound bodybuilder; to figure out your own calorie needs, multiply your bodyweight by 18-20 calories. For example, a 180-pounder will need to ingest about 3,250-3,600 calories per day. For the 200-pounder, it jumps up to 3,600-4,000 calories.

The next step is to consume adequate carbohydrates. Shoot for at least 2 grams per pound of bodyweight per day, keeping your carbs-to-protein ratio at 2:1--research shows that this is ideal for elevating T levels. And although we'd rarely tell you to choose more refined carbs (except around workout time), we suggest you do so here because higher-fiber diets tend to lower testosterone. Don't gorge on Twinkies, of course, but you can choose white rice over brown and cream of wheat over oatmeal, because the former have lower fiber content. Of course, you still need some fiber for health reasons, so we've included whole-wheat bread, fruits and vegetables in the nutrition plan.

Priority No. 3 is protein. Surprised it's not No. 1? While we constantly preach the importance of eating protein--and make no mistake, it's vital in The Testosterone Diet--what's even more crucial is getting just enough of it and not too much. That's because research shows that consuming more protein than carbs may lower testosterone levels. So you'll want to get in your bodybuilding standard of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day--no more, no less. Also, make sure most of your protein comes from animal sources; vegetarian diets are associated with lower testosterone levels in males.

The last, but certainly not the least, macronutrient to be concerned about is fat. You'll want to get about 30% of your total calories from fat, but don't overload on polyunsaturated fats like those found in salmon, other fatty fish and vegetable oils. Instead, concentrate on choosing monounsaturated fats found in nuts, olives, olive oil and avocados, and saturated fats from red meat and egg yolks. Unorthodox as this advice may be, research suggests that polyunsaturated fats lower testosterone levels, while monounsaturated and even saturated fats raise T levels.