Guys like to spend hours in the gym sculpting their physiques. While a healthy waistline is important for improved sexual performance, a lot of men don’t realize that their diet can directly affect their sex lives. Unhealthy lifestyle habits, or underlying health conditions caused by poor dietary choices, can impair sexual performance. There are easy lifestyle changes you can make to help maintain a healthy sex life.
The way you think about food and sex are essentially the same. You gain pleasure from both sex and eating. This may be truer for more women than men. Additionally, there are foods that can enhance or impair sexual performance. Some foods have the ability to reduce testosterone, decrease sex drive, or alter sperm production. The good news is that there are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and spices that can increase your libido and testosterone levels.
While there are multiple herbal supplements that can enhance libido, sex drive, or testosterone levels, they do not cure underlying factors. Establishing a healthy lifestyle and body is crucial to maintaining a healthy sex life.
Lose It So You Can Use It
Smoking
Smoking increases your risk of developing a plethora of health problems; heart disease, lung cancer, erectile dysfunction, or lowered sperm count being primary conditions. It’s ideal to quit smoking in order to decrease your risk of developing sexual or reproductive conditions. Not to mention, smoking can be unattractive and a major turn-off to your partner.
Alcohol
Although alcohol is considered to be a social lubricant, it can inhibit sexual performance. It may be more difficult to get and keep an erection, and orgasms can be delayed. Alcohol can also reduce the quantity and quality of a man’s sperm because it inhibits the body from absorbing zinc, which is an important mineral in the outer layer of a sperm cell. It’s best to steer clear of those happy hours to have an improved sex drive and healthier sperm.
Junk Foods & Processed Foods
Both junk foods and processed foods can be detrimental to your health. These foods are often loaded with trans fats, high in cholesterol, have too much salt, or have hydrogenated fats and oils. If your diet includes junk foods or processed foods, you are at risk of having high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, or becoming obese. A lot of these foods can decrease your libido or cause abnormal sperm production. They also can affect your circulatory system and reduce blood flow, which can impair performance down there.
Overeating
Weight gain is the number one sex drive killer for men. If your waistline exceeds 40” you are more likely to develop erectile dysfunction. A lot of people have portion distortion because of gigantic portion sizes in America. Too much food makes it hard to set the mood. To prevent overeating, eat out of small bowls and prepare healthy snacks to munch on between meals.
We’ve told you what you need to cut out, now here are a few things you can do to help you get on a healthier path.
Fruits and Veggies are Your Friends
Fruits and vegetables provide the body with a lot of nutrients that have a positive effect on the body. Maintaining a plant-based diet can help you cleanse the body of built-up toxins, so that your systems and organs can function at optimum levels. Certain fruits and veggies provide the body with phytonutrients, which it can convert into arginine, an amino acid that helps relax blood vessels like an erectile dysfunction medication might. Some of the best fruits and veggies to eat for a healthier sex life include:
Exercise
Engaging in physical activity can promote healthy blood flow and help you shed excess weight. Sometimes there may be self-esteem issues that go along with being overweight. Low self-esteem, depression, or anxiety can all have negative effects on your sex life. Exercising promotes enzyme production and helps relieve stress, both of which are positive steps towards a healthier lifestyle.
- Yoga can be an excellent exercise that promotes mind and body awareness, and it can help improve flexibility for more creative positions.
- Weight lifting may be the right exercise for you because it helps boost testosterone production. Strengthening your upper body muscles may promote increased stamina because you engage those muscles during sex.
- Kegels (yes, guys can do these too) are great for helping to strengthen pelvic muscles. These can help endurance, control, and delayed ejaculation by contracting the pelvic floor muscles. You can practice these by interrupting urine flow while going to the bathroom. This will get you familiar with the muscles you need to strengthen.
- Swimming is a cardio-intensive exercise that can help increase endurance and stamina during sex. If you swim for 30 minutes three times a week, you’ll also help shed excess weight. It’s a win/win!
Reduce Stress
Stress is not conducive to your overall health, and can negatively affect your sex life. Stress can increase your heart rate, which can lead to high blood pressure, ultimately damaging sexual performance. Psychological stress, as well as physical stress, can make it difficult to achieve optimum performance in the bedroom. Try acupuncture because it has been known to improve circulation and relieve tension in the body. You can also try meditative breathing exercises, practice Tai Chi, or talk to your partner about sex. The latter can often ease stress and create a better sex life.
There isn’t a one trick fix for a better sex life, but you can take steps to reclaim a healthier lifestyle. You’ll be amazed at what living healthy can do for you.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
