#522 Increase Testosterone And Libido
With Lucas Aoun
I know for myself, I think I’ve always been really low in testosterone. And I’ve always really struggled – like, really hit the gym hard. Four days a week, sometimes five days a week, and just still struggling to build muscle. And I thought, ‘Oh, I’m just a woman. That’s why.’ But now that I do testosterone replacement, I get much better results.
Our guest today is Lucas Aoun. He’s Australia’s leading biohacker with over seven years of experience researching and experimenting with nootropics and other performance-enhancing compounds. He’s extremely motivated to discover something big for science that can benefit millions of people globally. Lucas Aoun offers cutting-edge health content ranging from nutrition research, hormone research, and nootropic research that 99.9% of the world has never heard of. Lucas Aoun thrives on offering insanely valuable content on a global scale, which you can find at BoostYourBiology.com.
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Dr. Wendy Myers
Lucas, thank you so much for joining the show.
Lucas Aoun
Hey, Wendy. I’m glad to be here.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah. So thanks so much for joining. So I met you at the World biohacking summit in Dubai. And I heard you speak and I was really impressed. And I wanted to have you come on the show. And that was a really interesting experience to see all the very different kind of demographic there that was really interested in biohacking and optimizing their health like in the United Arab Emirates, it just seems like, there’s not a lot of alternative health and biohacking going on. So I love the the intense interest everyone there had.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, for sure. I mean, it was a great, great start to the the biohacking space in Dubai. And so, yeah, it’s a pleasure to speak there. And great to meet you and all the other speakers as well.
Dr. Wendy Myers
So I wanted to talk about what you touched on in your talk in Dubai, which is talking about testosterone optimization. And so this is something that I think is really important, because I think there’s a lot of women out there, low in testosterone, but a lot of men also and they really, I feel like they really suffer from low testosterone, because there’s so, as I talked about on the show, there are so many heavy metals and environmental toxins that interfere in all hormones, including testosterone. And there’s a frightening decline in sperm counts. I’ve read some statistics that we can have as little… if the sperm decline rates continue at the rate they are now we could have even 20 million sperm per milliliter. By 2050. I mean, that’s frightening, that’s related to testosterone levels, of course. But let’s talk about that. What is your take? Why do so many people today have low testosterone levels?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah definitely, I think a major contributing factor as you outlined Wendy is definitely the exposure of these endocrine disrupting chemicals, the EDCs, you know environment is so ubiquitous, it’s pretty hard for men to escape. And so I definitely think that’s a big factor contributing to the decline in testosterone and also fertility, as you mentioned. I also think other critical factors that play a role here include simply being obese. So carrying excess body weight, that can obviously be a major contributing factor because you know, excess body fat increases the conversion of testosterone into estrogen in men, because it up regulates the aromatase enzyme. And then also looking at critical nutrient deficiencies. So things like, you know, zinc deficiency, magnesium deficiency, these are critical elements that we need from our diet, which is, unfortunately, our diet is void of these critical nutrients that are absolutely essential for male reproductive capacity. So, in terms of, you know, the various factors, I think men really need to pay attention to, you know, critical thing is looking at their blood test results and looking at their blood work. And that’s why, you know, I’m a big advocate for taking a very objective stance on evaluating someone’s health, looking at what their blood tests analysis shows.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Well, I think a good test is just if you have no libido, you probably are low in testosterone. So I think that can be like a little dipstick, there are a little, you know, little symptom there. A lot of people are dealing with that, especially women. So what are some other signs that people have low testosterone levels?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so another sign is, particularly in men is lack of energy, lack of energy and vitality, this is a big factor. Because testosterone heavily influences dopamine signaling, and it’s very, very active in the brain, testosterone has some pretty powerful neuro behavioral effects. And it can also really dramatically affect our thinking patterns, our mood and motivation. And so like a typical sign that you’ll see with men that have low testosterone is lack of confidence and lack of, you know, ambition and drive.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, yeah. Are there any other ones? Definitely, I think there’s a lot of, you know I want to say it’s the millennials that they have a lot of those symptoms, you know, eating a lot of junk food, watching a lot of dopamine releasing social media and whatnot, and can be lacking a lot of drive and motivation, just in general. Maybe in that generation.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, definitely contributing to the lack of resilience and just the ability for them to cope with modern day society. The ability to cope, you know, that coping mechanism, we can sort of look at testosterone as like as an adaptive hormone. It’s like a protective adaptive hormone. Unlike, you know, cortisol, we don’t want cortisol to be elevated all the time chronically, because that can contribute to disease and as funnily enough, like an inverse relationship between testosterone and cortisol. So, you know, that’s something that we need to really consider.
Dr. Wendy Myers
I mean, we are under so much stress today, I mean of every different type from EMF to emotional trauma, which kind of unconsciously just drains our energy, to nutritional stress and emotional stress, all the fear mongering in the media as well, and so just a lot of stuff going on today for people.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, I definitely think another factor is… well a consequence of having low testosterone in men is like the body composition effects. So like, you know, we see men that have low testosterone, and they struggle to build muscle and they also carry excess body fat. And so it really makes their ideal body, like their dream body goals, more difficult to achieve, because testosterone can also affect fat burning and body composition.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, I know, for myself, I think I’ve always been really low in testosterone. And I’ve always really struggled, like really hit the gym hard, four days a week, sometimes five days a week, and just still struggling to build muscle. And I just thought, Oh, I’m just a woman. That’s why. But but now that I do testosterone replacement, I just get much better results, you know, I do much less workouts. And I’m doing like three times a week. But before I’d have to do five times a week, in order to really get ahead and really build muscle and it was very, very frustrating.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, definitely a contributing factor. And also, as part of that, like pathway, if we look at sort of upstream, I think a number of people will get confused around like, testosterone is really synthesized from cholesterol. So if we look at dietary factors that contribute to low testosterone, one really important factor to consider is a very low fat diet that’s going to really sabotage and destroy a man’s level of testosterone.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Or a vegan diet.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Let’s talk about that. Okay, because I know there’s a lot of people that are maybe getting sold on that diet for various reasons. And we love animals. We’re not sociopaths over here. And we all love animals too. But there’s some people are really, you know, get into it. They just don’t want to participate in that. But I really firmly don’t believe it, I know that people cannot get their nutritional needs met, even through supplementation on that diet. And the cholesterol, lack of cholesterol in the diet is a huge factor interfering in one’s hormone production. I mean, it’s just like a death sentence to hormones and testosterone.
Lucas Aoun
Oh, yes, for sure. I mean, I’ve even seen blood work before and after the vegan diet. And, you know, I’ve had guys come back to me after 12 weeks of just pure vegan diet, and their testosterone levels have dropped by up to 60%. And it’s just striking to see it in their blood work. And you can also see it in their general demeanor and the way they present. They just come across as less confident and less assertive, they’re more submissive sort of thing. So yeah, definitely. I mean, the vegan diet is lacking, generally low in saturated fats, unless they’re having coconut oil, but generally like quite low in saturated fats. Yeah, that’s going to be a major factor contributing to their low testosterone.
Dr. Wendy Myers
But even coconut oil doesn’t have cholesterol in it. There’s so many different kinds of saturated fat in animal proteins, there’s different types of saturated fat in coconut oil, and there’s certainly no cholesterol in coconut oil and so you can’t supplement Cholesterol to make your hormones. So it’s just a thing, people doing a vegan diet, I think most of them, they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know the nutritional deficiencies they have, their compromised ability to detox. There’s so many problems. So there’s a huge whole list of the fat soluble vitamins that they don’t get. So anyways, I’ll stop ranting right there. Can you talk about other things that reduce testosterone production?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, for sure. So another factor is related to some of the vitamins. So looking at vitamin D deficiency has definitely been shown to lower testosterone levels. And one thing I like to emphasize is that it’s always ideal to get vitamin D or synthesized vitamin D from the sun. So you know, going outside, being outside exposing the body to sunlight, is more ideal than taking a vitamin D supplement. However, obviously, in certain conditions, certain environments being in a, you know, when there’s no sunlight, for example, London, or some parts of the UK, where there’s minimal sunlight, that’s where vitamin D supplementation can be highly useful and advantageous. But if we’re looking at sun exposure, the sunlight hitting the skin is also going to trigger the melanocortin system as well, it’s going to stimulate alpha MSH, which is another hormone that helps with sexual libido and sexual arousal. So being outside exposes the body to sunlight. And even funnily enough, like even men exposing their testes, their balls to sunlight, you know, for like, a few seconds can actually help to stimulate testosterone production as well.
I’d say definitely the type of exercise that a man is doing is really, really important to understand. Are they doing ultra long distance aerobic training? Are they doing long duration aerobic activities? If they are, then this can actually increase cortisol and decrease testosterone. Whereas what we should be looking for is more high intensity short duration activities involving large muscle groups. So that can be sprint training, using the rowing machine, doing weights or heavy squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing. All of these compound movements require big, large muscle groups. And when we activate or engage these large muscle groups, the body responds by increasing the synthesis of testosterone.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, I have read that when men work out and they lift weights that will increase their testosterone production. So obviously, that should be a part of anyone’s exercise routine for many reasons.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, absolutely. I was just gonna say with the dietary approach as well. We sort of mentioned a bit about the vegan diet but even certain select foods, and even teas, certain teas and foods can actually lower testosterone. So men really need to be avoiding drinking excessive amounts of licorice or consuming licorice, mint or any sort of tea that has mint or spearmint. And then even if we look at soy based foods, like soy products, soy milk in my opinion, I think soy is actually problematic for men because it can actually lower DHT which is Dihydrotestosterone and men do not want to be lowering Dihydrotestosterone too powerfully because that can result in some side effects.
Dr. Wendy Myers
I mean, it lowers thyroid function, I read by 6% You know a few hours after you drink it or eat it. So, let’s talk about some different things that can optimize testosterone production. So what should we be doing?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so first of all, number one is for men to make sure that the testes, their balls are actually kept cool. This is really, really important to understand is that there’s a reason why the testes sit outside the male body. It’s because they need to be kept cooler than the core body temperature. And anytime the testes get too warm, even two degrees, just above core body temperature can completely arrest spermatogenesis. So it can shut down sperm production. And so this is why a way to combat this heat damage is by actually applying an ice pack to the testicles, not obviously directly up against the testes, but applying the ice pack up against the underwear where the testes hang.
Dr. Wendy Myers
I’m sure that it will feel great. So that’s just if you’re overheating, like after the jacuzzi, or something of that nature, that hot, hot day in Mexico.
Lucas Aoun
I actually have an official protocol for men, which is like 10 to 15 minutes, three times a day. And by itself, I’ve literally seen guys blood work before and after doing this, completely no other changes to their diet or exercise. And after 12 weeks, their testosterone has increased by around 20% Wow, that’s
Dr. Wendy Myers
Wow, that’s interesting. Yeah, and I’ve read that magnesium glycinate can also dramatically increase testosterone levels as well.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, magnesium is crucial because it helps to decrease sex hormone binding globulin, which helps to free up more testosterone. And, and also magnesium is important for ATP production as well.
Dr. Wendy Myers
I mean, that seems easier than icing your balls. You know, you know, everyone, you know, has their things, their little tools that they use. But for me, I want to stick to magnesium. But, what else can we do?
Lucas Aoun
Well, from a supplementation perspective, obviously, magnesium is one of them. But there’s a range of other herbs that I really liked to incorporate and what I recommend. Number one is from traditional Chinese medicine, you know, being being a naturopath, you know, I studied herbs and understand herbs quite well. But I also dipped my toes into the space of traditional Chinese medicine. So I was interested in learning and understanding about TCM and I just love the way that they describe herbs and things like that. So there was one herb that I was really interested in from traditional Chinese medicine and that was a herb called Cistanche Tubulosa and Cistanche is what they believe to be one of gangers cons favorite herbs. So that herb in particular is fantastic and is a great supplement in a sense to help with increasing testosterone naturally just like what we see with like Tribulus, you see maca powder advertised quite a lot for testosterone but that is more so for sexual arousal and libido but Cistanche Tubulosa definitely helps with testosterone production.
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Dr. Wendy Myers
Okay, great, any foods people can eat to optimize testosterone?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so there’s a range of different foods. So number one, I would say is actually honey. So raw honey is fantastic because it contains a constituent called quercetin which is a flavonoid that’s great for improving testicular function. It’s an antioxidant in the testes. So definitely like raw honey is a great carbohydrate source, it tastes freakin delicious. So yeah, that’s definitely one. Similar to honey, it is actually royal jelly. So royal jelly is used a lot again in Chinese medicine and that’s great for immune health and immune function. But royal jelly does have some pretty impressive research to suggest that it can accelerate the conversion of dHea into testosterone and that’s, you know, another natural food that’s packed full of amino acids, peptides and great healing substances.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, I just love the products— love love love pollen, propolis and royal jelly. An what about and say like, like taking collagen or taking, like colostrum that has a lot of peptides and things like that on it too.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, definitely looking at collagen being rich in proline, glycine and some other amino acids gonna be great for healing the gut. And we do know that if there is leaky gut or intestinal hyperpermeability, which you know a lot about, if there is intestinal hyperpermeability that can actually raise endotoxin levels in the bloodstream and endotoxin has been shown to suppress luteinizing hormone signaling, which can affect testosterone production. So anything that we can do to optimize the gut will inevitably help with hormonal production as well.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, I got such a central role in everything. Any other supplements that people can take or any other things that they can do to raise testosterone?
Lucas Aoun
Yep, so another amino acid that I’m a big fan of is actually taurine. So taurine is talked about quite a lot in relation to Red Bull and energy drinks and a lot of people will perceive them as unhealthy and you know, most energy drinks are pretty bad for you because they’re, you know, high in caffeine and, you know, artificial flavors, things like that. But taurine is included in these energy drinks. And we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, because taurine is actually a great amino acid for longevity, but it’s also great for increasing testicular function. Taurine actually saturates and accumulates in the testes and acts as an antioxidant. And it helps with protecting the testes from damaging things like EDCs, Xenoestrogens and other things in our environment.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, and there’s no Taurine sources in the vegetarian or vegan diet. And so that is obviously another problem with those diets as well. And you need taurine for the liver function to detox the liver or for the liver to be able to detox. So another problem there. And so, let’s talk about maybe move to hormone replacement. Say people don’t want to do any of that stuff that we just talked about. They just want to go to testosterone injections and replacement. What is your recommendation for that?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so TRT or HRT, which is testosterone replacement therapy is definitely going to be highly useful in certain scenarios. So these are conditions where the individual has pretty much exhausted and tried almost everything possible to try and boost testosterone. And unfortunately, his levels are, you know, not where they where they should be. And they don’t care about fertility, because obviously, going on testosterone replacement therapy, for a man is a potent contraceptive, like it will significantly decrease fertility, and they won’t completely destroy it, but it will massively lower fertility. And so the discussion I love to have with men is okay, well, you know, maybe you’re 35 years of age, you’ve already had maybe two kids, for example, and you’ve decided you don’t want to have any further children in the future. And so then the question becomes, okay, well then TRT could be a good option for you because you no longer are concerned about fertility. And you’re also willing to commit to TRT pretty much for life, for a very extended period of time. Because whilst going on testosterone can be highly useful acutely, if they decide to stop the hormone or cessation, complete withdrawal… Obviously, there’s going to be a really difficult time functioning when you remove the hormone. It can be really debilitating for men, if they’ve been on testosterone therapy for maybe a year, and then they stop, that period when they stop can be extremely challenging.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, it takes time for the body to kind of get the message that it needs to ramp up production again, because naturally if you have a lot of free floating testosterone, the body is going to reduce production, obviously. It doesn’t need it.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, there are ways to really stimulate the testes to then you know, re kickstart production of testosterone like you can use Clomiphene, some other like Clomid, the HCG, you know, there’s a range of strategies that can be implemented to like re kickstart production and boosts back up the levels back again naturally, but it ultimately comes down to the dosage that the individual was on to start with, and how long they were running that particular dosage for. So if we’re looking at therapeutic dosages, usually that’s between like 95 milligrams to about 120 milligrams per week. That’s usually a rough range for testosterone. But I’m actually really excited to see the future of testosterone replacement therapy looking outside injections because, again, a lot of people don’t like to inject. And, you know, most of the research is done on injectable testosterone replacement. But I’m excited to see whether or not we can develop, like an intranasal, like nasal spray delivery methods, and even potentially sublingual peptides that can help with testosterone production.
Dr. Wendy Myers
And aren’t there supplements you can take like a DHEA, or things that are precursors to testosterone that could, you know, conceivably increase production of testosterone.
Lucas Aoun
So two major precursors, if we look at the cholesterol cascade, the next conversion is like from cholesterol goes into pregnenolone. And that pregnenolone can be actually supplemented, and looking at a dosage between 10 milligrams to 50 milligrams, sublingually and pregnenolone can actually be like a precursor, like a Kickstart to help with testosterone production. And if we go further downstream, we can see that DHEA is another one, which can also be used in supplemental form as a precursor for testosterone production. So both pregnenolone and DHEA can either be used interchangeably, or concomitantly, like together. And those two precursors can actually help with not only testosterone production, but also mood, energy, anti aging effects, and a whole wide variety of benefits.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, that’s interesting that heavy metals and a lot of environmental toxins can poison these hydroxylase enzymes that help to produce different precursors to hormones and help with the conversion of DHEA into testosterone. And that’s how they, you know, reduce production or reduce the balance of hormones. So just by poisoning these hydroxylase enzymes, essentially. So detox is a super key for freeing your hormones and your body’s ability to produce them. So let’s talk about testosterone replacement in females, and maybe doing injections or pellets or things of that nature.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so there’s a wide variety of delivery methods for testosterone replacement in women, like you said, you know, injection is one option, there’s also the pellets which can be used. And then also, there’s a transdermal cream that’s also been used as well. There’s a trick with the transdermal cream that can be a bit like… you don’t want it to rub off onto your family and friends, and in case you touch them, things like that. But in terms of the application, I think that what’s really important is that blood work is completed initially, like there’s an adequate amount of blood testing done, either like a Dutch test, for example, that can determine deficiencies. And then supplementing with a low dose of testosterone in women can be extremely beneficial for sexual functioning like libido, arousal, even helping with building muscle, mood and motivation. They’re going to receive a lot of the similar benefits that men see with testosterone. Even though women produce much lower amounts of testosterone, it’s also extremely important.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Well, tell us what the levels are. So men can be pretty high. What are the what’s the range you’re looking for? For men and the range for women?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so in men, I mean, ideally we’re looking at anywhere from around 700 to 1000 nanograms per deciliter. And I believe in women, it’s significantly lower. I think it’s like 1/10 Or like 1/5, the amount so it’s a much, much, much lower amount in women as well.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, when I go into get my testosterone pellets, I do the little pellets. They do about 100 milligrams of those. And that lasts for about three months or so. But yeah, for me, I think it’s been really life changing to supplement with testosterone. I’ve been super, super happy. Definitely not going back to low testosterone levels. I think I had almost no testosterone when I did my test. It was frightening. I was like, Oh, wow, I guess I was clued into the right thing. We’ll get some testing for my hormones. Yeah, but yeah, I’m super happy with those results. The libido came back, easier muscle building because I love weightlifting. So really have you lost some weight because when you have testosterone you build muscle and burn fat… so easy like how you guys do and we want that too. But you can get too much of a good thing, you can definitely get way too much testosterone. When I first took it, I had a little bit of acne on my chest, a little bit of hair fall out, but that subsided very quickly. And I haven’t had any symptoms like that, but it doesn’t… I don’t know if it’s gonna work for every woman as well, but you can just talk to your doctor and you know, test and, you know, do some supplementation, and you know, the creams are good for women too. I think they can control the amount of testosterone, with the pellets you can’t. That’s you know…they’re in you and they wear off after a few months. But with the cream, you can kind of control the dosage a little bit more but you have to do it daily, put the cream on.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, another alternative that’s sort of worked quite well for women’s reproductive functioning and also like fertility and sexual desire and arousal, lubrication, things like that, is actually Tongkat Ali, which is a herbal medicine that’s used in Malaysian ginseng, and also ashwaganda as well in women but Malaysian ginseng or Tonka Ali, that particular herb there has actually been shown to raise DHEA and some androgens in women as well. And so that’s used as well as like an aphrodisiac and, you know, helping with sexual desire.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, it seems like ashwagandha just reduced her stress levels and kind of balanced her adrenals and indirectly helped with their libido and that way because for men and women, if you’re really stressed, you’re going to make stress hormones at the expense of sex hormones. And so you’ve got to bring your stress levels down to optimize hormones.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, definitely consider that and also another phytoandrogen which, we’ve heard of phytoestrogens which are like in soy and flax seeds and chia seeds so these phytoestrogens, the equivalent is phytoandrogens. So phytoandrogens are actually present in pine pollen. So pine pollen tincture, like an ALC alcoholic extraction of pine pollen tincture can be used to provide both men and women with phyto androgens and they can get a sort of semi testosterone related effect from pine pollen tincture if they dose it under the tongue sublingually. And they leave it there, like most people notice like an energy boost and mood boost and just feeling great after pine pollen.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, interesting. Interesting. Yeah. And so anything else for women that we can do to raise our testosterone levels?
Lucas Aoun
So I’d say definitely, as you mentioned before, weight training or lifting weights is going to be beneficial as well, like building muscle is going to recruit the adrenal glands to synthesize more DHEA and assist with hormonal production. In terms of some other factors. There may be some other herbs as well, like Cistanche, the one that I mentioned before, the way in which that Genghis Khan herb works, it’s not just for men, there’s a saying: it’s Cistanche in your pants, that’s what they say is Cistanche in your pants.
Dr. Wendy Myers
I think I remember it at naturopathic school.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, they call it the stock enlarger like, how can any guy not want to try that?
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, if it’s good enough for Genghis Khan, it’s good enough for you.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, that particular herb there can help with…So basically, the way in which it works is it’s, you said before about toxins, destroying the enzymes and affecting the enzyme production, converting these hormones efficiently. Well, that Cistanche herb there can actually upregulate a lot of those enzymes, the CYP 450, like it can actually increase the production of those enzymes, which in women can actually help with the conversion pathways towards both progesterone and testosterone as well.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah and it seems like you know, you’re talking about the CP 450 enzymes in the liver and the livers where we’re converting hormones and so really ideally optimizing liver function and helping the liver, supporting the liver in the many different ways that you can do that is also going to help with our estrogen metabolism and testosterone metabolism, etc.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, well, one key I forgot to mention the other supplement is calcium D glucarate, which I’m sure you’d be familiar with. Calcium D glucarate is phenomenal, particularly for people who have had a history of massive exposure to Xenoestrogens. And I like to also tile the dosage not, it’s not a supplement I recommend taking every single day because then it can start to lower some of the beneficial hormones. But taking 250 to 500 milligrams of calcium D glucarate twice a week is a great strategy to help release the burden off the liver, even the gut as well lowering that beta glucuronic days and help with clearing out these inner estrogens to basically just clean up the system. We’re basically cleaning up the vessel, cleaning up the body, enabling it to function more optimally. And so yeah, you can sort of combine that with using a sauna to sweat out these toxins and pollutants. And so calcium gluconate can help with that process as well.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, I think there’s a huge problem with people being estrogen dominant, because there’s so many Xeno estrogens in our environment. So they’re the plastics, the plasticizer chemicals, the BPA and receipts and the Virgin Metalla estrogens, heavy metals that act like estrogens on our estrogen receptors. There’s a lot of feminization of men and over feminization of women as well, because of so many estrogenic substances in our environment; perfumes, which are petroleum based, anything made out of petroleum is going to be estrogenic. And there is just really, I think, a huge epidemic. And, you know, doing testosterone therapy or things that can boost testosterone, it can help to kind of balance the scales a little bit.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, definitely. And as part of that, I think it’s also important to understand the impact of a super high protein diet with minimal detoxifying vegetables. So a great strategy that I like to encourage people to consider, and even great for helping balance female hormones, is something that was really popularized by Dr. Ray Pete, he spoke about the raw carrot salad, like, you know, grating your carrot, and just putting a little bit of coconut oil and vinegar on top of that, and having that twice a day, that can really help to clear out the excess estrogen buildup in the gut, and helps with relieving endotoxin burden on the liver. And so that strategy there by itself will really assist with stool quality, like it helps with creating the perfect poop.
Dr. Wendy Myers
All that fiber. Carrot fiber.
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, before you turn orange.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yeah, that’s a good way to get a tan. Also eating a lot of carrots, eating one carrot a day. Yeah, so that sounds great. I mean, and what is there a protein component of that diet to optimize testosterone?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so what I was sort of alluding to before is if someone’s going on a very high protein diet, what’s going to happen is if they’re also exercising extremely vigorously, like let’s say they’re training five days a week, and they decide to go on a super high protein diet, what’s gonna happen is, unfortunately, it’s going to raise metabolites known as ammonia, so ammonia will start to build up and develop in the body. We know that ammonia can actually cross the blood brain barrier. And that can contribute to things like brain fog, apathy, headaches, and different neurological symptoms. And so this is why we want to be incorporating supplements that can help to lower the ammonia buildup and actually help with ammonia clearance. And vitamin b1, or thiamine vitamin b1 is a supplement that really does help with decreasing ammonia buildup in the brain. And if you’re someone that notices like personally when I do extremely, let’s say I train legs extremely hard on a Wednesday, and you know, it’s a Thursday today, if I train legs extremely hard on a Wednesday, the following day, I will pretty often notice like, bit more brain fog and lack of mental clarity and I’m convinced that it’s due to the massive buildup of lactic acid and ammonia. That super painful dom’s, the real intense muscle soreness, I do believe that ammonia would be playing a role in the brain fog that we still experience.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Interesting, interesting. And so what else can people do? What other suggestions do you have for us, for men or women to optimize their testosterone?
Lucas Aoun
So I definitely say optimizing sleep needs to be, you know, massively considered. Insufficient sleep has been shown to negatively affect testosterone production. So making sure we’re getting, you know, we hear it all the time, seven to nine hours of high quality sleep — we don’t just say that for no reason. Like, there’s definitely a lot of scientific backing to justify that particular claim. But then also, is it high quality sleep, or are you sleeping with an ENT with a WiFi router next to your head? Are you sleeping with tight boxer shorts, that’s keeping your testes too constricted and too cold, like, men should be sleeping naked, in my opinion. You know, this is important stuff.
Dr. Wendy Myers
With a chilling pad, I’m sure you want them with their balls in a chilling pad, freezing all night long.
Lucas Aoun
Exactly, exactly. That’s definitely important to understand. Then also having some sort of sleep stack, or pre sleep stack protocol in place, like you mentioned, magnesium glycinate, we can use things like that’s where taurine can be beneficial, because it has an anti anxiety effect. So you can have your Taurine before bed. And then also consuming anti stress teas like lemon balm, lemon balm is great for decreasing cortisol. And then we can also look into high doses of glycine. So looking between five to 10 grams of glycine actually helps to lower body temperature. So we’re getting a decrease in body temperature from glycine and a lowering of cortisol.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Fantastic. Well, Lucas Aoun, how can people work with you if they’re looking to optimize their hormones? Like how do you work with people? And how can people get in touch with you?
Lucas Aoun
Yeah, so they can check me out, boostyourbiology.com. That’s my website that’s got some really useful content there. They can also check me out on YouTube, that’s to boost your biology, I create a lot of free content for people to just completely devour. And you know help to educate themselves. So yeah, go check me out on there. And yeah, I appreciate having a chat with you Wendy.
Dr. Wendy Myers
Yes, yeah, I was. I love talking about hormones. And I wanted to have you come on because you’re a testosterone expert, and obviously are bursting with testosterone. And so I want to have someone come on that’s like a shining example of like, really good testosterone levels. And so am I as a female, but I’m supplementing, so I’m kind of cheating a little bit. Yeah. So thanks so much, Lucas Aoun, for coming on. And anyone that wants –are you taking clients? Can people work with you on a one to one basis to optimize your hormones?
Lucas Aoun
Yep, they can. Probably the best way would be to send me an email at [email protected]
Dr. Wendy Myers
Fantastic. Well, Lucas Aoun, thanks so much for coming on the show. And everyone I’m Dr. Wendy Myers. I just love doing the show every week and bringing you experts from around the world to help give you those little pieces of the puzzle to help you optimize your health because you deserve to feel good, and I just honored that you took the time to watch the show. Thanks for tuning in. Great
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The Myers detox podcast is created and hosted by Wendy Myers. This podcast is for information purposes only statements and views expressed on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast including Wendy Myers and the producers disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein opinions of guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guests qualifications or credibility. Individuals on this podcast may have direct or indirect financial interest and products or services referred to herein. If you think you have a medical problem consult a licensed physician.
