Common Muscle Building mistakes which can lower your Testosterone level

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.

While many anabolic hormones in the body influence muscle growth hormone, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor-1 all do it testosterone is the hands-down most important.

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.

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.

1. Calories

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 body fat, 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 body fat.

2. Carbs

The next step is to consume adequate carbohydrates. Shoot for at least 2 grams per pound of body weight per day, keeping your carbs-to-protein ratio at 2:1 research shows that this is ideal for elevating Testosterone levels. And although we rarely suggest you to choose more refined carbs (rather than during exercise), we suggest you do so because high-fiber foods lead to lower testosterone. Of course, don't choose Twinkies, but you can choose white rice rather than brown rice and cream of wheat over oatmeal because of the formerly low fiber content.

3. Protein

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. Because research shows that a higher protein intake than carbs reduces testosterone levels. So you’ll want to get in your bodybuilding standard of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day no more, no less. Also, make sure most of your protein comes from animal sources; A vegetarian diet is associated with lower testosterone levels in men.

4. Fat’s

You want to get 30% of your total calories from fat, but don't overconsume polyunsaturated fats that you get from like 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.

Research shows that polyunsaturated fats can lower testosterone levels, but monounsaturated and saturated fats also increase testosterone levels.

5. Workout Shakes

You’ll definitely want to include pre-and postworkout shakes. Consuming fast-digesting protein such as whey and fast-digesting carbs after your train has been found to increase the amount of testosterone taken up by muscle cells as well as the number of testosterone receptors in them. In other words, all that testosterone can be put to work to stimulate muscle growth. Shoot for about 20 grams of protein and 20-40 grams of carbs before workouts, and 20-40 grams of protein and 40-100 grams of carbs postworkout.

6. Veggies

Consider eating more cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, arugula, watercress, bok choy, turnip greens, collard greens, rutabaga, radishes, daikon, kohlrabi, and kale, all of which have phytochemicals that can reduce bad estrogens and reduce their negative effects on testosterone levels. Lastly, watch the drinking. Alcohol does have its health benefits, but too much can lower Testosterone levels. Stay under a few glasses per week.