If you are one of the millions of men around the world suffering from Erectile Dysfunction, you might be wondering how nutrition may affect your erections. The truth is that nutrition plays a significant role in sexual health and erectile dysfunction. Diabetes, heart disease, obesity and high blood pressure, all of which increase the risk of erectile dysfunction, are all related to nutrition and diet. Men who have diabetes are nearly three times more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than men who do not have diabetes. Being obese, which translates into being more than 30 to 40 pounds overweight, significantly increases risk of erectile dysfunction, as does high blood pressure. If you are significantly overweight and you want to reduce the risk of erectile dysfunction, you need to maintain a healthy body weight and keep blood sugar levels under control.
Achieving sexual health is as simple as eating a healthy diet low in saturated fat and high in good cholesterol. Too much cholesterol in your body means that you have an increased risk of getting cardiovascular or heart disease. If you have too much cholesterol in your body, the cholesterol can build up on the walls of the arteries that carry blood to your heart. This build-up causes less blood and oxygen to get to your heart. This can cause chest pain and heart attacks. And of course cholesterol build-up in the arteries reduces the flow of blood to the penis, which affects your ability to get and maintain an erection.
What is Cholesterol? Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that occurs naturally in all parts of the body and is made by the liver. Cholesterol is also present in foods we eat. Do we need cholesterol? Absolutely. It is necessary for the body to function normally, and it is necessary for the production of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen, which are needed to maintain sex drive.
Good vs Bad Cholesterol The good cholesterol (also known as HDL or high density lipoprotein), takes the bad cholesterol (known as LDL or low density protein) out of your blood and keeps it from building up in your arteries. Too much bad cholesterol can increase your chances of getting cardiovascular disease. It will make it more difficult to get an erection, by clogging your arteries. When being tested for high cholesterol, you want a high HDL number and a low LDL number.
The amount of total and LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream is determined to a large extent by the types of fat in your diet, more than the amount of cholesterol in the food itself.
Good Fats Unsaturated fats are called good fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels. So if you can increase the ratio of good fats to bad fats, your arteries will be healthier, your circulation will improve, and you will get stronger erections.
There are two types of unsaturated fats, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. These two types of fats are the best source of cholesterol for your heart, and for the production of sex hormones. Chronic low-fat dieting can produce a dramatic decrease in hormone production. Healthy sources of cholesterol include salmon, nuts and olive oil.
Sources of Monounsaturated fats These are found in high concentrations in canola, peanut, and olive oils; avocados; nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans; and seeds such as pumpkin and sesame seeds.
Sources of Polyunsaturated fats These are found in high concentrations in sunflower, corn, soybean, and flaxseed oils, and also in foods such as walnuts, almonds, flax seeds, and fish. Omega-3 fats are an important type of polyunsaturated fat. The body can’t make these, so they must come from food. An excellent way to get omega-3 fats is by eating fish two or three times a week. Good plant sources of omega-3 fats include chia seeds, flax seeds, walnuts, and oils such as flaxseed, canola, and soybean.