My ‘throw everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to improving my hormonal standing made it difficult to discern which item in particular may have been to blame for the several days I spent in gastronomical distress. I initially blamed the hydrolyzed collagen I have been mixing into my water, which while unrelated to male hormones, is nonetheless important to my longevity in lifting heavy things as collagen is purported to aid in joint integrity and tendon health. But as the frequent and shall we say, loose visits to the bathroom continued after sacrificing my tendons to the bathrooms gods, it was clear the collagen was not the culprit. I then considered whether the sudden increase in cruciferous vegetables, known for their estrogen-blocking powers, may have done me in.
I’ll step back a moment to reflect on the dietary change I’ve made since completing the Henselmans PT Course. I made what I believe were the best overall health choices I could make in selecting my daily culinary fare. It was an omnivorous diet with the only underlying theme one of avoiding inflammation. I specifically chose anti-inflammatory foods and avoided things prone to anti-nutrients and various plants that have a tendency to poke holes in your intestines. I eschewed smoked and nitrate-treated red meat, and dramatically increased my fiber intake. Generally, it was a very sound, healthful eating plan. It was not, however, designed around improving or even maintaining sound, virile manhood. When you’re a young lad and producing all the male hormones you’re capable of, tweaking your diet to those aims is unnecessary, but for the aging male rapidly approaching a chronological age that starts with a 6, it becomes a more pressing issue.
After extensive, exhaustive research, I came to the conclusion that various changes were required, including increasing saturated fat and cholesterol consumption, reducing fiber intake and ensuring I had plenty of estrogen-battling vegetables on my plate. It’s been surprisingly difficult to reduce the intake of fiber as I spent so much effort adjusting my diet to increase fiber intake. Fiber is a necessary evil, make no mistake about it. But I’ve noticed that as I have cut back, I have much less bloating and gurgling going on in my gut which I welcome. I am determined to get down to the bare minimum recommended for health, which is around 30 grams per day for a male of my proximity to Social Security. My average has been much closer to 40, and finally, after days of tweaking and careful food selection, I consumed only 22 grams yesterday. There are two types of fiber, and both perform different functions. Soluble fiber helps lower cholesterol and control blood glucose levels, while insoluble fiber helps with digestion. I don’t need help with the former, but the latter is something we should all care about. As I continue to make improvements to my Pro-Manhood Diet, I will likely try to tweak my fiber intake further to focus more on ensuring the fiber I do eat is of the insoluble variety. This may all sound like an exorbitant amount of work, but honestly once you’ve identified the foods you want to consume, the job is done. Just buy those things.
Back to the issue at hand of sleuthing and detecting the cause of the uncomfortable issues occurring in my digestive tract. Once I realized it was neither the collagen, nor the broccoli and cauliflower sitting beside my ground beef and shrimp, I determined Forskolin must be the dastardly agent inflicting the damage. I removed it from the list of testosterone-boosting herbal aids, but the issue remained an urgent one. As I desperately perused the internet to find a link between each new supplement I was taking and a less than solid waste disposal system, I stumbled across compelling evidence from a plethora of entries that an ancient herbal remedy for everything from anxiety to cancer, might be the digestive assassin. Ashwagandha, also known as poison gooseberry among other ominous names, “can lead to digestive upset, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. This may be due to irritation of the intestinal mucosa.” Here’s a few more lovely descriptions of likely side effects from consuming this wicked plant:
Another side effect of ashwagandha diarrhea is incontinence, which is the decreased ability to control your bowels. Diarrhea is often accompanied by severe abdominal cramps. When you combine abdominal cramping with watery stool, it can be very difficult to hold fecal matter in. As a result, you may experience frequent and urgent desires to use the bathroom.
Stomach irritation caused by this herbal treatment may result in diarrhea or vomiting. Chronic diarrhea may lead to electrolyte loss and may increase your risk of becoming dehydrated. Seek prompt care from your doctor if stomach discomfort becomes severe or if diarrhea or vomiting persists for more than two to three days.
That was enough for me to select the horse-smelling extract as my next candidate for experimentation and lo and behold, once I stopped sprinkling it on my scrambled eggs, the issue has been resolved. I remain open to the possibility that the anti-diarrhea medication I was popping like candy after a successful night of Trick or Treating may be what cured me and it wasn’t the Indian ginseng, we’ll see how things proceed over the next few ashwagandha-free days.
It is certainly too early to determine if the T-Boost plan is working, but I noticed yesterday that I have been feeling pretty good overall, now that my body has stopped trying to prep me for a colonoscopy. My Powerlifting training has been going well, strength is improving, I am injury-free and still lean and mean with my Skulpt putting me below 10% body fat. One of the many benefits of testosterone replacement therapy is an increased sense of well being, so while it’s obviously subjective, combined with the objective results from my training, it is possible that my Free Testosterone may have gotten a little boost from reduced SHBG and higher overall Testosterone levels. The proof will not be in the pudding, but in the blood, and I will patiently wait until March 2021 to re-test. In the meantime, onward and hopefully upward I go, preferably without running to the bathroom anymore.
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