Blood Sugar Sex… Magik?
Unfortunately, despite the optimistically sexy 90s song, too much sugar in your blood stream can actually ruin the magic in your sex life.
With today’s global consumption of sugar standing at 3 times over the recommended daily amount, sugar has become a major public health concern. And it looks like our sexual health might be at risk too!
What Does Sugar Actually Do?
To make energy, our bodies need to move glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells using a hormone called insulin. A rapid increase in sugar levels, usually from the “free sugars” added to our food, raises the level of insulin. This gives us that “sugar high” feeling and then the sudden drop in blood sugar levels, leaving us fatigued and craving more.
It’s important to check what foods have a low glycemic index to avoid this sugar rush.
With the recent implementation of the Sugar Tax in the UK, manufacturers producing foods and drinks high in refined and “free” sugars have come under pressure. More than 50% have already changed their recipes by cutting sugar to avoid this tax.
“A spoonful of sugar helps the testosterone go down.”
Here are just some of the ways that high sugar consumption can negatively affect your sex life:
- Hormones: With more insulin being produced, the sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) is suppressed. This is important for transporting testosterone around the body. Testosterone is the hormones directly linked to libido, the lower your testosterone levels the lower your sex drive.
- Fertility: Not only can sugar decrease your libido, but it can damage your nervous system and blood vessels, causing erectile dysfunction as well as inhibiting ovulation.
- Energy: Both sugar and sex causes blood sugar levels to drastically dip, meaning that sex takes a lot of energy from you. However, this is not the kind of “double dipping” we want to be having! And I’m not just talking about the retro sherbert sweet. The less sugar you have means more energy is reserved for getting freaky.
- Stress: Too much sugar raises cortisol the stress hormone which crushes your libido. The physical symptoms that come with erratic blood sugar levels such as shakiness and increased heart rate exemplify feelings of anxiety and can trigger panic attacks. None of which are good for feeling sexy.
In addition to impacting your lifestyle negatively, Marcus, the founder of Mindtomusclefitness says that sugar is also damaging to your health:
– It increases the risk of metabolic diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
– In prospective analyses, men with the highest sugar intake had a 23% increased risk of mental health disorders over a 5-year period.”
The bottom line is that if you want to be healthy and more energetic you should consider switching to a low sugar diet.
Find Balance In Your Sugar Sex Life
Of course having a balanced diet is vital. Getting simple sugars from natural carbohydrates, such as in fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and whole grains, produce beneficial results as they are broken down much more slowly in the body.
There are a few sexy benefits that can come out of sucking on a little of the sweet stuff.
Chocolate treats can do wonders in methods of seduction, but dark chocolate is especially magical as the cocoa releases endorphins dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, mood-boosting hormones that trigger levels of attraction and love. So a eating a couple squares before taking it to the bedroom can definitely put you and a partner in the mood.
Bringing sugar into the bedroom can also have benefits for your pleasure.
Flavoured lubricants or sweetie-underwear add some playfulness to your repertoire. They provide little sugar highs to keep your energy levels up.
Alternatively, you can keep it healthy with the natural fructose found in fruit! Try feeding each other strawberries or licking mango off of each other’s bodies. The sweetness in fruits has been known to sweeten the taste and smell of semen. Plus you are getting all the additional health benefits from the fruit that will improve your sex life.
Antioxidants found in pomegranates can improve the quality and quantity of sperm. They also open up blood vessels improving blood flow for erections. Anti-inflammatory enzymes found in bananas and pineapples also boost testosterone levels. And cranberries are found to ensure a healthy pH balance in the vagina.
However, the thing to take away is that everything in moderation is healthy. Try cutting down refined and “free sugars”, but don’t cut it out completely. This is not only practically impossible, but a little sugar sweetness in your sex life can also be fun!
