4 Foods That Naturally Boost Testosterone

In this post I’m going to reveal 4 foods that naturally boost testosterone but that are also pretty common to your daily diet.

To be honest, when I was doing all of my research for TCycle Diet, I learned about a vast number of foods that naturally boost testosterone and perform various biological functions, however the truth is it’s not possible to get all of them into your diet on a daily basis.

This is both due to personal tastes…(yeah I’m probably not going to slurp back 7 raw oysters a day either) and your own current state of health. What I mean by the latter is that many of the studies I encountered showed improvement in T-levels where the subjects were deficient in a particular micronutrient.

So adding in a depleted micronutrient had a positive effect on both Free Testosterone and SHBG total testosterone levels. This is the inherent danger when taking studies as gospel. You really need to dissect what they are telling you. For the record, you need to be concerned primarily with increasing FREE testosterone. SHBG or sex hormone binding globulin levels are not a primary concern as this is a protein which binds to testosterone making it biologically inactive.

For example if a study has an extremely positive result, read the fine print…ie how many participants or if it was conducted on a bunch of cells in a dish. Neither of these invalidates the results, however you should have context when doing an analysis on the studies.

What I want to do is include legitimate foods that I actually consume on a daily or every other day basis, that have been validated both through science as well as my mouth. The latter being the MOST important. Trust me if it sucks, i don’t care how much natural testosterone it produces, there is no amount of science that can get me to eat it.

One of the most interesting things I have discovered in my own transformative journey is my tastebuds have actually changed, if that is really a thing. There are foods that I wouldn’t eat in my teens, twenties and thirties, that I absolutely can’t get enough of in my fourties.

As I said, I will give you four of my top testosterone producing foods that I actually eat, and explain why it is they produce testosterone and some of the other benefits.

4 Foods That Naturally Boost Testosterone

Spinach – this is probably my favorite of because of its versatility in terms of its preparation and taste. Spinach has a number of micronutrients present and is probably only surpassed by Kale as one of our top superfoods. It has an ORAC value of around 16,000 which is good.
What is an ORAC value…well if you really want to go down the rabbit hole I will leave you to google it, however the short version is that an ORAC value is a measure of a food’s ability to absorb free radicals in our body.

In relation to our topic, Spinach is a testosterone boosting food because of the amount of magnesium present. Magnesium plays an important role in testosterone production which you can see in this study. There are about 79 mg of Magnesium per 100 gms of spinach.

In addition to magnesium there are several other micronutrients that perform high level health functions in your body.

I typically eat it raw with a 2 basted eggs over top, but I put it in as many things as I can. I throw it right into my scrambled eggs, or make a salad with a steak over top and I will also blend it right into my shake. The most creative way I have used spinach was to blend it into my protein pancake mix…I didn’t affect the taste whatsoever.

Spinach is my top recommendation as one of the foods that naturally increase testosterone. The only downside as far as I can tell is that it makes your teeth feel like you have a velvet blanket on them, so if you’re particular about your teeth and you might need to give them a once over after eating a spinach salad.

Eggs are next up as one of my favorite foods that naturally increase testosterone and here’s why.

You need cholesterol and healthy fats in your diet to produce testosterone. Without it, you are simply missing an important precursor for testosterone production in your leydig cells.

Eggs - Before you get all hopped up and slam me with some study by the American Heart Foundation or some other organization, simply do your research to learn the importance of including eggs in your diet. Brett over at the Art of Manliness did a bang up job of tracking his cholesterol levels as he embarked on his own journey to increase testosterone, and his diet was rich in eggs and healthy fats. As with anything I always recommend clearing things with your doctor prior to embarking on a change in your diet.

The fatty acid profile of eggs makes them an attractive food to have in your diet as well. They contain saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids in a ratio that is beneficial for testosterone production. Study after study has been conducted outlining the benefits of consuming saturated fats and monounsaturated fats.

Finally eggs have key vitamins present including A, B and D as well as critical micronutrients which promote the natural production of testosterone.

For the most part, I prepare eggs using a process called basting. This is to say that I simply crack them in a frying pan that is warm, add about a ½ cup of water and put the lid on the pan and let them steam. I don’t cook my eggs with any fat whatsoever as I will usually crumble in a small amount feta cheese for taste which also adds fat content.  If I don’t have them basted then I scramble them, with yolks in.

My next recommendation is my very good friend, grass fed beef.

I can’t tell you how much I love a good ribeye steak hot off the BBQ, with wicked spinach salad right beside it!

Beef - Why grass fed beef you ask? Well unfortunately there are some beef cattle that have been fed what amounts to junk food for cows. What I mean is that some of the larger based beef operations feed their animals grain based diets which consist of soy and corn.

You may be thinking…what does it matter what they eat? Well studies have shown that the nutrient content in grass fed beef vs. grain fed is in fact different in some key areas as outlined in this study .

Cows are meant to eat grass naturally, and as a result, those that have been fed grass produce meat that is high in Omega 3 fatty acids and CLAs or conjugated linoleic acid. Both of these are our friends. CLA has serious badass antioxidant activity, and research indicates that CLA might be protective against heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Beef is one of the top dogs when it comes to dietary sources of CLA, and grass-fed beef contains on average, 2 to 3 times more CLA than grain-fed beef. Now we’re cooking with gas right?

Now be forewarned, grass fed beef has a slightly higher cost than grain fed beef however if there is an area of my diet that I don’t mess around with it is my meat and it is one way that is both tasty and good for you that you can certainly naturally increase testosterone levels.

Finally, the last, and probably the most versatile and exciting food that boosts testosterone, and which is also one of my favorites is BACON! My recommendation here is to stick to organic bacon where the animals have been pastured vs. the more commercial methods used in large scaled operations.

The benefits are similar to those I have mentioned earlier with respect to the fat content, primarily monounsaturated fats as well as Vitamin D and Vitamin E. You can check out this study to see the benefits of Vitamin D in relation to testosterone production.