Your New Year’s resolutions got sidelined by the pandemic. You didn’t hit the gym the way you promised you would, and you spent a lot of time snacking.
But now you’re going to take whatever extra time the new reality has apportioned to you and get as healthy as possible. So you’ve written down a list of all the things you should and shouldn’t do to achieve optimization. Unfortunately, that list may have been influenced by very old theories about health that can now be relegated to the category of “myth.”
If you want to get healthy, the experts at Men's T Clinic® — with locations in Dallas, Frisco, The Colony, Houston, Cypress, Pearland, and Pasadena, and Spring, Texas — are ready to help. Our physicians have heard the same men’s health myths that you have. Here they help you sort fact from fiction.
Fact: Soy is filled with phytoestrogens. Estrogens. Yep, hormones. “Female” hormones.
Although men need estrogen, too, you need far less of it than women do. Too much estrogen tips your hormonal balance and causes you to gain more fat, which produces more estrogen, which causes you to gain more fat, which produces more estrogen, and … well, you get the picture.
Too much estrogen means that your testosterone can’t do its hormonal heavy duties. That’s why once you start gaining fat, it’s hard to keep or put on new muscle.
Beef from 100% grass-fed cows is filled with high-quality fats, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) that subdues inflammation and builds immunity. Grass-fed beef also contains omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins. It’s also lower in fat than factory-farmed beef.
Worried about your cholesterol levels? Check with your primary care doctor, but high cholesterol doesn’t lead to heart disease: Diseased blood vessels do. And inflammation is one of the triggers for problems in the blood vessels.
The upshot? Going vegan could be bad for your health. Isn’t that good news?
Fact: You might be full of piss and vinegar at 18, and raring to go, but you probably don’t know what to do with all that energy. Sure, your testosterone (T) levels are the highest they’ll ever be, but that doesn’t mean that things don’t get better with age.
Growing older brings wisdom and fine love-making skills. And just because your T dips a bit, that doesn’t mean you can’t still perform at your peak.
If you find your libido (or other things) flagging with age, you can get help. At Men’s T Clinic®, we restore your T levels to normal, healthy levels so you can perform (almost) as easily as you did when you were younger. Just with a lot more finesse.
Fact: Cutting calories makes your body think it’s starving. When your body thinks it’s starving, what do you think it does? Same thing that people do when they think they’re going to run out of toilet paper: Hoard, hoard, hoard.
When you follow a calorie-restricted diet, your body grabs onto every single morsel of fat and every extra calorie as if fighting for dear life. Because, from your body’s perspective, that’s exactly what it’s doing.
If you want to keep your fat under control, build up your muscles with a weight-lifting routine. Muscles use energy, so the more muscle tissue you have, the more fat you can burn. And go easy on the cardio. Hours of cardio at a time or at the wrong time (like at the end of the day), can raise your cortisol to unhealthy levels and prevent you from getting restorative rest.
A healthy diet is essential, too, but that doesn’t mean you starve yourself. At least not for long. If you need help losing weight, talk to the experts at Men’s T Clinic® about intermittent fasting diets, ketogenic eating plans, and other ways to add plenty of healthy, fresh, whole foods into your life while keeping your muscle mass.
(Oh, and in case you were wondering, restoring T levels builds muscle mass, too.)
Fact: When women go through menopause, their levels of estrogen drop. Estrogen protects bone cells, so with lower amounts of protective hormones, their bones lose mass.
Men have a bone-protecting hormone, too. It’s called T. If you don’t restore your T to healthy levels, you’re at risk for bone loss and osteoporosis as you age.
No amount of willpower can overcome depression, which is a serious mental illness. Depression can be caused by a number of factors, including stress, past or present trauma, and grief or loss. Hormones influence your mood, too.
If you’re feeling depressed, your Men’s T Clinic® doctor can refer you for counseling. If your T levels are low, they restore your hormonal balance to see if that improves your mood. If you have suicidal thoughts or are tempted to harm yourself, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) right away.
Don’t fall for the myths. Get the facts about your health and how to maintain it for life with a consultation at Men's T Clinic®. Contact the office nearest you by phone or through the online booking form.
