NorthStar Nutritionals Blog

Are you ready to take your sex life to the next level?

Want to support a strong sex drive, but do it naturally, without a scary prescription or the risk of a six hour erection?

We’re not going to send you into some back alley.

Or ask you to buy a questionable product off late-night television. And certainly no strange looking devices.

All you need for a naturally strong sex drive are the right minerals. Seriously. These four minerals can be the key to rejuvenating your sex life and revving up your sex drive.

Who knew it could be so easy?

1. Calcium. Most people know that you need calcium for bone health. And some people know that it helps support muscle health and function, too – but not many people make the connection that muscle health and function leads to a strong sex drive! It works like this: your muscles use calcium to contract. All your muscles, including the ones in play during an erection. Weak muscle contractions mean weak orgasms. But that also means that powerful muscle contractions mean powerful orgasms. And when your orgasms are powerful, it’s easy to have a strong sex drive! Find calcium in dairy products and leafy greens.

2. Vitamin D. Consider this item 1a on this list if you prefer because vitamin D obviously isn’t a mineral. However, your body can’t absorb calcium properly without enough vitamin D – so it doesn’t matter how much calcium you’re getting if you’re not getting vitamin D. Be sure to balance them both with plenty of salmon, cheese, and eggs.

3. Magnesium. The list of reasons why magnesium is good for you is simply too long for any one article. But when it comes to why magnesium is vital for a strong sex drive, we’ll try and keep it short – your body requires magnesium to produce some of the sex hormones that trigger desire and arousal. It also helps with muscle function, which we’ve established helps strengthen your orgasms. But just as importantly, magnesium helps with nerve function, so you’re sure to feel every pulse, tingle, and touch. Get enough magnesium to keep your sex drive strong in figs (a sexy food, in their own right), black beans, and avocado.

4. Selenium. This mineral is a vital part of a strong sex drive and a healthy reproductive system. Almost half of all the selenium in a man’s body is found in the genitals. But it’s a catch-22 because men need selenium in semen, but they lose selenium when they ejaculate. Keep a strong sex drive by making sure you replenish your selenium stocks with almonds, walnuts, and oysters – a classically sexy food!

5. Zinc. Known as “the sex mineral,” zinc may be the most important mineral when it comes to having and keeping a strong sex drive. Most importantly, it’s required for the production of testosterone. Obviously, this means that a deficiency in zinc can cause lowered testosterone levels, a decrease in semen production, and a drop in sex drive. After all, no testosterone means no sex drive. But that’s not all. Zinc has been linked not only to sex drive, but to fertility, potency, and long-term sexual health. Part of that is because it’s also a vital mineral when it comes to prostate health – which is directly tied to sexual health! But, like selenium, men lose zinc every time they orgasm. So load up on selenium with plenty of pumpkin seeds, lobster, and chickpeas. Or, you can get 100% of your recommended daily allowance of zinc from ProTeva Plus, and protect your strong sex drive by protecting your prostate!

Don’t think a strong sex drive and a rousing sex life are things of the past. Protect them the right way, with the right foods.

Sexual health is as important as any other health goal. Embrace it!

Maybe your weight isn’t moving.

Or your numbers just aren’t as good as you and your doctor want them to be.

Or maybe you’re just not happy with the way you’re eating any more.

There doesn’t have to be a specific reason to want to change poor eating habits.

You can just want to be healthier and have more energy. But if you’ve tried in the past to change poor eating habits into healthy ones, you know it’s not always easy – but that may be because you tried to do too much too fast.

Now isn’t the time to think in terms of “go big or go home.”

Instead, start here:

• Admit that you may have some poor eating habits that are holding you back from your health goals. It’s not easy to acknowledge that sometimes it really is our own doing, but this is important. As they say, the first step to fixing a problem is to admit it exists.
• Figure out why you’ve adopted poor eating habits, and what (if anything) triggers them.
• Make a plan to change poor eating habits into healthier ones.
• Go slowly and start small. If you try to make huge changes and eliminate all your poor eating habits at once, you’re just setting yourself up to fail.

These are some common poor eating habits you might recognize – and here are some simple ways to address them.

Do These Sound Familiar?

1. Skipping Breakfast. Mornings are fast-paced and busy. And sometimes, you’re not hungry anyway. It’s easy to skip breakfast, and wait until lunch. But doing so starts your entire day off on the wrong foot. This poor eating habit slows your metabolism, but can also cause you to overeat later. People who skip breakfast tend to be hungrier, so eat more, at lunch. But they also overestimate how many calories they skipped, thinking they can “make up for them” later in the day. Instead, have something for breakfast. It doesn’t have to be big. Cheese and some fruit is enough. Just make sure you eat enough to get your motor running and keep you from overeating later.

2. Mindless Eating. If you’re doing other things while you eat – driving, talking on the phone, watching a movie – you could be overeating. Suddenly instead of a small handful of nuts, you’ve eaten half the container and hardly noticed. You overeat and you don’t enjoy it, so it’s not satisfying. It’s a bad combination. When you choose to eat, be deliberate. Take a serving and thoroughly enjoy it. You’ll eat less but be more satisfied.

3. Grazing. This poor eating habit is similar to mindless eating. It’s when you nibble on snacks all day, rather than planning what you’re going to eat. Some people respond well to eating five or six times a day, rather than having three larger meals, and if you’re one of them, that’s fine. But it should still be planned. Otherwise, you risk overeating, and making unhealthy choices. Stock up on healthier choices, so when you do snack, you choose wisely.

4. Emotional Eating. Most people have probably done this at some point in their lives. If you eat when you’re stressed, or you eat when you’re happy, it’s all still emotional eating – and it’s a poor eating habit. Work on finding other ways to deal with your stress. Try exercise over eating, and get fit instead of flabby. As for celebrating, do so without food. Treat yourself another way, with flowers, a small gift, or a special event.

5. Overeating. Let’s be honest, American meal portions are simply too big. From restaurants to our own tables, portion control is out of control. Luckily, breaking this poor eating habit is simple. Aim to cut your meal sizes by 20%. First, use smaller plates. If you clean an eight inch plate, you’re getting less food than if you clear a twelve inch plate. Then, move from family style serving to buffet serving. By taking the serving platters and bowls off the dining table and moving them to a side table, counter, or leaving them in the kitchen, you’ll reduce the amount of food you eat. It goes back to the mindless eating – when you have to get up and get more food, you’re less likely to do so!

6. Eating Too Fast. A poor eating habit that’s tied to over eating is speed eating. When you’re in a hurry, or really hungry, it’s easy to wolf down your food. But it takes your body fifteen to twenty minutes to register that it’s full – so if you’re eating faster than that, you’ll eat more than your body needs before you ever even have a chance to know you’re full! Slow down. Chew each bite. Taste your food, don’t just swallow it. You’ll realize you’ve gotten as much food as you need without eating nearly as much.

It’s Simple – But Not Easy

Now, if letting go of poor eating habits was as easy as just deciding to eat less or more mindfully, no one would have poor eating habits! Since it’s not that easy, it helps to have simple steps to get you started.

1. Get specific. Don’t just decide to eat less junk food. Plan to eat less junk food by replacing those snacks with fruit, Greek yogurt, hummus and veggies, whatever healthy snack you love. Because if you deny yourself, or try to wing it, you’ll be back at the potato chips in no time.

2. Switch from refined white flour to whole grain. Don’t give up pasta or crackers or bread, if you love them. Do choose whole grain versions of your favorite carbohydrates. Just remember that whole wheat isn’t the same as whole grain. Read your labels and make sure you’re getting whole grains.

3. Swap juices and sodas – eve diet sodas – with seltzer, regular water, and teas. There’s no reason to get the overdose of sugar, or artificial sweeteners, when you have so many alternatives. Add fruits or veggies to waters and teas for flavorful, healthy options.

4. Season your foods with herbs and spices, rather than heavy sauces and gravies. The right seasonings can be as flavorful as any sauce!

5. Add BenVia Gold to your daily diet. A single scoop of BenVia Gold is packed with fiber, so you stay fuller, longer – which is key to preventing overeating. Plus, it’s a nutritional powerhouse for less than sixty calories! Doing away with poor eating habits means taking a lot out of your diet. Put something in for a change, and add BenVia Gold.

As with anything else, the key is to start small and set achievable goals. Changing you’re a lifetime of poor eating habits takes time. So give yourself that time – you’re worth it!