Erectile Dysfunction Can Be Reversed
This post highlights a few scientific articles to connect erectile dysfunction (ED), high blood sugar levels, high insulin and insulin resistance. The message is that ED is usually a metabolic problem which means that often there is a solution within your control—low carb, real food, plenty of healthy fat and animal protein.
At the end I also share a little information about how doctors typically address ED and I share information about Viagra. Hopefully you are interested in trying to address the root cause before jumping into pills, devices and surgery.
Look for Clues and Connections: The triad ED—IR—NO
The short story: Erectile dysfunction is connected to insulin resistance which leads to low Nitric Oxide and then to ED. To fix insulin resistance YOU MUST EAT LOW CARB, with plenty of healthy fats and animal protein.
Erectile Dysfunction (ED) affects more than 50% of men over 40 and Insulin Resistance (IR) or hyperinsulinemia affects 60% of overweight people, but even thin people have IR, overall 25% adults. Insulin Resistance is at the ROOT of metabolic conditions that are sabotaging your health.
Let’s talk about the conditions that you can control to fix your ED.
Insulin resistance is the inability of insulin to work properly at the cell level. Normally, insulin stimulates the uptake of glucose by cells, but some cells become very resistant to insulin and no longer respond to its efforts to move glucose out of the blood.
Every cell in the body has insulin receptors, and insulin comes to the cell receptor and “knocks on the door” trying to gain access for glucose to come in to the cell. Insulin resistance is a case where the cell cannot take in glucose because it is not responding to insulin’s signals. Over time, insulin in the blood becomes chronically high, called hyperinsulinemia.
Is your Fasting Insulin high? When you eat quality animal protein, healthy fats and low carbs, mostly from non-starchy vegetables, your insulin will be 6 or lower but certainly not over 10. When you eat the Standard American Diet—which is too high in carbohydrates and too low in healthy fat and animal protein—your metabolism will suffer, leading to hyperinsulinemia or Insulin Resistance. This is the key condition to address with diet and lifestyle.
Is your diet full of processed foods that are deficient in quality animal protein and healthy fats?
- Do you eat packaged and processed food that is coming from bags and boxes with barcodes?
- Do you eat out or order food delivery often?
- Are you eating processed food, grains and so-called vegetable oils? Crackers, bread, chips, rice, pasta, bagels, donuts, pizza, cereal, desserts, candy, ice cream, fries, soda, juice and added sugar?
- You are fueling unhealthy insulin resistance and setting yourself up for a host of problems, including ED.
When Insulin Resistance is High, Nitric Oxide is Low
The third piece to the triad is low Nitric Oxide. Every blood vessel has a lining called the endothelium. When the lining of the blood vessel is healthy, it releases vasodilators like Nitric Oxide (NO). Nitric oxide encourages more blood flow and is needed for a man to get an erection. When there is chronically high insulin, as in Insulin Resistance, the lining of the blood vessels is disrupted resulting in low NO. Nitric oxide can not do its job = Erectile dysfunction.
As you eat low carb focus on eating quality fat and protein. Add some non-starchy colorful vegetables and fruits that are high in flavonoids, with antioxidant properties. It is believed that this will benefit Nitric Oxide production.
ED is a Red Flag Warning
Erectile dysfunction, ED, is your RED FLAG warning that you are metabolically unhealthy. Several years down the road, if you change nothing about your diet and lifestyle, you are headed towards a cardiovascular event and type 2 diabetes.
Tests that indicate poor metabolic health:
- Waist circumference greater than 40 inches
- Triglycerides greater than 100 mg/dL
- Blood pressure higher than 130/85 mm Hg
- Fasting glucose greater than 110 mg/dL
- HDL less than 40 mg/dL
- Fasting Insulin above 10 μU/mL (ideally 6 or lower)
- Hemoglobin A1C above 5.6 (ideally 5.4 or lower)
What can compromise the penile vasculature structure and functions?
- The Standard American Diet which is high in carbohydrates (grains, soda, juice, sweeteners, beer, chips, desserts, ice cream, processed food) and refined seed oils. This way of eating is inflammatory and leads to chronically high blood sugar and insulin levels.
- Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived from high blood sugar levels will accelerate blood vessel lining (endothelial) dysfunction by lowering nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. When your blood sugar is high all the time, AGEs and ROS are created, inflammation increases, insulin increases leading to insulin resistance.
- Endothelial dysfunction is associated with insulin resistance.
- High blood sugar and insulin resistance (IR) are two issues that lead to problems with blood vessels and the brain—you need both working right to have a proper erection. You need nerve impulses to trigger blood flow to the penile corpora cavernosa.
- Impaired Nitric oxide production.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8201035/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8201035/
Get to the Root Cause, fix your metabolism first.
Get my book, The Reclaim Diet, and I will walk you through how to eat an anti-inflammatory, real food, low carb way. You can reverse your chronically high insulin and reclaim your health.
Big Medicine’s solution
Drugs, Psychotherapy, Devices, Injections, Surgery (they never mention diet to lower glucose and insulin). [source]
What about Viagra? (SILDENAFIL CITRATE)
Viagra, brought to you by Pfizer. How Viagra works. Published adverse reactions:
- Headache, flushing, dyspepsia, abnormal vision, nasal congestion, back pain, myalgia, nausea, dizziness, rash, sudden loss of vision and/or hearing and blood pressure drop. There is increased risk of cardiac events.
- “Prolonged erection greater than 4 hours and priapism (painful erections greater than 6 hours in duration) have been reported infrequently since market approval of VIAGRA.”
Actual users generally report that Viagra works but sometimes there are unwanted side effects.
- “Within 20 minutes my heart rate climbed from a resting 60 bpm to 118, just lying down. Also gave me nausea. I had a very difficult time sleeping. The next day, I had to take the day off as I felt crappy.” – 62y
- “Side effects for me are headache, nasal blockage and hang over feeling the next day.” – 47y
- “Stuffed up nose, flushing, terrible lower back pain. Could not go to work the next morning. Felt like I had the flu. This was just a trial to see how it would effect me prior to an actual date.” -57y
- “2-day-long migraine, searing eye pain, uncontrolled sweating, and rampant tachycardia in addition to a painful, unending erection. I spent hours with the phone in my hand wondering whether to call 911.” -age unknown
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