I found out that Vitamin D3 is actually not a vitamin per se, but a hormone!
Wikipedia has alot of great things to say about this important substance.
Scientists are finding that we need a lot more vitamin D3 than previously estimated. People are taking 4,6,8,10000 or more units daily. Some estimates indicate we make up to 20000 units when exposed to UVB rays from the sun for a 1/2 hour or more.
If you live in the north and/or don’t get much sun, you need to include this in your supplement portfolio.
Biggest Loser Weight Loss Exercise DVDs!
Always looking to expand my exercise options, I came across the Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout DVDs. I’ve seen them a million times at Vitamin Shoppe and Target for example, but never thought to try them. Then one day, out of boredom, I decided to buy two. Wow! Was I in for a surprise! These workouts kick butt. Not only are the workouts hard, Bob and Jillian use humor and dogged persistence to get you sweating and burning calories. Use this to up your nitric oxide production. Get it done early in the day so you won’t have to worry about getting your exercise done later.
Pu-Ehr — My favorite tea
It turns out my favorite tea, Pu-Ehr tea, is not only an enigma, it’s fermented! Who knew?? I learned this tea is not green and not black, it’s specially prepared and fermented to produce unique compounds that helps to burn fat! Wikipedia has good information on it, but here’s a pretty good summary:
Good Pu-Ehr Tea Article.
Pu-Ehr tea often comes in tightly packed ovals or balls that is often hard to break apart. It has an earthy favor that is absolutely delicious.
This special tea is believed to improve digestion and to clear toxins from the body, especially when the toxins come from too much drink.
Try it the morning after imbibing a few guiness stout with raw egg!
What’s up with Aspirin?
There’s little known research that indicates aspirin works by increasing Nitric Oxide in our blood vessels. Wow! That’s big news..think about what that means..not only can it potentiate drugs like Viagra or Cialis, but it could probably also help fight off infections by increasing this bacteria killer. Nitric oxide kills tuberculosis, for example, and people are often recommended eating peanuts to help stave off this disease. For example, click here to read an article on this topic. Maybe you should pop a few aspirin to help fight infections!
Here’s a cool article from a blog on sexual health matters that discusses aspirin, nitric oxide and foods that contain natural aspirin: Menz News Blog.
And you can read the scientific study on how aspirin increases nitric oxide:
Link to article.
Let’s hear how you’re doing!
Zinc — Deep Sleep and Long Dreams
Want to have some long and intense dreams? Take this stuff:
Optizinc.
This supplement is crazy.
First of all, I can’t say enough good things about Zinc. This mineral is a must have in every person’s tonic arsenal. I’ll write more about great skin, energy, male performance and recovery in future posts. But for now, take 1 or 2 tablets before sleep and you will not only sleep deeply, but will have the most vivid and long dreams you’ve ever had. I feel like I’m dreaming for hours. You’ll awake refreshed..not like you’ve been tossing and turning all night either.
I’ve taken other forms of zinc, and they are all good. Especially the liquid ones. However, optizinc (which is a supposedly highly absorbable version of zinc) is the one that affects me the most in the sleeping and dreaming department.
It’s simply AMAZING!
Resveratrol — Say Yes to more testosterone
So Resveratrol has gotten a lot of good press in recent years. If you’ve been buried under a rock or just came out of a coma and don’t know what it is, it’s a substance found in red wine and peanuts that supposedly can switch on your longevity genes and counteract the bad effects of a high fat high calorie diet. You heard of calorie restriction? This stuff is suppose to mimic all the good effects without the dieting.
Read this because I don’t feel like rehashing the same information over and over. Suffice to say, this stuff has great potential. Unfortunately, it’s crazy expensive too.
I found a good source of a highly pure powder at this place: purebulk.com.
You’ll find 50% and 98% pure powders. The 50% powders are cheaper but taste pretty bad and are brown in color. The 98% pure powders are expensive, but are white in color and the taste is mild.
I can’t say it’s tasteless, but you can swig it down with some Orange Juice or water.
I have to say I feel pretty good on this stuff. I’ve been taking about 300 mg of it 2 times a day. I think it’s an obvious choice for a tonic because it can not only slow down aging, but it helps increase testosterone levels by blocking estrogen production. It also helps keep your arteries flexible and clear by enhancing nitric oxide production.
I’d like to find some better deals for this stuff. Please let me know if you know a good source for 98% resveratrol and I’ll post it here.
Irish Moss – Jamaican Power Drink
How does great skin, a strong “back”, virility and awesome taste wrapped up in one drink sound? Sounds great to me, so that’s why I’m introducing you to a little known Jamaican treat called Irish Moss or Sea Moss. Chrondus Crispus is a variety of seaweed that is found in coastal regions of North America, the Caribbean and parts of Europe. Many of you have heard of the thickener, Carageenan, which comes from this seaweed. It’s popular is Scotland and Ireland as the main ingredient in pudding. It’s high in Sulfur and other minerals and is touted as male performance booster. Here’s how you make it:
Ingredients:
- Irish Moss
- Flax Seed (aka Linseed)
- Condensed Milk (I use skim milk to lower calorie content)
- Spices–Nutmeg,Cinnamon,Vanilla
- Optional-Gum Arabic
- Optional-Isinglass (Agar)
- Optional-Sugar or Sweetener to taste
- Optional but recommended-Wray and Nephew White Rum
This is how one of the good Irish Moss packages looks like and where to get it.
How to Make it:
Note:I tend to shy away from listing exact amounts. Experiment, you can’t go wrong.
Some people recommend soaking the irish moss overnight first with some lime juice. I found it’s not necessary. Just rinse it and take off any particles. Put in a pan with water to cover and a bunch of the flax seeds and the optional agar and Gum Arabic. Bring to a boil and simmer until the Irish moss melts away (could be an hour or more depending on how much seaweed you’re using). I recommend starting small until you get the hang of it. Keep an eye on it because it can boil over and make a huge mess on your stove. You can use a fork or one of those hand blenders to speed it up. Put in the vanilla and spices with milk and sweetener. Add the Rum if you want an extra kick.
Be creative. Everytime I drink this mixture, my skin looks great for days afterwards. It must have some kind of nitric oxide, PDE-5 inhibition or related effect because this stuff is seriously powerful and works.
Ideas to enhance the effects:
- Boil in some peanuts or peanut butter. If using raw peanut, try to include the skin
- Add a Jamaican Root Drink (these are bitter herbs with reputed aphrodisiac and healing power)
- Try adding Carrot Juice
- Ginseng Extract is often added
- Various combinations of Banana and Oats are also often used
- Gingko extract is sometimes added
Take the time to make this drink and enjoy it’s tonic effect. You’ll be glad you did!
Horny Goat Weed?
Despite it’s unfortunate name (who wants to bring this stuff to the counter), Horny Goat Weed or Epimedium, is an amazing chinese herb. Bodybuilders take it for increased testosterone (weak anecdotal evidence) and for the ‘pump’ (very strong evidence). It’s also thrown into herbal preparations for PDE-5 inhibition effects (very strong scientific evidence).
I like to check http://www.pubmed.com for scientific experiments related to the herbs and supplements I’ll be discussing here.
It’s very cheap as a raw herb you can purchase in any chinese herbal shop or over the net. It’s basically dried leaves packed tightly into little bricks that resemble a pack of dollar bills.
Scientists have found that it has strong Estrogenic qualities. What?? Yes, despite all the hype around male performance, it has been shown effective for woman going through menopause and for the prevention of Osteoporosis! Check out pubmed for the studies.
One substance that has been isolated from epimedium is a chemical called icariin. Again, check pubmed for this one. It’s PDE-5 inhibition rivals viagra. In fact, one study mentioned how they were working on derivatives of icariin to produce even more effective inhibition. Do your research! Check pubmed, don’t just believe me.
Despite all the clinical evidence pointing to epimedium being estrogenic, this herb has a strong reputation for being a testosterone booster. I think it’s probably due to it’s PDE-5 inhibition that get misinterpreted as libido enhancing. Another possibility is that the body absorbs these natural weaker estrogens instead of the dangerous estrogens purported to be in our drinking water, detergents and certain food additives. So it could have a protective effect against those dangerous substances. I haven’t studied the estrogen story in depth, but there seems to be strong suggestions that our environment is polluted with toxic estrogens.