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"self-pleasure is one way women can ignite their desires- and boost their physical and mental health..."
by Alexandria Jamieson
Contributor, HMR US News
As a women’s health advocate and nutrition coach, I take a strong stand for alternative and natural tools to help women heal their bodies and feel well in themselves. But the conversation has focused on calorie counting and weight loss for too long. A major underlying desire for women is simply that: a desire for more desire.
According to the most
recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
the American Psychiatric Association's classification and
diagnostic tool, lack of desire – and the related anxiety it causes – is
the most common sexual complaint among women. This condition,
classified in the DSM-5 as “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,”
can include a lack of sexual desire that causes distress,
disinterest or an inability to achieve orgasm when orgasm was
once easy. And orgasm, when accessible, is one of the best
healing tools a woman – and a couple – can use to boost her
vitality and health. We want our desire back – and contrary to
popular belief, a female Viagra is not the answer.
You may think this
epidemic is affecting older women on the verge of middle age,
but the evidence shows young women are just as susceptible to
this crippling lack of desire. A broad study of 31,000 American women
published in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2008 found that about
43 percent of women reported sexual problems. This lack of
desire can cause distress and anxiety, and is linked to depression.
You can hack your life
and body for more energy,
weight loss and boosted brain productivity, but can you hack
female desire? Can a woman naturally boost her libido and
reclaim the juicy mojo associated with youth, vigor and
vitality? In short, yes. Here’s how:
1. Make over
your medicine cabinet.
The hormonal dance that
is female desire involves more partners than your grandma’s
square dance troupe, and is just as confusing as a caller’s
directions. Birth control pills that contain estrogen and
progesterone, for one, can be a root cause of low libido. These
synthetic hormones diminish our pituitary hormones, which
suppresses not only our ovarian function (why we don’t get
pregnant), but also testosterone production. For women, sexual
desire, sensitivity to sexual touch and ability to reach orgasm
are all driven in part by our testosterone levels. When we
experience a drop, it’s hard to get hot.
German researchers
published a 2010 study in the Journal of Sexual
Medicine that found birth control pills significantly decrease
levels of circulating testosterone, which has a huge impact on
sexual desire. The result is diminished interest and enjoyment
of sex. Some OB-GYNs will help guide their patients through a
“drug holiday” to balance their natural hormone levels, which
can take time and may result in mood and weight changes as your
testosterone and other hormone levels naturally increase.
Antidepressants can also
mess with our hormones, causing more reason to panic. Selective
serotonin reuptake inhibitors – a common class of
antidepressants – have beenlinked to bleeding in the gut,
where 90 percent of your serotonin is produced. That, in turn,
has an effect on testosterone levels, and therefore your libido
and confidence. Isn’t that ironic? This cycle can put women in a
depressed, anxious state, where sex loses its appeal completely.
What’s more, we lose the ability to reach orgasm, one of the
most healing and hormonally balancing mechanisms of the female
body.
Some doctors will
recommend trying a different antidepressant, reducing the dosage
or even eliminating the prescription to help patients kick start
their body’s natural desire. This process can take time and lead
to other side effects, and should be undertaken with great care
and support. I recommend getting a complete blood test array to
check your hormone levels, and any vitamin or mineral
deficiencies that could be underlying causes of unbalanced
biochemistry.
If you’ve been diagnosed
with leaky gut,
irritable bowel syndrome, small
intestinal bacterial overgrowth or any other gut or
bacterial imbalance, healing your digestive system will go a
long way in reigniting your desire. Antibiotic overuse has been
shown to damage the gut lining, resulting in a decreased ability
for this “second brain” to produce and store healthy levels of
serotonin.
2. Revamp
your diet.
Hormones don’t operate
in a vacuum. Everything you do, think and eat affects these
building blocks of desire. Blood sugar, insulin and sex hormones
are more closely linked than most of us know.
Sugar, for one, kills
testosterone. Insulin resistance, caused by a diet high in
refined carbohydrates such as white flour, sugar and alcohol,
drives down testosterone in both men and women. Both sex drive
and function take a hit when blood sugar levels are high. The
result can be erectile
dysfunction, which can affect the clitoris as well as the
penis.
Sugar can also sap your
energy. High-glycemic carbohydrates spike your blood sugar,
leading to insulin overproduction to pull your blood sugar back
down. The roller coaster of low, then high, then low blood sugar
results in fatigue, which is one reason why a big pasta dinner
with wine knocks you out of the mood. High sugar consumption
also leads to decreased orexin, a neurotransmitter that
regulates arousal and wakefulness. With less of it, you’ll feel
more like snoring than snogging.
Sugar stresses the body,
too. It’s the most inflammatory food around, which leads to
physical stress in every aspect of your body and mind. High
insulin levels will elevate cortisol, a main stress hormone.
Chronic high cortisol leads to muscle breakdown, fat storage and
squashed libido. Not a sweet picture, right?
Balancing your hormones
could be as simple as changing your dinner plans. Food forms
your hormones, metabolism and ultimately, your desire. Here are
my top desire diet recommendations:
Eat low-glycemic,
real foods such as fresh veggies, beans, gluten-free grains and high-quality
animal protein.
Follow a low-sugar diet
by choosing fresh fruit over sugar and dried fruits, avoiding
fruit juices and skipping the booze for a few weeks.
To repair gut
health, improve serotonin production and reduce anxiety,
try takingprobiotics and eating naturally
fermented foods that are rich in wild probiotics, such as raw
sauerkraut, kimchi and unsweetened kefir.
3. Seek
pleasure.
To restart desire, you
can’t just work on the biological level, you must also rekindle
the capacity of your mechanical and physical body. Many women
aren’t as knowledgeable about their body’s abilities and
geography as they need to be to fully own their libido.
Masturbation is a
missing ingredient in your desire (and weight loss) plan. Well,
not justmasturbation, but anything that brings you
sincere physical pleasure that also balances your hormones. And
arousal and orgasm are most easily achieved through
masturbation, especially if you're single or in a sexless
relationship.
According to the 2009
University of Michigan study,
orgasm helps the body release oxytocin, the "love and bonding"
hormone. Oxytocin release lowers cortisol, the main stress
hormone chronically elevated in many women that can lead to stress eating and weight loss
resistance. In other words, higher levels of oxytocin make us
happy and keep those emotionally-triggered
food cravings for
sugars, cheese and other "happy foods" at bay.
In my book, “Women, Food,
And Desire,” I tell the story of a client who wasn't
dating and wasn't masturbating. She had also been suffering
tummy trouble for years, and worked a very stressful job. She
was tired of the bloating, gas and the dreaded "muffin top" that
wouldn't budge. I took her to Babeland, a clean, well-lit place
for sex toys,
and we talked with a knowledgeable staff member who helped her
pick out a vibrator. After a couple of weeks of
self-exploration, she noticed a marked difference in her
digestion. (And she certainly had a nice spring in her step.)
You don’t need to be an
expert or have your own personal red room of pain to find
pleasure: Your own digits are ready to help you begin at home.
Oxytocin levels are usually increased simply through the
physical stimulation of the clitoris, vagina, cervix and
breasts. So even if you don't reach climax, you'll still be
releasing this powerful neurotransmitter.
Another way to get
started? Daydream! Another study reveals that sexy
daydreams release testosterone in women. So when you read erotic
fiction or watch any kind of porn that excites you, your body
will begin anticipating a sexual encounter, which
naturally raises your libido. Babeland’s website has some great options
for the desire seeker.
4. Don't
fall for outdated myths.
Since Eve picked that
apple in the Garden of Eden, women’s bodies and sexual freedom
have been the focus of contempt, subjugation, and emotional and
physical restriction. Discriminatory laws, often based on
religious arguments, are used to control women’s bodies,
reproduction and dress, and to violate women’s rights all over
the world.
In short, it can be
scary, sacrilegious and sinful to be a fully expressed, desirous
woman. Even when we don’t personally live in a culture that
blatantly restricts women’s behavior, we can still be made to
believe that being a woman is dangerous, and sex is unsafe. So
we shut our natural desires down in order to remain safe,
connected to our family, religion and culture of origin, and out
of the dangerous “slut shaming” spotlight of our modern age.
Gender stereotypes have
had the side effect of negatively influencing scientific
research, and have led researchers to mislabel women as timid,
focused on procreation above satisfaction and designed for
monogamy. In reality, female desire and sexuality is not the
rational, civilized, limited force it has been made out to be.
In fact, human and animalstudies show that the female
body and libido respond to a wider variety of visual and fantasy
stimuli than males, and that we chase and downright want sex
in greater quantities than previously thought.
While female sexuality
can be labeled as “more complicated” than men’s, what we now
know about the interplay between nutrition, stress, the effects
of prescription drugs and cultural stigma is leading to a
revolution in removing the blocks between us and our deserved
desires.
[posted in
wwwbennegtisalunatkenmedisina.blogspot.com]
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