Fat Equals Testosterone

November, 8 2009

If you watch the news, the media’s constantly warning us about the dangers of fats in our diet. The grocery store aisles are full of foods promising ‘low-fat’ or even ‘zero fat’. But avoiding fat is a nutritional misconception.

While it’s true that some fats are bad news including the trans fatty acids created by a chemical process called hydrogenation, monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats offer numerous health benefits and they are an absolute essential component of a healthy diet. Even saturated fats in moderation can help increase the amount of testosterone your body produces. Fact is, a very low-fat diet (10-15% of total calories) can actually lower testosterone production.

To utilize fats for increasing size and strength, peg your fat consumption at around 30% of your total caloric intake. Eliminate the bad fats so the majority of your fat intake (40%) is Omega 3 fatty acids from flax seed oil or cold-water fish. Get another 25% of your fat intake from almonds, avocados, peanut butter and extra virgin olive oil. Finally, to keep your testosterone production stoked, make sure you get some saturated fats. The remaining 30-35% of your fat intake can come from whole eggs (the fat is in the yolk), beef, steak and dairy products.

Fat can be one of the best sources of more size and strength. If you don’t believe it, look at how power lifters and other strength athletes eat to get big. You won’t find them sticking to vegetables and tofu before attempting a record lift!

Mr. Natural Olympia
John Hansen