Great Sex, Naturally (26 page)

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Natural bioidentical DHEA.
The libido-boosting, health-enhancing effects of DHEA make it seem all the more precious when your body’s natural production decreases at midlife. As explored previously in this chapter, in addition to improving your sexual functioning and supporting your entire hormonal system, it can elevate your moods, help you overcome depression, benefit your brain, and improve your bone density—a key issue for many menopausal women.

Not every woman who takes natural bioidentical hormones for midlife symptoms needs to take DHEA. For some, the right amounts of estrogen and progesterone sufficiently ease their symptoms. But for others, taking DHEA can be essential for restoring health and bolstering libido. If you have midlife symptoms and think you may need to take DHEA, your test results (from hormone testing, as described in
Appendix E
) and your symptoms should direct your treatment. The symptoms you’re likely to experience if your body isn’t making adequate DHEA are decreased sex drive, poor memory, reduced ability to tolerate stress, and low adrenal-gland function. You may also have a diminished sense of well-being, lower overall hormonal health and vitality, fatigue, and reduced bone health.

Before taking DHEA, make sure your estrogen and progesterone levels are stabilized. If you’re also taking estrogen and progesterone, I recommend waiting a month after you start doing so before you begin taking DHEA. During and after midlife, many women need to take only very small doses of DHEA to experience notable libido-enhancing effects, increased energy, and better stress tolerance—for example, a daily dose of no more than 8 mg of DHEA applied to your skin as a transdermal oil or cream. (DHEA should be taken cautiously; excessive intake can have undesirable effects.) A holistically oriented practitioner can help find your ideal dose.

—
Natural bioidentical testosterone.
Some women in midlife become acutely aware of testosterone’s myriad health and libido benefits when their natural levels subside. As you’ve seen, testosterone is indispensable to your ability to feel excited about your life—and sexually excited as well. It can also help reduce hot flashes, night sweats, and other menopausal symptoms.

If your testosterone is low in midlife, your most noticeable symptoms are apt to be diminished libido, disinterest in sex, a lack of creativity and motivation, an inability to build and maintain muscle, and frequent fatigue. As with DHEA, treating your menopausal symptoms with estrogen and progesterone may be enough, and you may never need to take testosterone. But if you have persistent symptoms that point to low testosterone and your test results (from testing as outlined in
Appendix E
) bear it out, you’re a good candidate for testosterone treatment. For some women, taking testosterone not only helps restore their sex drive and eliminate menopausal symptoms, but also stimulates a heightened awareness of their bodies reminiscent of the hormonal awakenings of adolescence.

If you take natural bioidentical testosterone, you can expect to achieve the desired effects with a very low dose—no more than 4 mg daily, applied to your skin as a transdermal oil or cream. A qualified health professional who specializes in natural bioidentical hormone therapy can help you determine the amount you need. As you discovered earlier in this chapter, there may be benefits to taking testosterone in conjunction with other hormones; research suggests that when taken along with bioidentical estrogen and progesterone, it may decrease your breast-cancer risk. (If you’re also taking estrogen and progesterone, it’s best to start doing so about a month before you begin taking testosterone.)

If you use bioidentical hormones, you need to know the substantial and surprising differences between methods of taking them. Hormones, as mentioned before, can be applied as transdermal (absorbed through the skin) oils or creams, or they can be taken orally in pill form. Many conventional doctors—as well as some who claim to practice alternative medicine—prescribe only oral pills, perhaps because other methods weren’t part of their education. But transdermal application is more effective and healthier because it allows hormones to be absorbed immediately into your bloodstream. If you use oral pills, after you swallow them, they’re taken to your liver, where much of their hormone content is broken down before the remaining amount—only about 20 percent—reaches your target tissue. In addition to reducing your efficiency of hormone absorption, this puts undue stress on your liver, and if you’re taking estrogen, increases clotting factors that can lead to strokes. Research has shown that applying estrogen transdermally is safer than taking it as an oral pill.

(To continue your exploration of how you should take bioidentical hormones, including how to best apply them to your body and other important considerations, see
Appendix F
.)

Foods and Supplements to Support Your Midlife Libido by Enhancing Friendly Estrogen

The extent of your menopausal symptoms, and the degree to which they affect your sexuality, can be closely related to how efficiently your body metabolizes, or breaks down, estrogen. During the years leading up to menopause, you may ovulate less regularly, which can bring about estrogen dominance. Although your overall estrogen level naturally tends to be lower at midlife than in previous years, promoting healthy estrogen metabolism is still of utmost importance in helping prevent serious conditions like breast and uterine cancer. Your estrogen metabolism is critical because it can result in either “friendly” or “unfriendly” estrogen. (For more information on how your body can convert estrogen into either friendly or unfriendly forms, see the diagram in
Appendix E
.)

The following foods and nutritional supplements can noticeably improve your body’s ability to make friendly estrogen and eliminate unfriendly estrogen. They can help reduce menopausal symptoms if you have estrogen dominance, or experience difficult PMS, in the years leading up to midlife. For some women, these foods and supplements provide an especially valuable means of supporting hormone replacement therapy. If you’re taking estrogen for menopausal symptoms, they can help decrease your risk of breast cancer—the single biggest concern for women taking estrogen at midlife. And even if you never take it, you still stand to benefit from these foods and supplements; they can help reduce your risk of breast cancer at any time in your life.

—
Seaweed.
The rich iodine content in seaweed makes it one of the best foods for boosting your friendly estrogen metabolism and supporting your breast health.

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Cruciferous vegetables.
You can significantly improve your estrogen metabolism by choosing plenty of helpings from the cruciferous family of vegetables (for example, broccoli), because they’re high in indole-3-carbinol—a potent anticancer agent that supports your body’s ability to make friendly estrogen. Include the cruciferous clan at your dinner table often, preferably lightly steamed or raw (high temperatures can destroy indole-3-carbinol). As you discovered in
Chapter 2
, broccoli sprouts are exceptionally powerful for their cancer-fighting potential. They’re also great for your friendly estrogen metabolism.

—
DIM.
Short for
diindolylmethane
, DIM is a cruciferous vegetable extract derived from indole-3-carbinol. It may have even stronger effects than eating cruciferous vegetables because of its unique ability to promote friendly estrogen metabolism, and by helping prevent estrogen from binding to your breast cells, reduce your risk of breast cancer. To give your estrogen metabolism an extra jolt of support, take 300 mg of DIM daily.

—
Calcium d-glucarate.
This compound occurs naturally in your body, and is found in many fruits and vegetables. Particularly helpful if you’ve had breast cancer, or are at high risk of developing breast cancer, it promotes your friendly estrogen metabolism, supports your breast health, and may inhibit growth of breast-cancer cells. Calcium d-glucarate has a strong safety record; no side effects have been reported from taking it. The recommended dose for enhancing estrogen metabolism is 1,500 mg daily.

—
Liver lipotropic formula.
Your sex-boosting cleanse outlined in
Chapter 2
includes a liver lipotropic formula—a blend of herbs and nutrients that helps your liver break down toxins more effectively and also supports your friendly estrogen metabolism. To enhance your estrogen metabolism, take two capsules of liver lipotropic formula (see
Appendix C
) twice daily.

Conclusion: The Gift of Harmonious Hormones

You began this chapter by exploring your six key sex-enhancing hormones, and the many benefits each provides for your body, mind, and spirit—everything from moistening your vaginal tissues to kindling your capacity for compassion. As you’ve seen, every day of your life your magnificent hormones nourish, stabilize, stimulate, harmonize, empower, and energize your health and your libido. Since hormonal disharmony can be harmful to your health and sexual energy, this chapter has also provided you with many effective natural methods for enhancing your sexuality by restoring equilibrium if your hormones are imbalanced.

With your hormones harmonized, you’re equipped to use all of the other sex-enhancing secrets you find in this book to more fully fan the flames of passion. We now turn to Part II of our journey—our in-depth investigation of a wide range of natural means you can use for additional sexual self-empowerment. In the next chapter, you’ll discover a treasure trove of tools for enriching your sex life. There are many gems still to unearth; the excitement has only just begun!

1
A note on our use of the term
menopause:
Although menopause is typically defined as the year that begins with your last period, for the purposes of this chapter we often use the term to include perimenopause, the period of time leading up to menopause, during which you begin to experience midlife hormonal changes like irregular menstrual cycles.

CHAPTER 5

APHRODISIACS

Ancient and Modern Sexual Secrets

“We tend to think of the erotic as an easy, tantalizing sexual
arousal. I speak of the erotic as the deepest life force.”

—A
UDRE
L
ORDE
,
B
LACK
W
OMEN
W
RITERS AT
W
ORK

In this chapter, we’ll explore many ways you can enhance your sexuality with natural aphrodisiacs—agents that arouse desire, intensify pleasure and erotic feelings, or otherwise stimulate your libido. Whether you currently feel the need to revitalize your sexual energy or you already have a strong libido and would like to further enhance it, the tools you’ll discover in these pages can powerfully transform your sex life and boost your health at the same time.

The effects of many aphrodisiacs depend on your overall well-being; they tend to be most helpful when you’re abundantly healthy. One of the underlying themes of this book—that your capacity for great health and great sex are intimately intertwined—is especially relevant when it comes to aphrodisiacs. They have a way of
proving
that great health allows you to experience states of mind and body that are otherwise inaccessible. In this sense, your health is itself a potent natural aphrodisiac.