Vegan and testosterone boosting sounds a bit like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?

At first, glance, I’d say, it absolutely does.

I mean, how can you boost testosterone without thick slabs of beef, cartons, and cartons of cage-free eggs, and early mornings of hunting wild boars with your bare hands?

But hey, let’s not rest on stereotypes here…

Some of you reading this are on a vegan diet…

And others of you are strongly considering going on a vegan diet…

And some of you guys, well, you don’t give a rip about any diet that doesn’t involve bacon…

But I’m writing this article to tell you that there is a way for vegans to boost testosterone…

And I call it the ultimate vegan testosterone booster diet.

But before we get to the diet, let’s cut to the chase…

What the Studies Say

According to a recent study, out of the 1 million Americans who profess to live a vegan lifestyle, 79% of them were women…

Needless to say, when men and women alike think of a manly diet…

It’s not a vegan one…

I’m sure that is, unless you’re a vegan.

Now, I’m not saying that a meat-based diet is manlier than a plant-based one…

Actually, I’d like to take a moment to give the vegans reading this some props…

I’m sure making the transition to a plant-based diet wasn’t easy.

But even though I’m not comparing the manliness of meat-based vs. plant-based diets, I want to be completely honest…

One of these diets is proven to lower testosterone levels.

The vegan diet.

One study measured the amount of sex hormone binding globulin (SHGB) of men on a plant-based diet compared to those on a meat-based diet and the results showed that the vegan group had higher levels of SHGB in their bloodstream than the other group…

This means that they have less bioavailable testosterone to build muscle, boost energy, and better their performance in the bedroom…

The study also concluded that those in the vegan group had less testosterone altogether…

Ouch.

Another study involving a 19-year old man who participated in a vegan diet concluded that his soy-based diet caused him to have erectile dysfunction…

It also lowered his free testosterone levels…

It took him 1 full year to recover his sexual health and hormonal balance after switching to a meat-based diet.

There are other studies (1, 2, 3) that draw similar conclusions.

But my vegan friends, or those who could soon be my vegan friends, don’t lose hope yet…

Let’s take a look a the perks of the vegan diet for your testosterone health and go from there to the ultimate vegan testosterone booster diet.

Benefits of a Vegan Diet for Testosterone

Anyone who has read my articles or checked out my Anabolic Eating program knows that I put a major emphasis on eating vegetables…

Why?

Because vegetables are one of the best sources for getting essential testosterone-boosting micronutrients into your diet.

In fact, I’ve even gone as far to call your local farmers market a T-boosting medicine cabinet.

Vegans, you’ve got most essential vitamins and minerals on lockdown for sure.

Also, a vegan diet contains plenty of carbohydrates, which is a staple in any testosterone-boosting diet.

You won’t boost testosterone without carbohydrates, specifically gluten-free carbohydrates, which, if you’re doing your vegan diet right, tends to be the go-to source of carbs.

And to round out this list of positives for my vegan friends, let’s get honest for a moment…

Vegan men are typically a lot leaner than omnivorous men…

And lower levels of body fat make for better testosterone levels.

So you can put another tally under the testosterone level tit-for-tat list.

But we’re not done yet…

There’s a reason (as I mentioned in the introduction) that studies have shown vegans to have lower testosterone than meat eaters.

Downsides of a Vegan Diet for Testosterone

Have you ever tried to convince your wife that something is a good idea?

And so the two of you come together, draw a line down the center of a scrap piece of paper, and mark each column “positives” and “negatives”?

Well, usually, you go into the meeting pretty confident…

And as the “negative” side fills up you begin to feel uncomfortable…

And when it’s all said and done, and you’ve got 2 positives for 9 negatives, and you feel crushed…

Well, that’s what we’ve got going on here.

Even though there are some benefits to a vegan diet, the bad far outweighs the good when it comes to your testosterone health.

First, vegan diets are typically low in fat…

And if there’s any macronutrient you want in your diet, it’s fat.

Studies have shown that fatty acids are essential for boosting testosterone.

And even when the vegan diet allows for dietary fat, most of the fat comes from polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds and soybeans…

Which is a problem because polyunsaturated fats lower testosterone levels.

They’re also high in Omega-6, which can boost oxidative stress and inflammation in your body, and as a result, jump up your cortisol levels and decrease your testosterone.

I cover that all in my 97 Foods That Boost Testosterone course.

Another negative of a vegan diet for your testosterone health is that a lot of the products you consume on a vegan diet negatively affect sex hormones…

Like I mentioned earlier, a soy-based diet can cause even young men (whose testosterone levels should be at their peak) to have out-of-whack testosterone levels and even erectile dysfunction…

It’ll do far more damage to a man who’s passed the 30-year old barrier and sees a decline in testosterone by 1% every year.

Also, high fiber, which naturally occurs in plant-based diets, can result in low testosterone…

Large amounts of fiber increase sex hormone binding globulin in your bloodstream, arrest your androgen and as a result, lower the amount of free testosterone that your body is trying to produce.

And even though I applauded the vitamin and mineral intake of the vegan diet compared to the fast food frenzied food habits of the West, I have to add that meat contains vitamins as well…

Vitamins that are advantageous for your testosterone health such as vitamin A, K2, and D…

Which you’ll suffer inadequate amounts of if you’re on a vegan diet.

So you see, there is a reason to worry about your testosterone levels while you’re on a vegan diet…

But here me clearly…

There is a way you can turn your diet into a vegan testosterone booster diet.

And the process is a lot easier than the one you had to go through to become a vegan in the first place.

The Ultimate Vegan Testosterone Booster Diet

The ultimate vegan testosterone booster diet is simple, safe and sustainable. So here goes:

Eat More

If you don’t eat enough food, your testosterone is going to suffer…

And because vegan diets put an emphasis on low calorie foods, it’s easy to slip into slim eating and as a result, slim testosterone levels.

Here’s a mind-blowing study for you…

A 7-year study compared the testosterone levels of men who ate lower calorie “clean diets”, and were active, compared to the testosterone levels of men who ate higher calorie western diets and were sedentary.

The first group logged between 1350-2415 calories per day, while the second group logged 2145-3537 calories per day…

Guess who had higher testosterone levels?

Group number 2…

The sedentary, high calorie, western diet folks.

Why?

Well, the first group simply wasn’t eating enough calories to maintain healthy testosterone levels…

In fact, their testosterone levels were 31% lower than their counterparts.

So listen, if you’re going to eat vegan, actually eat.

Shoot for at least 2500 calories a day, or whatever would be a slight caloric surplus for you.

Eating more is key to the ultimate vegan testosterone booster diet.

Eat Less PUFAs

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, as I mentioned above, are testosterone killers.

While monounsaturated fats and saturated fats are hailed as testosterone-boosters, PUFAs have the opposite effect.

PUFAs suppress testosterone and thyroid hormones, which can be attributed to the fact that they have sensitive carbon-carbon chains in the way they’re structured.

This makes the fatty acids delicate when exposed to oxygen, heat, and light, which then cause the fatty acids to literally go rancid inside your body, creating free radicals and eventually oxidative damage in the cells as a result.

More oxidative damage means more cortisol, which means…

Drum roll please…

Less testosterone.

So if you want to make your vegan diet into a vegan testosterone booster diet, you need to stay away from polyunsaturated fats as much as you can.

Take Fat Soluble Vitamins

In the downsides section, I mentioned that if you don’t eat meat, you’ll miss out on essential testosterone-boosting vitamins that meat will provide for you, like vitamins A, K2 and E.

If you refuse to come over to the dark side (or is it the light side?) and eat some eggs every once in a while, you need to get these vitamins another way.

Get these vitamins as fat-soluble liquid and mix them with coconut oil…

These vitamins are essential to the vegan testosterone booster diet…

Sure it’ll cost you a bot more than a carton of eggs, but you’ve already made plenty of sacrifices to go vegan…

This one’s a no brainer.

Watch Your Fiber Intake

You know the saying, “Too much of anything can be a bad thing?”

Well, when it comes to fiber and testosterone, that old saying is right on the money.

Too much fiber is not good for your testosterone health…

High fiber diets increase prolactin, a hormone that’s best known for enabling your wife to produce breast milk…

If you put two and two together, you’ll realize that’s not a good thing for men and testosterone levels.

High prolactin levels will lead to suppressed androgen and dopamine in men.

Of course, you still need fiber in your diet.

But stick to the recommended 30 grams a day if you want to make your vegan diet the ultimatevegan testosterone booster diet.

Your Next Step

So what next?

Well, if you’re a vegan or you’re interested in trying out a vegan diet for yourself, make sure to make it as advantageous to your testosterone health as possible.

Implement the four tips I listed above and your testosterone will be head and shoulders above your vegan buddies.

And, hey, if you’re thinking about jumping ship on the vegan diet, check out my Anabolic Eating program to get the best anabolic advantage out of your diet. 

– Joe LoGalbo