Fitness Volt
  • Bodybuilding
  • Powerlifting
  • Strongman
  • Workouts
    • Training
    • Exercise Guides
    • Workout Plans
    • Celebrity Workouts
    • Training Programs
  • Nutrition
    • Supplements
    • Diet
    • Fasting
    • Diet Plans
    • Nutrition Tips
    • Food Facts
  • Reviews
  • More
    • CrossFit
    • News
      • Arnold Classic
      • Mr. Olympia
      • Results
      • 2022 WSM
    • Fitness Calculator
    • Profiles
    • Motivation
    • Videos
    • MMA
No Result
View All Result
Fitness Volt
  • Bodybuilding
  • Powerlifting
  • Strongman
  • Workouts
    • Training
    • Exercise Guides
    • Workout Plans
    • Celebrity Workouts
    • Training Programs
  • Nutrition
    • Supplements
    • Diet
    • Fasting
    • Diet Plans
    • Nutrition Tips
    • Food Facts
  • Reviews
  • More
    • CrossFit
    • News
      • Arnold Classic
      • Mr. Olympia
      • Results
      • 2022 WSM
    • Fitness Calculator
    • Profiles
    • Motivation
    • Videos
    • MMA
No Result
View All Result
Fitness Volt
No Result
View All Result
Muscle Science

Testosterone: Mono, Poly and Saturated Fats

Justin Robertson

Written by Justin Robertson

Last Updated onNovember 10, 2012

Testosterone is the key ingredient to building muscle, as far as hormones are concerned. Most of us who take our training seriously are always looking for ways to enhance muscle growth naturally. As you may have read in my Ketogenic articles, a high fat diet will raise your levels of testosterone. So problem solved, just eat lots of fat. There’s more to it than that of course, nothing is ever that simple. You have to eat the right kind of fat, but what kind of fat do we need a lot of?

Monounsaturated one of the fats you want to get a lot of in your diet in order to increase your levels of testosterone. Monounsaturated fat is an unsaturated fatty acid that contains only one double or triple bond in the carbon chain. It is also thought to be a dietary fat that helps reduce LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. That’s two good things that consuming lots of monounsaturated fat can do for you.

Good sources of monounsaturated fats are almonds, peanut oil, olive oil, canola, and avocados. All of these foods have relatively high amounts of monounsaturated fat, but they also contain polyunsaturated fat. This is the fat that we want to avoid when it comes to trying to increase our testosterone levels. Well, maybe not avoid, but I’ll get into that in a minute.

Saturated fat is the other kind of fat that you want in your diet in order to increase your testosterone levels. Saturated fat is a fat that contains only saturated fatty acids, and is solid at room temperature. Saturated fat tends to raise the level of cholesterol in the blood.

Saturated fats come chiefly from animal food products. Some examples of saturated fat are butter, lard, meat fat, solid shortening, palm oil, and coconut oil. So these are the deliciously tempting fats, but there is the issue of cholesterol. Cholesterol is bad, right?

Dangerously high levels of cholesterol are definitely bad, but cholesterol on its own isn’t bad necessarily. Cholesterol is actually a very necessary ingredient in the production of testosterone. If you lower your consumption of cholesterol, you will lower your testosterone levels as well. So some cholesterol is actually a good thing, especially in the case of raising our level of testosterone.

Polyunsaturated fats are a type of fat that contain more than one double or triple bond in the carbon chain. It also is believed to be an essential dietary fat because it too helps control cholesterol levels in the blood.Controlling cholesterol is always a good thing, so we’ve been told.

Sources of polyunsaturated fats include the essential fatty acids, omega fatty acids, and linoleic acids. They are found chiefly in fish, seeds, bananas, nuts, and vegetable oils. On the surface this type of fat sounds like the good kind, right? I did say earlier that this is actually the type of fat we don’t want to consume.

Wait a minute, so to boost testosterone I have to avoid basically all of the essential fatty acids? Not exactly. Monounsaturated and saturated fats enhance the synthesis of testosterone, and polyunsaturated fats block this process. Not all polyunsaturated fats however, follow this rule. Polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to positively impact on the synthesis of testosterone. These compounds form the richest portion of fatty acids stored in testicular cells, and the testicles are the testosterone-producing glands in men.

It is only the polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids that we should avoid, or more correctly, we should moderate their consumption, as small amounts of omega-6 are essential. Many cooking oils such as safflower oil and vegetable oil are very high in polyunsaturated omega-6. Mayonnaise and margarine are other ‘foods’ that are very high in omega-6, and should be avoided.

So an ideal testosterone boosting mix of fats will be high in monounsaturated fats, and contain some saturated fats as well, but not too much so that we aren’t raising our cholesterol through the roof. We will also need include some omega-3 polyunsaturated fats as well, most likely in the form of fish oil – unless you eat a lot of cold water fish, and of course we need a little of the omega-6 as well. What does all this mean?

It means that we need to get a pretty good amount of monounsaturated fats. Ideally, if our goal is to boost testosterone we need to make this the largest source of our fat intake. Second to that should be saturated fats. Lastly, taking up the remaining much smaller portion will be the essential fatty acids from the 0mega-3 and omega-6 group.

That is the recipe to increasing your testosterone through the means of diet. There are of course other factors to consider. I have already discussed the importance of sleep in relation to testosterone, so next time I’ll introduce another variable into this conversation. Until then, get eating the right fats from the right sources, but don’t get fat – as this is the very issue that needs to be discussed when we next meet.

Happy Lifting!

Stay on top of the latest fitness news and updates by adding Fitness Volt to your Google News feed: Follow us on Google News You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for even more content.
Facebook Twitter Reddit Flipboard LinkedIn
Categories: Muscle Science
Previous Post

Testosterone: Losing Sleep Lowers Hormone Levels

Next Post

Body Mechanics: The Clean and Press

Justin Robertson

Justin Robertson

Justin is a fitness enthusiast with a passion for old school workouts. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and experiences on various topics such as CrossFit, workouts, muscle-building, and HIIT workouts through his writing. With a focus on functional fitness and strength training, Justin aims to inspire and motivate others to achieve their fitness goals. When he's not working out or writing, he can be found exploring the great outdoors or spending time with his family.

Related

Pre Workout Weight Gain

Does Pre-Workout Make You Gain Weight?

Contrary to what a lot of people think, performance-boosting supplements are nothing new. In fact, for as long as humankind...

Muscle Atrophy

Muscle Atrophy – Causes and How to Avoid

Building muscle is a process called hypertrophy. When you train, you cause microscopic damage to your muscles and deplete your...

Best Vegetables For Building Muscle

The Best Vegetables for Building Muscle

In the bodybuilding world, vegetables are an underutilized nutrition source. While most lifters focus on eating meat, fish, and eggs...

Why Gaining Weight

Why Am I Gaining Weight? Common Causes Of Unexpected Weight Gain

A lot of exercisers work out and watch what they eat for weight management purposes. This can mean trying to...

bodybuilder sleep

Muscle: What Is Sleep?

Our sleep is regulated by daylight and darkness. In the morning hours, our body increases its production of adrenaline and...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest

Jeff Nippard Insists On Avoiding These Four Nutrition Mistakes

Weighted Bench Dip Exercise Guide: How-To, Benefits, Muscles Worked, and Variations

How To Eat Less: 16 Ways To Consume Less and Feel More Satisfied

Jay Cutler Looks Incredibly Jacked in Latest ‘Fit for 50’ Physique Update

Andrew Jacked Talks Steve Weinberger, 2023 Arnold Classic and Blood Work: ‘No Health Issues’

Kevin Levrone Says Chris Bumstead’s Physique Ushered In New Era of Aesthetics In Open Bodybuilding  

Reviews

Best Preacher Curl Benches

10 Best Preacher Curl Benches in 2023 (Review & Ranked)

Ancheer Treadmills Review

6 Best Ancheer Treadmills in 2023 (Review & Ranked)

Best Bone Broth Supplements

10 Best Bone Broth Supplements of 2023 (Reviewed & Ranked)

Fitness Volt

At FitnessVolt.com Our mission is to help our readers to achieve their fitness goals, regardless of where you’re at on your journey, we are on a mission to educate You with the latest from strength and fitness space. Read more.

Email: sm(at)fitnessvolt.com

Disclosure: FitnessVolt.com has an affiliate relationship with different brands and is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. However, our reviews are based on well research backed analysis.

Follow Us

Trending Topics

  • Mr. Olympia
  • Bodybuilding
  • Strongman
  • Powerlifting
  • CrossFit
  • At Home Workouts
  • Bodyweight Exercises
  • Best Pre-workout
  • Best Fat Burners
  • Bodybuilding Diet
  • Bicep Workouts
  • Triceps Workouts
  • Chest Exercises
  • Back Workouts
  • Leg Workouts
  • Front Squat Guide
  • Calf Workouts & Exercises
  • Forgotten Exercises
  • Jefferson Deadlift

Calculators

  • Calorie Burning Calculators
  • IF Calculator
  • TDEE Calculator
  • Calorie Calculator
  • Keto Calculator
  • RMR Calculator
  • Macronutrient Calculator
  • Creatine Calculator
  • Wilks Calculator
  • EER Calculator
  • FFMI Calculator
  • IBW Calculator
  • LBM Calculator
  • Fat Intake Calculator
  • Calories Burned Swimming
  • Calories Per Meal Calculator

  • Food Nutrition Analysis
  • Carb Cycling Calculator
  • Weight Gain Calculator
  • Weight Loss Calculator
  • Calories Burned Calculator
  • Strength Standards
  • One Rep Max Calculator
  • Body Fat Calculator
  • EER Calculator
  • Weight Loss Percentage
  • Treadmill Calorie Calculator
  • Body Surface Area Calculator
  • Running Pace Calculator
  • Bench Press Calculator
  • Protein Calculator
  • Water Intake Calculator
  • Body Type Quiz
  • Steps to Miles Calculator
  • Calorie Deficit Calculator
  • Home
  • About
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Syndication
  • Sitemap
  • DMCA
  • Copyrights
  • Terms
  • Privacy

© Copyright 2010 - 2023 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Bodybuilding
  • Arnold Classic
  • Powerlifting
  • Strongman
  • CrossFit
  • Workouts
  • Exercise Guides
    • Arms
    • Back
    • Chest
    • Core
    • Legs and Glutes
    • Shoulders
  • Training
  • Nutrition
  • Reviews
  • More
    • News
    • Mr. Olympia
    • 2022 WSM
    • Diet
    • Motivation
    • Videos
    • Food Facts
    • Fitness Calculator

© Copyright 2010 - 2023 Fitness Volt IBC. All Rights Reserved.