How to Get Your Mojo Back (Boosting Female Sex Drive)

Hey everyone, welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question comes from a reader who writes, My lack of libido is destroying my relationship. I haven't been with my husband in over six months and I just feel tired and I'm not so interested in sex. How can you help me get my mojo back? Well, this is becoming more of a common problem. I see women all the time in my practice who are suffering from libido crashing mood disorders, that are interfering with their personal lives. Now many people believe these challenges are just part of getting older, but lately even young women are reporting issues of bad libido or low libido. And guess what? Bad habits like drinking and smoking, exposure to environmental toxins, and being chronically stressed, they all screw up your hormone balance. I had one patient who came to me recently who'd gone through menopause and she was eating lots of sugar and she'd gained weight and she had no sex drive. I put her on a whole foods, good fat, low sugar carb diet, gave her some vaginal estrogen, a few drops of testosterone in the right place every night, and she was very happy. And I know it works because I keep getting calls or refills of the testosterone drops from all my patients. Now, the biggest culprit that continually knocks sex hormones out of balance is sugar. And sugar in all its forms, including flour products, because they raise insulin and they create a hormonal domino effect. Once you understand how insulin can impact your other hormones, you begin to connect the dots about how excessive sugar can wreck your sex life. First of all, sugar lowers testosterone in men, and it alters testosterone metabolism in women. Testosterone isn't just a guy's hormone. Imbalanced levels of this hormone in women also reduce desire, and they increase body fat, and they lower muscle mass. and they create a fuzzy memory. We also know that sugar increases stress and it decreases energy. Feeling energized and relaxed? Guess what? They're the key to a healthy sex life. Bottom line, remove all the refined processed sugars and all the carbs. This includes sugary drinks like sodas and fruit juice, baked goods, pasta, bread. Next, restock your medicine cabinets. Often the side effects of medications like antidepressants and birth control pills Well guess what, they cause low libido. Birth control pills have been shown to decrease testosterone which we know is necessary for your sex drive. Also these medications can cause damage to your gut causing a whole set of inflammatory responses and a whole list of challenges which causes more hormone imbalances. If possible I recommend working with your doctor to find a better way of treating these problems. You also might want to take supplements to support your sex hormones like maca, which can actually boost libido, fish oil, which lowers inflammation and supports healthy hormones, and a good multivitamin D and magnesium, which can help with stress and energy, as well as iron and zinc, which many people are low in. You'll also want to heal any gut dysfunction. Antibiotics and other meds, as well as diet heavy and processed foods, really wreak havoc on your gut. and they make it hard to produce serotonin. Also, by the way, did you know most of the serotonin in your body comes from your gut, not your brain. So clear out also any bad bugs in your gut by eating a diet rich in whole foods, by avoiding antibiotics, by taking probiotics. All these things help promote digestion and reduce inflammation. You also might want to work with a functional medicine doc to effectively test and treat imbalances in your gut. Now, when it comes to diet, you want to eat foods that support your hormones. you want to eat a low glycemic or low sugar diet that's plenty of leafy greens like collards, kale, cruciferous veggies, and lots of good fats like grass-fed meats, wild fatty fish, nuts and seeds, avocados, coconut oil, and things like bone broth and high fiber foods like berries and lentils, and ditch the sugary foods and other inflammatory foods like dairy. You also want to remove artificial sugars which can actually increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Next, you want to remove toxins from your environment. These are endocrine disruptors, plastics, chemicals, and our cleaning products that are used for cleaning our house, our paints, our cosmetics, all these things are making a powerful endocrine disruptors that lead to damage to your body. Things like lead and BPA and phthalates, parabens you put on sunblock, all that stuff messes up your hormones. Living clean and green by choosing natural products when it comes to makeup and household products is really an important part of balancing your hormones. So I check out ewg.org, which is Environmental Working Group, that has the safest products for your home and your body. Finally, focus on lifestyle changes. Stress really kills your libido. So it's important to unwind and find relaxation techniques that really work for you. Meditation, deep breathing, yoga, massage, I like massage. All these are great practices. There's also an importance to getting adequate sleep. Seven or eight hours, or even nine hours of quality sleep every nights critical. Also, get off the electronics because they disrupt your sleep. The bedroom should be for sleep and romance or sex only. Also, exercise and movement are really important and people don't do enough of them. Find something you enjoy to do. And speaking of joy, getting pleasure and joy in your life, well, outside the bedroom with your partner, it's really important for connecting and experiencing joy in the bedroom. Also find ways to increase pleasure throughout the day like aromatherapy, creative expression, dance, music, whatever you like, These are all great ways to bump up your happiness and your sex drive. All right, so we covered the ways to increase your libido with the power of diet and lifestyle. So let's recap. Work with your doctor to get off your meds if they're interfering with your hormones. Next, take out the bad stuff and put in the good stuff when it comes to food and supplements. Heal your gut if necessary. Practice stress and reduction and relaxation techniques. Now I want to hear from you. How have you increased your libido? How did you do it? What worked? What hasn't worked? Comment below or on my Facebook page and if you like this video, share it with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter and be sure to submit your questions to DrHyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to you.