Eat well, feel more energetic, have a health body…yada yada…we all know the drill, but really, it’s true. The food you eat is your fuel and you really need to have a think about what you put into your body to make it ‘go’. There are three things that we’ll discuss here related to nutrition and libido:
- Healthy foods and eating patterns
- Helpful vitamins and nutrients
- Food as an aphrodisiac
Healthy Foods and Eating Patterns
It is a well known fact that better nutrition will make you feel more energetic. There is just no doubt about that and we’ve spoke previously about how tiredness and lethargy can really kill your sex life. Eating more nutrient rich foods, more vegetables and fruit, less saturated fats and limited alcohol and caffeine will give you an energy boost that will be beneficial to your love life.
Reducing portion size is also another good tip on improving your nutrition, it is astounding how many of us each our food in portion sizes that are just way too big. Here is a good tip for those who are worried about going hungry – half the amount of meat in your meals and double the amount of salad or vegetables.
Another tip is, for each meal, to have a protein portion with vegetables or salad OR a carbohydrate portion with vegetables or salad but not to have both a protein and carbohydrate. In practical terms this means you have either meat with vegetables/salad or pasta/rice/potato with vegetables/salad but you don’t have the meat and pasta/rice/potato in the one meal. This will help you reduce the overall calorie count of each meal and increase the vitamin and nutrient content.
So, distilling this down to a few key points for you to remember and to implement:
- Eat less meat and less carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, rice, potato
- Eat more vegetables/salad
- Don’t mix your proteins and carbohydrates – this is an easy way to ensure you eat less calories and more healthy foods in your meals
Try it, even for a week or two just to see the impact. Live healthy, eat healthy, your body with thank you and you’ll have much more energy. As well as this, eating well may see you lose weight and if you are overweight then this is definitely something that will help your health, self esteem, energy and libido.
Helpful Vitamins and Nutrients
There are many vitamins and nutrients that play an important role in sexual and reproductive health. In fact most of the popular female libido supplements on the market currently are supplements which contain natural substances such as:
- Vitamin A – essential in the synthesis of the hormone progesterone.
- B Complex vitamins – required for maintenance of healthy sex drive and production of sex hormones in the body.
- Vitamin C – involved in the production of sex hormones.
- Vitamin E – improves vaginal dryness and relief of hot flashes (helpful for post menopausal women).
- Zinc – combats stress, boosts immunity and increases sexual stamina.
- Folic Acid – helps metabolize protein and gives you more energy.
- Ginseng – has aphrodisiacal qualities and can also relieve menopausal symptoms.
- Gingko biloba – increase blood flow, improving overall sexual sensation.
- Damiana leaf – aphrodisiacal effects, increases oxygen and overall sensitivity of genital area. Can also reduce vaginal dryness.
Of course, these are just some of the vitamins and nutrients that are important. So, what is our action point here? Our action point is to consider adding a natural supplement to your diet. Particularly if your diet may be lacking, you lead a busy or stressful life then adding a natural supplement to your diet can be beneficial. If low libido is an issue then why not select a supplement that is focused on the vitamins and nutrients that will most benefit your sexual health and libido, like Her Solution or Provestra?
Read about female libido supplement reviews here
Food as an Aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is something that increases sexual desire, such as a food, drink or drug. There is some debate on whether aphrodisiacs work because they contain some chemical substance or whether they work simply because we think they will work! Your brain is your most powerful sex organ and so if you link feelings of sexual desire with a food then most likely when you have that food your brain will create a feeling of sexual desire, simply because it thinks it should! You gotta love the way the body works!
Some well know foods that have been linked with aphrodisiacal properties are oysters, chocolate, asparagus, advocado, banana, red wine, salmon and there are many more! Many of these foods contain the very nutrients and vitamins that we have discussed earlier and this may be the reason they have been linked with increasing libido. For example, Oysters are high in zinc, which may be why they are considered an aphrodisiac.
Now some may say that considering foods as an aphrodisiac is just ‘airy fairy’ but I say, it doesn’t matter how you come up with your feelings of sexual desire as long as we get the right result! So, here’s an experiment. It’s an experiment of visualisation and association.
- Think of a food that you find sexy. Maybe even discuss it with your partner to come up with your own ‘special food’.
Perhaps it’s a glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate, for example. - Now think about sipping on that wine with your partner and sharing a piece of the chocolate. Create an image of laughing, being close, taste the dark chocolate in your mouth, smell the red wine and the chocolate. Think about what it smells like, feels like, tastes like, looks like and sounds like as you share your special food together. Here you are creating an association between your special food with a feeling of closeness and intimacy, of desire for your partner.
- Now enact your visualisation with your partner. Create the physical association between your special foods and lovemaking. This will really cement the association for you.
Summary
So, our key messages relating to nutrition and female libido are:
- Eating health foods will increase your energy
- Eating less food and losing weight if you are overweight will increase your energy, health and self esteem
- Supplement your diet with nutritional supplements focused on sexual health and libido
- Create a sexual food association as a trigger for desire
Go on, try it – it works!
There are just so many positive benefits of exercise on your health and well-being that I don’t even know where to start on this one!
Exercise:
- Increases your cardiovascular health and fitness levels, improve muscle strength and muscle tone
- It can facilitate weight loss, help with weight control
- It will improve your mental health and sense of well-being
- It will increase your self esteem and body image
- And I know this can sound a little counterintuitive, however, trust me on this one. Exercise will give you more energy!
Now we all know that there can be many and varied causes for low female libido, but we also know that women are complex and our bodies are complex and issues such as low self esteem, weight control issues, lack of fitness and energy can all be contributing factors to low libido.
For me, if I am ever feeling ‘a bit low’ or ‘flat’, I know if I spend some time to ‘get my body right’ then my mind will follow. I also know that when I am feeling good about my health, fitness and overall body image, then I feel more attractive, I feel sexier and this definitely affects my libido. It’s not about looking like a supermodel, or having ripped abs (though I’d kill to have ripped abs, I must admit), it’s just about feeling good within myself and being confident about my body. If I am feeling good, I am more likely to want to be intimate with my partner, it’s only natural.
So, here’s the challenge for you. If you are not someone who exercises, or perhaps you have been in the past and you’ve fallen off the wagon, then I want you to give this a try for at least 2 weeks to see if you notice a difference in the way you feel about yourself.
- Schedule some form of activity everyday day of the week and at least one day on the weekend. That’s right, six days per week!
- You need to schedule at least 30 minutes for each session.
- Add it to your diary or block it out in your calendar – if you don’t, it’ll be too easy to find excuses about how you’re too busy.
- The activity that you do should suit the level of health and fitness you are at currently – with just a little extra to make sure that you are getting that heart rate going.
- So if you don’t exercise at all the start off with simply a walk.
- If you are a regular walker, perhaps add a little bit of interval training, where you try a little job for 60 seconds, rest for 90 seconds – and continue that for the duration of your normal walk.
- If you’re already quite active, then change it up a bit, perhaps try circuit training or some other activity.
- See if you can get your partner involved too! Nothing like two people getting hot and sweaty together! Not only does this provide the wonderful effects of exercise for both of you but it could give you some quality time doing something healthy together and you could even jump in the shower together afterward!
- A helpful tip can be to set up your exercise gear ready
- If you plan to exercise in the morning, have it all out ready the night before.
- If you plan to exercise a bit later, then put your gear on, you’ll immediately feel ‘sportier’!
Of course, there can more to having low female libido than simply a lack of energy, but the benefits of exercise can be profound and getting your body and mind feeling health can only help you. Try out a regular activity program for at least two weeks and see if you can feel the benefits.
When women suffer from issues with low female libido, it is tempting to immediately look for a female libido supplement to offer a quick solution and this can certainly be a good step forward. Lifestyle factors, however, can also play a part in the way you feel and whether you have a strong and healthy libido. Getting enough sleep in your life is one of these factors. Nothing kills passion quicker than one party falling asleep! Without enough good quality sleep there’s not a lot of energy left. Getting a good night’s sleep each night will help you to feel more energetic and lively and this will definately be better for your libido!
Of course, going to bed early is easily said, though of course, can be hard if you have a particularly busy lifestyle or young children or both! You are probably going to have to make some changes in your life and routine to make this happen but it would be worthwhile for your general health and well being and your relationship.
Here are some actions for you to try.
- For one week go to bed at least 1 hr earlier than you normally would. If you’re not tired, that’s fine – talk to each other!
- Commit to going to bed together. Often one party heads off to bed whilst the other stays up, perhaps finishing off some work or watching a television show. This isn’t condusive to spending quality time together, even if it is just for a quick cuddle and a chat before sleeping!
- Go to bed naked and snuggle. This is a ‘no pressure’ activity. Spend some time talking, laughing, cuddling, with some skin on skin contact.
There are quite a few positive outcomes of these activities:
- When you head to bed earlier you are far more likely to get to sleep earlier and more sleep means more energy and better health.
- When you head to bed earlier and together you get to spend a little quality time together talking about your day or whatever you wish to talk about together as a couple.
- When you head to bed earlier and together you get some time to spend together, physically close to each other which is more likely to increase feelings of sexual arousal and lead to making love.
As you can see the benefits of more time in bed are many!
Of course, making lifestyle changes such as this are just one of the proactive steps you can take to improve your health and well being and improve your libido. Another step can be to consider trying some natural female libido supplements, such as Provestra or Her Solution – both include herbal medications show to improve female libido.
Check out our female libido supplement reviews for more information.
Recently I came across two different articles talking about herbal supplements and their use in treating menopausal symptoms, including low female libido.
In the first article, published in a Jamaican newspaper named The Gleaner, Dr Monique Rainford, who is a consulting obstetrician and gynaecologist discussed the benefits and safety of several herbal supplements, including Black Cohosh, Ginseng, Red Clover, Kava, St. John’s Wort and Gingko. Several of these supplements have been shown to offer improvements in menopausal symptoms for women, including improvements in libido. You can read the full article here. Now if you’ve read some other articles on this site, some of these names will most likely be familiar to you as some of the main female libido enhancement products include some of these natural herbal elements. Our detailed article on the Provestra Ingredients in fact include Ginseng, Black Cohosh Root and Gingko.
Read our review or Provestra here
In the second article, published on the Natural Products Insider website, the benefits of the French maritime pine bark extract were discussed. Although it’s the first time I’d heard of French maritime pine bark extract, a little internet research uncovered that this natural product, being manufactured as Pycnogenol, is a herbal medicine which has been shown to show a diverse range of health benefits. With regard to menopausal symptoms, this particular article spoke about a published clinical trial which found that Pycnogenol improved symptoms including hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, irregular periods, loss of libido and vaginal dryness.
Good news, this seems, with regard to treating low female libido with natural female libido supplements such as Provestra and Her Solution.
Read our review of Her Solution here
Of course, if you do have any prior medical conditions, particularly serious issues, such as cardiovascular disease, kidney disease or respiratory disease and/or you are taking any regular medications it is always best to consult with your doctor to ensure that natural female libido supplements, such as Her Solution or Provestra will be suitable for you.
Communication, as we all know, is important in a relationship, but isn’t funny how you can share your home, your bed, your life with someone but still find it hard to talk about the important things in your relationship? Having an issue with libido can be one of those things. Often both partners can recognize that there is something not quite right, but no one wants to address the ‘elephant in the room’.
When a issue is left to simmer away, without being addressed then this inability to talk about the issue can sometimes just build it into something bigger than it needs to be. It can be very helpful if you and your partner get the opportunity to talk about it openly and without judgement. For some women, this may not be possible but if you think that some open communication may help, then here are some ideas to get the ball rolling.
Firstly, set the scene for your partner by telling them that you want to speak openly and without judgement. Tell them that you love them and you have recognized that this issue is impacting on the intimacy of your relationship and you’d like to work together to come up with some ideas on how to make it better.
Secondly, it helps to get on the same page. If you think that you can talk easily about the issue then go ahead, have a discussion, but if you think talking about it may be difficult then doing a little exercise of you both writing things down your feelings and exchanging notes can be really effective. The sorts of things that you should discuss or write down are:
- How do you/your partner feel about your low libido and the impact on your relationship?
- What are your fears?
- What factors do you think might be contributing?
- How often would you like to have sex?
- How often do you think your partner wants to have sex?
- Do you have any ideas you’d like to try out to improve you/your partner’s libido?
Sometimes you’ll find this exercise can help you clarify you and your partner’s expectations and come up with some ideas to try.
Thirdly, remember that the most important thing is that you and your partner can talk about and work out the issues together. So keep the communication going and remember to relieve a bit of the ‘tension’ by having a laugh.
There are lots of strategies that you can try, together with your partner and communicating about the issue is the first step. Other strategies can include female libido enhancement products such as Provestra or Her Solution and Her Solution Gel.
Check out our reviews of female libido supplements and gels
If you are one of the many women who have struggled with issues of low female libido then hearing word of a new treatment or potential solution can really get your hopes up and have you eager to jump on board and try it out. Female libido supplements are big business these days as many women finally step up and take charge of their health and well being.
I recently came across an article on a website singing the praises of testosterone therapy for women and how it was ‘the next best thing’ for boosting female sex drive. It really promoted testosterone as something that we should all give a try if we are finding ourselves with low libido. It worried me because the article had promoted all of the potential pros about using testosterone but really failed to inform the reader of the cons of testosterone and the fact that it is not available as an option for many women at all.
So in this article I’ll aim to provide a very brief summary of the pros and cons of testosterone therapy in women with low female libido.
First up, on the positive side, research has demonstrated that testosterone does produce a positive effect on sexual desire in certain groups of women who have sexual dysfunction.
On the negative side, however, what is unclear, however, is the long term effects and safety of using testosterone in women. Testosterone does have negative health effects, particularly in women with a history of cardiovascular or liver disease and in women who have had uterine cancer or breast cancer and so cannot be used in these groups. In most countries the use of testosterone therapy is only indicated where women fall into a very specific category, whereby they are premenopausal, do not have a history of any of the contraindicated disease groups, have sufficient estrogen leves and have sexual dysfunction.
The message here is, for most women who have low female libido, testosterone therapy is not going to be available, can potentially be unsafe and is not going to be their sex life saviour! For this reason many women look at natural female libido supplements, such as Provestra or Her Solution. These products are safe, offer little to no side effects and are readily available.
When it comes to testosterone therapy, this is a topic you are most definately best to discuss with your doctor if you wish to find out more or to pursue this course of action.
In the meantime, you can find out more information about low female libido, including potential causes and available treatment options, including female libido supplements such as Provestra or Her Solution and see if one of these products can assist you.
References:
Does testosterone therapy help increase sex drive in menopausal women? When should this be considered? What are the pros and cons?
Mary M. Gallenberg, M.D.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/testosterone-therapy/AN01390
Accessed 28th Feb, 2012
Testosterone for Women
http://women.webmd.com/testosterone-for-women
Accessed 28th Feb, 2012
There are many women out there with low female libido. There are also men with low libido. It can be hard in situations where one isn’t all that interested in sex to turn that emotion around. At times like this many people tend to withdraw from their partner and their relationship. This can, in fact, be the very opposite of what you may need to do to get back some sense of spark, to get back a ‘kick’ in your relationship and find your mojo.
Picture this, you’ve had a hard day at work, or at home looking after the kids, getting meals, cleaning up. It’s the end of the day and so you finally get a moment to rest and you flop down on the sofa and turn on the television. Sound familiar? And it’s not just you, your partner too is tired and has had a long day. This is a common occurence in homes all around the country, all around the world! Television is a passion killer, it’s a motivation killer, it’s a time killer and if you are watching each and every night for hours on end then it can be a relationship killer too.
It’s time to turn the television off. You will be amazed at the time you can get back and the strength of relationship that you can build.
Sometimes bringing back your libido can be as simple as bringing back the time you spend with your partner communicating and enjoying each other’s company. Of course, we don’t play down the seriousness of issues of low female libido, however, it’s certainly will not harm your relationship to spend a little quality time!
Here’s some ideas for you:
- Play a game
- Talk – and listen!
- Go for a walk/run/other activity together
- Cuddle on the sofa
- Go to bed early and snuggle
Of course this is just a start. You may also want to consider other ideas which you can find on this site for increasing libido as well as trying out various female libido supplements such as Provestra or Her Solution.
Click here to read our detailed Provestra reviews
If you are looking to purchase a female enhancement product and you’re located in Australia, a word of caution for you before you make that purchase.
Her Solution contains melatonin and we have had reader reports that they have had their Her Solution shipment intercepted and stopped by Australia border security.
If you are in Australia then Provestra may be a better purchase for you as this product does not contain melatonin and so can safely be imported into Australia for your use. Provestra is a very popular female enhancement supplement aimed at increasing female libido and we have provided much information about Provestra on this site.
Click here to read our detailed review of Provestra
We contacted the company directly to get their take on it and here is their reply:
This has happened a couple of times before where Australian or Canadian customs has seized the pills and allowed the rest of the kit to be delivered.
In the rare circumstances like this we offer 3 options:
1) We can re-ship the 3 boxes of pills to you in a separate shipment.
2) You can return the rest of the kit to us for a full refund.
3) We can issue a refund credit for the pills alone and you keep the rest of the kit – in this case the refund would be for $90.00
So, up to you if you want to risk it, but I would recommend that if you are located in Australia then you should consider trying out Provestra first as there are no know issues with importing Provestra. If you are not located in Australia then Her Solution is still a good product for you to try.
Please note that Her Solution Gel does not contain melatonin so if you are wanting to purchase Her Solution Gel then you will still be able to do so from Australia.
In the famous words of Justin Timberlake…’I'm bringing sexy back’….!
Ok, well, if the mental image of JT isn’t enough to get you going then I’m going to share with you a few tips that I collected from my internet travels on ways to enhance female libido for women who find themselves with low female libido.
They’re in no particular order of importance!
1. Get some sleep
Nothing kills passion quicker than one party falling asleep! Without enough good quality sleep there’s not a lot of energy left. Getting a good night’s sleep each night will help you to feel more energetic and lively.
Easily said, though of course, can be hard if you have a particularly busy lifestyle or young children or both! You probably going to have to make some changes to make this happen!
2. Exercise
Another one for increasing your energy (I know, it sounds crazy, but really, if you exercise more, you’re likely to have more energy). This will also help you with weight control and body tone, which in turn help you feel good about yourself and your body.
3. Nutrition
Eat well, feel more energetic, have a health body…yada yada…we all know the drill, but really, it’s true. The food you eat is your fuel and you really need to have a think about what you put in. Try it, even for a week or two, live healthy, eat healthy, your body with thank you and you’ll have much more energy.
This one also goes hand in hand with weight loss and let’s face it, if you’re overweight then you have less energy, you feel less attractive and your confidence may suffer.
4. Reduce your stress
We are all living lives that are just far too busy and stressful. Me included. Thankfully I have a partner who is the absolute opposite of a stress! When I observe how my partner acts and behaves in relation to potential ‘stressors’ in life it is a real lesson that the only one who has power over you and your mindset and your level of anxiety or stress is you. No matter what your circumstance you choose how to respond to things, which means you can choose happy, you can choose relaxed.
Being stressed is an absolute passion killer, so get rid of it! Lighten up!
5. Medications
For women, options are very limited when it comes to medications for low female libido. Testosterone has been show to have some benefit in some groups but is only used in very specific circumstances and also comes with significant risks that require careful consideration. Basically, it probably isn’t the thing that is going to be used for the vast majority of women.
Of course, discussing the potential causes of low libido with your doctor is recommended as you may be one of the few for which testosterone is recommended.
The other part to this tip is to look at the existing medicines that you may be taking for various reasons. Some medications, such as certain types of antidepressants are well known to have a detrimental effect on female libido. Once again, this is definitely a discussion that you should have with you doctor before you consider altering any of your medications.
6. Herbal Supplements
There are many natural female libido supplements that have been recorded to have a positive effect on female libido. You’ll find preparations that combine a number of supplements into one preparation, including Provestra and Her Solution, which are two of the most well know female enhancement supplements. You can find heaps of information about these items, including detailed Provestra Reviews and detailed Her Solution review on this site.
There is little in the way of solid, evidence based research into these products, however, many women have reported good effects and their ingredients pose little to no side effects at all, so they can be well worth a try.
7. Gels and Creams
There are a few gels and creams about that do get some good reviews. Her Solution Gel is one of those, which you can read about here.
Some gels and creams simpley produce a ‘tingling’ effect that heightens arousal and sensitivity – such as Zestra. A gel which gets favourable reviews is Her Solution Gel – it increases blood flow, increases sensitivity and heightens arousal as well as being a lubricating substance. You can read a full Her Solution Gel review here.
8. Go on a date
Here’s a good old fashioned tip. We all get caught up in our lives, our jobs, our kids and just our…stuff! Sometimes, if it’s not in your calendar or your schedule it’s just not gonna happen. So schedule some intimate time! Of course everyone loves a little spontaneity, however, if you’re not getting any action, then a little scheduled action is better than nothing! Find a baby sitter, schedule a romantic interlude and go on a date with your partner. Alternatively simply say that ‘Thursday nights is our night’ and schedule it in! Get the kids off to bed, turn the TV off, spend some quiet (err….or loud) and preferably naked time together!
9. Get some toys
Spicing up your sex life can be fun. Some ‘toys’, some steamy movies to watch together, some new positions, new places. Mix things up a bit and see where it takes you.
10. Improve your self confidence
If you don’t feel confident about your body or yourself in general it’s hard to feel sexy. So if confidence or body image issues are something that affects you then it’s time to address those. If it’s about weight and body image, then do something about it. If it’s about your self esteem then perhaps you could speak with a counsellor, psychologist or if that all seems a little daunting then start out by reading some books about self esteem and confidence.
So there you are, our 1o tips for increasing female libido! Enjoy.
Remember that the most important thing is that you and your partner can talk about and work out the issues together. So keep the communication going and remember to have a laugh!
Read our reviews of female libido supplements
Just recently, Canada.com reported an interesting article on libido that talked about a really interesting way to help people who were having issues with low female libido and male libido issues also. A sex therapist in Ottawa, Canada, has started a two night ‘libido bootcamp’ in an effort to help people know that they weren’t alone and that having issues of low libido in a relationship can affect that relationship dramatically.
Sex therapist, Sue McGarvie is reported as saying:
“it’s an important problem to correct because a healthy sex life can improve all-around health and longevity, while a low libido is often the first indicator that something else is wrong”
The article states that low libido is a problem for between one third and one half of all woman and a ‘surprising number’ of men. According to McGarvie, the typical profile of the woman with low libido is that she has children, a high stress job and is reasonably slim or very fit. She may also have issues with food allergies and sensitivities!
The libido bootcamp offers information, actions and featured speakers on a variety of topics which include female libido supplements, tips on what to do to spice things up in your relationship, foods with aphrodisiac type properties and relationship counseling. Apparently, the first session sold out very fast!
What a great idea! Libido bootcamp sounds like a fun way to tackle an important issue – and importantly, it involves both parties of a relationship acknowledging a problem and looking for a solution together, and having a bit of fun along the way!
I wonder if it will catch on elsewhere in the world? Could we see a franchise of libido bootcamps around the globe?
