The Know Insider Weblog

Testosterone Cypionate…

As men age, the levels of testosterone in their body gradually decline, leading to feelings of depression, a lessening of sexual desire, an inability to maintain or build muscle mass, and other signs.

Together, these symptoms can be a sign of andropause, the male equivalent of menopause.

One of the treatments that can help to boost testosterone levels in men is the use of testosterone cypionate. Unfortunately, testosterone cypionate has been very badly abused in the past and can now be difficult to find in the United States.

Testosterone cypionate was one of the most common hormones used by athletes and by bodybuilders to increase their muscle mass and boost their performance. It was very common among Olympic weightlifters and other body builders. Testosterone is considered to be much stronger and more effective than testosterone enanthate.

Testosterone cypionate has been outlawed in most cases in the United States, but it is still available in most European countries, Mexico, and is also available on the black market.

Testosterone cypionate is a very expensive testosterone booster, and buyers need to beware that there are several counterfeit version on the black market and in other countries that can have serious side effect when taken. Part of the reason why the counterfeits can be so harmful is that testosterone cypionate is usually taken in very large quantities, and the counterfeit materials are not.

Testsoterone Enanthate

Like testosterone cypionate, testsoterone enanthate is an injectable ester of the hormone testosterone that is used to boost levels of the hormone in the body. Testosterone enanthate has also been used by athletes such as bodybuilders to boost their mass and give them maximum performance potential.

Testosterone enanthate injection is known as a depot injection. It is injected into a muscle, where it forms a reservoir of medicine that is gradually converted into testosterone over time.

For low testosterone levels the injection is initially given once every two to three weeks, and then every three to six weeks for maintenance treatment. The exact frequency will depend on your individual testosterone level. Testosterone enanthate is also very hard to come by in the United States as it is a highly regulated substance, although doctors in other countries will prescribe it. Testosterone enathate is also used in the treatment of breast cancer in women.

Because testosterone levels are boosted so greatly by both testosterone cypionate and testosterone enanthate, it is very important to know the side effects of these injections.

Androgenic side effects can include hair loss, deepening of the voice, and prostate hypertrophy. Severe BPH (enlarge prostate gland) can cause serious problems over time.

Urine retention and strain on the bladder can lead to urinary tract infections, bladder or kidney damage, bladder stones, and incontinence. If the bladder is permanently damaged, treatment for BPH may be ineffective. When BPH is found in its earlier stages, there is a lower risk of developing such complications.

Using testosterone cypionate and testosterone enanthate results in a very concentrated and high boost in testosterone production, and potential users need to be wary of the side effects.

Learn more about how to boost testosterone at http://www.testosterone-booster-guide.com

Our bodies change as we age, and to remain vigorous, active and healthy in our middle years and beyond requires that we supply them with good nutrition and regular exercise. It’s almost too simple, isn’t it? However, staying faithful to a healthy lifestyle requires commitment and self-discipline, and an understanding that you are the one who must make the appropriate choices. When you enter your middle years at age forty, you can no longer ignore the relevance of diet and exercise to health even if you did so in your youth.

There is an overwhelming amount of information on nutrition and exercise readily available to all of us. There are information articles in the daily newspaper, in magazines, and on the Internet. There are even CDs you can buy or rent and play on your computer if you have the right software. As well, there are TV programs and innumerable books devoted to these subjects. If you want an education on nutrition for life, the best vitamins for your age and sex, the best practices for weight loss, or a diet and nutrition guide complete with charts showing health-boosting and health-harming factors in your diet, it’s out there. While health professional don’t agree on everything, they are united in their support of general health rules governing what you should eat, the benefits of remaining active, and health risks to avoid. Don’t bother to search for anyone who will champion endless TV watching, smoking, guzzling beer, and a fast food diet as acceptable lifestyle choices. You won’t find anyone. (I’ve already looked.)

Keep Moving

The benefits of exercise cannot be overrated as a means of staying young and energetic. However, fitness at forty doesn’t require taking up bodybuilding or becoming a crack golfer. Involvement in sports is certainly pleasurable, and if you have any interest in pastimes like playing golf or tennis, cycling, kayaking, skiing, or baseball - to name a few - you can find lots of other people who share your interest and whose enthusiasm will keep you coming back for more. However, if you have never participated in sports in your youth and don’t feel confident enough at forty to join a team, or you haven’t the time to invest in becoming skilled enough at some particular sport to enjoy yourself, don’t be discouraged. There’s one thing you can do at which you are already very skilled - you can walk. Brisk walking is one of the best ways to become fit and to stay that way. It is also one of the least expensive activities to pursue, and if you really enjoy it, there is a natural progression to - wait for it - hiking. Walking and hiking can also be group activities and you may have friends or family members who decide to join you and increase their fitness levels as well. Don’t overlook health clubs, aerobic classes, dancing lessons, or aquatic classes. There are fitness classes for every age group and level, and there are personal trainers who will design a fitness program just for you. If you ever thought you would like to tap dance or belly-dance, get out there and do it. Time is moving on, and to stay healthy, you must move with it.

Eat Well and Take Your Supplements

Eating nutritiously means choosing foods that provide you with the right amounts of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, as well as vitamins and minerals. Minimum levels that are required to keep you from suffering from a deficiency in one of more of these elements is not the same thing as obtaining sufficient quantities to reach an optimum level of health and to maximize your body’s ability to fight disease. Even if you make a conscientious effort to choose foods from each of the food groups so that you are eating a balanced diet every day (and how likely is that?), you might still lack a particular nutrient that your body requires. Soils in which we grow fruits and vegetables are often depleted in nutrients, which means the foods grown in these soils are depleted, too. Nutrients can also be lost in the shipping, storing, preserving, and even the cooking of food. Does this mean you have to eat only fresh, organic food - preferable grown by yourself - and most of it raw? Yum, yum. Fortunately, there is another way. You can add nutrients to your diet by taking a multivitamin supplement, and you can choose one that has been formulated for your sex, your stage of life, and your particular needs.

Vitamins and mineral are known as micronutrients because only microscopic amounts are needed in comparison to the amount of protein, carbohydrate, and fat we should consume and the quantity of water we should drink each day. As small as these amounts are, they are essential to life and health, and you may need more than normal amounts of some of them because of your particular circumstance: you are recovering from surgery or an illness or you are under a lot of stress; you smoke or drink a lot; or you are on a restricted diet or trying to lose weight.

Women in their forties are usually still menstruating and may be also be bearing and/or raising children as well as working at full-time jobs outside the home. They need particular nutrients for this stressful stage of life, and must also prepare their bodies for the following decade which brings the menopause years. Women in their forties, therefore, should eat foods low in fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Women should also take a daily supplement that includes:

• Calcium (300 to 1200 mg) to protect themselves from osteoporosis

• Magnesium (400 to 800 mg.) to assist in relieving PMS, or premenstrual tension

• Iron (40 mg.) to ensure sufficient iron levels which may be lowered by menstruating

• Vitamin E (200 to 600 IUs) to protect against cell-damaging free radicals

In their forties, men, like their female counterparts, are also stressed by combining work and parenting roles and need the same well-balanced diet, low in fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and high in complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Men should take a daily supplement that includes:

• Beta-carotene, or vitamin A (5,000 IUs) to help prevent cancer, stroke, and heart disease, and to help lower cholesterol levels

• Vitamin E (400 IUs) to protect against coronary artery disease and poor circulation

For good health nutrition is of paramount importance, which means eating balanced meals and taking one or more daily supplements designed with your needs in mind. A multivitamin will give you all the vitamins and minerals necessary to sustain life and health and you should choose one that has been formulated for your sex and your stage of life. Remember to take your supplements with water at mealtime to help increase their absorption and to take advantage of the synergy that occurs when nutrients act together. For a healthy lifestyle in your forties, you should also make time for regular exercise. Go for it.

Scott Gray is currently a freelance writer and enjoys providing tips to consumers who are in the market for all types of vitamins, herb vitamins and multivitamins.

Virtually all plants contain some chemicals that can help protect your health and some chemicals that can make you sick. So when you read or hear about a new chemical found in a plant, and that this chemical helps prevent or treat a disease, you should not go out and try to eat huge amounts of that one plant or buy an extract in pill form made from that plant. You should include a wide variety of plants in a healthy diet full of lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and other seeds.

In 1844, Theodor Wertheim, a German chemist, distilled a pungent substance from garlic and called it allyl, the Latin name for garlic. Four years later Louis Pasteur in Paris showed that allyl could inhibit the growth of bacteria. This was a great discovery because 150 years ago, doctors had no antibiotics to kill bacteria, but at that time they also did not understand that bacteria cause many diseases. Garlic could have been the first penicillin, and Pasteur could have become extraordinarily rich.

One hundred years later in 1948, Arnold Stoll and Ewald Seebeck, researchers at Sandoz Company in Basel Switzerland showed that garlic does not smell offensively until the garlic bulb is crushed to form Allicin, the chemical that is responsible for the odor. The Sandoz researchers knew of Pasteur’s studies 100 years before theirs, but they abandoned further research when the board of directors at Sandoz felt that nobody would take allicin, the extract from garlic, to treat infections because of its offensive odor.

Entrepreneurs now sell garlic pills claiming that they kill germs and have no smell. The research that I have found shows that if it doesn’t smell, it isn’t allicin and therefore it hasn’t been shown to kill germs. Many studies show that allicin can kill bacteria in a test tube, but it cannot be used as a medicine because we don’t know how it works in your body, how to make sure an extract contains the active chemicals, or how to make the proper dose. Enjoy garlic as a food and get its helpful properties as part of a varied diet that includes lots of different kinds of plants.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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