Let’s be honest, most of us men leave our health concerns up to our lovely wives. We take care of the lawn, the cars, the furnace…all the important stuff, right? That certainly doesn’t leave any time for our health! But what if our health suddenly starts to decline? No problem, we’ll just wait it out and see what happens. It should just mysteriously disappear the same way it came.
For some reason, we seem to think we’re winning some big "game" by waiting out the symptoms. If you happen to be victorious with this strategy, it doesn’t mean the actual problem is gone. It’s time to start utilizing some prevention strategies.
My wife asked me to talk about one thing all of us men have in common. Our prostate. At some point in our lives, the health of that prostate will be in question. My focus today is to give you some simple, yet very effective strategies to keep your prostate’s health in check.
The prostate is a walnut-sized organ surrounding the urethra (the urinary tract). Having a prostate issue does not only mean difficulty urinating. Your prostate maintains your testosterone level, keeps your energy up, keeps your muscles and bones strong even as you age, keeps your blood pressure in check, and even assists blood sugar regulation. Quite a bit for such a small organ.
Picture for me your favorite NFL linebacker, big bones, big muscles, lots of power. This is a man with an active prostate. Why? Proper activity of the prostate includes pulling calcium from the blood and transporting it to the bones and muscles. When the prostate is not working to full capacity, testosterone levels tend to decrease, prolactin and other hormones increase, and the result is an increase of di-hydrotestosterone.
This is just a fancy way to say the prostate cells are becoming over-produced, leading to enlargement of the prostate; aka Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy. This is what the doc is checking for just after the infamous "snap" of the rubber glove. How do we get into this state of dysfunction? Pesticides, biphenyls and xenoestrogens (plastics), dioxins (new car or new carpet smells), soy products, aspartame (diet soda, etc.), refined sugar, and caffeine. Also, because our soil is over 70 percent depleted, we are no longer getting the proper types and amounts of zinc and calcium to allow the prostate to do its job.
Clinically what I see is a patient with low energy, difficulty sleeping, and low back or neck and shoulder pain. The true problem is a prostate starving for the right minerals. Your prostate actually needs 10 times the zinc any other organ needs. Taking an over-the-counter zinc, however, will not solve the problem. The right kind of zinc will be found in oysters, pumpkin, wheat germ, sunflower seeds (raw), nutritional yeast, onions, liver, fl ax, deep sea fish and lentils.
Studies now show that aged garlic dramatically diminishes the growth of human prostate cancer cells. Think of it this way – if you stay away from the items in the problem causing list, and get at least two servings per day of something out of the good list, you can rest assured that prostate is doing what it was intended to do.
There may be some of us out there who are already suffering from prostate insufficiency. If this is your case, here are a few tips to get things back on track. The British Journal of Pharmacology Studies showed that quality Saw Palmetto was much more effective than a leading prostate drug in impacting urine fl ow in men with BPH. Bee pollen was also shown to relieve many different prostate discomforts. Over-the-counter cold remedies and anti-histamines should be avoided because they cause fluctuations in the force of bladder contraction.
So if you’re with me on making 80 the new 40, don’t wait for the walnut to crack! Take care of your prostate, and it will take care of you.