Livin’ ‘Libido’ Loca

Love life on life support? Sex drive getting you no where? Libido lacking lust?

Dispassionate sex drives are something all couples experience at least once in their marriage, some more frequently than others. To remedy such frustrating situations, couples often turn to pharmaceuticals, hoping a pill will mend the issue quickly.

While there’s no doubt this avenue works for many people, the pharmaceutical route leaves behind a laundry list of side effects, beyond the litany of adverse reactions companies like Viagra themselves can’t deny (many of which I’ve written about in past articles).

Seeing as your reading this, you know that I believe most – if not all – problems have a natural solution. There are many natural ways to enliven one’s libido, including through the foods one eats.

You likely have already heard about almonds and oysters increasing sex drive, but what may come as news is soy’s impact on libido. One woman got more out of soy than she ever would have guessed.

As recently reported in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, high doses of soy may be one of the most potent sexual enhancers for women, this after a woman reported to a hospital with symptoms that were later diagnosed as persistent sexual arousal syndrome (PSAS).

For any “Grey’s Anatomy” aficionado, this condition probably sounds familiar. It’s basically where a man or woman’s emotions are in such a state of sheer eroticism, they feel compelled to have sex or self-gratify to alleviate their “unrelenting arousal,” as a 2006 ABC News report put it.

This was precisely what this woman was experiencing, according to doctors from Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In fact, she self-gratified so frequently to relieve built-up pelvic tension that she had to see a doctor to see what was causing such sexual stimulation.

An assessment of her diet revealed a steady-eddy diet of eating soy was the likely culprit, gobbling up to four pounds of the stuff every day for a month!

While this woman’s condition sounds humorous and is sure to have generated some chuckles among doctors and those who have heard the story, the effects of PSAS are serious and can cause serious emotional and physical pain. A 2006 story on ABC’s “20/20” gave a face to this condition, documenting how PSAS severely affected one woman’s life – and not for the better.

However, as the researchers themselves say, supplementing with some soy – not four pounds worth – may very well prove beneficial for women’s sex drive. Because soy contains a plethora of phytoestrogens, researchers believe soy can naturally boosting a woman’s libido by increasing estrogen levels.

Researchers advise, however, that soy likely won’t work for all women. But even if it doesn’t, soy is one of the best natural protein sources; at the very least, you’ll be getting a quality protein into your body.

So long as you’re not eating four pounds of it, soy is a win-win.