Our lifestyle and habits play an important role in our sexual health. Sometimes, changing our environment and what we do improves sexual function.
For instance, we often experience a mood boost after exercising, which can help in the bedroom, too. Nutrition is also essential, and there are foods you don’t want to have around.
If you have a list of foods to eat before having sex, there should also be a list of foods to avoid before sex.
Sex drive depends on many aspects, and believe it or not, what you eat can sometimes play an important part.
If you care for your sexual health, why don’t you start by improving your nutrition? This article will recommend against the top 10 foods that impair sexuality.
Some are healthy foods, but it is not a good idea to eat them right before sex. Others have long-lasting and overlapping consequences on your sexual health.
10 foods to avoid before sex
Some foods and drinks increase the risk of erectile dysfunction. Others simply have uncomfortable effects that you don’t want around during intercourse.
Here is the list of top 10 foods to avoid before sex:
1. Alcohol
Drinking a cup of red wine could set the mood before sex, but heavy drinking does nothing good. Alcohol is a central nervous system inhibitor, and you need the central nervous system for erections. As such, drinking too much can be a cause of erectile dysfunction.
Moreover, alcohol can affect your sex drive. It reduces testosterone levels when you drink heavily for a long time. This reduces your libido in the long run and causes other health problems (1).
2. Salty foods
Blood pressure and blood flow are essential to maintain healthy erections. With that in mind, it is not hard to guess why salty food is a bad idea for your sexual health.
There is an acute increase in blood pressure when you eat this type of food. Conversely, the blood flow to smaller organs reduces, affecting erections and orgasms.
These count as foods to avoid before sex, especially if you suffer from hypertension. There are consequences in your blood vessels, which will not synthesize the same volume of nitric oxide (2). Some cases of erectile dysfunction may improve by simply eating healthier.
3. Coffee
Coffee can be beneficial if you need to wake up and feel more energetic. But we don’t recommend consuming coffee right before sex. Studies show that coffee may raise your serum cortisol levels. This is the stress hormone and could make it difficult to relax.
Besides sexual desire, you also need a minimum of peace of mind to achieve an erection. If you’re an anxious and jittery person as it is, coffee will make it worse and affect the quality of your erections. This effect can vary from one person to another.
4. Dairy
You can count cheese and dairy as foods to avoid before sex. We are used to consuming dairy and experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms.
We think it is a normal part of digestion, but it is not. If you are intolerant to lactose, the symptoms can still be worse. But even if you’re not, you could still experience bloating after consuming dairy.
Stomach cramps and burping can be terrible sex drive killers. So, if your sexual function is on top of your priorities, we recommend leaving dairy for another occasion (3).
5. Spicy foods
Spicy food also affects your gastrointestinal system. It triggers acid reflux, especially if you suffer from gastritis and similar problems. Just imagine what happens with your sex drive when you overeat spicy food (4).
Acid reflux is uncomfortable and sometimes painful. It also causes bad breath in some people. You don’t want to kill your vibes with that.
6. Carbonated drinks
If you want to enjoy better sex, stay away from all types of carbonated drinks before the action starts. Once again, the main problem with carbonated beverages is belching, which happens more often after drinking one cup or two.
Moreover, soft drinks can reduce your testosterone and damage your libido in the long term. They contain high sugar levels and are associated with obesity and metabolic problems.
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7. Onions
The pungent smell of onions makes them foods to avoid before sex. It is not because onions are bad for your health. There are actually many benefits of onions sexually.
However, they simply smell bad and give you bad breath. So, if you’re preparing a delicious dinner to set the mood, you may want to avoid eating onions right before sex.
8. Beans
These are also foods to avoid before sex, and the reason is simple. Beans contain a type of dietary fiber that changes the way your bowel behaves. This is beneficial in some cases but not very comfortable if you’re about to have sex. Feeling your bowel movements will not be comfortable at all.
Beans can contribute to cardiovascular health and reduce cholesterol levels. They are not bad by themselves. Just try to consume them at another time.
9. Processed meats
You probably guess by now that processed foods are not recommended to maintain your sex drive. But processed meats deserve a special mention.
They are red meat with lots of saturated fat, which can clog your arteries and give you long-term erectile issues.
We can say something similar about French fries, other fried foods, and products with trans fat.
10. Desserts and sweets
Other foods to avoid before sex include all sweets, desserts, and sugary foods you can think of. They cause a sudden insulin increase and may lead to insulin resistance in the long term. Chronic consumption is associated with obesity, which reduces your circulating testosterone level.
Also, think twice if you’re considering consuming chewing gum and other foods with artificial sweeteners. Sorbitol and other artificial sweeteners are not absorbed in the gut and may also accumulate and cause gastrointestinal symptoms.
Conclusion
In this article, we considered the most important foods to avoid before sex. As you can see, most of them are associated with uncomfortable symptoms you don’t want to experience during intercourse. Others have chronic consequences that may affect your sexual life later on.
You could also consider a few aphrodisiac foods if you want to guard against erectile dysfunction and keep your sex drive. Eating them before sex can be a good idea, and you can even prepare a few recipes with these ingredients.
Additionally, don’t forget to exercise regularly. It will boost blood circulation and make you feel better. If home measures and remedies do not work, don’t be discouraged. There is also medical treatment, and almost all cases of erectile dysfunction can be successfully treated.
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