PODCAST- Christine DeLozier, L.Ac. – Diet for Great Sex

About Our Guest- Christine DeLozier, L.Ac.

As an acupuncturist and herbalist in private practice, Christine DeLozier, L.Ac., specializes in sexual health, treating all orientations and identities. Acupuncture is great for sexual function, but to address the underlying mechanics of consistently great sex, the key is diet. For this reason, she works with patients to develop dietary habits that support their sexual goals.Christine holds Master’s degrees in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Counseling. During her education, she studied Chinese dietary therapy, and earned a certification as a Holistic Nutritional Counselor. Early in her practice, she treated numerous men for erectile issues with acupuncture, who ended up having significant improvements in sexual satisfaction. After seeing how meaningful this improvement was to their lives, she specialized in sexual health, expanding her practice to all who seek it. She wanted to do more to help them connect with their partners and bring joy to their relationships.

Full Podcast Transcription

Christine DeLozier 01:14
The longer you\’re eating like this, the better for sure. But you can have a hot date sex menu and include foods which have been shown in research to improve blood flow in the short term. So you\’d want to be focusing on foods that won\’t take your testosterone and that will also not stiffen your blood vessels and then including foods that promote elasticity of blood vessels and dilate them. 

Diva Nagula 01:58 

Hello, this is Dr. Diva Nagula, welcome to From Doctor To Patient, where our goal is to bring you topics of discussion that will educate you on the various healing modalities to help balance the mind, body and spirit. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of From Doctor To Patient. Today I am joined with Christine DeLozier as an acupuncturist and herbalist in private practice. Christine specializes in sexual health, treating all orientations and identities. Acupuncture is great for sexual function. But to address the underlying mechanics of consistently great sex, the key is diet. For this reason, she works with patients to develop dietary habits that support their sexual goals. Christine holds master\’s degrees in acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine and counseling. During her education, she studied Chinese dietary therapy and earned a certification as a holistic nutritional counselor. Early in her practice, she treated numerous men for erectile issues with acupuncturist who ended up having significant improvements in sexual satisfaction. After seeing how meaningful this improvement was to their lives. She specialized in sexual health, expanding her practice to all who seek it. She wanted to do more to help them connect with their partners, and bring joy to their relationships. Christine, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you? I\’m doing great. Thank you so much for having me. So your expertise is really interesting. It\’s it\’s a niche expertise that is very specific. And I would imagine extremely helpful, like what led you to developing this niche practice of yours? 

Christine DeLozier 03:46
Well, you know, most acupuncturist specialize in back and neck pain, headaches, things like that, because there\’s a lot of research showing that it\’s effective in those areas, and insurance companies will pay for that sort of thing, I still treat that as well. But when I saw how beneficial this was to patients seeking improved sexual function, I myself was impressed. And you know, treating sexual dysfunction is something that can be very challenging. It\’s challenging, even with medicine. So the fact that it was really actually making an improvement in helping these people to have better relationships was was something that I thought I could actually, you know, make a positive contribution. So so it made me feel good to do that. I\’ve always been rather obsessed if I\’m being honest with you know, diet, health and nutrition. So I wanted to bring that into our treatment sessions and see how we could support their treatment goals with what they were eating. I trained as a research scientist when I was an undergraduate I never pursued a career research but I know about it to, you know, read and understand research. So I wanted to see what the science had to say about how food affects sexual function. So I pored over tons and tons of clinical and epidemiological research in finding what kind of evidence there was to support to support this connection. And so I kind of brought that in and just wrote a book about it. 

Diva Nagula 05:24
That\’s fantastic. And, you know, in your book, you talk about the trifecta of great sex, can you go into this a little bit more detail? 

Christine DeLozier 05:33
Sure. So when we think about great sex, we generally think of a psychological phenomenon, where we\’re with the right person or in the right setting, it\’s the right time and place in situation. But physiologically, great sex is when our nerves fire, strong, rapid impulses to and from the genitals, it\’s when our blood vessels are delivering adequate blood flow. And it\’s when our sex hormones are balanced. And when those three pieces are in place, we have strong libido, we have great blood flow. And you know, we all know that males need adequate blood flow to have sex. But what a lot of people don\’t realize is that females also need blood flow for arousal for sexual pleasure for lubrication. And so their satisfaction when there\’s better blood flow is much higher as well. And all of those pieces are very much affected by what we eat. 

Diva Nagula 06:29 

And with your trifecta, have you ever had like objective data measuring a person\’s hormonal function to see if whatever you\’re implementing has made a difference? Or is this specifically monitored through subjective means? 

Christine DeLozier 06:46
No, I have patients who regularly get their testosterone measured and their PSA levels measured, and we do see progress. Absolutely. You know, so acupuncture is something that was long thought to be an approach to health that was unsubstantiated with data and with evidence. And now monetarily, we\’re seeing more and more researches is surfacing, showing that it does very much affect hormones that affects the body chemistry. It affects things like dopamine, serotonin, it affects testosterone, it affects cortisol levels, it affects you know, everything, because, of course, every substance produced by the body is ultimately controlled by the nervous system, and acupuncture operates on the nervous system. So I should say, you know, my patients that I\’m trading with acupuncture and, and diet, they do, some of them get their their hormones tested regularly. 

Diva Nagula 07:43 

So it\’s interesting with the acupuncture, you\’re improving the nervous system, getting a patient into more of a parasympathetic. And with the diet, it seems that what you\’re focusing on is more foods that promote the buildup or the release of nitrogen, oxygens of nitrogen oxidase. So that, in essence, pretty much will vezo dilate the vessels. So we really is a great one to punch in terms of effectiveness with sexual function. And I guess one of the side effects is you\’re going to actually improve blood pressure. 

Christine DeLozier 08:18
Absolutely. And, you know, that\’s, that\’s even just one piece, you know, we can dilate blood vessels, you know, with a high nitrate food, even in the short run. And then in the long run, you know, higher natural occurring nitrates promote vascular health. But there are also other foods that do this, not even by dilating the blood vessels, but but by improving the quality of the blood vessels themselves, you know, improving elasticity, you know, something, for example, that is a big issue for our blood vessels, is the fact that we don\’t get enough potassium in our diets, you know, human beings, we used to take in about 10 times as much potassium in our diets as sodium and now it\’s just the opposite. And when our kidneys are dealing with all that excess sodium, we have to it has to flush potassium, and in the process, you know, our bodies are forced them to conserve potassium and other ways. I want this whole process does is it kind of wreaks havoc on our blood vessels, because potassium softens that delicate inner lining of blood vessels, and it just promotes vascular health. So, in research, we see that a single potassium high potassium meal will measurably improve arterial function within a couple hours of eating it. And of course, eating like that over the long haul consistently, you know, daily, will lead to much more significant improvements in vascular function and just better blood flow than to the genitals. 

Diva Nagula 09:44 

And for people who are suffering from, I don\’t know, diabetes, high cholesterol things that actually impair the blood flow, specifically in the small blood vessels that are typically found in the Niger Delta region. Do you find this still effective? Or is it take time for some of the techniques that you employ to work. 

Christine DeLozier 10:05
So it depends on where the patient is at at baseline, you know, the more occluded those blood vessels are the, the harder that is to treat, you know, if you have complete occlusion of those very tiny blood vessels of the genitals of the clitoris and the penis, it\’s, again, it\’ll, it\’ll be slower to respond. So, you know, heart disease has long been thought to be progressive and irreversible. But interestingly enough, you know, certain foods, like leafy greens have been found to actually be able to reverse some of that plaque accumulation to some degree. But so so, you know, I would say the patients who have only partial occlusion are going to probably see the results the quickest when you think about something like diabetes, and you\’re also we\’re also thinking about slowing of nerve conduction, when nerves fire slowly, and weak signals to and from the genitals, as is the case with a lot of times with diabetes. There\’s less pleasure. And so when our partner touches us, we we will not feel as much pleasure and so one thing that can quite quickly improve that conduction strength are antioxidants. So antioxidants, repair the damage that\’s caused in the process of diabetes. Generally, it\’s oxidative stress, which ends up slowing down those nerves, those nerve signals. So antioxidants, there\’s plenty of research showing that, for example, type two diabetics who have sexual side effects, when they increase antioxidants, they do experience better sexual pleasure. And we\’re talking about I mean, I think this some of the studies I read were over the course of six or eight weeks of antioxidant supplementation.

Diva Nagula 11:51
And then in regards to traditional Chinese medicine, are you more in favor of specific herbs for promotion of positive sexual health? 

Christine DeLozier 12:01
You know, I have a whole chapter on herbs that have been shown in research, you know, that had some kind of evidence to support their use. And quite honestly, I think, you know, the herbs have their place in and especially something like culinary herbs where they\’re not high risk, you know, you\’re not, you\’re you can play around with them a little bit more, you can have fun with preparing meals with them. And there\’s evidence to show that there\’s a pretty small effect in the short term, my preference is to treat the root you know, it\’s so to treat the core of sexual health which is improving you know, that trifecta of great sex from from the root not just, I mean, we can temporarily improve blood flow we can temporarily do a lot of things we can temporarily improve libido but ultimately, we want longevity and consistently great sex which comes from you know, changing our behaviors over the long haul. 

Diva Nagula 12:58
And with our Western diet, the standard American diet as it\’s otherwise known, how does that affect our sex health? 

Christine DeLozier 13:08
So you know, the diet that that we have affects us in the short term and it affects us in the long run. So something like you know, a single high sugar meal that really really Jacks up blood glucose can actually sharply drop testosterone in the short run. Same with you know, high fat meals you know, those can affect that as well. The standard American diet is typically high in sugar high in fat high in salt. And you know, if we look at it from a traditional lens, we want a balance of the five primary flavors you know, we want to balance of salty with sweet with bitter with sour and you know, our sour comes from our fruits, you know, and our tart fruits and are bitter comes from leafy greens, we overdo the sweet flavor, we overdo the salty flavor and we neglect the sour and the bitter. So you know, having more balance like that can can definitely help promote, you know, better health and if you can even use that in your meal preparation. So in traditional Chinese dietetics a good meal that tastes good is balanced in that way. So if you\’re making a soup, you would want to have some sour in there, you might want to squeeze a bit of lime in there or lemon to bring that up, you\’ll have a little bit of salty, you\’ll have some sweet flavors as well with something like vegetables, for example, something like leafy greens, we sorely neglect that bitter flavor in our diets. And leaves are one of the best things that we could possibly eat for sexual health, you know, because they nourish that entire trifecta of great sex you know leafy greens reduce cortisol levels, for example, because of the zinc content cortisol is a stress hormone which can sabotage testosterone. testosterone is really important for male sexual function and female sexual function as well as libido and so many other aspects of sexual health. And leafy greens, of course, also promote vascular health. And they\’re mineral rich, so they, they contribute in that way and they have high antioxidant. So that helps blood vessels that helps nerve conduction. So it just helps really every every part of great sex. 

Diva Nagula 16:41 

In general, if you\’re advocating a diet that\’s going to promote a better sex life, can you be more specific in terms of like say, I don\’t know how fast it\’s going to take effect. But if someone\’s planning on a hot date for Valentine\’s Day, so should they be gearing up for a great night, a week in advance or a month in advance? For me? What would you recommend and what kind of foods specifically are the best? 

Christine DeLozier 17:08
Well the longer you\’re eating like this, the better for sure. But you can have a hot date sex menu and include foods which have been shown in research to improve blood flow in the short term. So you\’d want to be focusing on foods that won\’t take your testosterone. And that will also not stiffen your blood vessels. And then including foods that promote elasticity of blood vessels and dilate them. So a great you know, date night sex menu would be something like, you know, starting off with maybe some beet juice, you know, beet juice is high in dietary nitrates. And so it\’ll improve, you know, it\’ll increase nitric oxide, something like a salad, for example, a salad, you know, even in research, a single serving of spinach increased nitric oxide levels when measured, you know, the salivary nitric oxide levels to eight times their baseline within a couple hours of eating them. So yeah, it was really it\’s pretty impressive how much effect you can have from a single meal. And generally the response that I see with patients when they follow such a meal is subtle, you know, it\’s a subtle improvement but noticeable. Most you know, not not everybody
but but yeah, most patients report that when they when they follow that. So another thing that you can include in a date night sex menu are polyphenols, which are found in things like apples, berries, things like that. And polyphenols are an antioxidant, which again, should showed in research the ability to improve arterial function within a couple hours of eating them. Same with potassium, same with the dietary nitrates. So you might have something like, you know, you start off with your beet juice, you have a nice leafy green salad, but it\’s not covered in a Fatty Fatty dressing, you might have some squash, which is high in potassium. And, you know for your protein source. Research has showed that a very fatty meal will stiffen blood vessels within a couple hours of eating. But high omega three fats on the other hand had the opposite effect and it made blood vessels more elastic in the short run in that post pranjal period. So something like wild salmon, or for those of you who are following a plant based diet something like walnuts, topping your squash with walnuts, you know when you can put some aphrodisiac spices on them as well. And then finishing instead of a high fat high sugar dessert. You finish with something like a berry parfait which is going to bring those polyphenols in. And so every piece of your meal then would contribute to better intimacy and that evening. 

Diva Nagula 19:51 

And with all this in mind when we\’re talking about improving sexual health, I know it\’s a very generic broad term, but specifically what can one expect? Is it a more potent orgasm? Is it more of duration? You know, what specifically can a person expect if they\’re trying this out. 

Christine DeLozier 20:10
So in the case of males, some stronger erections are definitely going to be something that they\’d be, you know, looking to experience with such a diet. increased sensitivity, the biggest complaint that I see with females is difficulty achieving orgasm. So, improved blood flow and stronger nerve conduction can make the clitoris more sensitive, so that when their partner touches them, they feel more pleasure because those nerves are firing stronger impulses. And with more blood flow, again, the clitoris is more sensitive to touch and more responsive. So females would be looking for a stronger orgasm or easier orgasm, you know, taking less time to achieve because, you know, some people struggle with that better lubrication as well. Because you know, lubrication is it\’s a byproduct of blood flow, you can\’t have lubrication without blood flow coming first. 

Diva Nagula 21:05
And then since we\’re talking about foods that are positive for sexual health, what are some kryptonite foods that are bad for sex? 

Christine DeLozier 21:13
Ah, yeah, those that fatty, salty, sugary, you know, all the things that we love, and that we are kind of, you know, we\’re seduced with on a daily basis. So any of those foods like, you know, the packaged sweets, like Twinkies, baked goods, cookies, all of those things, as well as the processed foods. You know, our lifestyles make it so difficult to make good choices, because, you know, we have so much on our plates, and it\’s hard to cook. And the things that are most easily available are loaded with salt, loaded with fat loaded with sugar, because they taste good. But you know, the cool thing about this is that changing your dietary habits can actually change your relationship with food. Because, you know, critical in sexual responses, this whole dopamine pathway, and, and in relation to food, our bodies, when we eat food, it, it triggers dopamine release that release. That means that we feel pleasure from eating food, the more sugary fatty foods we eat, our brains get rewired to need more fat and sugar before we feel pleasure from food. But if we change our diets for a couple of weeks, it actually helps to reset that so that we feel pleasure from eating healthier foods, and we don\’t need as much sugar and fat. 

Diva Nagula 22:44 

And then, as you know, there are so many fad diets, some have merit, some don\’t. What are your thoughts on these specific diets in relation to sexual health? And for example, like we can talk about keto, paleo the carnivore diet, vegetarian diets, and then of course, trusting. So if you could comment on any or all of those on in relation to sexual health, that\’d be really fantastic. 

Christine DeLozier 23:10
Yeah, I think I think it would be easy to have a great sex diet, and also be plant based, I think that would be pretty easy and consistent, I think it would be a lot harder to do keto with something like that, because it\’s hard to get enough vitamin C and a diet that\’s keto, when you\’re when you\’re reducing your intake of fruits of fruits. And it\’s also hard to get enough potassium in your diet, because most of the high potassium foods are also high in carbs, like potatoes, yams, squash, all these things, there\’s only a couple foods that you\’d be that you\’d have, you\’d have to eat quite a few avocados and quite a few leafy greens, and in order to get enough because you wouldn\’t be able to eat any of the other foods. So it\’d be hard to do that. Let me see. I my philosophy is, you know, just an overarching philosophy is staying close to nature, I think that\’s a great rule of thumb, the more processed it is that the more difficult it is to tell what it was once in nature, the worse it usually is for you. And that includes some so called health foods that are ultra processed and marketed. So that those are my thoughts on it. When we look at other primates, eating, you know, we can glean a lot from their behavior. So they\’re the foods that they naturally choose in the wild because every other animal in the wild knows what\’s healthy for them to eat, they naturally know what to eat, whereas humans have, we\’ve lost our way and we rely on other humans to tell us what to eat for good health. And we don\’t agree on it, you know, to any, you know, in any sense of that. So if we look at all primates, you know, they have different behaviors, but some of the commonalities is that they\’re, they\’re eating tons of leafy greens, they eat tons of leaves, and they eat lots of vegetation. And in doing so, they get many times the amount of minerals such as magnesium, you know, calcium potassium in their diets as we do, and they get a ton more antioxidants, a ton more fiber. And if we can kind of just incorporate that general philosophy of eating how mother nature intended, it\’ll serve us quite well, in terms of fasting. There\’s a reason why fasting has been a part of almost every, you know, religion and culture in the world, and it has spiritual benefits, you know, in terms of suffering. And, and also, it has benefits to health. And there\’s lots of research to show that how it benefits cellular health, it promotes longevity, it promotes anti aging, and there\’s, you know, there, there are so many different benefits to it, but one of them is helping to balance hormones, you know, when you when you see hormones out of balance, you know, when you see testosterone
or estrogen, you generally it\’s not just one hormone in isolation, it\’s typically a whole slew of hormones that are out of whack, and you can help promote hormonal balance with with fasting is in as well as many other benefits. And but I wouldn\’t recommend any kind of extreme fasting. Because that can actually do the opposite. I would say a gentle fast, you know, you maybe fast for 24 hours, and do it in a way that you don\’t go to bed hungry. So if you\’re fasting day is Thursday, then on Wednesday, you eat dinner, and then you don\’t eat until Thursday dinner. So you\’re going 24 hours, but really, you just have to skip breakfast and lunch. 

Diva Nagula 27:01 

And, in general, I\’m sure there are people out there that are listening and are thinking well, I already have good sex. So will this died? Help me further? 

Christine DeLozier 27:10
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we can always have stronger erections, I mean, who says, Oh, my erection strong enough, I really don\’t want it any stronger, you know, or, you know, I\’m experiencing enough pleasure, thank you, you know, My nerves are firing way too strong as the as it is, you know, in especially as we age and we, you know, have more oxidative stress, we can all, you know, use something to keep us having great sex and to, you know, to boost it. 

Diva Nagula 27:37 

And I was just gonna comment on that, I think, you know, when you\’re younger, you can probably get away with not eating, you know, healthy. But nonetheless, with the plethora of standard American diet that\’s around us, I would imagine that this will catch up to you. And as we get older, you know, it\’s really important to eat healthy not for just general health and wellness, but obviously for sexual health and, and eating an array of antioxidants and leafy greens and potassium and foods that we mentioned earlier is not only important across the board, but specifically in this niche of sexual health. So thank you so much for coming on this show and talking about this important topic. And if people would like to contact you for more information, or even purchase your book, what\’s the best way of doing so? 

Christine DeLozier 28:26
So my book is available on Amazon, Diet for Great Sex and I can be contacted via my website at dietforgreatsex.com, as well as social media. 

Diva Nagula 28:39
Awesome. Thanks so much. It was great meeting you. 

Christine DeLozier 28:42 

You too. Thank you so much.