In a wellness industry eager to sell you synthetic fixes, it’s easy to forget this simple truth…your body is already a masterpiece of intelligent design.
Testosterone, the primal engine of male vitality, strength, and drive, doesn’t need to be tricked or force fed. It simply needs the right raw materials and a return to the rhythms that shaped our ancestors.
Before we dive into the how, let’s start with something no one’s telling you…
1. Stop fearing cholesterol
For decades, cholesterol was painted as a villain, a ticking time bomb in your arteries. But this fear wasn’t born from unbiased science. It was largely shaped by industry influence and a cascade of flawed studies that served a hidden agenda… to shift the public away from traditional animal fats and toward industrial seed oils.
In the mid-20th century, the rise of processed food giants coincided with a push to replace nourishing saturated fats with cheaper, shelf-stable vegetable oils. These oils, rapeseed, sunflower, canola, were aggressively marketed as “heart-healthy,” despite emerging evidence that they promote inflammation and oxidative stress.
Meanwhile, animal fats rich in cholesterol, fats our ancestors thrived on, were scapegoated as the root cause of heart disease. This narrative ignored the fact that cholesterol is an essential structural component of every cell membrane and the raw material for all steroid hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and cortisol.
When you strip your diet of these ancestral fats, hormone production falters, libido wanes, energy dries up and resilience to stress crumbles.
If you take only one thing from this article, let it be this…
You must nourish your hormonal foundation with enough cholesterol rich whole foods. In its whole-food form, it’s one of the most life-giving substances on earth.
2. Sprint training
The body is designed to respond powerfully to short, explosive movement, bursts of effort that mimic the primal demands our ancestors once faced. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), particularly in the form of sprints, is one of the most effective ways to naturally elevate testosterone levels. Unlike steady state cardio, which can elevate cortisol (a testosterone antagonist), sprints stimulate anabolic hormones and improve metabolic health.
Why it works
- Testosterone surge Research shows that sprinting leads to a significant, immediate increase in testosterone levels following exercise.
- Cortisol control Short, intense bursts of activity keep cortisol levels in check, preventing the chronic stress that can suppress testosterone production.
- Muscle activation Sprinting engages fast twitch muscle fibers, essential for strength, power, and hormone regulation.
How to incorporate it: Warm up with dynamic stretches and light jogging. Perform 6–8 rounds of 20–30 second sprints at maximum effort, followed by 90 seconds of active recovery. Incorporate sprint sessions 2–3 times per week, alternating with strength training for a balanced regimen.
3. Balance your circadian rhythm
Every great day begins with a connection to the sun. Testosterone production is intricately tied to your body’s circadian rhythm, the internal clock that governs everything from sleep cycles to hormone regulation. Morning sunlight is a key trigger, signalling your body to optimise testosterone production at peak times.
Why it works
Vitamin D activation: Sunlight catalyses your skin to produce Vitamin D, a hormone precursor critical for testosterone synthesis. Men with optimal Vitamin D levels consistently show higher testosterone levels compared to those deficient in this vital nutrient.
Circadian rhythm alignment: Exposure to natural light in the morning helps synchronise your internal clock, ensuring hormones like testosterone and cortisol are released in the right amounts at the right times. Misaligned rhythms, often caused by indoor living and artificial lighting, disrupt these natural cycles, leading to suboptimal hormone production.
To maximise testosterone friendly benefits, spend 15–30 minutes outdoors first thing every morning. Expose as much skin as possible to sunlight and ditch sunglasses to allow light to interact with your brain's hormonal control centres via your retina. For deeper circadian alignment, reduce exposure to artificial light at night to preserve melatonin production, a hormone indirectly supporting testosterone by promoting restorative sleep.
4. Eat organs throughout the week
When it comes to nutrient density, few foods compare to organ meats. Once revered in ancestral diets, organ meats like liver, heart, and kidneys have fallen out of favour in modern culinary culture, but their nutritional benefits remain unparalleled. These treasure troves provide a wealth of bioavailable vitamins and minerals that directly fuel testosterone production.
Why it works
- Zinc: Known as the 'testosterone mineral', zinc plays a crucial role in hormone synthesis and regulation. Found abundantly in organ meats like kidney and liver, it also helps balance estrogen levels in the male body.
- CoQ10: Especially abundant in heart tissue, Coenzyme Q10 fuels mitochondrial energy production, which underpins vitality, cellular repair, and testicular health
- Vitamin A (retinol): Liver is nature’s richest source of bioavailable Vitamin A, which supports testicular function, sperm production, and overall hormonal balance. Unlike synthetic Vitamin A found in supplements, retinol from organ meats is easily absorbed and utilised by the body.
- Heme iron: Organ meats provide heme iron, the most bioavailable form of iron. This boosts oxygenation, energy levels, and metabolic health, all of which are foundational for hormonal function.
Enjoy grass fed liver multiple times a week. Not a fan of the flavor? Blend liver into ground beef for burgers, sauté it with garlic and herbs for a more palatable option, try it as a pâté. Experiment with heart or kidney in stews, where their flavours meld beautifully with rich broths and vegetables. Alternatively, enjoy them in your morning coffee or smoothie with Organised.
5. Incorporate colostrum
Colostrum is quite literally the first food we ever receive, thick, golden milk designed by nature to kickstart life itself. It’s packed with compounds that protect, strengthen, and rebuild, which is why so many traditional cultures considered it sacred. And while it might sound far removed from testosterone, colostrum’s benefits reach surprisingly deep into the foundations of hormonal health.
Why it works
One of its most interesting qualities is its richness in growth factors, particularly IGF-1. This molecule helps drive tissue repair and muscle growth, two processes closely linked with healthy testosterone levels. Think of it as a natural way to prime the body for resilience and regeneration.
There’s also the gut connection. Colostrum contains peptides and immune factors that help maintain a strong gut lining. When your gut is robust, you absorb nutrients more efficiently, handle stress better, and keep inflammation in check, all of which create the conditions your body needs to produce hormones in the right balance.
If you’re curious to try it, look for a clean, grass-fed source, and just as importantly, choose a producer that ensures the calves are always fed first. Ethically sourced colostrum is collected only after the newborns have received their full share, which is essential for their immunity and development. What remains is then gathered for human use. This practice respects the natural order and honours the animal’s role in providing nourishment. It’s an ancient food that reminds us health often begins in the most unassuming places.
Why this is so important
Testosterone often gets reduced to clichés about aggression or bravado, but the truth is far simpler. It fuels drive, steady energy, muscle tone, mental clarity, and emotional resilience.
And while it’s true that testosterone levels gradually decline with age (about 1% per year after 30), the more accurate truth is this:, testosterone doesn’t just drop because you’re getting older. It drops because the body is being depleted.
Poor sleep, chronic stress, processed food, blood sugar instability, and a low intake of nutrient-dense animal foods all interfere with testosterone synthesis. Add in environmental toxins...plastics, seed oils, pesticides, medications like statins, and the flood of endocrine disruptors we’re exposed to daily, and the body simply doesn’t have what it needs to keep hormone production steady.
But here’s the part that often gets overlooked... the body is remarkably adaptable. It’s never trying to attack itself or fail you, it’s constantly adjusting to the conditions you give it. When you start supplying the right raw materials, rhythms, and nourishment, it can begin to restore balance far more quickly than you might expect.
