Poor circulation not only results in cardiovascular related diseases like arteriosclerosis, stroke, and heart disease, it can affect your sex life. Most men who can’t achieve and maintain an erections tend to suffer from circulation problems, even when they don’t know it –this is usually one of the symptoms of poor circulation.
We’re not saying that erectile dysfunction can’t be caused by certain conditions like anxiety, stress, medications and even ailments. What we’re saying is that if there’s no clear reason why someone can’t get ”it” up, chances are that their penis isn’t getting enough blood to fill the spongy tissue and trigger an erection.
And even if that happens and they can’t stay “hard”, they are most likely suffering from a shortage of a critical compound called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide (NO) is an active vasodilator, which helps relax your veins and arteries so there’s increased blood flow to other parts of your body.
Most erectile dysfunction aids like Cialis and Viagra have nitric oxide as their key ingredient. This compound serves to dilate blood vessels –hence the name vasodilators, and keeps the blood flowing into their genitals.
Unfortunately, these drugs come with a host of side effects like splitting migraines, blood pressure, prolonged, painful erections and even cardiac arrest. And seeing as these side effects are likely to happen more in the ideal patients –primarily senior citizens, you might want to start seeking out alternative, non-prescription sources of nitric oxide.
The good news is that nitric oxide isn’t only found in these prescription medications, so you don’t have to depend on them to resolve your erectile dysfunction problems. There are natural food and plant sources that provide just as much nitric oxide as your body needs.
These are usually in the form of fruits, vegetables and real, organic non-processed food. In this guide to nitric oxide vasodilators, you’ll find out the following:
- Natural food sources for nitric oxide
- Natural supplements rich in nitric oxide
- How and why nitric oxide supplements work effectively and without any side effects
- Foods that aid your sex life
Why Should You Take More Natural Vasodilators?
For starters, absolutely zero side effects. Natural vasodilators prevents and minimizes peripheral resistance –a condition where there’s some resistance to blood flow.
This is why even sportsmen and fitness enthusiasts routinely take nitric oxide supplements designed to help their bodies and muscles get the maximum amount of blood flow necessary for peak performance, faster muscle recovery as well as muscle building.
It’s primarily a key pre-workout supplement that’s taken to get the muscles pumping and growing.
Also, natural vasodilators are greatly regulated by the body. This means unlike the aforementioned medications, these ones are well processed by the body and produce the desired results, while all excess are removed from the body through natural means.
The reality is that you can never suffer any side effects from taking vasodilators or nitric oxide that’s extracted from food sources. Now that you know this, let’s jump on to the foods that you need to take more vasodilation as well as those containing significant levels of nitric oxide.
Comprehensive List Of Natural Vasodilators NO2 Foods
1. Cayenne Pepper
This is one of nature’s most abundant sources of natural vasodilators. It is very rich in capsaicin, a blood thinner that helps minimize microscopic blood clotting that’s often happening in the body.
This enables and encourage blood flow as well as improves your circulation. It also contains significant amounts of superoxide dismutase (SOD), which plays a critical role in limiting the amounts of PDE5 –this usually limits the rate of nitric oxide in the body- and aids NO breakdown.
Now, just because it’s an amazing vasodilator doesn’t mean you should go crazy with it. Cayenne pepper can be very spicy and taking huge can be dangerous to your health –can cause liver and kidney failure.
Smaller quantities and amounts are often sufficient. So, just add them in small quantities to your foods.
2. Ginger
Ginger is considered a superfood because of its ability to aid the healing and reversal of many health conditions. Ginger has been recommended for everything from sinus relief to cancer treatment.
What most people don’t know is that its healing properties partly stem from its vasodilating properties. As a super effective vasodilator, it helps blood flow to target body parts. This is why it is often considered an aphrodisiac and a possible cure for erectile dysfunction.
Taken in the right amounts, it is capable of getting more blood to your penis, and keeping it there until you’re done. The good news is that because of its versatility, you can add it to just about any food or even drink.
The best way to benefit from its properties however, is to take it raw. You can grate or blend and add to your drinks. If you can stand the spiciness, you can just plain chew it. Just take it in moderate amounts seeing as it can cause tachycardia –increased pulse rate- and cause excessive sweating when taken in significant quantities over a short period.
3. Juiced Watermelon
Most people take watermelon for its cooling and refreshing properties. And when they do, they mostly concentrate on the red part, while avoiding or removing the white part next to the rind.
Now, if you don’t like the white part, that’s fine. However, this part contains very high levels of Citrulline –in fact, often more concentrated than Citrulline supplements- and lycopene, a compound that’s known for its ability to help improve your heart’s health.
The high amounts of Citrulline in watermelon, aids the production of nitric oxide in the body, resulting in its potential to help eliminate erectile dysfunction. Watermelon is also very rich in vitamin c, which makes it great as an antioxidant.
Many people can’t stand the taste of the white part, which is why we recommend you take it when it’s juiced.
4. Fresh Spinach
Spinach is rich in nitric oxide. However, this only refers to the fresh ones; not those out of the can. The latter is usually processed and tends to lose its nutrient while it’s preserved.
This nitrate rich vegetable serves as a good natural source of nitric oxide, and does wonders for your health. It’s also rich in iron, which is necessary for your optimal health and the production of red blood cells.
5. Onions and Garlic
There’s a reason why people often recommend the consumption of onions and garlic in large quantities to people who are lacking in sexual stamina. Not only are both of them aphrodisiacs, they are able to do this courtesy of their nitric oxide inducing capabilities.
Onions contain high quantities of guercetin which increases the production of nitric oxide, and vitamin C. Combined together, these provide a powerhouse-like effect, delivering nitric oxide into your body as well as eliminating free radicals.
Garlic on the other hand, is well known for its myriad of health boosting qualities. Of particular interest is the role it plays in vasodilation and improving blood flow to critical body parts. Combine both together to get their maximum benefits.
To get the best results from both, you’ll need to either take them raw or cook them partially for a short time and then add to your meals. The only downside of garlic is that it smells and can be repulsive. So, if you don’t want to take it raw, there are garlic oils that are just as potent, but without the odor.
6. Red Wine and Grapes
There’s a reason the French suffer far less occurrence of heart disease, even with their high fatty foods and cigarette smoking lifestyle: It’s red wines. Red wines are a rich source of antioxidants, resveratrol and polyphenols.
These three combined together, makes red wines a powerhouse and a super effective drink for keeping you healthy. Not just that, red wines stimulate the production of endothelial-type nitric oxide, a specific type of blood vessel dilator that also doubles as a vasoprotector.
As a result, if you drink just one glass of red wine or grape juice, or just eat abundant amounts of grapes on a daily basis, you will enjoy better circulation and reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
7. Tea
Teas are known for their relaxing and antioxidative properties. This is mostly because they are rich in antioxidants. So, when most people drink their tea, they do it to just calm their nerves.
Fortunately, they have even more benefits than most people know. Studies have shown that tea helps improve blood circulation in the body. So, take more black or green tea today. Your body will thank you for it.
8. Fish
Not only is fish seen a lean source of protein, it’s also seen as a rich source of omega-3 fatty acid –an essential acid that aids brain health. But, fish’s benefits exceed those two.
Studies have shown a direct correlation between fish consumption and increased nitric oxide levels.
Oily or high fat fishes like mackerel, salmon and tuna fishes are actually rich in coenzyme Q10, an enzyme that aids the production of nitric oxide in the body. This makes them great for improving your body’s circulation.
9. Coffee
The average American drinks at least one cup of coffee daily to help them stay awake and alert. Coffee has so many benefits. But the most important and obvious benefits include stimulation and productivity boosting.
If you want to get more done, coffee will help you do that. One of its many benefits however, includes its vasodilating properties. You see, coffee is a super effective stimulant, partly because of its ability to increase blood flow to critical parts of the body.
This is why it is often considered effective in the treatment and prevention of erectile dysfunction in men. For best results, you should just take two black cups over the course of the day without any refined sugars, milk or cream.
10. Nitrate Rich Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables that are rich in nitrates are excellent sources of NO, thus making them a choice selection for anyone looking to up their nitric oxide levels.
Some examples of these include citrus fruits –oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes- pomegranates, arugula lettuce (rucola), iceberg lettuce and celery among others. Of these, pomegranates has incredibly high vasodilation properties.
Studies on the effects of pomegranate on vasodilation showed that it reduced arterial plaque by 30 percent, while boosting testosterone by 22 percent. You can either eat the great tasting fruit raw, or just get the juice.
Citrus fruits like oranges and lemon help improve your circulation through their abundant vitamin C, which can aid blood thinning, resulting in increased blood flow.
11. Nuts
If you are allergic to nuts, you might want to skip this one. If you aren’t however, then you want to know just how effective nuts are at raising your nitric oxide levels.
Nuts, whether in the form of peanuts, groundnuts, almond nuts, pistachios, walnut, among others are highly effective at increasing your body’s circulation. This is because they typically contain high amounts of l-arginine, which both plays a crucial role in elevating your nitric oxide levels and increasing blood flow around the body.
This makes it excellent for improving cardiovascular health and ensuring all target body parts get the required amounts of oxygenated blood that they need. So, eat more nuts during your snacking time instead of junk foods.
12. Honey
Most people don’t know this, but what they buy from the market as honey, is actually the processed form. Which makes it dangerous, seeing as most people buy them to replace processed or refined sugar.
The processed form of honey is just about the same as your refined sugar. However, if you can get the honey direct from the apiary, that would be great.
You see, raw honey is not only healthy as a sweetener, it contains high levels of nitrates, which means it is capable of increasing your nitric oxide levels. Raw honey is great because it can be added to just about any food. So, go get yourself some raw honey.
13. Kale and Beetroot
Both vegetables, but look vastly different. Sure, you can take them together or separately, the choice is yours. But combining these two makes for a powerhouse of nitric oxide generating foods.
Kale is a leafy green vegetable that combines both significant amounts of nitrates and coenzyme Q10. Combined together, these make for a fantastic nitric oxide powerhouse. You can either lightly cook this, or simply blend it with your favorite juice/smoothie to take advantage of live enzymes and nitric oxide compounds.
The same applies to beetroot. Rich in nitrates, beetroots are super effective nitric oxide sources. While some people can stomach eating it raw, other prefer it when it’s the form of juice.
14. Unprocessed Cocoa or Dark Chocolate
Most people associate chocolate with pleasure, gifts, and sweetness. What most people don’t know is that dark chocolate contains a compound called epicatechin.
This compound is well known for its ability to not only improve your heart health, but also elevate your nitric oxide levels.
Please note that this is only present in raw cocoa or purely dark chocolate. They also double as excellent blood circulators, making them a very popular food type.
Best Nitric Oxide Supplements – Proven Nitric Oxide Boosters
While most nitrate based foods work, the problem is that you often need to take them in high quantities over a period of time to get the benefits.
Many people don’t have the luxury of time, they want fast results. For those people, there’s a myriad of nitric oxide supplements that you can take to get your levels up quickly. What we do recommend however, is that you build up gradually using the foods, while taking the supplements.
This way, you can eventually cycle out of the nitric oxide booster supplements –if you want. For workouts and fitness enthusiasts, as well as people looking to get rid of erectile dysfunction, these nitric oxide supplements should provide you with the amounts necessary to deliver maximum blood flow to your muscles and penis.
Please understand that many of the best nitric oxide supplements tend to contain one or more of the following compounds:
- Grape Seed Extract (GSE)
- Vitamin C + Garlic
- L-Citrulline
- L-Arginine
- Pycnogenol
- Ginseng
- Coenzyme Q10
- Niacin
- Icariin
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids
- Resveratrol
- Agmatine
- Quercetin
To be honest, most of the best nitric oxide supplements often contain at least 4 of these compounds, with many of them actually containing significant amounts of L-Arginine or L-Citrulline and Quercetin.
Quercetin is kind of an all-rounder. More research has been carried out on its properties and effects in the last 10-20 years than many other supplement compounds.
This is because it not only helps with elevating your nitric oxide levels and has vasodilation enhancing properties, it also plays a wide range of roles in the body. The one problem with it though, used as a standalone supplement, its effects are negligible.
But, combine it with bioflavonoids and other supplements like resveratrol, procyanidins, and tea catechins, and you’ll see its effects increased exponentially.
As for L-Arginine, it’s the most popular nitric oxide supplement available. The problem with it is there’s a lot of conflicting reports from its users. Some people have recorded excellent circulation and elevated nitric oxide levels using it, while others haven’t. For some reason, it works in some, but not in others. This is why there’s so much controversy surrounding it.
L-Citrulline, on the other hand, while less popular, has actually proven more consistent in its results with most of its users. Not only does it produce sustained blood circulation levels, it is also broken down into L-Arginine in the kidneys.
This is why it’s fast becoming one of the more popular supplement compounds, and is often included in not just nitric oxide supplements, but also many pre-workout supplements (remember that vasodilators promote cardiac health and circulation).
