4 Things That Will Kill Your Sex Drive

A few things can affect your sex drive and make you cringe at the thought of doing it. Stress, hormone imbalance, illness, low self-esteem and lack of sleep are just a few common reasons that could plummet a person’s libido. Who’s got time to think about sex when you’re too tired or caught up with life problems?

What you choose to eat also could negatively impact your sex drive too. Most of us know what aphrodisiacs we should be eating (oysters, anyone?), but it’s also good to know the food that you might want to avoid overindulging in if you don’t want to kill your sex drive. This list of what to avoid is somewhat tailored more towards men, but ladies, don’t be shy and relay this information to the men in your life.

Of course you shouldn’t be banning all of these things from your diet. But maybe you can keep in mind what you shouldn’t indulge in too much if you want to keep the fun in your bed.

Refined carbohydrates

“Foods such as white bread release the sugar more quickly than their wholegrain counterparts and too much sugar is associated with energy slumps,” says Helen Bond of the British Dietetic Association. She adds this means there could be no energy for sex. A diet high in white bread and refined carbohydrates (white rice, white pasta, corn starch, etc.) can affect your sex drive.

Soy

Eating soy products can lower testosterone levels. Here’s a real and somewhat scary case: an article in Nutrition journal described a 19-year-old male who sought treatment for a low libido and erectile dysfunction. The young man had been consuming soy-based products on a vegan diet. He discontinued his vegan diet and within a year, his testosterone levels were increased and were back to normal. His symptoms improved a year after he quit the vegan diet.

Alcohol

How does it make sense that alcohol is on this list? Isn’t alcohol the reason why people hook up at parties for somewhat memorable (or not) sex? If you have too much to drink, you might not even be able to get it up. Alcohol is a depressant which affects the central nervous system. This blocks the connection between the brain and the rest of your body. One or two drinks won’t affect your mojo badly, but an excessive amount of alcohol probably will.

High levels of saturated fat

A lot of beloved food items contain high levels of saturated fat like bacon, sausage, fast food and chips. Most packaged food and TV dinners are high in saturated fat. Saturated fat can clog penal and vaginal arteries and collect plaque. Once this happens, achieving orgasm, let alone arousal, can be difficult.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Dining Alone

If I could tell you how many times I’ve been stared at by curious servers and diners for walking into restaurants to enjoy a meal alone, I would. It’s not uncommon to see the oh-so slight pauses from servers when I ask for a table for one—this is the stigma one faces when they simply want to dine alone in restaurants.

I started eating alone at various restaurants when I was about 16. The looks of pity from diners and servers I sometimes get really aren’t needed; there are a few reasons why I, and others, would dine alone. It could be out of the desire to go out and finally try that new restaurant I’ve planned to visit. It could be because friends are busy or they dislike eating sushi or Indian food. Perhaps my plans got cancelled, but I still want to go out. Or really, the reason could simply be that I am hungry and I need to eat.

Most of the time, these possibilities are disregarded. A lone diner is often perceived as lonely or someone to pity. This makes sense considering that dining is considered a social event—after all, humans are naturally social and crave interaction. But that doesn’t mean all solo diners fit these shallow perceptions. Usually, we’re just hungry and feel like going out and we’re okay with doing it alone. Our own company is enough to have a good time.

Not many Canadians dine alone though. An article from The Globe and Mail writes that the NPD Group, which tracks the restaurant behaviour of 100,000 Canadians annually, reported that 10 per cent of those Canadians ate alone at sit-down restaurants between August 2010 and August 2011. They were mostly simple lunches, usually without alcohol.

It’s not surprising then to say that going out alone spurs fear and insecurity for some people. To deflect perceptions of being lonely or “strange”, people may text or browse obsessively on their phones. When you are completely comfortable and confident in yourself, others’ judgments mean little. If you truly enjoy your own company and learn to see and do things solo, it’s a liberating experience.

Spending time alone challenges you to make your own decisions and thoughts on your experience. Without someone by your side, it’s up to you to decide what you want to do or how you feel about things. You learn more about yourself and how you perceive things around you when you’re alone. Being alone can help you meet new people and gain opportunities you might have not encountered before. You eventually learn that it’s okay to go somewhere or do something on your own without the agreement of friends—there’s no need to rely on them anymore to do something you’re interested in.

So, if you ever find yourself dining alone, take your time and enjoy your meal. Pay attention to the presentation, the wafting aromas, the textures and the bursting flavours that finally touch your tongue to quench your hunger pains. Enjoy the freedom to eat whatever you want and how much you want without being forced to listen to someone’s work gripes or relationship problems. Enjoy the buzz of people’s conversations but listen to your own thoughts.

This is a chance to really get to know your meal and yourself. Embrace it. It’s a good thing. 

Written by: Java N.

Why We Created CityRoamer

Gooderham Building, Downtown Toronto

It was a cold, winter night in Toronto in early 2014 when the ideas of CityRoamer sprung.

Alan and I were talking about what we could do for fun in the city during the winter—it was just too easy to fall into routine and hibernate during these cold months. I mean, you could only hide under covers and watch movies for so long. Where can we go? What new activities can we try?

Making Google searches or sifting through various websites to look for activities or events to check out in Toronto was something we did regularly. Sometimes, we struck gold and found things that we were both interested in doing or seeing. But most of the times, we got frustrated at the lack of diversity of listed events we found on websites. They were either big, commercialized events or geared towards specific interests and niches.

Another frustration we had was that information wasn't listed all in one place. You'd have to jump to multiple websites to gather the details you need. If you don’t know how to get to the location, you’d have to open another tab and find the route and directions. Call us sticklers for details, but that’s what we wanted. We wanted to see everything we needed to know about an event and how to get there from our location.

Location and proximity—that’s another thing that we talked about. What activities or events can we go to that’s nearby right now? Sure, heading downtown is an easy option to jump into the heart and action of the city, but what if you’re just tired of that scene? What if you wanted to see what you could do around your neighbourhood or current location?

Fun fact: We love coffee.

Last year when we made last minute Winterlicious reservations, we had about two hours to kill. We were having coffee at a cafe and wondered if there was anything interesting to see or do close by. How awesome would it be to search for nearby events based on where you are? We talked about instead of having to sift through endless websites to look for things to do, it'd be so convenient to see what kind of events are happening nearby on your phone or laptop without spending so much time and effort looking for them.   

These were the conversations and questions that drove us to build CityRoamer. Yes, we complained and talked about what we thought was lacking in terms of searching for events and activities. But we took it a step further and decided to take it in our own hands and fill in that gap.

With CityRoamer, we want to make it easy for you to discover events and things to do in the city. It could be a small event, large event or something as obscure as a random garage sale—whatever it is, we want to list it and give you all the information you need to know and how to get there.

Since we started building CityRoamer, we've added more features to heighten your experience as a user. We’ll continue to improve and add more features on CityRoamer. We hope that you’ll join us on this journey.

Our blog will focus on lifestyle, culture, food and more. There will be updates and posts on CityRoamer here and there of course, but we have interests in different things that we’d love to write about and share with you.

A + J