The first fun and informative Green Divas Eco-Sexy series!

First listen to this episode (Rated PG) featuring Brigitte Mars, author of The Sexual Herbal. She talks about sexual nutrition and foods that are great to incorporate into your diet for a healthier libido.  ~ Green Diva Lynn

Aphrodisiacs are named after Aphrodite (Greek goddess of love), fruitfulness and beauty.

An aphrodisiac is a substance that puts one in the mood for love and can include food, herbs, good conversation, moonlight and lingerie!

Aphrodisiacs may have a direct effect on the erogenous zones. Some may stimulate, irritate or be diuretic, causing one to experience more sensation. Aphrodisiacs may affect the mind, cause relaxation and prolong lovemaking. Their shape, texture or smell may be reminiscent of sex.

There’s an ancient worldwide belief called The Doctrine of Signatures that believes plants give us hints as to what they are good for by the way they look, smell, taste and grow. They may be highly nutritious and, by improving health, bring about healthier libido. Both sex and food are closely related by being pleasurable and physical.

Aphrodisiacs can be enjoyed anywhere from half an hour to an hour before making love. Best is when they are incorporated into one’s daily life for their health tonifying properties.

Why worry about sexual nutrition?

As good health is essential to sexual vitality, good nutrition is imperative. When we are in poor health, sexual vitality decreases.

Many of the foods mentioned here contain the seeds of life—the design and pattern for creating new life, with the potential to grow into a replica of themselves. For example, a pumpkin seed planted, could spread into an awesome vine, bearing several pumpkins, resplendent with nourishing seeds, benefiting the reproductive system. A raw pumpkin seed contains this spark of life, yet a roasted salted one would not grow.

Grains for libido include rice, (no wonder it is thrown at weddings), wild rice, barley, buckwheat, corn, millet and oats.

In Asian medicine, it is the Water Element or Kidney that governs sexual vitality. According to this tradition, black (and blue) colored and salty foods such as chia seeds, miso, black olives, sea vegetables, black sesame seeds and blueberries.

Vegetables play a part in the food pharmacopoeia of sexuality.

Some have suggestive shapes like asparagus (a genito-urinary stimulant), which was cultivated by the Arabs and Greeks as an aphrodisiac. English herbalist, Nicholas Culpepper (1616-1654) said that asparagus “stirreth up bodily lust in man and woman.”

Shiitake mushrooms are used in the orient to make women more responsive.

In general, roots such as carrots, dandelion and burdock help energize the lower chakras. A Japanese proverb says, “A man who likes carrots, likes women.” It would be unwise to serve your beloved wilted carrots. Okra is stiff and exudes a slimy fluid, not unlike sexual fluids.

Garlic and onions are warming and stimulating. Egyptian priests and devout Hindus were forbidden from consuming them in the belief that they would lose control over their sensual desires.

Arugula was often used in ancient love potions. It is still found growing around phallic statues in Greece and Rome.

Celery attracts women. It has also been traditionally included in aphrodisiac recipes. Celery contains androsterone, which is released in the sweat after being consumed.

“Artichokes! Artichokes! Heats the body and the spirit. Heats the genitals!”

Artichokes are an unopened flower. Paris street vendors of the 1700’s used to cry out “Artichokes! Artichokes! Heats the body and the spirit. Heats the genitals!” It’s the one vegetable there is more of, after you eat it.

The French word for beet, betterave, is slang for penis or “man root.” Avocados are called ahuactl in South America, meaning “testicle.”

Sea vegetables, both salty and dark colored are mineral rich and nourish the thyroid gland and entire endocrine system, which when under active, lessen libido. Winter squash and cabbage are warming nutritive sexual tonic foods.

Phosphorus found in chutneys, curries, salsas and hot foods stimulate circulation and the sex organs.

Fruits entice passion with their sweetness and succulence.

Consider their shape, hot colors and juicy nature. Apples, apricots, bananas, cherries, dates (especially Jujube—Chinese red dates), mangoes, mulberries, peaches, persimmons, strawberries and watermelon (eat the seeds) are all considered sex tonic foods. Suck the fruit out of a perfectly ripe persimmon. Try eating ripe mangoes in a bathtub with your beloved.

Figs and pomegranates, known for their abundance of seeds, are traditional love tonics. Pomegranate means “apple of many seeds” and due to its blood red color has long been a symbol of fertility, birth and sexuality.

If you are in the tropics where they grow, soursop and durian, they are considered supreme sexual foods. There is a saying in Malaysia, “When the durians fall, the sarongs rise.” Better to eat a piece of ripe fruit than to over stimulate blood sugar levels with excessive amounts of sweet juices.

Nuts and seeds are foods of love.