23 Foods That Help With ED

There’s a variety of different foods out there that can help take your erections to the next level and help you overcome performance anxiety. If you’re having any issues getting it up and you want to get stronger, harder, bigger erections, then eating the foods on this list in the right quantities is going to help you.

Hey, I’m Phoenix Blake, sex coach and educator, and I’ve personally suffered with erectile dysfunction, and since adding some of these foods into my diet as well as doing a bunch of other things, I’ve been able to turn my erectile dysfunction around, regain my morning wood and get those strong, hard erections that I’ve always wanted.

Before we jump into the foods that you should be eating, first let’s talk quickly about the foods that you should avoid that will actually be hurting your erections, and the big things are anything that’s high in sugar, anything that’s high in fat or anything that is heavily processed. All of these will go against your erections and stop you getting those strong, hard erections.

While the foods on this list are a good place to start, having a healthy diet made primarily of whole foods and non-processed foods is going to be essential if you want to get the maximum erections possible.

You should also avoid alcohol as much as possible. I hardly drink at all now, and you should avoid smoking as well, which can have severe effects on erections and cause erectile dysfunction.

So, assuming that you’re avoiding those bad things, what can you add into your diet to increase your erections?

1. Watermelon

Well, the first food is one you’ve likely heard of, and that is watermelon. Yes, watermelon can actually improve your erections.

When I first heard about this, I didn’t believe it, I thought it was completely bogus, but since doing my research into it, there is actually some fact in this.

See, watermelon contains high levels of something called L-citrulline, which is a precursor to nitric oxide. When you get an erection, nitric oxide helps to dilate your blood vessels so more blood can flow into your penis.

So, by consuming watermelon, which contains L-citrulline, you’re able to create more nitric oxide, dilate the blood vessels more and get stronger, harder erections.

However, you need to consume high levels of watermelon in order to get enough L-citrulline to have that positive effect. That can be a lot of sugar, and so personally, I prefer to take L-citrulline as a supplement, and it’s one of the many supplements that I’ve found to really boost my erections.

While the foods on this list are great, adding in supplementation can really help some people, and if you want to learn the current supplements that I’m taking that are backed by science to help erectile dysfunction, go to passionately.com/ed and you can get access to my supplement stack over there as well as the reasons that I take each supplement, so you can assess whether or not they’re right for you.

I much prefer taking supplements over things like Viagra and Cialis, and honestly, I’ve noticed a massive effect myself.

As well as L-citrulline, watermelon also contains lycopene, which is good for heart health, and anything that helps our heart and our blood flow is also going to help with our erections.

2–8. Nuts

Now, the next one is seven-in-one, and that’s because a variety of different nuts have been shown to be really good for erectile function.

In fact, there was a three-week study that showed just by eating 100 grams a day of one type of nut, there was a massive increase in erectile function and the ability to get and maintain an erection.

So there’s seven nuts that I know of that are good for helping with erections.

Brazil Nuts

Now, Brazil nuts are high in selenium, and our body uses selenium in order to create testosterone, and testosterone has large effects on libido as well as our erections.

Almonds And Pumpkin Seeds

You then have almond nuts as well as pumpkin seeds, which are both high in zinc, and zinc also helps in our body’s process of creating testosterone.

Peanuts, Walnuts And Hazelnuts

Next on the list, you’ve got peanuts, walnuts and hazelnuts, which are high in L-arginine.

Now, L-citrulline that’s in watermelon gets converted into L-arginine, which then gets converted into nitric oxide. So it’s one step along the chain.

However, the reason watermelon is more recommended is that it’s assumed that L-citrulline is more easily absorbed by our body, whereas L-arginine is harder to absorb and shorter lived.

However, taking L-citrulline and L-arginine together can also have benefits for erectile function. So taking watermelon for your L-citrulline and then eating some peanuts, some walnuts and some hazelnuts for the L-arginine can work together to get you those hard erections.

Pistachios

And the last one on the list was the one in the study, and that’s pistachio nuts. So people that consume just 100 grams a day of pistachio nuts showed a jump in their IIEF score.

So this is a score that they give to work out how bad your erectile dysfunction is, and after three weeks of eating the pistachios, the patients showed a big jump in their IIEF score, which means they had better erections.

So including a variety of these nuts in your diet is going to be really helpful for your erections. Just be careful because nuts are high in calories, so you don’t want to overdo it.

9. Oysters

Oysters are high in zinc and can help to boost testosterone. Oysters are something that I don’t personally like, but I know a lot of people love them.

10. Dark Chocolate

The next one on the list I really do like, and that is dark chocolate. We’re talking the 70% or higher stuff, the really bitter stuff, not the milky and sweet chocolate.

It does take time to get used to this chocolate. When my partner first introduced me to it, I was like, “That’s disgusting,” but over time you do acquire a taste for it.

Dark chocolate is high in flavanols, which help to lower your blood pressure and increase your blood flow, and it helps with nitric oxide production as well.

11. Salmon And Other Fatty Fish

Salmon and other fatty fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids. These omega-3 fatty acids are just shown to be really good for overall health, but they also help to boost nitric oxide and lower our blood pressure, which can increase our erections.

Fish is also a really good source of protein, and eating high amounts of protein can help regain your morning wood and help you get better erections.

In fact, porn star and sex educator Stirling Cooper recommends that you drink four eggs and protein powder before bed if you want to have strong, hard erections the next day.

Now, while I don’t do that, I do eat fish and I do take omega-3 supplements, and these are part of my supplement stack.

If you want to see the full stack — and honestly, it’s had such a big impact on my erections, I’m shocked. I remember when I was younger, you would get erections uncontrollably and you had to push them down. That started happening to me again at 35 after adding in these supplements.

Go to passionately.com/ed to learn what they are.

12. Flavanol-Rich Berries And Fruits

Flavanol-rich berries and fruits are things like blueberries, strawberries, blackberries as well as pears, apples and citrus fruits.

There was a study that showed that a diet high in flavanols actually led to a decreased occurrence of erectile dysfunction by about nine to 11 percent.

13. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

There was a seven-year study that showed that the Mediterranean diet, which is high in consumption of olive oil, showed reduced amounts of erectile dysfunction.

When buying olive oil, you want to make sure that you get the extra virgin stuff. Extra virgin refers to the way that it’s been extracted from the olives without the use of heat.

However, it can be more difficult than you might presume to get extra virgin olive oil. I suggest you go ahead and check out Johnny Harris’s video on the matter if you want to learn more about it.

Seek out reputable brands and look for one that has the harvest date on the bottle, as that’s a sign that it’s more likely to be extra virgin, and the higher quality oil that you get, the better it’s going to be, and personally I tried to avoid all of the other oils with the exception of coconut oil.

14. Whole Grains

This comes back to that study on a Mediterranean diet that was high in things like olive oil and whole grains, which showed a reduced amount of erectile dysfunction.

15. Meat And Poultry

Meat and poultry can contain high amounts of L-arginine, which we’ve already talked about can help in nitric oxide production to help with your erections. They’re also a high source of protein as well.

Personally, I was vegetarian for eight years and I noticed that towards the end of being a vegetarian, I was no longer waking up with morning wood anymore, and at the age of about 35, this was pretty concerning for me.

And then since adding meat and more protein back into my diet, as well as foods on this list and the supplements that I take, I now notice that I’m waking up with my morning wood again, which is a huge relief for me.

So including things like chicken, red meat and fish into my diet has really helped me, but obviously you want to do this in a healthy way. Eating high-quality grass-fed beef is very different to eating some McDonald’s.

16. Leafy Greens

Leafy greens are high in nitrates, which again help you to produce this nitric oxide.

So things like arugula, also known as rocket here in Australia, you’ve got spinach, lettuce, radish, all of these sort of leafy greens are going to help with your erections, but they’re also great for your overall health as well.

17–18. Tea And Coffee

Next on the list is a fun one, and one that I’m very happy to see has made the list, and that is tea and coffee.

Tea because it’s high in flavonoids, and we already talked about that study that a diet high in flavonols was less likely to see cases of erectile dysfunction.

And then, very interestingly, coffee is actually correlated with a reduction of erectile dysfunction. So there was a study that showed that men who drank two to three cups of coffee per day were less likely to experience erectile dysfunction than men who didn’t drink any coffee.

Coffee also has potential positive effects as an antioxidant and can help to increase libido as well. However, you want to pay close attention to your own body, as too much caffeine in your system can actually have the opposite effect as well.

19. Avocados

The next one is something that I eat a lot of and I absolutely love, and that is avocados.

Avocados feel like a godsend for a vegetarian, and even though I eat some meat now, I still consume exorbitant amounts of avocados. They’re high in vitamin E and zinc and can help to improve your sperm quality as well as your testosterone production.

20. Chili Peppers

Chili peppers are something where I can’t handle as much spice as other people can, but dietary capsaicin can stimulate the pleasure centers, which can boost your mood and have an aphrodisiac effect.

So this can lead to you being more relaxed, it can lead to increased and better erections, but most of the studies done on chili peppers and capsaicin have been done in animals, not in humans, so take this information with a grain of salt.

21. Tomatoes

Getting close to the end, we’ve got tomatoes. So red and pink fruits like tomatoes are high in lycopene.

This is a natural antioxidant which may reduce oxidative stress and help with overall cardiovascular health, and because an erection requires blood flow, anything that’s going to improve your blood flow is going to improve your erections.

22. Oatmeal

The penultimate item on our list is a strange one, and that is oatmeal.

I did not expect oatmeal to actually improve erections, but apparently oatmeal does contain high levels of L-arginine, which, as we know, can help with nitric oxide production and help with erections. So maybe all of you out there who are starting your morning with a bowl of oatmeal are actually really onto something.

23. Pomegranate Juice

Now, there was a small study that showed that pomegranate juice may help with erectile dysfunction. However, pomegranate juice does contain large amounts of sugar, so you do need to be careful with this one.

On top of eating the right foods for your erections, there’s also things that you can do every day to get stronger, harder erections, so go ahead and check out this video that I’ve done on the things that I did to reverse my erectile dysfunction.