couple sex
[Representational image]Creative Commons.

If you are looking for ways to improve your sex drive, you can do it very easily just by making one change in your lifestyle -- the food! The food you eat plays a major role in your body's functioning.

According to a recent study, 42 percent of meat-eaters were found to have sex once or more times per week, whereas only 16 percent of vegetarians were found to have sex a week.

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There are certain foods that need to be avoided if you need maintain your sex drive. These include mint, cheese, caffeine, alcohol, sugar and pills, according to nutritionist Sarah Fowler.

"Certain foods have been linked to increasing our sex drive, due to their nutritional value and their role in aiding blood flow,"  Harley Street nutritionist ­Rhiannon Lambert was quoted as saying by New York Post.

"Foods containing certain vitamins, minerals and amino acids can help to improve sexual desire. The best thing we can do to improve our physical and mental health is to eat a well-balanced diet that contains a variety of nutrients. But some also deliver a bedroom boost," Lambert added.

Here are some foods you need to include in your diet to boost your libido:

Dark chocolate:

Dark chocolate contains around 70 percent of cocoa and it also contains an organic compound called phenylethylamine which helps in secretion of a group of hormones called endorphins that are similar to those hormones released during sex. Eating dark chocolate results in spiking sexual attraction.

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Red wine

Though we have mentioned above that alcohol should be avoided as it adversely affects your sex drive, a glass of wine or two help increase sexual desire in women, as per a research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

An anti-oxidant called quercetin is present in red wine which enhances the body's physical performance and is also great for the health of blood vessels.


Nuts like cashew and almonds are rich in zinc which improves the blood flow to sexual organs. These nuts can help in boosting your sexual pleasure and also make you feel more aroused and turned on.

Men suffering from erectile dysfunction should specially include peanuts, walnuts and sunflower seeds in their diet, these contain arginine which helps in curing the disorder. Arginine is an α-amino acid which improves the blood flow and relax the muscles present around the blood vessels in the penis.

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Sea foods

Salmon is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids which helps in improving heart health and also protects our arteries by keeping plaque build-up at bay and maintaining a good blood flow, which boosts sexual arousal.

Seafood such as clams, oyesters and scallops are a good source of compounds which helps in increasing the levels of oestrogen and testosterone sex hormones which play a crucial role in triggering sexual desires. Oysters are also known for enhancing one's sexual stamina.



Eggs are a great source of vitamins B5 and B6. A research even found that eating eggs helps in depleting stress and balancing the hormonal levels in the body, these two factors play a major role in maintaining a healthy sex drive. Hence you should definitely include eggs in your diet if you want to improve your libido.


Eating beef and chicken can help in enhancing your blood flow as they contain amino acids called arginine and carnitine. Meat improves the sexual response of both men and women.

Apart from boosting blood flow in the body, it helps in maintaining the sexual desire for a longer duration.

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Chili contains ­capsaicin which produces heat and spikes endorphins which are also known as the "feel good" hormones, these help in increasing the levels of testosterone hormone.

So now you know, to heat things up between the sheets you need to include chillies in your diet.


Apples are a great source of the antioxidant – quercetin – just like red wine. This aids in combating the ­symptoms of interstitial cystitis (IC) which is also known as bladder pain syndrome (BPS). IC leads to chronic pain which affects the bladder and pelvis making sex painful for women and depletes their desire to have sex.

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Though people prefer staying away from garlic before they think about having sex or kissing because it is smelly, it helps in boosting arousal and orgasms. Garlic contains a natural anticoagulant which makes the blood thin and improves the blood flow to sexual organs.