Healthy Ingredients for "Gourmet Love"

Food is love. Food is comfort. What Grandma didn’t tell us and probably didn’t know: Food is also sex. Certain consumables can light up your lovemaking. For the record, I’m not talking about the so-called aphrodisiacs that resemble human genitalia, such as oysters and figs. The way a food looks might be visually arousing or psychologically compelling — bonbons and Champagne no doubt conjure up thoughts of seduction and romance.

What you eat can affect your sex life, says Lisa Masterson, M.D., an OB/GYN in private practice in Los Angeles. Make sure to eat foods loaded with what she calls the "sex vitamins"—A, C and E, as well as folic acid, a B vitamin—which act as antioxidants and help to release oxygen into body tissues. When the blood is richer in oxygen, it makes all of your chemical processes work more efficiently, including the process that leads to sexual arousal and lubrication.

Dr. Masterson's list of sexy foods? All fruits and vegetables, but especially pomegranates (which contain vitamins A and C), oranges (vitamin C), carrots (vitamins A and C), and dark-green vegetables, like leafy spinach, which are filled with vitamins A and C, folic acid and calcium.

Dr. Masterson notes that some studies have shown that men lacking a vitamin-rich diet may have a lower sperm count than other men. Her advice? Get him to eat his salad, too! After all, his food choices are just as important as yours.