I always read on Tumblr about people trying 'natural transition' which involves eating certain foods (ex. sweet potatoes and cottage cheese) and taking supplements/vitamins to increase testosterone. I am skeptical of whether this actually works. Is there any evidence that suggests it does?

Note: I am not considering trying this. Only wondering about it.

This guy did it:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TristanSkye79/

I think he recently started hormones, personal decision.
But he did have amazing results without needing a T prescription.
So if someone can't get T, this is a nice alternative.

I can't wait for everyone to jump on this and be like-
''It's not natural blah blah blah'' Lol

Quote from: Jayr on May 07, 2012, 01:57:34 AM
This guy did it:

I think he recently started hormones, personal decision.
But he did have amazing results without needing a T prescription.
So if someone can't get T, this is a nice alternative.

I can't wait for everyone to jump on this and be like-
''It's not natural blah blah blah'' Lol

Yeah, I had seen that YouTube channel a while ago. It took him 4 years to get those results though, and they can be achieved with only a few months of hormones (roughly). Also I wonder how much of it was the supplements/food and how much was from voice therapy, or from psychological phenomenon. I mean... psychological things can have physical effects -- the placebo effect, for instance.

I wonder if the supplements had any effect, at all. 

For sure the supplements had an effect.
But for the rest I have no idea dude!
I'm too lazy for that route

But it works for some people so it's cool.

.

This comes up so much it needs to be stickied somewhere.

yes: certain foods and herbal supplements contain estrogen, testosterone, anti-androgenics, and related compounds.

but, no: they're not effective. That's because they're not refined and concentrated.

MTF? Get real pharmaceutical grade 17b estradiol, preferably prescribed by a medical doctor. It's extracted from yams, but it's the same estrogen that the human body makes. It works even better with pharmaceutical grade anti-androgens.

FTM? Get real pharmaceutical grade testosterone cypionate, again preferably prescribed by a medical doctor. I believe this is synthetic in origin, but it is readily metabolized into the same testosterone that the human body makes.

I tried tribulus which is a supplement that is supposed to boost your T levels and it worked. I had hair growing in new places and more energi and muscles. By the time I stopped I had a little bit of hair growing on my chest. I stopped eventually because it aggravated my anger issues, but I'm going to start again soon because I've been working on my anger issue and tribulus is supposed to help eliminate ovarian cysts.

what i experienced on tribulus maybe was some sort of placebo effect, but who cares, it worked
Also, tribulus made me feel taller, which is something I've heard transguys say about T.

From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris

The extract is claimed to increase the body's natural testosterone levels and thereby improve male sexual performance and help build muscle. Its purported muscle-building potential was popularized by American IFBB bodybuilding champion Jeffrey Petermann in the early 1970s. However, T. terrestris has consistently failed to increase testosterone levels in controlled studies.[9][10][11] It has also failed to demonstrate strength-enhancing properties[12] - a finding indicating that the anabolic steroid effects of Tribulus terrestris may be more myth than fact.

If you have giant muscles and short hair people will be more likely to see you as male but that's probably about it. eating soy products raises your estrogen levels but if a man ate nothing but soy products I doubt that he would grow breasts.

I was taking tribulus,DHEA, an estrogen blocker, milk thistle, and dandelion root.  I felt that it did work however very slowly.  I had hair growth, downstairs growth and an amazing effect on how calm and secure I was.  I was able to build muscle easier and  had strength increase.  I would cycle off of these every four weeks.  I did notice that the change slowed or stopped right before I would take a break then when I would start again I would see more changes.  I think that maybe this worked because I am 40 and not producing as much estrogen as someone who is say 20.

I have a doctors appointment one week from today to begin T.  I stopped taking the supplements about 3 weeks ago.  The thought being to let it work out of my system so that all blood work was accurate.  I have noticed that the emotionally it has been very hard.  I have experienced more dysphoria, and suicidal thoughts.  I have no proof that it is certainly due to the lack of supplements but I believe it to be due to that. 

I think its harder to do a true to life mans voice with any kind of vocal training.  Only thing that really lowers it is male hormones!  (tbh you guys are so lucky it does, voice training is so hard!)

Personally I would suggest just doing hormones, its much faster and will make sure your dose is perfect.  Undertaking these changes under guidance of a doctor is always safer~ any change in hormone count is dangerous.  I don't know the side effects of adding testosterone but the side affects for adding estrogen(natural or not) can potentially kill any mtf especially if you are not aware of the warning signs(for blood clots in particular)

Doing it naturally is not bad if you really don't want anyone to know.  But I highly doubt the results will be anywhere near as good as taking T outright... although with T it doesnt really matter if you start later!

Depression is probably from the fluctuation of estrogen, but that will pass once you start up on T again and continue suppressing E.

I've heard of certain supplements making a good transition. If you Google "trans tribulus" there's a tumblr with a bunch of people using that kind of method and it seems pretty successful.

I used supplements and a T Cream that I got online before switching to T injections. I had a wee bit of facial hair growth & a bit of growth 'downstairs'. I took Tribulus, DHEA, maca, fish oil, ZMA,  chrysin, and ate foods that purportedly raise T levels.

It takes work, of course, and not everyone is into swallowing a bunch of pills every day but good if you can't or don't want to be on synthetic T or shoot sesame oil (which T injections are sometimes suspended in) into your body.

Now that I've been on T shots for some time and pass 100% of the time, I am giving thought to going back to "natural transitioning" just to maintain. I'm older and my ovaries seem to be sleeping for good lol & I feel this will again  be a good route for me.

I love love love love what T has done for me but I also have an Anarchist streak & like to be as self sufficient as possible--lol I like to know that if for some reason all the T in the US dried out or my doctor & pharmacy ceased to exist, I could still get what I needed without them. Weird, I know haha I hate to be completely dependent upon anything....