If these nutrients are so good for libido, does that mean you need to start eating lots of meat? Not necessarily. You can turn to the best protein sources that aren’t meat too. The three nutrients in concern — carnitine, arginine, and zinc — can be found in non-meat sources like whole grains and dairy products.
While red meat has the greatest amount of carnitine, milk, whole-wheat bread, asparagus, and avocado contain some amount of the amino acid. But the concentrations are a lot lower so you may want to think of supplements — after speaking with your doctor and determining whether you’re deficient, of course.
Arginine can be found in pumpkin seeds, soybeans, peanuts, chickpeas, and lentils too.
As for zinc, apart from seafood and meat, you can find this libido-boosting mineral in kidney beans, chickpeas, nuts, oats, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and tofu. There are also zinc supplements available for those who might be deficient, but again, this is probably something you should be running by your healthcare provider before including it in your diet.
Going back to the meat sources, however, there is also such a thing as too much protein.