Numerous foods have long been touted for boosting sexual prowess and providing additional pleasure. When unions fail, the blame is placed everywhere else - from mothers-in-law to marriage counsellors. However, the insurance for sexual maturity rests with individuals taking care of themselves through wholesome nutrition.

Foods that are natural, close to the source, are the best for providing optimum nutrition and boosting energy. Foods that have been demineralised to last longer on the shelf and those that have been injected with hormones, preservatives and dyes are not good for health. In the days of royalty, dishes made of pristine white flour caused nobility to get sick and die. Yet the peasants who had to grind grain - even into their old age - for their meals remained healthy.

Natural state

Some foods are at their best unadulterated. A mango picked and eaten while it is still warm from sunshine, a handful of fresh mint leaves or an oyster on ice are perfect just in their natural state. However, most of the food you enjoy, even staples like rice or bread, have undergone many processes before they reach your kitchen and you are highly likely to process them many more times before they reach your plate.

How do you cook foods? Food and drink are as sensual as you make them. Foods contain at least one element that is sensual and a combination of a number of foods can make a romantic meal.

Claire Lloyd, in her book Sensual Living, attests that good food is pure pleasure. She quipped that Keats desired more ingredients, "books ... fine weather and a little music out of doors", as well as fruit and wine.

In societies where food is plentiful, eating and drinking is an indulgence, an elaborate and ritualised activity, a routine we relish several times a day. The home naturally forms the backdrop to the rites of food preparation and consumption.

Oysters

There are some foods with reputed aphrodisiac properties which make for a delightful menu. Oysters are considered the 'daddy' of sensual foods. The first documentation as an aphrodisiac food was by the Romans in the 2nd century. In a satire by Juvenal, he told of the wanton ways of women after ingesting wine and eating "giant oysters".

The nutritional breakdown of oysters is like a prescription for better sex. Oysters are rich in potassium, calcium and magnesium all of which contribute to calm nerves, balanced dispositions and a cheerful outlook. These attitudes can make lovemaking worth the while. Oysters have an impressive amount of vitamin A to maintain buoyancy of tissues and cells, preventing the glands from shrivelling.

Wheat germ

Living foods, in a natural unprocessed state, contain all the enzymes needed for body functions and sexual virility. Wheat germ is one of those living foods, being the spouting life force of the wholewheat kernel. It is suggested by a number of naturalists that when wheat germ and bran are removed from the diet, a number of degenerative diseases may take over the body and lead to misfortunes like sterility.

Wheat germ contains large amounts of the vitamin B complex, including niacin, folic acid, B6 and pantothenic acid. Wheat germ is also rich in vitamin E.

Anti-stress breakfast

As we go through a stressful life, a diet that reduces stress will also lead to sexual virility. An anti-stress breakfast is 1/4 cup wheat germ sprinkled with two tablespoons of bran flakes, sweetened by some drizzled honey.

Food of the gods

Honey is called food of the gods because by nature, bees, through secretions in their mammary gland, synthesise honey into the simplest form of sugar. Honey is pre-digested and ready to circulate in the bloodstream making the minerals - copper, iron, manganese and potassium - and vitamins in honey immediately available for use by tissues, cells and organs in the body. As such, honey is a perfect love food because it quickly furnishes the body with energy to recuperate rapidly from exertion.

It is the pollen that contains much of honey's goodness. It contains a plant hormone called gonadotropic hormone, similar to the pituitary hormone, gonadotropin, known to stimulate sex glands or gonads. Pollen has been used to curb inflammation of the prostate, asthma and ulcerated cankers.

Chocolate and strawberries

It is well established that chocolate is a sensuous food as it stimulates neurotransmitters in the brain for 'feeling good'. For a decadent, sensual dessert, chocolate is nicely combined with strawberries, another food associated with sensuous pleasure. Strawberries, called can be dipped in melted chocolate and fed to your lover for dessert.

Wine

A sensuous meal is not complete without a bottle of wine. Wine relaxes the body and heightens the senses. Cap off your evening with a glass or two of wine before dimming the lights!

Heather Little-White, PhD, is a nutrition and lifestyle consultant in the Corporate Area.

Raw Oysters with Horseradish Sauce

1 1/2 dozen fresh oysters (buy from reputable source)

1 lemon

1 tbsp horseradish

3 tbsps tomato ketchup

Dash of Fish & Meat sauce

Method:

Open oysters and place them on a chilled or iced platter. Serve with lemon wedges and horseradish sauce.

To make sauce:

Combine horseradish and combine with ketchup, fish and meat sauce with 1/4 lemon.

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