What My Itchy Twat (Yeast Infection) Reminded Me

When switching to a whole-food plant-based diet, there are many things to look forward to; both big and small.

You can look forward to lower cholesterol, and you can look forward the whites of your eyes getting whiter.

You can look forward to lower blood pressure, and you can look forward to your breath becoming sweeter and more pleasant.

You can look forward to losing weight, and you can look forward to being happier and more uplifted.

You can look forward to protection from type 2 diabetes, and you can look forward to getting in tune with your body and trusting it with the information that it gives you on a daily basis.

Getting in tune and trusting your body is the sweet spot for today’s topic.

Cleaning up your diet is like sending you and your body to a kick-ass therapist. If you’re open to resolve, your shit will get worked out. You will trust each other again. You will get more in tune with each other. And your connection will be stronger.

Here’s why.

When people eat like crap, they always feel off.

• There are constant aches and pain.
• A daily stomachache or headache is almost guaranteed.
• There are frequent random flare-ups of ongoing issues.
• Sleep is restless.
• Being tired is the default, and relying on caffeine to wake up and get through the day is non-negotiable.
• Visiting the doctor more often than visiting friends is normal.

People who eat like crap are stuck in a perpetual cycle of feeling sick and blah.

We all know people like this.

If you can personally relate, you know that the physical pain and annoyances of day-to-day life are almost bearable because at this point, your body has slowly adjusted and gotten used to living this way. You don’t feel awesome, but you get by.

Here’s the scary thing about always feeling yuck.

When a new ache or pain comes along, no alarm of concern goes off because pain is expected, and it just gets added to the ever-growing list of shit that doesn’t feel good.

Over on the flip side, it’s another story (enter expensive therapist).

When the body runs on nothing but clean fuel, you end up feeling really damn good all of the time. The aches and pains go away. You have a ton of energy and no longer have to rely on caffeine to get you through your day. You sleep really well. Digestive issues dissolve. Headaches subside. And your visits to the doctor become less and less frequent.

Here’s where the magic comes in.

When you feel damn good all the time and an ache or pain creeps in, it feels foreign and it automatically raises a flag of concern.

Because you always feel good, you can trust the signals your body gives you when something is off and you can start examining your routine and things going on in your life that might be the source or a contributing factor of the ache or pain.

Have you been eating differently? Are you super stressed out? Did you start drinking again? Are you eating too much sugar? Was there a cheese-eating competition that you entered recently? Did you not make batching a priority and have to grab takeout instead?

If you usually eat like a plant based rock star, gathering the most obvious clues will quickly bring you clarity and an action plan.

This is because when you eat the right fuel, problems in the body become the exception instead of the rule, and you can trust your body to steer you in the direction of solving the root cause of the problem.

Here’s a really personal example that is 100% TMI.

I eat a ridiculously healthy whole-food plant-based diet, and it’s super rare that I feel off.

• I have an insane amount of energy.
• I never get colds or flu.
• I have zero allergies.
• I sleep like a baby and never feel the need for caffeine.
• The shit show that used to happen before and during my period is totally gone (no more cramps, no more painful boobs, no more backaches, no more emotional explosions. My period comes and goes without any drama. And no, this isn’t the TMI bit).
• I have one bottle of Tylenol in my house, and even that is expired.

I’m not sharing this with you because I want you to think I’m super awesome (I assure you that I’m only super awesome sometimes).

I’m sharing this with you because I want you to understand that when you feel good all the time, the culprit becomes obvious when you feel like crap.

To demonstrate this point, I’m sorry to say that I have to bring up my pink taco issues. My lady bit troubles. My baby hole woes.

Yup, last week my vajayjay was painfully itchy. Now, if you’ve ever had an itchy twat, you know just how much it sucks.

When you’re in public, you have to do that little dance, shifting your weight from left leg to right leg, hoping you nonchalantly scratch just the right spot with your underwear. A leisurely walk is out of the question. The thought of hiking makes you nauseous.

A bike ride might be okay but only because the bike seat works in your favor. You go to bed at night scratching. You wake up scratching. You go to the bathroom and put a warm washcloth on your punani. That feels good for a few minutes until damn it, the itch is back. It itches so much that you literally feel an orgasm coming on when you scratch.

There are a lot of uncomfortable scenarios that I would voluntarily choose over a yeast infection, but last week, that’s exactly what I had. You can bet your ass I wasted no time scanning my routine and picking out what I did differently the days leading up to itch fest. I had my answer right away and I knew exactly what I had to do in order to feel better.

I usually keep my sugar intake down to a small square of dark chocolate in the evening, but I had a recent run in with dark chocolate-covered graham crackers and chocolate cake. And when I say run in, I mean collision.

When we eat too much sugar, it fucks with our PH balance and causes candida overgrowth, which leads to itchiness in the most unfortunate of places.

As soon as I made the sugar connection, I put down the sugar pipe, upped my water intake, and added in extra sauerkraut. Within two days, I felt fine, and my punani troubles were over.

If I ate like crap and felt shitty all the time, a little yeast infection would be just another thing to add to my list of things wrong with me. I would buy some yeast infection medication and continue eating like crap, getting further away from the solution and denying my body the opportunity to guide itself back into balance.

One of the most rewarding and often unexpected benefits of eating a healthy plant-based diet is the ability to tune in with your body and trust the signals that it gives you so that you can keep making choices that help you thrive.

The power, satisfaction, and freedom that come with that are worth every twist and turn in your plant based learning curve.

Have you ever had a yeast infection? Talk to me in the comments below.

To make that learning curve shorter and easier for you, start a free trial to Clean Food Dirty Girl. This is a game changer – so if you’re ready to get in tune with your bod and thrive, jump on board. All you have to do is follow along.

Wishing you a happy week. May it be filled with learning how to trust your body.
Xo
Molly