Mia
It’s summertime and we all know what that means: high temperatures and high humidity can often make us feel uncomfortable, tired, and worn out. Before checking out evecleanse, we think you should know all the dangers that you are exposed to in the summer heat, especially if you are a woman.
First things first, you should know that the vagina has an inner mucus lining that protects it from harmful bacteria and yeast overgrowth. Most of the time it does its job perfectly fine, but when the pH levels are not normal, the mucus is affected and you become prone to getting infections, either bacterial infections or yeast infections, says VeeBabes.com.
Multiple external factors can throw your pH level off the hooks! The vaginal environment has a pH level ranging from 3.4 to 4.6, making it slightly acidic. The pH 7 corresponds to a neutral environment, any value greater than that means that the environment is alkaline, and a value ranging from 0-6.9 means that the environment is acidic.
This slightly acidic environment makes it easier for your body to protect itself from harmful bacteria, creating a hostile environment that does not allow harmful bacteria to grow and develop. Moisture, a poor diet, and improper hygiene can make you prone to developing some medical conditions such as bacterial vaginosis or yeast infection. It turns out that “You are what you eat” is not just a saying – experts have correlated an unhealthy diet with all these conditions. What is there to do to make sure you are eating the right food?
We asked some of the top-notch experts what are their tips and tricks that every woman should know to be healthy and happy! The food we eat affects not only our general health but our menstrual cycle and even our mood, too!
Let us delve deep and find out more about what foods should we consume and what foods should we avoid to live a healthy life! Here are 6 tips that you should follow to keep your vaginal health in check!
1. Prebiotics and probiotics are essential to your health!
The human body is a wonder! We get sick if we encounter harmful bacteria, but we have our own happy, good bacteria that are keeping us healthy. The vagina, similar to the intestines, has bacterial cultures that promote vaginal health by keeping the vaginal pH to a healthy, normal level.
Lactobacillus is one of the bacteria that can be found in vaginal flora. Unhealthy foods, stress, and some medical treatments can throw off the vaginal balance, making you prone to developing infections. To keep the good bacterial cultures healthy, you should include in your diet the following products: garlic, onion, yogurt, pickles, kimchi, and other similar foods.
Although you can find a lot of probiotic supplements available on the market, it is more effective to eat foods rich in probiotics.
2. Don’t skip the healthy fats!
A lot of factors can cause hormonal imbalance in the human body. One of those is a high cholesterol level. To help cope with this and keep your cholesterol level normal you should include healthy fats in your diet.
Where can you find those? For example, eating nuts, almonds, olive oil, and avocado brings the necessary amount of healthy fats into your body. Besides regulating cholesterol levels, healthy fats keep the estrogen levels normal, too!
Estrogen is a hormone that is responsible for strengthening the vaginal mucosal lining, among other things. A healthy mucosal lining means that less and less bad bacteria will be able to create infections and health problems.
3. Processed foods are a big NO-NO!
By now, you probably are aware of how harmful processed foods are to your overall health, but let’s see how they affect vaginal health. Processed foods are very dangerous to your immune system, and this is the root cause of all our health problems!
Harmful bacteria will be able to enter your body and cause all sorts of problems: urinary tract infections, yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, and others. Avoid eating processed foods as much as possible!
4. Limit sugar intake!
Too much sugar is not your body’s cup of tea: it causes addiction, and it raises glycemic levels which, in the long run, can even cause diabetes! How does this affect vaginal health?
Well, as we mentioned before, the vaginal flora includes multiple good bacteria, among which we can find the Lactobacillus. Sugar causes bacterial imbalances, killing these lactobacilli. Bacterial imbalances can make you prone to developing a yeast infection, irritation, burning pain during intercourse or urination, and much more!
5. Avoid artificial hormones!
Artificial hormones can cause so many health problems, we don’t even know where to begin with! Meats and even some dairy products contain an artificial hormone that imitates estrogen. When ingested, it can prevent the body from synthesizing estrogen, which leads to infections and other serious health problems such as polycystic ovary syndrome.
6. Make sure you drink plenty of water!
The vagina has a natural self-cleaning mechanism that flushes out bad bacteria by itself! The vaginal lining is similar to the inside of your mouth, and it needs a lot of water to keep itself healthy! Doctors recommend at least 2 liters of water a day!
We hope this little piece of advice might come in handy if you find yourself to be confused and you do not know where to start when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle! The food you eat affects you more than you know, starting from molecular reactions in your body to cellular processes that normally take place.
If you want to start living a healthy life, your diet should be the first thing that you change! Vaginal health is something really important and pretty easy to maintain once you are aware of what affects it! So start eating healthy, drink plenty of water, limit the sugar intake and processed foods, and do not forget about probiotics and you should be fine!
