Greetings, it's Eric Bakker, the naturopath from New Zealand. Thanks for coming back.
How do you tell the difference between candida and another health problem? This is a question that's
been put to me a few times now, so it's about time I replied to this one. Well, candida is a disease
of lifestyle. So generally, meaning it's something that you did in your lifestyle that
really created this problem. Most people aren't born with large levels of candida. They develop
them in their body over periods of time, through certain activities or actions on their part.
As I've mentioned in so many videos previous,
one of the key aspects of candida development is pharmaceutical medications, particularly
antibiotics. So ask yourself the question, "Have I taken antibiotics much in the past?
Am I on them now? Have I taken them recurrently? Has my digestive system never been well since?"
So this is a term I often use, and I'm going to write it down.
This is a term, NBWS, that often would go on a case-taking form for a patient. Never
been well since. What we always look for, for people, is the turning point.
We looked the tipping point, something that wasn't right.
Now, in many cases, when I was seeing patients, I would let the patient talk for a good 20,
30 minutes about their problems, their lifestyle, their relationships, things that happened. And
you'll see these little red flags popping up. People will tell you exactly what happened and
when it happened. They know. They're not stupid. When they sit in the doctor's office, they're
often treated like retarded chimpanzees half the time. And that's really sad, because it's amazing
patients are even allowed to speak to the doctor. But come on. Patients know what's wrong with them,
if only doctors would listen and actually open these things up. So NBWS, that's a key one.
Now the other thing is, I look very much at the occupation of the person and their relationships
with other people, what they're doing, because that will also tell me often how they're eating,
what they're eating, why they're eating, how much they're eating. So food and drugs
are two key aspects of yeast infections. Medications, as I mentioned, are [inaudible],
drug-induced candida, which is extremely common.
Or diet, lifestyle-induced candida, which is also extremely common.
So for example, let me give you an example. I had a patient, I remember, several years ago,
who was perfectly normal until he got a security job driving around in a car with a torch,
those heavy torches you whack people with. And got the car with the blue
and white stripes all around. It looks like a cop car, but it's not a cop car kind of thing.
And so this guy is a security guard. Now he'd been doing this for several years and his health
went down and down and down and down. And I said to him, "What was your health like
prior to doing your job?" And he said, "It was perfectly fine. I had no gut problems. I had no
jock itch. I had nothing. I felt great. I had a great marriage. Everything was going well."
He said, "But as soon as I got this job, within literally several months,
things started to go south." So I said, "Okay, well, let's examine this job.
Let's examine what you're eating, when you're eating, and how you're working."
Well, I mean, it was right there. This guy was eating like fries and Coke at like three
o'clock in the morning. And he was doing crazy things like that. So his pattern was
completely screwed up and imbalanced. When a person's lifestyle and diet becomes imbalanced
and crazy, their health will go imbalanced and crazy. I mean, it stands to reason, doesn't it?
So these are things I always try and teach my students, when I had student practitioners
sitting in with me, was very carefully look at the person's occupation, their mode of living,
and how they relate with other people. This will often tell you how and when things went astray.
So to answer the question, how to tell the difference between candida and other problems,
those are the things I look at. Other problems can also, of course,
occur like that. But remember, when I said initially, look at the antibiotics,
look at the sugar load going in, look at the soda consumption, look at the doughnut consumption.
Look at the sweet cravings. Look at what the person will be dying to have, really. If they've
got to go out and buy a candy bar, well, there's a chance they could have a yeast infection. The
average person will not have this very strong urge to want to have a candy bar all of a sudden. Or a
particular time of day, have a coffee with three sugars and a doughnut or something sweet with it.
I worked with a business partner like that once. I knew instantly he had candida, because if we would
be going on a, we'd be doing sales rep thing, we'd be driving around, talking to people, all of a
sudden, he'd have this urge. He'd say, "Hey, let's just pull into this shop over here." I'd say,
"Why?" He'd say, "I just wanting something sweet." I'd say, "You wanted something sweet?"
I said, "Well, how about we give it a mess?" "No, no, no, no. Let's just get something."
So this is the yeast, again, calling his name. Calling the guy's name, telling him that it
wants to be fed, basically. If you've got dogs or cats, you'll know when an animal wants to be fed.
It'll tell you. It'll bark, or it'll jump on you. Now, candida is a very similar
thing. It will tell you. Subconsciously it will tell you that it needs to be fed.
And that's why so many people jump from one sweet thing to another too. They think it's
to give them a lift, or because they like the taste of it. But basically,
they're feeding the yeast in their gut. Look at the cravings. Look at the medications.
Look at the desires. These are strong indications that there's a candida problem going on.
Very strong indication. Look at the body. Look at the itching. The ears, the groin, the feet.
The armpits. Anywhere. Regular itching. These are, again, indications. They're all
little tiny flags popping up everywhere. If you look, you will see these things.
Thanks for tuning in.