How are we all out there? Thanks for tuning in. My name is Eric Bakker. I'm
a naturopath from New Zealand. This video is entitled, The 10 Things Your Naturopath
Won't Likely Tell You. All right? The video's not designed to denigrate or poke fun of naturopaths,
or sink the boot into the profession, or whatever terms you want to use. This is based
on my own experiences over many, many years, over 30 plus years, working with naturopaths,
having them as students, sitting in with experienced naturopaths when I was younger, and
just basically knowing a lot about the profession. So here's 10 things you need to watch out for.
Now, naturopaths who watch this will laugh because a lot of them
will know that some of these tricks relate to them. Others when they hear some of these points
I'm going to raise will go, "Oh my God. I know it. That's that woman over there. She's exactly like
what this guy just said." Or, "That guy in New York, he's exactly point number X or number six."
You know? So you'll recognize some of these. Now, what I'm about to tell you are not lies.
It's not a smear campaign or anything like that at all, that this is the truth. All right?
I'm not draining the swamp. That's a great term, draining the swamp, isn't it?
Let's start with number one.
Point number one, recovery always takes longer than you think. All right? Most people
are not told the truth when it comes to recovery. Recovery can take weeks, months, or years. Right?
There's no easy road for really seriously sick chronic people. But remember my saying,
persistence breaks resistance. If you keep with something, you'll nail it. My other favorite
saying to patients is, every solution will have a problem, you just got to find that solution.
Now sometimes finding a solution can take a long time, but you can find it. It'll be there. That's
number one. Things always take longer. Just like a sticker on the rear view mirror of the
car. You know? Objects may appear closer. That kind of thing, so it's going to take longer.
It's a bit like when you're doing a rebuild on a house. Isn't it? What do the renovators or the
building contractors say? "It's going to cost you more money. It's going to take more time,"
and it's the same with your health. Second one, you're likely going to aggravate,
particularly if you're sick, you're unwell, and the naturopath makes all these changes,
it's going to happen. You're going to feel like crap, so you need to go slow, and if
your naturopath is telling you that you need to make all these changes and go on nine products,
and six different types of food you want to introduce, and all these things at once,
it's a little bit like the gym instructor giving you 35 exercises to do 25 reps of each
exercise in the next three days. You're going to feel like crap, so be aware.
If you given lots and lots of stuff to do, it's not going to work in your favor.
This is how naturopaths lose a lot of patients. Sometimes they just push them
a little bit too hard. They just push them over the cliff a bit, if you know what I mean.
The third one, it's going to cost you money. It's going to cost you money. Now, some naturopaths
like to scalp people. They like to charge a ton of money. Others don't charge so much. I hope all the
years I've seen people I never took any pecuniary advantage or financial advantage of patients.
Some of my patients had extremely high net worth. We're talking tens or even hundreds of millions of
dollars. If a naturopath is showing signs of greed, or charging ridiculous, we're talking
thousands of dollars for consultation, you're clearly going to a clown not a naturopath.
Naturopaths, like medical doctors, there are good ones,
there are bad ones, and there are weird ones, and there are dodgy ones.
So just be careful, because if it seems like an awful lot of money that you're spending,
and you're not really getting anywhere, it might be time to do something different. So that's the
third one, it's going to cost you money, but it shouldn't cost you the Earth. It's going to cost,
but it shouldn't cost you tons, and you need to open up and discuss this with your naturopath.
Be honest. When I finished, after 34 years of practice, I was still charging 250 bucks,
New Zealand not U.S., for a consultation. Now, I think that's pretty flipping reasonable after
30-something years, when I've seen colleagues charge sometimes up to a thousand dollars
for a consultation that were in business for 10 years. To me that's just greed. All right?
The fourth one, the naturopath you're seeing may not have the skillset that you require. Now,
let's be honest. If a naturopath's been in the game five years, or four years, or three years,
they may be good at working on constipation, or eczema, or skin conditions, or something.
But when it comes to a very complicated autoimmune disease with multiple issues surrounding it,
lots of medications, all sorts of emotional issues the patient's got, maybe that naturopath
will not have the right skillset to help you. The naturopath needs to be honest
with you and refer you on in that case, or to their mentor. That's fair enough, isn't it?
Number five, they may have no experience at all in any kind of testing.
Meaning they've not learned to do any kind of tests like stool analysis, or blood testing.
I had a lot of medical experience early on in my career because I spent a lot of time working in
medical clinics. So I knew all the pharmaceutical medications. I knew the side effects. I knew the
interactions. But I also got to learn about blood testing, cholesterol blood testing,
cancer blood markers, all those things. I learned those things because I really wanted to know them.
I knew that if I sat there with a patient one day, and a patient pulled out a test, I wouldn't
look at it and say, "Oh, okay. Yeah. Yep. This is so-and-so," and put it away and basically crapping
on that I didn't know what I was talking about. But I did. So if the naturopath doesn't understand
about blood testing, or stool testing, or urine testing, maybe not the right naturopath for you.
Point number six, the naturopath you're going to could be a one-trick pony.
What do I mean by one-trick pony?
Well, have you heard of one-hit wonders? One-hit wonders? Some bands produce one song and that's
it they're gone. You never hear from them again. Well, some naturopaths are like that. They play
one fiddle, one tune. They may, for example, say to you, "All your problems are because of mold.
Everything. Everything's mold." Erectile dysfunction, mold. Depression, mold. Itchy skin,
mold. Yep. Can't go to work, or you want to sleep in? Mold. Now, some people are like that with
mercury toxicity. Everything revolves around mercury toxicity. Some people are like that
with Lyme disease. Every single thing you've got is because of Lyme. So they push you through a
long protocol. Watch out for the one-trick ponies. There are a lot of them out there.
Number seven, he or she may have very little clinical skills. Your naturopath may not really
have any skills in listening to your heart, doing palpation, auscultation, medical terms.
They may not know how to check blood pressures properly. They may not know how to do a whole
lot of things properly. Fess up naturopath. If you don't know it, you need to tell the patient they
need to keep in touch with their medical doctor. Some naturopaths play medical doctors when in fact
they shouldn't be playing medical doctor. Some naturopaths make clinical medical decisions for
patients they should not be making. So make sure that you're also seeing a medical doctor along
with your naturopath, or your naturopath has got a high degree of medical skill and can refer you on
to a GP or medical doctor that they generally know, or that you know, or whatever. Also,
that there's some dialogue between the naturopath and the doctor if they need to be. Very important.
Point eight, he or she relies on machine testing. Sometimes naturopaths just use
machines like a biofeedback machine, or things like that. I've been to a
few of these people when they hook me up with all these wires and stuff like that.
You know, I look like something out of a Stanley Kubrick film. Or when I went to one guy,
and he told me I had prostate cancer, I had lung this, and I had this and that. I told the guy that
he was just laughable, a load of crap I said to him. I just went in there anonymous to see,
and I got all these diagnoses that were just stupid. Then just be very, very careful
who you go to if they use some sort of a machine and they hook you up with wires, and they print
out a paper report saying you've got all these diseases, and you need all these supplements.
You need to turn around and get out of there before you really drown in all of their crap.
Point nine, they may favor one kind of product, or one kind of medicine. They may, for example,
be a person who makes up their own homeopathic medicine, so everything
that you require they make up. Or they could be trying to get you into a network marketing scheme.
There are a lot of network marketing schemes out there. Don't get sucked into network
marketing. The worst thing a naturopath can do is sign you up in some type of scheme,
or you know to try, and again, exploit you. That's disgusting, so don't fall for it. All right?
Point 10, watch out for their programs. Some naturopaths just work with programs, so you
get all these handouts, and then everything you need to do is in the handout. Then the next lady
who comes, gets the same booklet. The next guy who comes and gets the same booklet. Everyone gets the
same kind of booklets. You know? Detox booklet, everyone gets pushed through a similar program.
Be very careful. Programs need to be modified very specifically for you.
Okay? It's not a paint-by-number system. Those are the 10 things you need to watch out for when
you're going to see a naturopath. Or naturopaths who are watching this, recognize some of those 10
things in yourself or in your colleagues. Okay? They exist. Thanks for tuning in.