Hi there, Eric Bakker, naturopath and author of Candida Crusher.
Thanks for tuning into my video today.
Today, I'd like to talk to you about the 11 main causes of a yeast infection.
The main things that I find that commonly underpin a yeast infection when patients come
to see me for consultation.
To explain a bit more about the causes, it probably would be good to explain that I find
that there are two types of causes with people.
What I call the exciting cause and what I call the maintaining cause.
The exciting cause is what really starts off the yeast infection; what begins it all.
Because when you think about it, something had to cause the whole problem.
It had to start for some reason.
You didn't just wake up one day and Oh, I got a yeast infection.
It developed and something helped it along.
Something created this yeast infection.
That's called the exciting cause.
If you've had a yeast infection for many years, like a chronic one, it may be hard to remember
the exciting cause.
We'll come back to that later.
The second cause is the maintaining cause.
This is what you're doing continually to keep it going.
This could be a food or a drink or a lifestyle habit that's contributing to this continuation
of the yeast infection.
It's important if I'm going to help you permanently eradicate a yeast infection that you address
both the exciting and the maintaining causes.
Let's talk a little bit about the 11 types of causes which I commonly see in the clinic.
The first one is antibiotics drugs.
Antibiotics probably are the biggest cause of any yeast infection.
And not just of yeast infections, but of many different diseases we have today.
I think they're the scourge of pharmaceutical drugs.
While so necessary in many cases, I believe they're completely overprescribed and given
far too judiciously and handed out like candy to children.
In fact, too many people get antibiotics for too many silly reasons.
I've been in my business now 25 years and I routinely get mothers coming in, they bring
a child in who's had a script for penicillin for seven days for a tiny little cut on the
finger or something ridiculous like that; that tea tree oil could solve.
If you're one of these people who routinely takes antibiotics, you could be in for a rude
awakening.
You need to be careful of antibiotics because they certainly create a lot of problems in
the body.
We don't call them antibiosis or antilife for no reason.
They kill life.
They kill a lot of beneficial life.
And if you keep taking these drugs, you'll find that bacteria and yeast will become increasingly
resistant to the effects of them.
It'll be harder and harder for you to counter these bugs down the track.
I've raised my four children on no antibiotics at all.
They've never had antibiotics and they're in great health.
We've always relied on herbal medicines and homeopathies and other treatments, and we've
had fantastic results.
Then when the kids do get a sore throat or they get sick, we'll give them herbs.
We'll do salt water gargles; they'll quickly recover within two days.
I've never resorted to these drugs and I don't think that you should jump into them in a
hurry.
I think you need to be careful about what you're doing.
Antibiotics are the prime cause of many yeast infections.
I've seen thousands of people come to me who've never been well since a prescription of an
antibiotic.
The second one is antibiotics in meat.
Little do you know that the pork you're eating or the chicken or the beef could well have
drugs in it, antibiotics?
We know the growth hormone is used in many animals, pork and beef particularly, to stimulate
growth.
But what you may not be aware of is chicken get loads of antibiotics.
If you're buying commercial poultry, it'll be full of antibiotics.
The poultry industry will tell you that these drugs are safe, but I can tell you now, they're
not safe at all.
They cram these chickens into small cages, keep them in the dark, and feed them on high
protein foods.
They spray antibiotic sprays on the food.
If you eat chicken routinely, you're going to get a good load of antibiotics.
You need to buy free range or preferably have your own poultry or get free-range birds,
and at least you can be there to ensure that you're not going to be taking in drugs continually.
Inherited or underlying immune dysfunction.
Many people I see come to me with asthma or hay fever or these sort of conditions that
their father or mother or somebody else had.
They could have inherited a gene there predisposing them to an immune weakness.
Other people present with when we do blood tests things like neutropenia or a very low
neutrophil count; something else I regularly see.
Others I see have got B-12 deficiencies or folate or iron deficiencies which can predispose
them to a weakened immune system.
If you've got a weak immune system to start with, imagine you take antibiotics on top
of that; you're going to be literally a sitting duck for a Candida yeast infection.
A good strong immune system is going to help fight the yeast infection.
Just like a good defense force will help to keep a lot of terrorists and invaders out
of the country.
The fourth one, liberal use of steroids or other pharmaceutical drugs.
I'm not opposed to pharmaceutical drugs, so let's get that one thing clear.
I've worked in conjunction with medical doctors for many years.
And in many cases, pharmaceutical drugs are warranted and they're required.
But in many cases also, people take too many drugs and for too long a period of time, particularly
steroidal drugs, prednisone and hydrocortisone, drugs like that for years and years on end.
Steroids suppress the immune system.
That's what they're designed to do.
They reduce inflammation.
They suppress immunity and, of course, when you do that sort of a thing, you're going
to again be much more susceptible to a yeast or bacterial infection.
Many patients on pharmaceutical drugs often have yeast infections as well.
Alcohol, number five.
Alcohol to me is the biggest cause of yeast infections apart from antibiotics.
Now picture this in your mind, you're eating commercial poultry, you're having a glass
of chardonnay or red wine, whatever wine you drink or whatever, and then you develop a
cough and you take an antibiotic.
You're upping the ante, so you're increasing your risk now of a yeast infection.
You can see how this is starting to elevate the risk now.
Alcohol underpins many different diseases, but for yeast infections, it's a prime one.
And you know which one I think cause a lot of problem?
It's things like bourbon and rum and those sorts of drinks in particular that people
mix with coke or those sugary mixes.
But don't kid yourself, any alcohol contains sugar and some type of a yeast in it.
Many will contain that as part of the process.
When we look at beer, for example, beer is a classic for yeast infections in men.
All spirits, wines and beers in my mind have some helping hand in a yeast infection.
If you're serious about getting rid of your Candida yeast infection, you've got to stop
that alcohol for some period of time.
Otherwise, don't waste your time watching my video clips.
If you're not serious, then turn off now.
But if you're serious, you'll have a look at some of my clips on alcohol.
I think you might be quite surprised what I've got to say about alcohol and Candida.
Candida-friendly diets.
If you're going to have pancakes for breakfast, donuts, soda drinks, and lots of sugar in
your diet, high fructose corn syrup, Twinkies for breakfast with sugar on top of that, white
bread with jam on it, a couple of glasses of wine, a bar of chocolate once a week, you're
basically playing into the hands of Candida because these are the foods that they adore.
The more you eat like this, the more inclined you're going to predispose your body for a
yeast infection.
Don't let Candida have the upper hand and opportunity to feed on what you're giving.
My Candida Crusher diet is all about taking these foods away.
Stress.
Stress is probably the best-kept secret in terms of a cause for a yeast infection.
Not many people even think about stress when it comes to Candida, but stress has an insidious
way of undermining the immune system by creating adrenal problems.
I'm going to do quite a few videos on adrenal fatigue and the cortisol connection with Candida.
Once you understand that link, you'll be in a very good position to place yourself in
a lower stress environment.
Create a lower stress lifestyle for yourself to allow your immune system to come right
up and to crush that yeast infection.
We're going to talk a lot more about stress, but it is a big, big maintaining cause.
Exposure to chemicals and toxins, heavy metals, pesticides, carbonites, many sprays you use
around the yard, dental amalgam fillings, methylmercury which is liberated from dental
fillings, is known for some time to have a causative factor in the continuation of Candida.
Methylmercury certainly has an effect on yeast infections in the digestive system.
And again, we'll do more videos on that one.
Diabetes, particularly Type 2 diabetes or diabetes mellitus.
These people have a problem with glucose regulation in their body.
If your body is allowed to have too much sugar in it, you're obviously going to help feed
up Candida.
Insulin is produced by the pancreas to allow glucose to be pushed into cells and be utilized.
But when there's an insulin problem or insulin resistance, we're going to again be looking
at a maintaining cause of a yeast infection.
Chlorinated water.
How many people know that chlorinated water is a maintaining cause?
It is.
Chlorinated water is a real problem.
Chlorine is what we call a halogen.
Chlorine competes with iodine in the body, too.
It can create a thyroid problem in due cause, but chlorine is used as a disinfectant and,
in fact, is a type of antibiotic.
If you're regularly exposed to chlorine, then there's a potential there for you to have
an issue with a maintaining cause of Candida.
Mold.
How many people live in moldy environments?
It's incredible.
We get this a lot in New Zealand.
Many people live in leaky buildings or moldy environments.
Do you routinely have condensation on your windows in wintertime?
In your bathroom, do you have mold growing on the ceilings or walls or perhaps in your
bedroom?
Have a look around windows and ceilings and if you find any mold around there, and particularly
if you can relate to Candida, then you seriously need to do something about this.
Those were the 11 prime causes which I find are involved.
These causes can either be exciting or more routinely maintaining causes.
I hope this video has been of use to you today.
Thank you for tuning in.