Eric Bakker: Eric Bakker, the naturopath.
Thanks for coming back.
I hope I've rectified some of my sound problems.
So, my apologies for all my viewers and listeners out there who've had problems hearing me speak.
I've just discovered that my microphone, my sittings, but we're right down low so I've
just cranked them right up.
So now I might be too loud for you guys out there.
So if I'm yelling and screaming, let me know and I'll back off.
I've also just ordered a microphone, a USB plug and play microphone, so hopefully that
will really improve my sound.
So my apologies again for all those listeners who had problems hearing my voice.
So today again, as per each week, I've got quite a few videos I want to go through.
I've been asked several times by people over the years to create a video for travel.
What are some of your tips when you go traveling?
What are some of the things that you would recommend I do to help me, prevent me getting
gut issues or infections or things like that.
So let's talk about that.
Let's look at seven easy things that you can do to make your journey more comfortable and
also to stop you getting sick, so you don't have to spend a couple of weeks in the bathroom
when you come back home because I can tell you guys out there, I've had patients from,
now what?
60 countries and I've heard it all.
I've got people who've been holidaying every place in the world, Antarctica, Greenland,
Iceland, I mean, you name the land, I know someone who's probably at holiday in that
land.
Of course air travel is becoming so affordable for so many people, so I call it the parasite
exchange program because we are actually exchanging parasites that people all around the world.
But I'll show you how not to exchange parasites or get them from people, all right?
We'll talk about that now.
Number one, out of seven, plan ahead.
So where are you going on your trip?
Are you going to go to Zimbabwe?
Are you going to go to Antarctica?
Are you going to go to New York City?
So depending where you go, you may think what are the right kinds of steps to take so I
don't fall victim to some type of illness, disease or problem?
So, we're going to go over other things but plan ahead, you really need to know where
you're going.
If you're going for example to LA, or to Vegas, or New York, which probably is slightly different
scenario than if you're going to Vietnam, or China, or countries like that.
We're going to talk a lot more about parasite, to be careful with parasites in other countries,
but you still need to be careful in the US or any other country because people travel
widely.
So the person you bump into in the street could have just come off a flight from Nairobi
or something, or could have just come back from Kazakhstan, or you just don't know who
that person was in contact with.
But plan ahead, work out where you're going to.
So, people going to the tropics tend to ... in my opinion, need to take things a little bit
differently than people who are going to the Circles, the Arctic Circles, for example.
The colder you are, the less likelihood you're going to be suffering from certain types of
parasites.
So it's not just parasites, it's bacteria and yeast that we need to be concerned about.
So, tropics can make a big difference, which we're going to in a minute, so you've got
to plan ahead.
Number two, be careful of airports and also public transport in places where many, many
people frequent.
Now I'm not expecting you to be like Michael Jackson and wear white gloves and don't touch
anything, or like Howard Hughes and have your own silver knife that you carry with you to
cut a sandwich because you don't trust other people's blades and stuff.
You don't need to be anal about hygiene, but you do need to be on high alert.
No different than you would be on high alert carrying your wallet or purse on your being
in case of pickpockets.
You just need to have your wits about you, think about what you're doing.
So when you get off the airplane for example, the first thing I tend to do is go straight
to the bathroom.
I wash my hands thoroughly and I like to just clean my hands because I've touched so many
surfaces.
So just be careful because all you need to do is touch a surface in an airport where
50,000 other people have touched, next thing you're touching something to eat and you're
eating that, or you're touching your eye or another body part.
That's how you can easily transfer a parasite for example, or a bacteria.
It's easy to do.
Also showers, be careful if you're going to have showers in places like that, airports
or things like that.
Often they'll supply slippers or things, or things that you can wear, which you can pick
up tinea and fungal diseases in some of these places if you're not careful, but don't be
anal.
I carry my own soap, for example.
I carry a cake of tea tree soap that I will use if I travel, and if I've had a really
long haul, I'm tired, I will have a shower and I'll use my own soap and I'm quite happy
doing that.
So careful of airports because they are a place where, even though a lot of cleaners
are, it's easy for you to touch surfaces and to pick up an infection.
So be sure you wash your hands.
Simple thing, hand washing is probably one of most important things you can do when you
travel.
It's so simple.
When I studied medicine, I can remember one of the doctors, I think it was one of our
first classes, explaining about infectious disease control, saying "What's the most important
thing you can do to prevent infection?"
Then someone out the back yelled, "Antibiotics," and then I said, "Well what about hand washing?"
Then the guy said, "That's right, hand washing's the number one thing you can do."
So don't forget to wash your hands.
So also be careful, passports and handling money and things like that because money's
quite a dirty substance.
Number three, your supplements.
When you go traveling, you might have some dietary supplements that you want to take
with you.
Just be sure that you get a letter from a naturopath, or a doctor or somebody, because
I've had many occasions where people have had supplements taken off them and dunked
in the trash.
So particularly if you're going for a long period of time and you've got five or six
bottles of X, Y, Z or whatever you're taking.
Check-in is okay, but even at the check-in it could be taken off you, so you may want
to have an accompanying letter depending on the country you go to.
I've often written letters for patients for that reason.
It can really go a long way towards you keeping those products, or having potentially 500
bucks worth of stuff dumped in the trash in front of you and you can't argue about that.
That's just how it is.
So also plan carefully, what are you going to take?
You don't want to take too many things with you.
You don't want to take 25 supplements in your carry case, or your check-in.
So try and cut it down to the minimal, or the most important things and leave the rest
at home, better that way.
Number four, take specifics depending where you're going.
If I was for example to go to Australia, I'd be taking lots of stuff with flies and mosquitoes
because you have a tremendous amount of fly problem, especially when you go out back.
Wherever there's cattle, there's going to be flies and wherever there's going to be
flies, it's going to annoying the hell out of you, they'll land all over your body and
everywhere.
On your face, your eyes, everywhere and you do get them.
So you can definitely get things for that.
In fact, I like taking essential oils for this reason and we'll talk about those a little
bit later on.
If you're going to Antarctica for example, you'll really want to be careful with sunburn
and your skin and your eyes because of the bright, the brightness on the reflection.
Same if you go skiing or snowboarding, you'd be looking after your skin quite a lot.
Again, there are special preparations to buy to take for your skin so you don't get fried
in the sun.
Same with the tropics.
So, specifics.
If you're going to, for example, a country like Asia, like Vietnam, or you could be going
to Laos or Laos, some of these countries where the food may not be quite in line with what
you've been eating, you may well get diarrhea.
It's not that hard to get a loose bowel in an Asian country.
Many, many, many people have had that.
Probiotics may well be worth it for you to take for that reason.
Saccharomyces boulardii, or SB, beneficial yeast, is very good for traveler's diarrhea.
So that could be a good one for you to take.
So yeah, the specifics, so depending where you're going, look for some different sand
fly, or fly repellents, or natural ones.
Try not to get any with D-E-E-T, deet in them, which is a very toxic chemical, a highly effective
mosquito repellent but also linked with cancer.
So, your health food shop will be able to work something out for you as well.
Skin moisturizers are quite handy as well, to take.
Point number five, be careful with drinking water.
Most people get sick at some stage, who travel extensively, because of something they drank.
One of my patients in fact was traveling to Mexico, was so thirsty, she couldn't find
anything to drink so she drank water out of a dog bowl, which is not really a clever idea.
So she got very, very sick after that and picked up all kinds of diseases, so I wouldn't
recommend you drink out of pet bowls.
When I went to India, it's not unusual for an unscrupulous person to fill up an old bottle
and crank the lid on really tight and try and sell you that for 10 rupees or whatever,
saying it's fresh, clean water when it could have just come out of a toilet or a sewer
10 minutes before.
So just be very careful when you buy beverages from street vendors and even eating from street
vendors.
I probably personally don't really do that, but a lot of people do.
Water is one of the highest ... one of the substances which almost guarantees a high
rate of transmission of diseases, so you need to be very careful with water.
Six, be careful where you eat.
Again, I've eaten in some pretty nice restaurant and being very sick as a consequence.
Alternatively, I have, one of my first travels to India, did eat street food and I didn't
have a problem with it.
So it depends on your gut I suppose, but you need to be careful where you eat.
In my opinion, if you're traveling, the water and the food are two of the likely areas where
you're going to get pinged with in terms of your gut.
So again, you might want to take some supplements which we're going to talk about here, which
may help.
That's point number seven.
Activated charcoal is a very good substance to take with you for that reason, to soak
up, or mop up toxins.
Probiotics, B vitamins can really help some people.
Magnesium supplement, I know a lot of patients take when they travel on the airplane, they
find it really helps them.
Some people take melatonin, which is great for jet lag, for overcoming the jet lag, but
the smartest thing you can do is don't drink alcohol when you travel.
Minimize alcohol consumption and maximize high quality fresh water intake.
You'll feel so much better when you drink water, when you travel and write the alcohol
off.
Keep the alcohol when you get to a destination and you're sitting there and you want a pina
colada near a pool reading a Stephen King book or something, but don't drink alcohol
when you're actively traveling, especially in countries where the food is a little bit
dodgy.
So if you're putting alcohol into a gut, it's going to make it hard for the gut to detoxify.
Then you're getting this suspect food and it's an open invitation for a serious gut
problem.
A lot of young people end up falling down that hole, so just be careful.
Places like Bali, I've had too many patients who come back so sick, it took them months
or years to recover from doing exactly that.
So I hope that gives you a few tips.
So my favorite essential oils for travel ... Look at this, 11 minutes, this crazy video.
Lavender oil is fantastic to take traveling.
Tea tree oil, Australian tea tree oil, T-E-A T-R-E-E.
Tea tree oil is one of the best oils for travel, well, you read up it, it does just about everything.
Peppermint oil is another one.
I take a tiny little bottle of that.
I love it if I get tension headache, or stressed, or tired, or sore feet, I find peppermint
to be fantastic.
So I take those oils, I take charcoal, I take a probiotic, and depending the country, yeah,
remember I also take my soap but that's up to you what you do.
So I hope that gives you a bit of a heads up on what to do when you're traveling.
Don't forget to click on the link, I think there's something pretty cool in the description
box for you guys down below.
Thanks for tuning in.