Author: Eric Bakker

Hi there. Question from a man called Dave Benson in Chicago.

Eric, help me, I’m on such a restrictive diet with my yeast infection. What can I do?

How many people out there with a yeast infection are down to maybe five, six or seven foods and their diet’s become a nightmare? I’ve seen these in many cases with chronic infections. These are the basket cases. These are the cases that practitioners discard. They can’t do anything with these people. They hate them. Every time they make a suggestion and give them a dietary supplement, you know, the patient will just phone them or email them and say, “I can’t do it. It’s too much. I’m reacting.”

These are the patients I’ll generally do a comprehensive stool analysis on and find out what the heck is going on in here. And there are many different things we find with these cases. In many cases, we find a massive yeast proliferation. We find leaky gut. We find a problem with their circulatory IGA. We find a problem with amylase. We find a problem with low levels of beneficial bacteria. We find multiple problems.

All these terms I’ve just mentioned, I’ll be addressing in other YouTube clips of a similar nature. It’s too much to put it all out in one YouTube clip, so make sure you check out my other YouTube clips on comprehensive stool analysis where I go into each one of these things in great detail.

If you’re down to a few diets, find out what the heck’s going on. There’s something going on in here. If there’s not something going on in here, it could be a hidden obstacle to cure, which I explain in great detail in my book, Candida Crusher. You can read all about that in Chapter 7. You can read about that in detail in various sections where I explain about what to do if all else fails; Obstacles to Cure. So you can certainly dig up more information on that.

Over time, you’ll be able to eat more and more foods. But if you’re down to a few foods, I’d be asking a lot of questions. What type of supplements are you taking? What type of foods can you eat? What are the symptoms and signs that you’re expressing on the foods that you’re eating? You may be able to eat some fermented and cultured foods, but start with very tiny amounts and gradually build up. You may be living in a moldy house. You may have a nutritional deficiency. You may have a heavy metal infection; heavy metal toxicity that could well be a sticking point. You may even have a root canal filling causing a low-grade inflammatory response. So there are lots of different reasons why your diet may be restricted, but don’t give up. I’ve seen many people down to a handful of foods that over time are back into a full diet again.

Be sure to check out my other questions on my YouTube channel. And if you can’t find it there, post me a question on Candida Crusher and I’ll certainly reply to your question. And become a subscriber to my channel. And the other thing is, please complete my online yeast infection survey on yeastinfection.org.

Thank you.

Good day, Eric Bakker, naturopath, author of Candida Crusher, with another question. A question I get asked from time to time.

Eric, I eat a lot of sugar. I’m addicted to sugar. I’m addicted to soda drinks. Could these be causing my yeast infection?

Well, the very fact that you’ve got suspicion makes me think that you probably know it is causing a problem. I’ve often said that the foods and drinks that cause the most problems with people are the ones they’ve got the strongest relationships to. So if you have an addiction, whether it is chocolate, bread, soda, whatever, a choky bar, Twinkies; it could be one particular food that’s right in your way of recovery. Then that is your problem food. It doesn’t matter how much you eat, it’s the fact that you’ve got an addiction to this food.

I’ve written in my book in great detail about food and addictions, so I want you to think carefully about the foods that you’re addicted to the most or that you have a strong relationship with or you like to eat, because these are the foods that are going to create you the most problem.

So it could be apples. I’ve got one patient that eats five or six apples a day. That’s a problem. So when you think about food, it’s a little bit like alcohol. It’s not how much alcohol you drink that determines if you’re an alcoholic. It’s your relationship to alcohol. If you start thinking about wanting that drink at 4 or 5 o’clock in the afternoon every day, that’s a problem. It’s the addiction, and the addictions need to be treated.

I talk a lot about eating for emotional comfort and addictions, and these things need to be fixed up because they are often underpinning your yeast infection. But they can also underpin your high blood pressure, your propensity towards developing diabetes or many other diseases. So we’re not just talking yeast infection here, we’re talking a whole lot of chronic ill health that you can avoid by getting on top of this particular addiction.

So, I eat a lot of sugar, I’m addicted to it. Can this be causing my infection? Of course it can be, and these are the things that need fixing up. Not how many pills can you take to eradicate your yeast infection, how many probiotics can you take, what are the best foods to eat, forget all that bologna. You need to get to the bottom of your yeast infection. And if it’s an addiction, this is what needs treating.

So I hope I’ve answered your question. Thanks for the question.

Hi there, Eric Bakker, naturopath. The question I get asked from people at times and emailed as well is an interesting one. And it’s a question that you may have yourself.

The question is why does Candida itch? Why does my skin feel itchy when I have a yeast infection?

Now that itch may be around the scalp. It could be around the ears, inside the ears, around the neck, armpits, groin, vaginal; it could be an anal itch, but the question remains the same. Why does my skin itch? Have you ever wondered that?

Well, there are many different opinions and varied opinions on this particular question. Some of the more plausible ones are that Candida can reside on the skin surface and particularly on the margins of the skin where the mucous membranes are. It will sit there because it’s nice and moist and dark and warm, and it will like those areas. A typical place I see people with yeast infections will be armpits and under the breasts of some women, and in skin folds of larger people. So these areas really provide the right kind of an environment for yeast infections to really proliferate.

But when we look at the itching side, some experts believe the itching comes about because when Candida changes, it mutates into a particular form, a spore form. It has these small hooks called rhizoids which can grab into the skin and latch into the skin, burrow into the skin. And this can create a sensation of itching. And the longer you’ve had the yeast infection for, the more established the more so this itch can really drive you crazy. It can burrow in there and create a major problem.

Another theory is that the yeast cells actually get affected by the immune system, so the immune system, in turn, in the skin will release chemicals, particularly chemicals like histamines or various other chemicals, which will try to attack the yeast and set up an inflammatory response, redness, itching, and heat. These are typical things that we find with some people with yeast infections.

So the other scenario is that yeast themselves can actually release chemicals which can affect the skin. So, you know, we’ve got three particular scenarios here, but I’m sure there are plenty more reasons why Candida can cause itching.

The big thing with a yeast infection is get it while it’s still recent. So if you’ve got a skin itch, and for males I see this a lot around the groin or for women a vaginal yeast infection. If the itch is driving you crazy, get onto it now. Don’t let it get in there and become a very chronic itch. And the reason is is because it’s going to affect you psychologically and physically. (A) It’s going to drive you crazy and literally crazy. You’ll develop anxiety around this and embarrassment and fear like I used to have years ago when I had a jock itch infection. It drove me nuts. And this can set up a fear where you don’t really want to be around a lot of other people for fear of embarrassment. And (B), when the itch actually becomes chronic, it becomes harder to get rid of. And you can actually scratch the skin all around the itch and create a secondary infection requiring, you guessed it, antibiotics. And so the cycle continues.

So you really want to get on top of the itch as soon as possible. You’re going to find some great solutions in Candida Crusher, in my book. I’ve written extensively on how you can help merely eradicate these acute and chronic conditions in various chapters.

So if you haven’t got a copy, grab a copy. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. You’re going to get a lot more good videos your way. And take a survey on yeastinfection.org.

Thanks for your time.