Category: Candida Crusher FAQ Videos

Greetings. Eric Bakker, naturopath from New Zealand, author of Candida Crusher and formulator of a product range called Canxida. Thanks for checking out my video. I’ve got another question here. This time, I’ve got a question from Nabil Sani from Bahrain. Nabil is asking on behalf of his mother. “Is there a link between Candida and arthritis?” Nabil, I’ll answer that question in a bit of a roundabout way and explain a little bit about arthritis in general.

There are about 100 different kinds of arthritis, so it’s not just one particular kind we’re dealing with. Candida has been associated with many different forms of arthritis through different mechanisms. The common types of arthritis that people have heard about are rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. But there is also gout, reactive arthritis, all sorts of types of arthritis.

Osteoarthritis we call the “wear and tear” arthritis, and that’s not generally associated with a yeast infection. It’s not autoimmune by nature, meaning it’s more like wear and tear in general. Although there are some relationships between Candida and osteoarthritis that don’t tend to be as strong as the autoimmune relationships that Candida has with rheumatoid arthritis. There are plenty of research now showing links between inflammatory arthritis and also autoimmune conditions in general and a yeast infection.

This happens by different mechanisms. But for example, Candida produces lots of different kinds of enzymes and there is one called phospholipase A, and this particular enzyme has been shown to have a relationship with causing inflammation in different parts of the body. These enzymes that Candida produce can upregulate and downregulate different parts of the immune system. They can activate and deactivate certain parts of immunity.

There is also research in Japan a few years ago now showing that there are cell wall fragments like mannan for example or beta glucans. If we look at beta glucans, it’s quite an interesting sort of a protein and this protein upsets the immune system. It doesn’t really like it. It’s a little bit like if you’ve got a loud party at your house, you turn the music up; it can really annoy the neighbors to the point where the neighbors just call the cops. They’ve had enough. And that’s what beta glucans can do. It can call the immune system, “Hey, get over here. I’ve had enough of this crap.” And then the immune system turns up and it starts attacking beta glucans and attacking tissues around it causing swelling, inflammation, and pain. And these are just little pieces of cell wall fragments from Candida.

I read an interesting article once that said that when Candida dies, it can actually; it’s like a champagne glass that drops. Have you ever dropped a wine glass at your house and had shards of glass all around the place and you can’t walk and people say, “Don’t move. We’ll get the vacuum cleaner.” Well, the vacuum cleaner is the immune system. It’s got to pick up all those shards of glass. And every tiny little shard can really piss off the immune system. It can like hurt it. So in turn, the immune system will release different kinds of chemicals.

And also, the immune system is very clever because it will actually shout out to other white blood cells all around and release chemicals we call cytokines or cell signaling chemicals. It’s a little bit like people getting up in the tree and beating the drum in the jungle to alert troops to come because there is a problem. And then of course white blood cells all come to the area and release chemical themselves, and these chemicals have got weird names like [trumenachrosis]sp? factor and interleukin and names like this. So these chemicals create pain, redness, itching, inflammation, all sorts of problems they can cause. And not only that, Candida is even smarter than that. They can actually release a chemical called gliotoxin and that chemical can actually neutralize part of the immune system creating even more of a problem.

Candida is definitely implicated with many different forms of arthritis and especially conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. In my professional opinion, I’ve found a lot of people with rheumatoid arthritis, in fact, have got a bad yeast infection. And I find the same with ankylosing spondylitis, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, any of these kind of autoimmune diseases.

I remember reading an old medical textbook from the 1930s and I think I might actually have it here in my library, a copy of it. Here it is. This textbook here, “Treatment and General Practice Articles from the British Medical Journal.” I’ve actually got a section here talking about rheumatoid arthritis. It says in this book, “In all cases, look for the hidden infection.” Have a look at the date on this book. What can you see there? 1936. One of the specialists in this book says, “In all cases of rheumatoid arthritis, look for the hidden focal infection.” There are not many doctors that look for infections today when it comes to rheumatoid arthritis. They just give drugs. These guys worked in an era where pharmacy wasn’t really big, and they had to try to troubleshoot things themselves and fix things up with patients. In fact, a lot of herbal medicines were used back in the 1930s to treat people.

I hope that answers your question in a roundabout way. “Is there a link between Candida and arthritis?” There definitely is a link and it could be multiple links. More so with rheumatoid than with osteoarthritis, so that’s worth bearing in mind. But osteoarthritis can also be involved in Candida, and particularly, if patients have been taking anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDS, non-steroidal drugs, for many years, which will wreck their digestive system. Again, making them more susceptible to a yeast infection. That’s that link there.

I hope that answers your question in a roundabout way. Don’t forget to check out my quiz at yeastinfection.org and check out CandidaCrusher.com. I think you might find quite an interesting book. And also, don’t forget to check out my website with my products, www.canxida.com. Thanks for tuning in.

Greetings. New Zealand naturopath, Eric Bakker. I’m the author of Candida Crusher and the formulator of the Canxida range of supplements. Thanks for checking out my video. I’ve got a question here from Edward Caper in Poland. Edward is saying, “Eric is the yeast spit test reliable? Is the spit test a reliable indication for Candida?” Let’s talk a little bit about that right now. About if it’s good, if it’s trash. Because some people online say it’s junk. Other people say it’s good.

I’ve written about the spit test in my book. The spit test is not exactly perfect or bonafide science. But what I can tell you is what I’ve found from the spit test with a lot of patients, thousands of patients I’ve seen over the years, it’s a very good general indicator of overall oral and digestive health.

You can’t say if you do the spit test and you see strings or mucous hanging there in a glass of water first thing in the morning that you’ve got a bonafide case of Candida. That’s crap. But what you can say is you’ve got problems, and those problems need addressing because healthy people don’t have that. They’ll tend to have things floating on the top of the water rather than hanging down or having particles in the bottom of the glass.

In most all cases of extremely healthy people I’ve seen, they don’t have a lot of mucous in their mouth. They don’t cough up mucous. They haven’t got mucous in their nasopharyngeal region. Mucous can be a sure sign that’s somethings wrong with your digestion. It can be an allergy. It could be a problem with your pancreas. You’re not producing enough enzymes in the mouth.

You can have gut issues. Many, many different reasons why you can have mucous. Mucous is a great breeding ground for bacteria, but it also can mean if you’ve got bacteria, that Candida may not necessarily be found behind. There’s a relationship of dysbiosis, in general, and food allergies and the spit test.

So if you’re positive for the spit test, you need to clean up your diet, improve your digestion, get the right kind of bugs into your digestive system, make sure you observe very good oral health, tongue brushing, brush your teeth twice a day. I tend to use sea salt or baking soda, but also I like using tea tree oil and look after the gums rather than the teeth. Good oral hygiene is very, very important. Because if you keep this clean, it’s going to keep stuff further down clean as well. It’s often been said that the mouth and the anus are the two dirtiest parts of the body. It’s not a good thing to say, but it’s a fact.

The spit test is not a reliable indication of Candida as such. You may have read about the different types of home tests I recommend in my book. There’s the smell test, the taste test, the itch test, these are all different kinds of tests that will give you an indication if you’ve got a yeast infection when you put them all together. No single test is good. The only test that I find is really good and accurate is a very comprehensive stool test when done properly. When done properly, it’s a very accurate indication of a yeast infection in the gut. Not necessarily systemically, but definitely in the gut. There are other ways we can pick up if you’ve got a systemic yeast infection.

Just to summarize your question, Edward. “Is the spit test a reliable indication for Candida?” No. It’s not. You’ve got to use it in conjunction with other kinds of test. But what I do like, again, just to finish up on. You can use it as a yardstick, as an indicator for improving health. So if it comes back cleaner and cleaner over a period of time, you know that you’ve taken potential allergenic food out of the diet or you’ve cleared up a potential food intolerance. You’ve reduced the amount of oral bacteria and your health is going to pick up. I hope that answers your question. Thank you.

Hi There. It’s naturopath Eric Bakker, author of Candida Crusher and formulator of the Canxida range of dietary supplements. Thanks for tuning into my video today. A question I get asked from time to time is “Eric is colonic irrigation good for Candida? Do colonics work? Are they necessary? Do I have to do them?”

Some people find it embarrassing. Some people find it uncomfortable, and other people just find it plain crazy doing a colonic. I can tell you now; colonics are fantastic when done properly by someone who really understands colonic irrigation. But before you jump into thinking, “Well, I’m going off to get a colonic,” you need to do preparatory work first. Many people I see with Candida or SIBO or IBS or IBD or constipation or diarrhea, they’ve got problems. They’ve got problems with their bowel. They’ve got problems with their digestion in general. If you do a bit of prep work before you do have a colonic, it’s a really clever idea.

By prep work, I mean by going on a bit of a cleanup. Changing your diet. Getting rid of the crap out of the diet. Cutting out alcohol and caffeine for a while. Eating a lot more fresh foods, especially summertime, spring or summer, is a good time to consider a colonic because you’re going to increase your intake of water, salads, steamed vegetables, good time. Wintertime, we tend to chow down more on cooked foods and casseroles and heavier kind of winter items. This is also when we have availability of pumpkin and squash and a lot of the root crops that are high starches and sugars. These foods probably are best avoided if you’re thinking about a colonic, particularly during the prep before the colonic. Think about that idea.

If you’re going to consider some colonics, I think they’re great to do in the spring or summer. You can do them anytime, but it just makes sense to do that. It’s a bit like your garden. We’ve used a lot of analogies on the digestive system and the garden. Most people who love gardening like me will tell you that the key time of activity is spring and summer. That’s when you’re out there doing most of the work.

Why is a colonic so good and what are the beneficial aspects from having a colonic irrigation? The colon is considered the tail pipe of the body. It’s where all the wastes basically get passed out. So a lot of rubbish gets accumulated in the colon. It’s quite a large tube. It connects up to the small bowel. And generally, what it does is it will concentrate all the wastes and bacteria, and the stool contains quite a bit of water, which the colon will reabsorb with a lot of nutrients. The colon contains most of the bacteria in the body. Trillions of bacteria live in the colon. And also its often a place where Candida tends to thrive and also bad bacteria.

The reason why the colonic is so good, a really good colonic therapist will understand exactly how to do this procedure. It takes about 45 minutes to do a proper colonic. Go to someone preferably whose qualified in the Colonic Association. There are different associations locally like in England. I have got a very good friend, Hamish Taylor, who’s an expert in colon hydrotherapy and I believe that Hamish practices in New Plymouth, UK. So Hamish has been doing colonics for a long, long time and we used to share a lot of clients together with fantastic outcomes. I have other practitioner friends here in New Zealand who are experts in colonics. I’ve got a friend in Wellington who does it. I know other expert people in Australia who do it. I’m not so sure about people in the US. I haven’t got any colon therapy friends over there.

The interesting thing about knowing colon therapists, I’ve been in the business a long time and sharing clients between two practitioners is hearing about the outcome. And I’ve had amazing feedback from colon therapy patients. Feedback like “Not had this kind of energy for years.” “Brain function really good.” “Moods improving.” By cleaning out the gut, you’re going to really allow the body to work much more effectively at eliminating and also at absorbing foods on a much higher level.

Water is inserted into a tube into the rectum, so a clean plastic tube is used, of course, for every client. And water is gently introduced. There are two types of systems that a colon hydrotherapist can use. There are new systems and old systems. Hamish, for example, uses the older kind of gravity system. Newer people use quite large big flashy machines, stainless steel machines that work slightly different. But the outcome is still the same. Patient lies down in a private room. Water is gently introduced and the tummy is really gently sort of massaged to break up any deposits or adhesions. And the stuff that comes out is phenomenal that actually drains out of people.

Many people feel completely invigorated after a colonic. You may feel a bit tired or weak. You may need to be careful for the first day thereafter. And there are different ways a colon therapist may actually work with you. You may need to detox before having a colonic irrigation treatment. You may not need to detox. I prefer to really do a liver cleanse on a patient prior to having the colonic irrigation. But consider colonic irrigation for many different types of conditions. If in doubt, just talk to a qualified colon hydrotherapist, preferably one that’s certified and a member of a good association and you can’t go wrong with these people.

Do I endorse them with Candida yeast infections? I certainly do. And when performed correctly, they have got an amazing effect of rejuvenating the whole digestive system, an incredible effect. Also, it will put you on the path towards good health and give you incentive to really work on your health probably from a much higher level than you have previously.

Having a colonic once or twice a year to me is like taking your car to the mechanic once or twice a year. Getting the oil change and oil filters. It’s very smart long-term maintenance for the body to keep the waste disposal system clean and tidy. It could prolong your life, but it will certainly increase your wellness by quite an amazing rate.

So have a serious think about colonic irrigation. It forms a really good part of an overall cleansing program for Candida. Particularly, if you do it in conjunction with a liver detoxification, diet change, and the correct lifestyle changes like drinking plenty of pure water, exercising regularly, sleeping on time, all those things are foundations for good health. Don’t immediately ridicule colonics if you’re unsure about it or think it’s too embarrassing or disgusting like some people have told me. Not at all. It’s a fantastic treatment program that will make you feel quite good.

I hope that answers the question hopefully for a few people. Thank you for tuning into my video today.