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by Christine Vasilevski, Melbourne, Australia

My son Jake had always been a calm, easy going, content little boy, but at 12 months old, his temperament changed. By 15 months, I was worried. His tantrums became more frequent and very quickly spiraled out of control to the point where you could not calm him down. He lost interest in things that use to amuse him: toys, friends, me. He would stare, with no emotion, at people who would say hello to him. He didn't understand social situations and didn't know how to interact with people. He began to have "night terrors" and would scream out in the middle of the night. His few words went away. He wouldn't look at me; he would look past me. He just seemed like a really sad little boy.

When Jake turned two I took him to our pediatrician. After her assessment, the pediatrician said, “He is significantly delayed in his expression. It could be the early signs of autism. Let's give him some time.” Autism. This was the word that I had been fearing since he was 15 months old.

I began researching, and discovered information, including the Healthy Child Healthy World book, that found links between additives and preservatives in our food to behavioral problems in children.

When Jake was two-and-a-half, my husband and I decided to cut all food additives and preservatives out of Jake's diet. One week later, I was in the kitchen when Jake walked in. He pointed to a banana in the fruit bowl, looked at me and said "mo nana." Am I hearing things? Did he really just speak to me?! Over the next few days we watched him come out of his shell.

Jake did improve with his cleaner diet but it was not enough to relieve concern. By now, the pediatrician was ready to make her autistic assessment—Jake was ticking enough boxes to put him on the spectrum. But my research led me to a different conclusion: Maybe he wasn’t autistic; maybe he was just being poisoned by our environment.

With the help of a naturopath and a dietician, we found out that Jake had food sensitivities, including gluten and dairy, which were wreaking havoc on his digestive system. We learned that Jake finds it hard to detox toxins, which is why we saw an improvement when we cut out additives and preservatives from his diet. A toxicity report told us that he was storing heavy metals, including exceedingly high levels of aluminum, lead and berrilyum.

After further changes to his diet, Jake is a different little boy. This is a hard thing for me to write, but he now has a sparkle in his eyes that he never had before. Today, he smiles, laughs and tells me I am his best friend. Friends and families cannot believe the dramatic change in him. He is a happy little boy, whom I am so thankful and grateful to have in my life.

A few months later at Jake’s autism assessment, our pediatrician said she could not explain his rapid improvement, and she now has no more concerns.

Healthy Child Healthy World inspired my husband and I to make many changes in our lifestyle. We now grow food in our own organic garden, buy grass-fed, hormone- and antibiotic-free beef direct from the farmer, and store food in glass containers. We rearranged our bedrooms so we don’t sleep near power points, reduced the number of Jake’s plastic toys, and checked our dinnerware for lead. I make my own natural cleaners and use toxic-free toiletries.

I’m now expecting our second child, and I’m redoubling my efforts to keep our lives toxics-free. I’m planning to get a non-toxic mattress and my husband and I are just about to begin building our next home, which will be painted with VOC-free paint!

The food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe are the fundamental basics of our survival. Over time they have been tainted with so they are no longer natural and it is affecting our health, in particular, our children's health. These days, more of our kids are presenting with "odd" behaviors. Some are even calling it an epidemic. In my opinion, in our very own experience, this can be explained by the increase in chemicals in our world. There is even the research to prove it! I honestly do believe that every child can benefit from a cleaner lifestyle and, as educated parents, with the help of Healthy Child Healthy World, we can give them that cleaner lifestyle that they deserve.

Thank you, Healthy Child Healthy World, for helping me help my son.

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