“The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”

Jordan was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 and had the typical issues and symptoms that autism brings growing up.

His food selection became next to none.  He had become a picky eater. If I am being completely honest, at the time, as long as he ate I was happy. He had enjoyed quite the variety prior, but slowly he started refusing foods until we realized he would tend towards foods that had the same colour.  We call that “blonde foods” in the autism community. 

Looking back, his health was suffering without us realizing.  He was either severely constipated, or had severe diarrhea, his stool was always a sandy color.  

He also had severe sensory issues and it wasn’t limited just to taste and smell but sound too.  The flushing of toilets or automatic hand driers were hard for him.  Even walking into a store would be an issue.

He didn’t point, made no eye contact, and was speech delayed.  He wasn’t responding to his name, lined up his toys, played with them inappropriately and didn’t understand pretend play. 

His behavior was very rigid and very unpredictable.  We would be ready to go out and something would trigger him that caused an outbreak of behavior.  We would have to wait for him to get over it or just forgo the outing all together.  He always needed to be first and we always needed to take the same route when driving places.  He would spit, hit himself, flop on the floor, bang his head or rock back and forth.  

So, even though we knew it was autism when we received the official diagnosis I cried.  It felt that we just got our life sentence.  When you become a parent you want to see your child grow and have all those typical experiences.  With Jordan, we didn’t know what school would look like, what friends would look like.  We weren’t given any direction for help other than a few resources to look into.   We spend countless hours researching autism and its treatments, but other than therapies, there was none.  Children with autism struggle with so many symptoms and we just didn’t know what path to take. 

We started with therapies in ABA, speech and OT even prior to his diagnosis, and we were very fortunate that he was accepted into an autism treatment program for JK and SK.  However, still at the age of 6 prior to starting grade 1, both his receptive and expressive language was still at the 1 percentile and his behaviors were still very prominent.  We decided to enroll him in a mainstream class.  His way of eating and the symptoms that came with it also remained.  My husband and I continued to work hard to get him all the support we could get.  I thought I had uncovered every stone but I really hadn’t.

Life changed when my practitioner suggested we start looking into Jordan’s gut just as she did for me.  She heard my struggles and offered to dig deeper. So in late 2017, we started with functional lab testing.  After a few tests we uncovered he had nutrient deficiencies, leaky gut, parasites, bacterial overgrowth and detoxification problems.  He had a lot going on in his little body.  

We were given his individualized protocol, but was told we needed to change his diet.  I still remember the day she told me.  I said “I can't do that?  He’s such a picky eater and has severe sensory issues to taste, touch, and smell.  There was no way I could get him to eat new foods.”  Jordan by then was only eating chicken nuggets, fries, fish crackers, cereals and cookies.  The only real food he would eat was salmon and cucumber.  Everything else was processed.   Getting him to take supplements was just as hard, so I had to find ways to slip it in the little food variety I had to work with. All I could think of was the behavior and resistance to get him to even try new foods.

I had forgotten that while in his treatment program his teachers had taught me the strategies and techniques in adding new foods. So I did manage to slowly change his diet and a few weeks after I started seeing subtle changes. 

The countless hours spent with him in therapies only to come home frustrated, sad and like I was failing.  I realized the answers I had been searching for were literally right under my noise.  Sure Jordan made progress in all the programs we found for him, but it wasn’t until I started changing the foods he ate did we start noticing the significant change. 

Today, Jordan is a very healthy eater who loves dessert. He tries all types of foods, fruits and vegetables. Thanks to Nutritional Science and Functional Medicine, I would have never understood the importance of a healthy gut and the role nutrition plays. But it’s learning how to apply such knowledge in our multivariate world, called life, have I developed an awareness and mastered the strategies essential to achieving a healthy gut for my family and I.

The hardest part in all of this is changing food habits but it is the most rewarding.  As food habits change so did behavior.  Now there are no more cooking separate meals and no more protesting.  No more gaging, the sensory has decreased. Mealtime has been more relaxing and enjoyable. He’s made insurmountable improvements.  He is funny, and clever.  He has supportive friends, likes reading, sleeps well, talks up a storm, asks great questions, has conversations, shows emotions, and even fights with his brother. 

Up to 90% of kids with autism suffer from GI issues that is actually treatable.  Many have severely disrupted digestion issues, gastro intestinal problems that lead to overproduction of toxins. Poor food choices contribute to systemic inflammation.  

Foods contribute to behavior and rigidity and other symptoms that come with autism. There is an abundance of evidence that nutrition can play a significant role in all behaviours.  All of which affect the brain.  The gut brain connection is real.

Food plays a huge role in healing digestive issues, filing nutritional gaps, and bringing the body back into balance. 

The hardest part in helping our children heal is changing their diet.

I now advise, train, motivate, and empower parents with children with autism or other behavioral issues to understand the ideal balance between gut heath, eating habits, family lifestyle and behavioral circumstances as it pertains to their child’s individual circumstances.  Collectively, I provide parents with a holistic approach that allows them to best support their child’s growth and opportunities to succeed in life.

I truly believe autism is not just a brain disorder but a bodily dysfunction that affects the brain, and through nutrition and bio individuality your child can thrive. 

I look forward to working with you to uncover your child’s root cause, create a solution and lead you both to a better quality of life.