The Challenges of Behavioural Disorders

I know most of you are concerned about health and nutrition, your partner’s health, you children’s health and of course your own. You must be or you wouldn’t be on this page right? It can be extremely challenging to know how to keep the entire family at optimal health, especially those with kids and fussy eaters. A family health crisis was catalyst for a big change in my life, which started my desire to help others heal families, and take on the business of Broth of Life making a healing organic bone broth.

Like most young Australians, I was living the high life. I worked long hours in a corporate job in Sydney as a computer programmer, and my parter at the time did the same in property law. We were the definition of double income no kids! Work hard play hard was my motto.

I'd always been in minority groups throughout my life. I was a professional tennis player which made me different from all the other kids growing up. That career was promptly ended after 2 overseas tours and 3 shoulder surgeries. As I became older I settled down with a female partner which also happened to be a mixed race relationship. I am certainly no stranger to being ‘different ‘. So the universe thought being part of one more minority group would be a good idea, and as we decided to start a family, we fell pregnant with identical twin boys. Trust me, that was NOT planned!

From a young age, the boys, Callum and Jasper, were challenging. They didn't sleep. At all. Their behaviour was slightly abnormal and despite all our best efforts, and many professional interventions, we just could not calm these babies down. Only 6 weeks after welcoming them into the world, I found our youngest face down in his cot. He was limp, lifeless, grey and not breathing. It was every parent’s worst nightmare. Fortunately some talented paramedics were able to revive our boy, but his near death experience has affected me heavily, and will continue to do so for years to come. The doctors were never able to determine the “cause” of the collapse, and three years later with no clear answers, it was evident that our son’s ongoing health problems were causing behavioural issues.

This started us on our journey to optimal health. Despite his recovery, Jasper’s behaviour continued to be disturbing. He had excessively violent outbursts and tantrums that would go for several hours at a time. There was no way to console him and as he grew, it became more difficult to restrain him. He would scream and kick and throw items at walls. It had finally reached a point where my own safety was of concern.

I eventually found a medical team that were willing to help Jasper heal without ritalin or other heavy drugs that were previously being suggested and prescribed. It was this doctor that said the words that I had been too afraid to speak "if you don't start making changes, this child will grow up to be a danger to society", and I realised there was a long road ahead of us to full recovery. And from this point forward, a chemical free lifestyle became a non negotiable.

We removed all processed foods from his diet and noticed some marked improvements. There are no longer any chemicals, sugar, additives or preservatives in the family diet and he became a healthy strong young boy over several years of a strict regime. His gut requires a lot of ongoing work to repair the damage done when he was a baby.

I soon learnt the gut’s key role as the greatest instrument to wellbeing, and found the benefits of bone broth second to none for improving gut health, immunity, behavioural issues and general wellbeing. So our diet and lifestyle changed even further to incorporate bone broth on a daily basis. I can now report we have two healthy 11yo boys thriving in school.

This change of diet has completely changed our lives, and I am now passionate about the sharing the benefits of bone broth. The goodness that oozes with each batch of bone broth fills every sense perception, the nose, the heart, the soul and the gut! It can help cure a cold, is loaded with amino acids, which are proven to reduce inflammation, and it can help to aid digestion. Bone broth is high in collagen, the main protein found in bones, which can help soothe joint and muscle aches and is great for your skin. The glycine found in bone broth can help support optimal liver function. It can even improve sleep with its soothing properties.

I know how hard it is to incorporate bone broth into daily diet whilst busy juggling work and parenting, and I know a lot of families have the same problem – so the challenge was to create a product that was so convenient and simple that anyone could use it to supplement their daily diet. The answer was in dehydrating the bone broth – and creating a product that was simple to transport, store and use daily. It became my mission to make gut health easy for every day families!

The quality of bones and ingredients used to make bone broth are of such importance and led us to become committed to creating a Certified Organic product. The bones (and organs) of an animal are the richest source of nutrients but they also absorb any toxins in the system, and a bone broth extracts all of this, which we in turn ingest. Therefore it is of critical importance to only use the bones from the cleanest and healthiest produced animals – and these of course come from Certified Organic Chicken, Lamb and Beef (that are also grass fed from start to finish). Bones from animals that are not produced in an organic environment can be subject to radiation, pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics and growth hormones, which are passed on to our digestive system, defeating the purpose of consuming bone broth in the first place. Vibrational energy is also very important. All our products are handmade with love, so you can feel and taste the difference. You can even find our team singing joyously to the broth as they make it.

The dehydrated product has been created to allow use in everyday in soups, casseroles, pasta sauces and curries, adding flavour and nutrition to every meal. It is also fabulous when sprinkled on top of a meal in the same way you would a seasoning. Of course you can also rehydrate it with boiling water and drink it or – as some fans will attest – simply munch a spoonful of it straight from the jar! Having a jar of broth also allowed us to travel as a family and ensure Jasper would still get his full daily quota of nutrition, even if the food options available to us were less than favourable.

I encourage everyone to incorporate bone broth into their daily lives. Whether you cook it yourself in a pot, use a slow cooker or purchase dehydrated broth to supplement your own supply. Try it out for yourself and feel the benefits! It is one element that helped our lives become enjoyable!

Happy healthy guts,

Alison