September 23, 2025 • 40 mins
Dive deep into the fascinating world where regenerative agriculture meets human health with landscape architect and author Matthew Mehuys. From his roots on a Belgian family farm to his current mission transforming farmland in the Azores, Matthew shares how his personal journey through crisis became the catalyst for his life's purpose.
The conversation reveals startling truths about our modern food system. After World War II, military chemicals found new homes in agriculture, dramatically increasing yields while unknowingly setting the stage for soil degradation and nutritional decline. Matthew explains how this "Green Revolution" prioritized quantity over quality, transforming even our wheat into heavier, gluten-loaded varieties designed for profit rather than nutrition.
Most compelling is the revelation about regenerative farming's climate potential: converting just half of global farms to regenerative methods could return atmospheric carbon to pre-industrial levels within seven years. This isn't just environmentalism—it's a practical solution to our most pressing planetary challenge while producing more nutritious food.
Host Sarah Bradford shares her powerful personal experience removing casein and gluten from her autistic son's diet, witnessing him speak 50 words within a week after being non-verbal. Their discussion bridges the gap between food production methods and human health outcomes, suggesting that how we grow our food profoundly impacts our wellbeing.
Whether you're concerned about climate change, interested in health optimization, or simply curious about where your food comes from, this episode offers transformative insights into how supporting regenerative agriculture through everyday purchasing decisions can create meaningful change. As Matthew says, "The way you buy your products is what really changes the world."
Check out Matthew's book "12 Universal Laws of Nature" and connect with him on social media for practical guidance on regenerative gardening and sustainable living.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The SJ Childs Show is Backford's 13th season.
Join Sarah Bradford and the SJChilds Show team as they explore
the world of autism and sharestories of hope and inspiration.
This season we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
(00:20):
Go to sjchildsorg to donate andto get more information.
Congratulations on 2024's20,000 downloads and 300
episodes.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We are back.
Hello, it's so nice to have youhere today and you're in
probably one of the mostbeautiful places in the world,
closest to the equator.
Lucky you, and you know there's.
They say that that is like thethe best frequency on the earth
(01:00):
is to be by there.
Maybe I could come that downthere someday over there I'm not
sure which way it is from you.
It's so nice to have you heretoday.
Thanks for taking your time tocome and share with us, um, your
well of experiences and, uh,share a little bit about
(01:21):
yourself with us today.
So, thank you so much.
We are joined by Matthew.
I'm going to say it wrong, soI'm going to say Matthew and I'm
not going to pronounce yourlast name either, but please
introduce yourself so that wecan hear it correctly.
And I don't do any damage toanything.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Thank you.
Thank you very much for havingme on your show.
I'm very excited about what youdo, and so my full name is
Mathieu Mehuys, or you could sayMatthew Myhouse, if we like
translate it literally.
So yeah, I was born on a farm,I'm a landscape architect and I
work with a lot of things whereI can tell you my backstory, if
(02:00):
you want, please, with a lot ofthings where I can tell you my
backstory, if you want Please.
So yeah, like I said, I grew upon a family farm.
Both my father and my brotherare still active farmers today,
and it's a farm that I grew upin.
At the time, it was still amore industrial chemicals farm,
(02:21):
and we're currentlytransitioning it to become a
regenerative and organic farm,which is a work in progress.
But when I grew up on the farm,sarah, I was about five years
old probably less even, but itwas my earliest memory.
I was so fascinated about howplants grow.
So, around the time I was sixyears old, I told my parents I
(02:41):
want to start my own garden.
So I had a school teacher whowas teaching us how to make
cuttings, how to seed, how to doall of that stuff, and I did
that and, from learning it frommy teacher, I said, okay, I'm
going to do it at home.
I started out it was a completedisaster because I had no clue.
I was growing more weeds thananything else, even though at
(03:06):
first I was growing.
Radishes is the easiest crop togrow.
It gives you like if you wantto start vegetable growing,
start with radishes.
Within four to six weeks you'llhave something to harvest and
to eat.
So when I was six years old, Iwas so proud of growing my first
radishes.
But then I yeah, I was.
I was completely failing.
I had no clue why.
So I went on into my life.
(03:27):
I actually also had a chickenegg business in our farm.
I had 20 chicken.
I was collecting my eggs everyday.
I was selling them to friendsand connections of my parents.
That was a lot of fun.
And then by the time I got 18, Isaid I want to study something
tangible and something that Ican be outdoors.
So I studied garden andlandscape design.
(03:49):
I then went on to do a master'sin landscape architecture in
Germany and Munich, which wasdesigned for big scale projects,
and then I did what was kind ofexpected of me to get a nine to
five job, right, it's likethat's the thing you study and
then you get a nine to five.
And I was doing that for twoand a half years.
And, sarah, I became sodepressed from being in that
(04:12):
nine to five because it wasn'tfor me to be in like this rigid
system.
I'm very grateful that I did it, because I learned a whole lot
about how to do proper planningin big scale projects, because
the Germans are very like,they're very yeah, they're some
of the best engineers in theworld.
So I was working in thatenvironment.
But then I quit my job and I hitthe road.
(04:34):
I said I'm going to travel theworld and find the most amazing
eco projects in the world.
So I went to eco resorts, Iworked on farms, I went to
Southeast Asia, to South AmericaI've been to like a bunch of
places to South Africa and Ilearned so much from this
experience.
And then actually I went to theAmazon rainforest and because I
(04:57):
wanted to see what is like thedeepest, real, pristine nature
and it was so impressive that Iwas like, wow, this is so
amazing.
We have to preserve this or wehave to make sure that we make
sure that our environment cansustain this beautiful piece on
our planet.
And then, sarah, I got reallysick.
(05:18):
Um, I I got a disease that'scalled dengue from actually
going to the Amazon rainforestand I actually was.
I had lost all my money.
Then I was done by mygirlfriend.
I had to move in back with myparents.
So everything went south in ashort time.
But in retrospect it was thebest thing that ever happened to
(05:41):
me, because I was kind of likerock bottom and I said like,
okay, why am I here on thisplanet?
What am I doing here?
And from that I was like okay,I'm actually here to make sure
that we can protect thisbeautiful, pristine nature.
And how can we do that?
Well, I know garden design andlandscape.
If I get people to do it in aregenerative, organic way, then
(06:01):
we're actually going to make theworld a better place and we're
going to help people in theirdirect environment.
Because I'll tell you, sarah, inthe, in the gardening industry,
there's so much chemicals aswell that that are being used.
Like in some cases, if you havea, a lawn that's maintained by
by a normal, conventional umlandscaping company, you
(06:23):
actually don't want to berolling in that grass because
it's full of chemicals and it'spoisoning your family.
So from that mission I startedmy company, which is called
Polonia Landscape Architects,and it soon went off and now we
have clients in four continents,even because I love traveling,
(06:43):
and I also wrote a book which iscalled 12 Universal Laws of
Nature how to get the mostpotential out of your land,
which won awards.
I was featured in a documentarycalled the Cure an inside joke,
which is all about holistichealth and like there's all
kinds of practitioners in themovie which are chiropractors,
(07:04):
natural healers, which is allamazing.
And I'm kind of the odd fish inthe pond, kind of like the
black sheep there, because I'mtalking about farming and
growing food and growing yourown garden, because that has a
massive impact on your healthand it will definitely have an
impact on belief and I'd love tohear your perspective on that
on autism as well.
(07:25):
So that's what I've been doingtoday and now I live in in and I
was grown up in in Belgium, butI moved to the Azores because
something drew me to come hereand it's been a great choice,
because now this beautifulisland is there's.
There's something happening withfarmers that a lot of farmers
it's actually a global trend Alot of farmers are getting into
(07:48):
retirement age and theirchildren don't necessarily want
to continue the farming businessbecause they've seen how much
their parents have suffered andhow hard it is, which is a whole
other story.
We could talk about why it'sbecome so difficult, which is
the pharmaceuticals and chemicalcompanies that made it really
hard for farmers.
(08:08):
But anyways, those farms are upfor sale now and farmers don't
necessarily want to sell it toanyone.
So I'm connecting investorsthat want to do impactful
investing so they can buy thosefarmlands, and then I'm also
continuing to transform it intoa regenerative farm that
produces healthy foods thatpeople can come, because there's
(08:29):
quite a lot of tourism here, sopeople can experience the
Azorean tradition.
So, yeah, I'm just in themiddle of the Atlantic in a
small island group doing what Ican.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I love it.
And how lucky am I that I nowhave two friends in Azores.
Okay, oh wow.
I'm definitely coming splittingmy vacation.
No, just joking.
Yeah, so exciting.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Come, we'd love to host you here and show you the
island.
It's magical.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
My friend, mishka Seibert.
If you don't already know her,maybe I need to connect you two.
She's incredible too, and doingincredible things, so that
place must bring magic to thosewho live there, because, yeah,
she's also just like awhirlwinding, like fascinating
individual.
Like a whirlwinding, likefascinating individual, well,
(09:24):
that's so.
I think that you really havesomething to.
You know so much value in whatyou're doing, because when we
really go back to it, this, theland, is where everything began.
That's where all of creationbegan, was from the earth, and I
think that we've gotten so faraway and now we're really in
(09:48):
this um era where we're kind oflooking back at, maybe, where
we've missed and the missinglinks or the, the roads that
have missed, you know, crossedone another, and paths that
we've taken incorrectly, likeall of the chemicals and all of
the, but I guess that that'sjust kind of part of the
(10:11):
evolution of our, of our worldand our our life and humans, um,
but I think that it's, it'sfascinating and I love that you
kind of had the experience, um,to have the contrast.
I don't love that you got sickand you, you know that's no,
that's horrible.
But to have contrast and beable to see, um, what is is
(10:34):
happening, especially on aglobal scale, is so big and
there are so many that will belistening and seeing this, that
don't have that opportunity,that don't have that um
experience and and seeing this,that don't have that opportunity
, that don't have thatexperience, and how much that
actually grows your mind andyour thoughts and your ideas and
your passion, probably forcommunity more than anything
(10:57):
else.
I think that going back to kindof basics is really where we
need to start, with ourparenting as well.
I was just talking to myhusband about this the other day
and we have teenagers and wewere talking about the idea that
(11:23):
parents have to be in controlof their teenage person all the
time and how absurd that is andhow, when they were pioneers or
whatever you know, they werejust like traveling, like they
weren't concerned.
The adults were doing what theyneeded to do.
The children were like kind offollowing and it was this, do it
(11:44):
in your own time, kind of inyour own way experience that
we've really gotten away from,from all of the control and
expectations that we have oftoday, and I think that that
goes from business all the waydown into our homes, right into
our homes, right, and that it'sthis like mentality of control
(12:05):
and it's it's it's dangerous andI don't think it really brings
like fruitful, you know,experiences or opportunities to
people.
What do you think and how canfarming and agriculture really
(12:29):
start changing and sustainable,like you said, like um, to
explain them to us a little bitabout like what that means for
someone that might notunderstand that and how that
could start changing our societythat's a great question.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So if we just go a little bit back in history, not
even that long ago and it's oneof your presidents who said it I
think that farming is thebackbone of society.
So the way we treat our farmersis the way our society is going
.
So we could start like blamingpeople and doing all that stuff,
(13:03):
stuff, but it's not veryvaluable, even though it's
important to know the history offarming.
So what happened is that duringthe first and second world war
there was a lot of chemicalwarfare.
So they started to usechemicals in, especially in the
first world war um, a littleless than the second because
there was regulations, believeit or not.
(13:24):
A little less than a second,because there was regulations,
believe it or not.
But then the world Still a lotof the bombs were made with
nitrogen and nitrogen is veryexplosive.
So then the World War ended andso all these military companies
and build bombs and all thechemicals were like shit, we
have all this stuff.
We can't, we can't sell itanymore because there's no more
(13:45):
war, so let's.
And and then they startedexperimenting with throwing it
on the field and looking at what, how plants react to it, and,
interestingly enough, they foundout that, throwing on it on
plants, it actually increasedthe yields and it increased the
productivity of farming.
And that's what happened in the50s, which they called the
(14:06):
Green Revolution.
It's an excelling speed atwhich the productivity of
farming increased drastically.
In fact, that revolution, wecould even say, pretty much
eradicated world hunger.
Now you can still argue today,there is still some world hunger
.
Now you can still argue todaythere is still some world hunger
(14:26):
.
It has to do with climatechange, which is another thing
we have to well, which is thebiggest challenge of our modern
time, I think.
But back then it eradicatedworld hunger pretty much, and at
the same time, and at the sametime, what they didn't know, I
believe, is that it has adevastating effect on the soil.
(14:48):
So, as we're adding all thesechemicals, we're actually
exploiting the soil, we'remaking it, we're destructing it.
And if you look at our planet,the biggest land use on our
planet is agriculture.
So then, the way we did,industrial farming on a mega
scale across the globe has beendestroying our soils, and when
(15:11):
soils are destroyed, it's veryhard to produce healthy food.
So now there's and they say,like you can only do 50 harvests
in an industrial way.
So we're getting in thattipping point where farmland is
no longer as productive or wehave to keep adding more
chemicals and more fertilizerevery year.
(15:32):
So it's becoming more expensivefor farmers to reach the same
amount of yields, which, at thesame time, food prices are not
going up as much as the costsare extending.
So this is like a system whichis completely unsustainable.
It's like it's a dead end.
So now, luckily, there's goodnews.
(15:53):
There's something which iscalled regenerative farming,
which is based more on naturalsystems, because and I talk
about that in my book, 12universal laws of nature is that
our planet works in a certainway.
It has been working in acertain way for millions and
millions of years.
Now we can try, and we can tryand fight against that which was
(16:13):
the industrial farming is likeexploiting from nature and and
pretty much destroying the soil,or we could actually try and
work with nature and still getwhat we need.
So when we focus more onnatural systems such as
photosynthesis, like this is howplants grow and we add, we find
ways to add nutrients to thesoil in a natural way, for
(16:35):
example through composting orother systems then we can
actually produce abundance offood, which is also good for our
environment.
Because when you do regenerativefarming, as a little side
effect I always say like peopleare focusing on it now, but it's
kind of a side effect is thatit's storing huge amounts of
(16:55):
carbon dioxide that is in ouratmosphere, whereas the
industrial way of tilling andchemicals and all that stuff
it's adding more carbon dioxideto the atmosphere.
So it's speeding up climatechange the way we are farming,
whereas if we do theregenerative way, it's something
called carbon farming, wherewe're actually putting a lot of
(17:16):
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
So you could say, like theagricultural complex, the whole
system of our food, it is thebiggest impactor of climate
change.
But at the same time, that'swhere the solutions lay.
Like if we, if we have theability to transform half of the
farms and make themregenerative, within seven years
we could be in pre-industrialrevolution levels of carbon
(17:40):
dioxide, which means we canreverse climate change in seven
years.
And there's very few peopletalk that.
Talk about that because the themost, the biggest paradigm is
like we have to reduce emissions, we have to stop all this stuff
, but nobody's focusing on likewe can actually reverse it so we
can also keep our um yeah, thecomfortable lives that we have,
(18:03):
we don't necessarily have tochange them.
We can actually produceabundance of healthy food when
we do it regeneratively.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So that's, in a nutshell, why agriculture is
probably the most importantthing of our of our modern times
as well I think that's sofascinating and, just being a
beginning gardener myself, likeI can literally feel the
difference from one side of myyard to the next, where the
(18:33):
concrete has taken over andcannot be cooled, and it just
heats up and heats up andreflects and heats up some more.
And then I go on to the otherside of my yard where it's all
grass and plants and trees andit's cool and the ground is cool
and it can cool itself down.
(18:54):
And have we been thinking aboutthis, anyone Like?
There's obvious effects rightin front of us that are being
just kind of not looked at atall, isn't?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
that interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So, yeah, you really can.
You can just like there's a hugedifference in the way that the
ground can cool itself, orbecause I'm in a hot desert and
so I need to try to stay cool asmuch as possible.
Yes, but I think that the theimportance of of looking at this
(19:30):
isn't it is something thatwe're really lucky to be in this
era and generation of havingwonderful experts like you who
are seeing more than just thesmall details, but the big
picture, um and that's somethingthat we really appreciate,
especially here on my show is isbeing able to see, larger than
(19:52):
than the, the ideas that peoplemight have in front of them,
because we are, um, you know,not only enjoying the earth
every day for ourselves, butthose of us who are have, have
children or bringing familiesinto it.
We want the earth to be aroundfor them and we want to be able
to be um kind of at uh, beingable to be sustainable in our um
(20:17):
agriculture.
I think that that is is sosmart and obviously, like you
had mentioned earlier, theeffects that these foods have on
our bodies is just undeniablethe processed foods, the
chemicals.
We're seeing generations ofwhat those effects can be.
(20:42):
Generations of what thoseeffects can be, and how nice
will it be if more of us can getonto the idea that the um
growing our own foods and andcreating this um
self-sustainable ecosystem forour families, uh is such an
important and um an idea that weall should be looking into.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
If anything, I agree.
I think it's becoming anecessity in the world because a
lot of the foods in manycountries, including the US,
it's not made for consumption,it's packed with chemicals.
Consumption like it's packedwith chemicals uh, I think I saw
(21:27):
an article that in the usthere's, or the the european
union is banning around 2 000chemicals that are not banned in
the in the us for farmproduction and food processing.
So if you're buying stuff, evenorganic, because even organic
is is not as good as it soundslike, still it's your best bet,
(21:51):
but it's just packed withchemicals.
And then I'm I'm curious toknow from your perspective as
well, and how much you thinkthat it affects autism.
Do you think there's acorrelation between the
chemicals and autism, or is thata misconception?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh, I think that that's a wonderful question.
There's an article that's I'mgoing to answer it kind of
two-sided there, because anarticle just recently came out
that was stating that they hadtaken the DNA from a Neanderthal
and they were seeing, um,autistic aspects in that there
(22:30):
were in the like hunter gatherertype of um, uh, I guess,
actions that they would display.
Which makes me feel really good,because in my early days of
researching and doing, I was amedical paralegal before I
became an autism mom and so,excuse me, when I was doing my
(22:52):
research, I had just a reallygood idea of what I was looking
at and how to go through theinformation and sort it, and
what I found in all of myreading in the whole was an
understanding of evolution morethan anything else, an
understanding that throughoutall of this time, these types of
(23:15):
brains have been uncovering andunfolding and revealing
themselves, if you will,throughout time, and so I think
it's fascinating.
However, I do full-heartedlybelieve in the idea that there
(23:39):
are chemicals out there that cancause symptomatic effects that
resemble autisticcharacteristics, if you will for
maybe non-speaking or stimmingor physical effects.
And I only say that due to thefact that my whole family is
autistic.
I'm late diagnosed.
My son was diagnosed at 18months 16, 18 months and he was
(24:03):
very severe and at the time hewas non-speaking, he would spin
circles, he would hum and flaphis arms and all the same he was
reading.
I had found this readingprogram I was working with him
with and he was showing me thathe could read and so I could see
(24:24):
this, um, uh, this difficultkind of where he as a human, you
know, had all of this knowledgeand information and he was
getting all of this but theoutput was that's where he
struggled.
He struggled with all of thisoutput of the information or the
(24:44):
energy or what he was dealingwith In my research.
I also somebody had sent to mean article or a website about
gluten and casein and I thought,okay, that's interesting.
But I didn't want to just belike fad diet, you know, throw
my kid into something I didn'tunderstand.
(25:05):
And so I fully researched whatis gluten, what is casein?
They are both proteins.
Protein.
I believe that proteininflammation is kind of the
underlying is kind of theunderlying, like that's.
The underlier is what I'll callit, and I think that protein
(25:27):
malfunction um hasn't been, uh,researched enough, like they're
not.
Maybe they can start looking atthat and how that function,
because when I removed the casein which was the first protein
that I removed from his body,because when I was learning
(25:51):
about what the casein couldaffect, I was learning it could
cause inflammation in theneuropaths, it could cause
inflammation connecting thesynapses to maybe block my
child's ability to speak.
Um, and this, of course, is soindividual.
I'm not a scientist, I'm not amedical doctor.
I'm just a mom who is anautistic, very smart mom who is
(26:12):
on a mission to do whatever Icould Right and um, we took the
case now.
Now he had been reading andwriting for nearly three years
and he was only five years old.
But as soon as the casein wasremoved, within the first week
and I went back and I checkedthese things, I recorded
(26:35):
everything he spoke 50 wordswithin the first week of
removing casein from his system,within the first week of
removing Kacen from his system.
Of course, we never went backand he has semi-verbal abilities
.
He doesn't have wonderfulreciprocative conversation
skills that's something we'll beworking on but his ability to
(26:56):
verbalize is there, and now thatwas something that was a gift
that every mother wants to heartheir child speak.
And now that was something thatwas a gift that you know every
mother wants to hear their childspeak.
And it was incredible.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I also have another friend who's brought up her
autistic son and they're doingamazing things.
I even think that autism is asuper gift, because you can see
things that other people can'tsee.
There's a beautiful movie.
I don't know if you've watchedit.
I can highly recommend it.
It's called temple grandin.
Have you heard of that one?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
oh, I've had temple on the show she's oh, you're
kidding me.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Wow, no, yeah, that's amazing thank you, yeah, she's
a, she's a superhero forregenerative farming.
Yes, what she does for for cowand animal welfare is amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I hadn't thought of that.
That would be a connection foryou, but 100%, 100% I really
love what you know she's.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I'd love to get her on my show.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Actually, I'll send her a you know recommendation,
but yeah, I think that it's,it's beautiful, and what she was
able to do was really start toshow the world that a different
type of brain wasn't a diseaseor a problem or a behavioral
(28:16):
inconsistency.
It was a pattern of thinkingand of learning that hadn't been
looked at before and hadn'tbeen given enough attention to.
And now we can be so gratefulthat we can have those you know
tools to use.
And one quote we like to say isa little bit of knowledge turns
(28:38):
fear into understanding, fearinto understanding, and that's a
lot.
What she did was turn that fearinto understanding with, just
by acknowledging and givingthose, uh, that community, her
community, the knowledge of whatshe was going through.
So I couldn't agree more.
Um, you know as, and then I'llfinish with this gluten story,
(28:58):
and then we're back to you.
But the um, the, when we tookthe gluten, um, we waited eight
weeks before we took gluten outof DJ's diet as well, as the
case in, and what I saw then andin my, also in my research,
I'll back up and say that Ifound that the gluten could
cause obviously a lot ofdigestive problems in where I
(29:23):
kind of viewed as hmm, maybethis is why my child is spinning
so much, maybe he's trying toorganize or some sort of you
know, regulate his body in someway.
That is not happening, that hisyou know body isn't doing for
him.
And when we took out the gluten, right away, the most of the
(29:48):
stimming stopped, the humming,the flapping, the spinning, um,
all of those behaviors andphysical manifestations of of
whatever he was going throughwith, that inflammation had
stopped.
And you know it's really hardbecause Not everyone, it's not
going to work for everyone,because everyone is built with a
(30:10):
different biological andchemical makeup and they react
to things differently.
This was just our experience.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I love it because I do believe the major factor is
food in your story here, yeah,and the way food is produced,
and, if you want, I can tell youabout why there's gluten in our
food, do you?
know, why so?
The, the food production systemafter world war ii, moved away
from quality and and localsystems to a global market of
(30:43):
producing food on a mega scale,and then the only thing that
mattered more more than qualitywas quantity.
So the, you're trading grainson the on the like it's like a
stock market, and so the onlygoal that that, or the shift was
from from quality grains to asmuch kilogram per hectare.
(31:05):
And then what they found out isthat they started to select
breeds of grains that just theyare just heavier in weight, and
the single biggest determinationof how you can increase the
weight of a grain is when thegluten content is way higher.
So gluten weighs way more than,or it makes the grains heavier,
(31:26):
and when your your grain isheavier, you'll get more tons
per hectare or per acre, andthat's how you make the most
amount of money as a farmer.
You can't blame the farmers,because just how the system
started to work, so all of the,the, the breads of, of grains
that were made for bread andeven for animal fodder, is is
(31:50):
directed to weighing heavy andnot on nutritional value.
So that's a huge mistake.
And now I'm strongly believingthat that shift will move away
again, because, if we can focuson on quality more than quantity
, because you can eat fiveloaves of bread that have high
amounts of gluten but they don'thave any minerals or or things
(32:12):
that are actually good for you,whereas whereas if you go to a,
if you go to italy or france,they have amazing old grains and
they make amazing pasta andbread and there's still gluten
in it.
It's just not in such a highlevel.
So people are super healthythere and they're skinny.
Even in Italy there's very fewpeople that are overweight.
(32:35):
So that's also.
Another misconception in food isthat carbs are bad for you.
That's getting debunked.
It's not the carbs, it's thetype of carbs.
When it's full of gluten, thenof course, carbs are bad for you
.
But if it's an older breed ofgrains and you make sourdough
(32:55):
bread and it's it's super tastyand healthy for you, then it's
it's perfect.
So that's kind of the backstoryof why the food that your child
was eating was just not goodfor him.
And it's not, it's for everyone.
Yeah, it's not just for peoplewith autism.
You, you have a bunch ofdiseases from eating high gluten
products.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Isn't that the truth?
And we're at a really, reallytipping point, I think.
Like you said where we are justtoday, I'm going to go down to
my local farmers co-op and I'mgoing to pick up a big box of
fruits and vegetables that cameoff of a farm here locally in
(33:36):
Salt Lake City.
Thank goodness, right that Ihave that kind of thing
available to me.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
That puts a big smile on my face.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
I love it.
I can't wait.
I'm really, really excited.
So, yeah, it's today's, today'spickup day, so we'll have our,
our fridge and counter stockedwith all the good stuff for the
week and that actually makes thebiggest transition and
difference for farmers.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
It's not so much how you vote.
You can be I don't think weneed to get political but voting
is only every four years andit's it is important.
But the way you buy yourproducts is what really changes
the world.
Because you're buying it from alocal, organic, regenerative
farmer, he's going to be able togrow his business, feed his own
family, and that that's whatreally changes the world.
(34:21):
So congrats on on doing that,not only for your family and
your personal health, but forthe farmers as well I mean, what
a perfect day for this episodeto be on, right I?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
just love it.
Serendipitous, this is perfect.
It's so great.
You know, I'd love to inviteyou back on because there are so
many more conversations wecould have and get into depth
about some more things.
What?
Tell me the name of the bookagain?
Because I was putting thebanner up and then I I just
(34:54):
stopped so I could listen andstop typing 12 Universal Laws of
Nature.
Of Nature Perfect.
Yes, and where can everybodyfind oh on Amazon Perfect
perfect yes and where caneverybody find?
Oh on amazon, perfect, pleasego and find 12 universal laws of
nature.
I myself can't wait to to lookinto it and find out more.
(35:18):
Um, is it on audible by anychance?
Speaker 3 (35:22):
oh, that's a really good question.
I have to sit together with mypodcaster, who wanted me to
record it because, so that wecan put it on audible, I have,
yeah, there's so much, uh, otherpriorities for the moment oh,
it's definitely going to happenthis year good.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh, I'd love to hear that, because that's my favorite
way of um, you know, absorbinginformation, so that's wonderful
.
This has been such a greatconversation and you have so
much to share.
Like I said, I'd love to haveyou back on to go over some more
, some more things and talkabout kind of, you know, just
(36:01):
health and nature and how thatwe can really just become better
for our environment.
And, you know, typicalneurotypical human is what we
all are and we all should beconcerned with our human bodies
and the way that we're living inthe world today.
(36:22):
So I hope that you receive somewonderful information from this
episode today and please go inand check out the 12 universal
laws of nature and also followum matthew on any social medias.
Is there any things you'd liketo share?
Your socials and things?
Speaker 3 (36:43):
oh, just quickly.
I'm active on a few platformslike on linkedin it's more
business-minded and forinvestors and people that want
to invest in regenerativefarmland or real estate.
Then on Instagram, it's moregardening tips and tricks and
hacks and how you can become aregenerative gardener.
(37:05):
That's a lot of fun.
Also, some of that on TikTokand Facebook is also where you
can find a lot of my information, both personal and about
gardening.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you for joining us.
What time is it there for you?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Good question.
It's now 7.45 pm.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Okay's 1 45 here, so we're about that's not too bad
of a difference six hourdifference there, so wonderful
I'm in the middle between the usand europe oh, and it is so
beautiful, like I said, like I'mso lucky to have two, two
friends now um in azores.
So I think it's calling to me.
(37:50):
I think that that's theuniverse giving me a special
message, isn't it?
Thank you so much for being heretoday.
Please, listeners, go and checkout the 12 laws of nature, 12
universal laws of nature, andalso think about how you are
using your gardening.
What are you feeding yourfamily?
(38:11):
And, of course, if you have anyautism questions or needs,
reach out to me at any time youneed to, and it was so nice to
have you here today and I reallylook forward to staying in
touch.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Me too, sarah, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Thank you very much for having me, thank you.
In the heart of the city she'sshining bright.
(38:47):
Oh yeah, stories of love andcourage all throughout the night
.
Thank you.
Love is a guide she'll neverhide.
She's changing the world foryou With a heart that's racing
(39:13):
strong.
Empathy's a melody In a journeywe all belong.
Followers gather like stars inthe night.
So bright, 44,000 voicessharing in the night.
(39:43):
Good night.
She's changing the world foryou With a heart that's fierce
and strong and both leaves amelody, a journey we all belong.
Through her eyes, a visionclear.
Together we rise, sheddingfears and every heart she plants
(40:04):
a seed Understanding her lovefor dearly me.
She changed the world for youWith a heart that's fierce and
(40:26):
strong.
Empathies and melodies you, butthe heart that's piercing
strong, and both these aremelodies, pretending we all
belong.
The SJ Childs Show is Backford's 13th season.
Join Sarah Bradford and the SJChilds Show team as they explore
the world of autism and sharestories of hope and inspiration.
This season we're excited tobring you more autism summits
featuring experts and advocatesfrom around the world.
(00:20):
Go to sjchildsorg to donate andto get more information.
Congratulations on 2024's20,000 downloads and 300
episodes.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
We are back.
Hello, it's so nice to have youhere today and you're in
probably one of the mostbeautiful places in the world,
closest to the equator.
Lucky you, and you know there's.
They say that that is like thethe best frequency on the earth
(01:00):
is to be by there.
Maybe I could come that downthere someday over there I'm not
sure which way it is from you.
It's so nice to have you heretoday.
Thanks for taking your time tocome and share with us, um, your
well of experiences and, uh,share a little bit about
(01:21):
yourself with us today.
So, thank you so much.
We are joined by Matthew.
I'm going to say it wrong, soI'm going to say Matthew and I'm
not going to pronounce yourlast name either, but please
introduce yourself so that wecan hear it correctly.
And I don't do any damage toanything.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Thank you.
Thank you very much for havingme on your show.
I'm very excited about what youdo, and so my full name is
Mathieu Mehuys, or you could sayMatthew Myhouse, if we like
translate it literally.
So yeah, I was born on a farm,I'm a landscape architect and I
work with a lot of things whereI can tell you my backstory, if
(02:00):
you want, please, with a lot ofthings where I can tell you my
backstory, if you want Please.
So yeah, like I said, I grew upon a family farm.
Both my father and my brotherare still active farmers today,
and it's a farm that I grew upin.
At the time, it was still amore industrial chemicals farm,
(02:21):
and we're currentlytransitioning it to become a
regenerative and organic farm,which is a work in progress.
But when I grew up on the farm,sarah, I was about five years
old probably less even, but itwas my earliest memory.
I was so fascinated about howplants grow.
So, around the time I was sixyears old, I told my parents I
(02:41):
want to start my own garden.
So I had a school teacher whowas teaching us how to make
cuttings, how to seed, how to doall of that stuff, and I did
that and, from learning it frommy teacher, I said, okay, I'm
going to do it at home.
I started out it was a completedisaster because I had no clue.
I was growing more weeds thananything else, even though at
(03:06):
first I was growing.
Radishes is the easiest crop togrow.
It gives you like if you wantto start vegetable growing,
start with radishes.
Within four to six weeks you'llhave something to harvest and
to eat.
So when I was six years old, Iwas so proud of growing my first
radishes.
But then I yeah, I was.
I was completely failing.
I had no clue why.
So I went on into my life.
(03:27):
I actually also had a chickenegg business in our farm.
I had 20 chicken.
I was collecting my eggs everyday.
I was selling them to friendsand connections of my parents.
That was a lot of fun.
And then by the time I got 18, Isaid I want to study something
tangible and something that Ican be outdoors.
So I studied garden andlandscape design.
(03:49):
I then went on to do a master'sin landscape architecture in
Germany and Munich, which wasdesigned for big scale projects,
and then I did what was kind ofexpected of me to get a nine to
five job, right, it's likethat's the thing you study and
then you get a nine to five.
And I was doing that for twoand a half years.
And, sarah, I became sodepressed from being in that
(04:12):
nine to five because it wasn'tfor me to be in like this rigid
system.
I'm very grateful that I did it, because I learned a whole lot
about how to do proper planningin big scale projects, because
the Germans are very like,they're very yeah, they're some
of the best engineers in theworld.
So I was working in thatenvironment.
But then I quit my job and I hitthe road.
(04:34):
I said I'm going to travel theworld and find the most amazing
eco projects in the world.
So I went to eco resorts, Iworked on farms, I went to
Southeast Asia, to South AmericaI've been to like a bunch of
places to South Africa and Ilearned so much from this
experience.
And then actually I went to theAmazon rainforest and because I
(04:57):
wanted to see what is like thedeepest, real, pristine nature
and it was so impressive that Iwas like, wow, this is so
amazing.
We have to preserve this or wehave to make sure that we make
sure that our environment cansustain this beautiful piece on
our planet.
And then, sarah, I got reallysick.
(05:18):
Um, I I got a disease that'scalled dengue from actually
going to the Amazon rainforestand I actually was.
I had lost all my money.
Then I was done by mygirlfriend.
I had to move in back with myparents.
So everything went south in ashort time.
But in retrospect it was thebest thing that ever happened to
(05:41):
me, because I was kind of likerock bottom and I said like,
okay, why am I here on thisplanet?
What am I doing here?
And from that I was like okay,I'm actually here to make sure
that we can protect thisbeautiful, pristine nature.
And how can we do that?
Well, I know garden design andlandscape.
If I get people to do it in aregenerative, organic way, then
(06:01):
we're actually going to make theworld a better place and we're
going to help people in theirdirect environment.
Because I'll tell you, sarah, inthe, in the gardening industry,
there's so much chemicals aswell that that are being used.
Like in some cases, if you havea, a lawn that's maintained by
by a normal, conventional umlandscaping company, you
(06:23):
actually don't want to berolling in that grass because
it's full of chemicals and it'spoisoning your family.
So from that mission I startedmy company, which is called
Polonia Landscape Architects,and it soon went off and now we
have clients in four continents,even because I love traveling,
(06:43):
and I also wrote a book which iscalled 12 Universal Laws of
Nature how to get the mostpotential out of your land,
which won awards.
I was featured in a documentarycalled the Cure an inside joke,
which is all about holistichealth and like there's all
kinds of practitioners in themovie which are chiropractors,
(07:04):
natural healers, which is allamazing.
And I'm kind of the odd fish inthe pond, kind of like the
black sheep there, because I'mtalking about farming and
growing food and growing yourown garden, because that has a
massive impact on your healthand it will definitely have an
impact on belief and I'd love tohear your perspective on that
on autism as well.
(07:25):
So that's what I've been doingtoday and now I live in in and I
was grown up in in Belgium, butI moved to the Azores because
something drew me to come hereand it's been a great choice,
because now this beautifulisland is there's.
There's something happening withfarmers that a lot of farmers
it's actually a global trend Alot of farmers are getting into
(07:48):
retirement age and theirchildren don't necessarily want
to continue the farming businessbecause they've seen how much
their parents have suffered andhow hard it is, which is a whole
other story.
We could talk about why it'sbecome so difficult, which is
the pharmaceuticals and chemicalcompanies that made it really
hard for farmers.
(08:08):
But anyways, those farms are upfor sale now and farmers don't
necessarily want to sell it toanyone.
So I'm connecting investorsthat want to do impactful
investing so they can buy thosefarmlands, and then I'm also
continuing to transform it intoa regenerative farm that
produces healthy foods thatpeople can come, because there's
(08:29):
quite a lot of tourism here, sopeople can experience the
Azorean tradition.
So, yeah, I'm just in themiddle of the Atlantic in a
small island group doing what Ican.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I love it.
And how lucky am I that I nowhave two friends in Azores.
Okay, oh wow.
I'm definitely coming splittingmy vacation.
No, just joking.
Yeah, so exciting.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Come, we'd love to host you here and show you the
island.
It's magical.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
My friend, mishka Seibert.
If you don't already know her,maybe I need to connect you two.
She's incredible too, and doingincredible things, so that
place must bring magic to thosewho live there, because, yeah,
she's also just like awhirlwinding, like fascinating
individual.
Like a whirlwinding, likefascinating individual, well,
(09:24):
that's so.
I think that you really havesomething to.
You know so much value in whatyou're doing, because when we
really go back to it, this, theland, is where everything began.
That's where all of creationbegan, was from the earth, and I
think that we've gotten so faraway and now we're really in
(09:48):
this um era where we're kind oflooking back at, maybe, where
we've missed and the missinglinks or the, the roads that
have missed, you know, crossedone another, and paths that
we've taken incorrectly, likeall of the chemicals and all of
the, but I guess that that'sjust kind of part of the
(10:11):
evolution of our, of our worldand our our life and humans, um,
but I think that it's, it'sfascinating and I love that you
kind of had the experience, um,to have the contrast.
I don't love that you got sickand you, you know that's no,
that's horrible.
But to have contrast and beable to see, um, what is is
(10:34):
happening, especially on aglobal scale, is so big and
there are so many that will belistening and seeing this, that
don't have that opportunity,that don't have that um
experience and and seeing this,that don't have that opportunity
, that don't have thatexperience, and how much that
actually grows your mind andyour thoughts and your ideas and
your passion, probably forcommunity more than anything
(10:57):
else.
I think that going back to kindof basics is really where we
need to start, with ourparenting as well.
I was just talking to myhusband about this the other day
and we have teenagers and wewere talking about the idea that
(11:23):
parents have to be in controlof their teenage person all the
time and how absurd that is andhow, when they were pioneers or
whatever you know, they werejust like traveling, like they
weren't concerned.
The adults were doing what theyneeded to do.
The children were like kind offollowing and it was this, do it
(11:44):
in your own time, kind of inyour own way experience that
we've really gotten away from,from all of the control and
expectations that we have oftoday, and I think that that
goes from business all the waydown into our homes, right into
our homes, right, and that it'sthis like mentality of control
(12:05):
and it's it's it's dangerous andI don't think it really brings
like fruitful, you know,experiences or opportunities to
people.
What do you think and how canfarming and agriculture really
(12:29):
start changing and sustainable,like you said, like um, to
explain them to us a little bitabout like what that means for
someone that might notunderstand that and how that
could start changing our societythat's a great question.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
So if we just go a little bit back in history, not
even that long ago and it's oneof your presidents who said it I
think that farming is thebackbone of society.
So the way we treat our farmersis the way our society is going
.
So we could start like blamingpeople and doing all that stuff,
(13:03):
stuff, but it's not veryvaluable, even though it's
important to know the history offarming.
So what happened is that duringthe first and second world war
there was a lot of chemicalwarfare.
So they started to usechemicals in, especially in the
first world war um, a littleless than the second because
there was regulations, believeit or not.
(13:24):
A little less than a second,because there was regulations,
believe it or not.
But then the world Still a lotof the bombs were made with
nitrogen and nitrogen is veryexplosive.
So then the World War ended andso all these military companies
and build bombs and all thechemicals were like shit, we
have all this stuff.
We can't, we can't sell itanymore because there's no more
(13:45):
war, so let's.
And and then they startedexperimenting with throwing it
on the field and looking at what, how plants react to it, and,
interestingly enough, they foundout that, throwing on it on
plants, it actually increasedthe yields and it increased the
productivity of farming.
And that's what happened in the50s, which they called the
(14:06):
Green Revolution.
It's an excelling speed atwhich the productivity of
farming increased drastically.
In fact, that revolution, wecould even say, pretty much
eradicated world hunger.
Now you can still argue today,there is still some world hunger
.
Now you can still argue todaythere is still some world hunger
(14:26):
.
It has to do with climatechange, which is another thing
we have to well, which is thebiggest challenge of our modern
time, I think.
But back then it eradicatedworld hunger pretty much, and at
the same time, and at the sametime, what they didn't know, I
believe, is that it has adevastating effect on the soil.
(14:48):
So, as we're adding all thesechemicals, we're actually
exploiting the soil, we'remaking it, we're destructing it.
And if you look at our planet,the biggest land use on our
planet is agriculture.
So then, the way we did,industrial farming on a mega
scale across the globe has beendestroying our soils, and when
(15:11):
soils are destroyed, it's veryhard to produce healthy food.
So now there's and they say,like you can only do 50 harvests
in an industrial way.
So we're getting in thattipping point where farmland is
no longer as productive or wehave to keep adding more
chemicals and more fertilizerevery year.
(15:32):
So it's becoming more expensivefor farmers to reach the same
amount of yields, which, at thesame time, food prices are not
going up as much as the costsare extending.
So this is like a system whichis completely unsustainable.
It's like it's a dead end.
So now, luckily, there's goodnews.
(15:53):
There's something which iscalled regenerative farming,
which is based more on naturalsystems, because and I talk
about that in my book, 12universal laws of nature is that
our planet works in a certainway.
It has been working in acertain way for millions and
millions of years.
Now we can try, and we can tryand fight against that which was
(16:13):
the industrial farming is likeexploiting from nature and and
pretty much destroying the soil,or we could actually try and
work with nature and still getwhat we need.
So when we focus more onnatural systems such as
photosynthesis, like this is howplants grow and we add, we find
ways to add nutrients to thesoil in a natural way, for
(16:35):
example through composting orother systems then we can
actually produce abundance offood, which is also good for our
environment.
Because when you do regenerativefarming, as a little side
effect I always say like peopleare focusing on it now, but it's
kind of a side effect is thatit's storing huge amounts of
(16:55):
carbon dioxide that is in ouratmosphere, whereas the
industrial way of tilling andchemicals and all that stuff
it's adding more carbon dioxideto the atmosphere.
So it's speeding up climatechange the way we are farming,
whereas if we do theregenerative way, it's something
called carbon farming, wherewe're actually putting a lot of
(17:16):
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
So you could say, like theagricultural complex, the whole
system of our food, it is thebiggest impactor of climate
change.
But at the same time, that'swhere the solutions lay.
Like if we, if we have theability to transform half of the
farms and make themregenerative, within seven years
we could be in pre-industrialrevolution levels of carbon
(17:40):
dioxide, which means we canreverse climate change in seven
years.
And there's very few peopletalk that.
Talk about that because the themost, the biggest paradigm is
like we have to reduce emissions, we have to stop all this stuff
, but nobody's focusing on likewe can actually reverse it so we
can also keep our um yeah, thecomfortable lives that we have,
(18:03):
we don't necessarily have tochange them.
We can actually produceabundance of healthy food when
we do it regeneratively.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
So that's, in a nutshell, why agriculture is
probably the most importantthing of our of our modern times
as well I think that's sofascinating and, just being a
beginning gardener myself, likeI can literally feel the
difference from one side of myyard to the next, where the
(18:33):
concrete has taken over andcannot be cooled, and it just
heats up and heats up andreflects and heats up some more.
And then I go on to the otherside of my yard where it's all
grass and plants and trees andit's cool and the ground is cool
and it can cool itself down.
(18:54):
And have we been thinking aboutthis, anyone Like?
There's obvious effects rightin front of us that are being
just kind of not looked at atall, isn't?
Speaker 1 (19:06):
that interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So, yeah, you really can.
You can just like there's a hugedifference in the way that the
ground can cool itself, orbecause I'm in a hot desert and
so I need to try to stay cool asmuch as possible.
Yes, but I think that the theimportance of of looking at this
(19:30):
isn't it is something thatwe're really lucky to be in this
era and generation of havingwonderful experts like you who
are seeing more than just thesmall details, but the big
picture, um and that's somethingthat we really appreciate,
especially here on my show is isbeing able to see, larger than
(19:52):
than the, the ideas that peoplemight have in front of them,
because we are, um, you know,not only enjoying the earth
every day for ourselves, butthose of us who are have, have
children or bringing familiesinto it.
We want the earth to be aroundfor them and we want to be able
to be um kind of at uh, beingable to be sustainable in our um
(20:17):
agriculture.
I think that that is is sosmart and obviously, like you
had mentioned earlier, theeffects that these foods have on
our bodies is just undeniablethe processed foods, the
chemicals.
We're seeing generations ofwhat those effects can be.
(20:42):
Generations of what thoseeffects can be, and how nice
will it be if more of us can getonto the idea that the um
growing our own foods and andcreating this um
self-sustainable ecosystem forour families, uh is such an
important and um an idea that weall should be looking into.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
If anything, I agree.
I think it's becoming anecessity in the world because a
lot of the foods in manycountries, including the US,
it's not made for consumption,it's packed with chemicals.
Consumption like it's packedwith chemicals uh, I think I saw
(21:27):
an article that in the usthere's, or the the european
union is banning around 2 000chemicals that are not banned in
the in the us for farmproduction and food processing.
So if you're buying stuff, evenorganic, because even organic
is is not as good as it soundslike, still it's your best bet,
(21:51):
but it's just packed withchemicals.
And then I'm I'm curious toknow from your perspective as
well, and how much you thinkthat it affects autism.
Do you think there's acorrelation between the
chemicals and autism, or is thata misconception?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Oh, I think that that's a wonderful question.
There's an article that's I'mgoing to answer it kind of
two-sided there, because anarticle just recently came out
that was stating that they hadtaken the DNA from a Neanderthal
and they were seeing, um,autistic aspects in that there
(22:30):
were in the like hunter gatherertype of um, uh, I guess,
actions that they would display.
Which makes me feel really good,because in my early days of
researching and doing, I was amedical paralegal before I
became an autism mom and so,excuse me, when I was doing my
(22:52):
research, I had just a reallygood idea of what I was looking
at and how to go through theinformation and sort it, and
what I found in all of myreading in the whole was an
understanding of evolution morethan anything else, an
understanding that throughoutall of this time, these types of
(23:15):
brains have been uncovering andunfolding and revealing
themselves, if you will,throughout time, and so I think
it's fascinating.
However, I do full-heartedlybelieve in the idea that there
(23:39):
are chemicals out there that cancause symptomatic effects that
resemble autisticcharacteristics, if you will for
maybe non-speaking or stimmingor physical effects.
And I only say that due to thefact that my whole family is
autistic.
I'm late diagnosed.
My son was diagnosed at 18months 16, 18 months and he was
(24:03):
very severe and at the time hewas non-speaking, he would spin
circles, he would hum and flaphis arms and all the same he was
reading.
I had found this readingprogram I was working with him
with and he was showing me thathe could read and so I could see
(24:24):
this, um, uh, this difficultkind of where he as a human, you
know, had all of this knowledgeand information and he was
getting all of this but theoutput was that's where he
struggled.
He struggled with all of thisoutput of the information or the
(24:44):
energy or what he was dealingwith In my research.
I also somebody had sent to mean article or a website about
gluten and casein and I thought,okay, that's interesting.
But I didn't want to just belike fad diet, you know, throw
my kid into something I didn'tunderstand.
(25:05):
And so I fully researched whatis gluten, what is casein?
They are both proteins.
Protein.
I believe that proteininflammation is kind of the
underlying is kind of theunderlying, like that's.
The underlier is what I'll callit, and I think that protein
(25:27):
malfunction um hasn't been, uh,researched enough, like they're
not.
Maybe they can start looking atthat and how that function,
because when I removed the casein which was the first protein
that I removed from his body,because when I was learning
(25:51):
about what the casein couldaffect, I was learning it could
cause inflammation in theneuropaths, it could cause
inflammation connecting thesynapses to maybe block my
child's ability to speak.
Um, and this, of course, is soindividual.
I'm not a scientist, I'm not amedical doctor.
I'm just a mom who is anautistic, very smart mom who is
(26:12):
on a mission to do whatever Icould Right and um, we took the
case now.
Now he had been reading andwriting for nearly three years
and he was only five years old.
But as soon as the casein wasremoved, within the first week
and I went back and I checkedthese things, I recorded
(26:35):
everything he spoke 50 wordswithin the first week of
removing casein from his system,within the first week of
removing Kacen from his system.
Of course, we never went backand he has semi-verbal abilities
.
He doesn't have wonderfulreciprocative conversation
skills that's something we'll beworking on but his ability to
(26:56):
verbalize is there, and now thatwas something that was a gift
that every mother wants to heartheir child speak.
And now that was something thatwas a gift that you know every
mother wants to hear their childspeak.
And it was incredible.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
I also have another friend who's brought up her
autistic son and they're doingamazing things.
I even think that autism is asuper gift, because you can see
things that other people can'tsee.
There's a beautiful movie.
I don't know if you've watchedit.
I can highly recommend it.
It's called temple grandin.
Have you heard of that one?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
oh, I've had temple on the show she's oh, you're
kidding me.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Wow, no, yeah, that's amazing thank you, yeah, she's
a, she's a superhero forregenerative farming.
Yes, what she does for for cowand animal welfare is amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I hadn't thought of that.
That would be a connection foryou, but 100%, 100% I really
love what you know she's.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I'd love to get her on my show.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Actually, I'll send her a you know recommendation,
but yeah, I think that it's,it's beautiful, and what she was
able to do was really start toshow the world that a different
type of brain wasn't a diseaseor a problem or a behavioral
(28:16):
inconsistency.
It was a pattern of thinkingand of learning that hadn't been
looked at before and hadn'tbeen given enough attention to.
And now we can be so gratefulthat we can have those you know
tools to use.
And one quote we like to say isa little bit of knowledge turns
(28:38):
fear into understanding, fearinto understanding, and that's a
lot.
What she did was turn that fearinto understanding with, just
by acknowledging and givingthose, uh, that community, her
community, the knowledge of whatshe was going through.
So I couldn't agree more.
Um, you know as, and then I'llfinish with this gluten story,
(28:58):
and then we're back to you.
But the um, the, when we tookthe gluten, um, we waited eight
weeks before we took gluten outof DJ's diet as well, as the
case in, and what I saw then andin my, also in my research,
I'll back up and say that Ifound that the gluten could
cause obviously a lot ofdigestive problems in where I
(29:23):
kind of viewed as hmm, maybethis is why my child is spinning
so much, maybe he's trying toorganize or some sort of you
know, regulate his body in someway.
That is not happening, that hisyou know body isn't doing for
him.
And when we took out the gluten, right away, the most of the
(29:48):
stimming stopped, the humming,the flapping, the spinning, um,
all of those behaviors andphysical manifestations of of
whatever he was going throughwith, that inflammation had
stopped.
And you know it's really hardbecause Not everyone, it's not
going to work for everyone,because everyone is built with a
(30:10):
different biological andchemical makeup and they react
to things differently.
This was just our experience.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I love it because I do believe the major factor is
food in your story here, yeah,and the way food is produced,
and, if you want, I can tell youabout why there's gluten in our
food, do you?
know, why so?
The, the food production systemafter world war ii, moved away
from quality and and localsystems to a global market of
(30:43):
producing food on a mega scale,and then the only thing that
mattered more more than qualitywas quantity.
So the, you're trading grainson the on the like it's like a
stock market, and so the onlygoal that that, or the shift was
from from quality grains to asmuch kilogram per hectare.
(31:05):
And then what they found out isthat they started to select
breeds of grains that just theyare just heavier in weight, and
the single biggest determinationof how you can increase the
weight of a grain is when thegluten content is way higher.
So gluten weighs way more than,or it makes the grains heavier,
(31:26):
and when your your grain isheavier, you'll get more tons
per hectare or per acre, andthat's how you make the most
amount of money as a farmer.
You can't blame the farmers,because just how the system
started to work, so all of the,the, the breads of, of grains
that were made for bread andeven for animal fodder, is is
(31:50):
directed to weighing heavy andnot on nutritional value.
So that's a huge mistake.
And now I'm strongly believingthat that shift will move away
again, because, if we can focuson on quality more than quantity
, because you can eat fiveloaves of bread that have high
amounts of gluten but they don'thave any minerals or or things
(32:12):
that are actually good for you,whereas whereas if you go to a,
if you go to italy or france,they have amazing old grains and
they make amazing pasta andbread and there's still gluten
in it.
It's just not in such a highlevel.
So people are super healthythere and they're skinny.
Even in Italy there's very fewpeople that are overweight.
(32:35):
So that's also.
Another misconception in food isthat carbs are bad for you.
That's getting debunked.
It's not the carbs, it's thetype of carbs.
When it's full of gluten, thenof course, carbs are bad for you
.
But if it's an older breed ofgrains and you make sourdough
(32:55):
bread and it's it's super tastyand healthy for you, then it's
it's perfect.
So that's kind of the backstoryof why the food that your child
was eating was just not goodfor him.
And it's not, it's for everyone.
Yeah, it's not just for peoplewith autism.
You, you have a bunch ofdiseases from eating high gluten
products.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Isn't that the truth?
And we're at a really, reallytipping point, I think.
Like you said where we are justtoday, I'm going to go down to
my local farmers co-op and I'mgoing to pick up a big box of
fruits and vegetables that cameoff of a farm here locally in
(33:36):
Salt Lake City.
Thank goodness, right that Ihave that kind of thing
available to me.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
That puts a big smile on my face.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
I love it.
I can't wait.
I'm really, really excited.
So, yeah, it's today's, today'spickup day, so we'll have our,
our fridge and counter stockedwith all the good stuff for the
week and that actually makes thebiggest transition and
difference for farmers.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
It's not so much how you vote.
You can be I don't think weneed to get political but voting
is only every four years andit's it is important.
But the way you buy yourproducts is what really changes
the world.
Because you're buying it from alocal, organic, regenerative
farmer, he's going to be able togrow his business, feed his own
family, and that that's whatreally changes the world.
(34:21):
So congrats on on doing that,not only for your family and
your personal health, but forthe farmers as well I mean, what
a perfect day for this episodeto be on, right I?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
just love it.
Serendipitous, this is perfect.
It's so great.
You know, I'd love to inviteyou back on because there are so
many more conversations wecould have and get into depth
about some more things.
What?
Tell me the name of the bookagain?
Because I was putting thebanner up and then I I just
(34:54):
stopped so I could listen andstop typing 12 Universal Laws of
Nature.
Of Nature Perfect.
Yes, and where can everybodyfind oh on Amazon Perfect
perfect yes and where caneverybody find?
Oh on amazon, perfect, pleasego and find 12 universal laws of
nature.
I myself can't wait to to lookinto it and find out more.
(35:18):
Um, is it on audible by anychance?
Speaker 3 (35:22):
oh, that's a really good question.
I have to sit together with mypodcaster, who wanted me to
record it because, so that wecan put it on audible, I have,
yeah, there's so much, uh, otherpriorities for the moment oh,
it's definitely going to happenthis year good.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Oh, I'd love to hear that, because that's my favorite
way of um, you know, absorbinginformation, so that's wonderful
.
This has been such a greatconversation and you have so
much to share.
Like I said, I'd love to haveyou back on to go over some more
, some more things and talkabout kind of, you know, just
(36:01):
health and nature and how thatwe can really just become better
for our environment.
And, you know, typicalneurotypical human is what we
all are and we all should beconcerned with our human bodies
and the way that we're living inthe world today.
(36:22):
So I hope that you receive somewonderful information from this
episode today and please go inand check out the 12 universal
laws of nature and also followum matthew on any social medias.
Is there any things you'd liketo share?
Your socials and things?
Speaker 3 (36:43):
oh, just quickly.
I'm active on a few platformslike on linkedin it's more
business-minded and forinvestors and people that want
to invest in regenerativefarmland or real estate.
Then on Instagram, it's moregardening tips and tricks and
hacks and how you can become aregenerative gardener.
(37:05):
That's a lot of fun.
Also, some of that on TikTokand Facebook is also where you
can find a lot of my information, both personal and about
gardening.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you for joining us.
What time is it there for you?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Good question.
It's now 7.45 pm.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Okay's 1 45 here, so we're about that's not too bad
of a difference six hourdifference there, so wonderful
I'm in the middle between the usand europe oh, and it is so
beautiful, like I said, like I'mso lucky to have two, two
friends now um in azores.
So I think it's calling to me.
(37:50):
I think that that's theuniverse giving me a special
message, isn't it?
Thank you so much for being heretoday.
Please, listeners, go and checkout the 12 laws of nature, 12
universal laws of nature, andalso think about how you are
using your gardening.
What are you feeding yourfamily?
(38:11):
And, of course, if you have anyautism questions or needs,
reach out to me at any time youneed to, and it was so nice to
have you here today and I reallylook forward to staying in
touch.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
Me too, sarah, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Thank you very much for having me, thank you.
In the heart of the city she'sshining bright.
(38:47):
Oh yeah, stories of love andcourage all throughout the night
.
Thank you.
Love is a guide she'll neverhide.
She's changing the world foryou With a heart that's racing
(39:13):
strong.
Empathy's a melody In a journeywe all belong.
Followers gather like stars inthe night.
So bright, 44,000 voicessharing in the night.
(39:43):
Good night.
She's changing the world foryou With a heart that's fierce
and strong and both leaves amelody, a journey we all belong.
Through her eyes, a visionclear.
Together we rise, sheddingfears and every heart she plants
(40:04):
a seed Understanding her lovefor dearly me.
She changed the world for youWith a heart that's fierce and
(40:26):
strong.
Empathies and melodies you, butthe heart that's piercing
strong, and both these aremelodies, pretending we all
belong.
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