Many people, including some of those who govern us, suffer from so much internal pollution, that normal thought and behaviour is out of the question.

There is an old saying, ‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ – when the organism of a person is filled with waste products, their mind cannot be healthy. The pollution of our inner and outer environments is at the root of many wrong decisions and political disasters. It influences our life on all levels, and may be one of the main causes of the imminent destruction of our world.

Our children are the innocent victims of this general malaise. Many problems have grown out of all proportion and taken on epidemic dimensions. We know that something is very wrong with modern society, but the phenomenon is like the many-headed Hydra, or an octopus whose tentacles are interwoven with almost every aspect of modern society. Even those who realise the danger do not know how to unravel the threads of the net in which we, to a greater or lesser extent, have been caught. If we continue in this way it means a slow and terrible death and the end of civilisation. Many of us have given up hope, but some of us still want to try and save some of the old values before it is too late. The first thing we must do is save our children.

More and more children in our affluent society are ill, not only physically but also to a certain degree mentally and emotionally. They are the innocent bystanders and victims of the lassitude of our generation, and of former generations. When selfish, greedy and ignorant people poisoned and changed our living soil into an infertile substance we did not protest. Under the pretence of helping humanity in its fight against hunger they maltreated healthy, natural food in every way possible, adding innumerable chemical substances. They took away all that was valuable and turned it into lifeless, artificial products that do not deserve to be called food. Even people in the so-called underdeveloped countries would become ill if this kind of food was their daily fare. Most of the colours, smells and tastes of such products are factory-made, but who cares? Supermarket carts are loaded with these artificial foods and drinks, and because they are colourful and taste good our children love them.

Few people seem to realise that poor-quality soil treated with chemical fertilisers and artificial ‘food’ filled with additives can only support us at a low level of health. Many valuable nutrients have been destroyed and chemical substances that are extremely toxic, especially for sensitive young children, have taken their place.

Our brain is the most vulnerable part of our body and we know that one-third of all the nutrients we ingest are used by the brain. No wonder that millions of children (and many adults) in our western countries are suffering from nervousness, sleeplessness, hyperactivity and, even worse, mental problems, which are increasing at a frightening rate. Hundreds of millions of tranquillisers are being prescribed and children who take these often act like zombies. When they grow up, many of these children never become responsible citizens and often land in jail or in mental institutions.

This is hardly ever the fault of desperate parents or teachers, who themselves feel helpless and insecure. Nothing will help as long as these parents are not able to find the right physician, who can get to the heart of the matter. Such a physician will forbid all junk food, soft drinks, sweets and any kind of refined food, and take other natural, much needed measures.

Those who have never been confronted with these problems have no idea of the terrible stress parents of hyperactive and mentally disturbed children have to endure. The children themselves are not to blame, as they cannot control their behaviour. They are the victims of compulsive obsessions and most of them suffer even more than their parents do. These problems are due to bad functioning of a part of their little brain, which most often has been caused by a lack of some specific nutrients and/or of a surplus of certain toxic substances.

As the metabolism of every child functions differently and individually, and as each child reacts in its own way to certain substances, it is very difficult and sometimes almost impossible to find out which toxins are responsible. However, we know about some basic dangers that threaten our children and we also know that behavioural problems are never due to only one single cause, but always to a combination of many different negative influences.

Of course, there are some cases of brain injuries or real diseases of the brain and the nervous system, however, children suffering from these make up only a very small percentage when compared to other children with behavioural problems. In this book I will concentrate only on children who come into the last category and this is by far the largest group.

Behavioural problems have become a very big problem and will be a major worry for us in the near future. A few decades ago the first tell-tale signs of this calamity became visible. In almost every school class there are children with such problems and teaching often becomes a nearly impossible task. There is an increasing nervousness, as well as yelling and screaming and the loss of respect for the elder generation. When kids are only 11 or 12 years old, many of them start smoking and drinking. Later there are also drug abuse, burglary and knife fights and as these problems accelerate there are suicide, rape, murder and other criminal behaviour. Other young people are diagnosed schizophrenic or mentally unbalanced and land, sometimes for life, in jail or in different institutions.

On the Internet I found a very interesting summary about the changes that have taken place since 1940, concerning the behaviour of schoolchildren.

And that is only part of the story. The changes we see in our youth have taken place in all layers of our society. We do not trust each other any more. Honesty is going down the drain. Business is mainly based on knowing how to take advantage of other people and make as much money as possible – in what manner is less important. Politicians sell their own countries for money and bankers only work for big profits. Helping others is seen as worthwhile only if there is a profit to be made and any difference of opinion, for example in religion, is an excellent excuse for fighting and starting a war.

Of course the older generation were never angels, but things have altered so drastically in the last 50 to 100 years that nobody feels safe any more. Why did this change happen, and what is the cause of it? People cannot have changed so much in so short a time. Parents still love their children, and children love their parents. Most teachers have chosen their profession because they like children and want to help them. People still dream their dreams, but many of those dreams have become nightmares.

What has changed in our lives and those of our children to make such behaviour possible? What kind of change has happened? There is only one possible answer to these questions. There is nothing that has changed as profoundly and completely over the last few decades as our eating habits.

‘Junk food’ was an American invention, as were soft drinks. The main dangers to our health in these foods are refined sugar, refined flour, refined oils and, above all, thousands and thousands of chemical additives. Almost everything we eat and drink nowadays has been changed from a natural into an unnatural product, and processed and infiltrated with uncountable chemicals.

Young children are very sensitive, more sensitive than grown-ups, and their immune system and digestive organs are even less able than ours to assimilate all the different foreign substances incorporated into our food.

As many of these chemicals cannot be neutralised or excreted from the body right away, they circulate in our body fluids and reach all our body cells, including those of our brain.

The inner defensive mechanisms of young children react very strongly to toxins and poisons. Even the smallest quantity of a toxic substance, for example from a small sweet or a salty cracker, may provoke immediate allergic reactions in a child. These reactions may include hyperactivity, or any other kind of personality change. We should not blame our government for all the toxins that are in circulation, as much research has been done in this area. All new substances are thoroughly checked before being pronounced ‘safe’ and given an ‘E number’. But even for governments it is an impossible task to keep track of the hundreds of new chemical substances that are being presented each year. Many tests on healthy animals, using cell cultures or other means, are done with the intention of finding out in what way toxins can harm the human body and cause diseases. But tests on humans, to find out the effects on the mind and behaviour, when hundreds of extremely small quantities of toxins accumulate and combine to increase their potential toxicity, have never been done. Therefore, no government can be sure how many of these substances really are harmless for the unborn child or sensitive children.

Safety margins are indicated for the specific quantity of additives allowed, in order to prevent physical disease. However, it is a fact that many children eat large quantities of foods they like. In this way they ingest far more of a certain additive than is considered ‘safe’. Some children are more sensitive than others, and no one knows yet what dangers the interactions of the many different chemicals in our daily food present; we see only the tragic results. In Chapter 23 I will give you a list of the E numbers it would be best to avoid. Colour- and taste-enhancing additives especially can be extremely dangerous, and seem to be one of the main causes of hyperactivity and other personality changes in children. Children love nice colours and those who market sweets are very much aware of this. Even if your children are in good health and you permit them to have a sweet once in a while, watch out for food colourings. Some may be really harmless but others might, in a short or a longer time, change your sweet and obedient child into a little monster.

It is not only food colourings and sweets that can be harmful to your children. Milk and milk products, some cereals, peanut butter and other refined and natural foods may in part be responsible for personality changes or even problems that are far more serious. This is only the tip of the iceberg – the real effects of such problems await us in the near future.

There have been many other changes in the environment, but food is the most direct and intimate contact we all have with our environment. Strong toxic substances are used, for example, in agriculture and almost everything we eat has been treated and altered in some way or other. Many medical drugs are also toxic or contain toxic ingredients that provoke allergies and other, more dangerous side-effects. Toxic chemicals are part of our civilisation. They have been used for the production of most commodities in modern life. These chemicals are fine when they help us to make things easier and give us the opportunity to enjoy life more. Chemical substances should be able to help us, but they should not be used as a means to improve the external appearance of sweets, desserts and other foodstuffs that children like to eat.

Personality changes in children resulting from chemical additives have been observed by many conscientious scientists and physicians for a long time already. The saddest thing is that such children may stay hyperactive, depressed or suffer from an even worse fate for the rest of their lives. The one thing parents can do right away when such problems appear is to watch the eating habits of their children and find out which are the worst culprits.

In the following chapters I will explain the effects of the hidden dangers in our diet and environment on our health, even before birth. Step by step I will take you on a journey, starting at the very beginning of life, in order to reveal the full extent of the damage that may be done, and how we can help improve our own and our children’s well-being. After reading this book you will agree that we have to do something; we must intervene before it is too late.

Never make the mistake of labelling a child that is either extremely active or very quiet as ‘hyperactive’ or ‘autistic’ before you and your physician are completely sure of the diagnosis. Some children often exhibit exaggerated but perfectly normal development. Not every child who is overly active, inattentive or impulsive has a behavioural disorder. You can ruin the lives of children forever by making them out to be different from their friends. First find out if there are any deep-seated emotional or personal problems bothering your child, and then help them sort things out and become happy again. Children live much more intensively than we do, and they take real or imagined problems much more to heart. However, when a child’s bad behaviour, aggression, hostility or stress becomes permanent, something may be very wrong indeed.

Such children are certainly not happy. Although many of them are very intelligent, they cannot concentrate and are easily distracted. For most of them it is impossible to keep quiet and sit still for more than a few minutes. Others react in exactly the opposite way and hardly ever show any reaction at all; they are ‘autistic’.

All these children suffer from behavioural disorders that are still a puzzle for psychologists or psychiatrists, as well as for regular physicians. As yet nobody seems to know what is really the matter with these children and why their behaviour can be so strange. These abnormal behaviour patterns have been given many different names. Physicians once thought that they were symptoms of a brain disease and labelled the condition ‘minimal brain damage’ or ‘minimal brain dysfunction’ (MBD). Later on, this condition was called ‘Attention Deficit Disorder’ (ADD) or ‘Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder’ (AD/HD). The opposite kind of behaviour disorder, ‘autism’, is even more frightening. Children suffering from autism seem to be wrapped up in a cocoon and show hardly any reactions at all.

Both kinds of behaviour disorders, hyperactivity and autism, are increasing with frightening speed. In our western world there are millions of children suffering from them. One estimate in the United States quotes 2.4 million, and another quotes 4 million with AD/HD. Most of these children have learning and/or reading disabilities. In Europe the numbers seem to be a little lower, but they are fast catching up. Over 7 million children in the USA take mind-altering, psychotropic drugs with dangerous side-effects and the sale of Ritalin, the most frequently prescribed drug, has increased as much as 400 per cent in five years.

Unfortunately, all these medications are potentially harmful and only mask the symptoms without getting to the core of the problem. The potential risks of such drugs are a high price to pay to ease parents’ worries and make teachers’ jobs easier; they often turn a child into something resembling a vegetable.

There are many different causes of behavioural deficiencies and in order to help such children, their entire lifestyle and eating habits, as well as those of their family, should be studied in order to find out when and under what circumstances the strange behaviour started. Each child is an individual human being and when setting up a treatment programme many things have to be taken into consideration.

Even before your baby is born, while you are pregnant and also while your baby is still small, you can try to prevent your child becoming hyperactive or autistic. If you want to have healthy and happy children, there is much you can do yourself in order to fulfil your wish.

At the time of conception human ‘seeds’ must also be healthy. Both husband and wife are responsible for the health and well-being of their future child and must therefore, even before the child is conceived, pay attention to their food selection and living habits. They do not need to be fanatics or health-nuts, but they should make it a habit to eat simple, wholesome meals, get more sleep and exercise and, above all, avoid the use of potentially gene-altering substances such as recreational drugs, alcohol and nicotine.

The original word ‘honeymoon’ comes from northern Europe and means ‘going into hiding’. However, in many European languages the word ‘honeymoon’ has a connection with the words ‘honey’ and ‘moon’ and the origin of these words lies in the use of old customs. However, the German term for honeymoon is ‘hochzeit’, derived from two words, ‘höchste’ and ‘zeit’, which in English means ‘high time’. Long engagements were, until about 100 years ago, needed, because the bride could not be married until her dowry was complete. As the preparation of the dowry often took a long time, it could happen that there was already a child on the way and it was ‘high time’ that the marriage took place.

Going away together after marriage is a very old custom. In the Middle Ages, when a man wanted a child, he often abducted a woman and went into hiding with her during a phase of the moon (for about a month). During this time it was the custom that every day both of them should drink some honeyed wine (mead), which was said to improve fertility. The custom of abducting the bride and drinking mead is an ancient one.

Honeyed wine (mead) was made from a mixture of honey, water and fruit juices undergoing a fermentation process and it is thought that this was the first alcoholic drink people produced.

We know now that honey contains many different vitamins, minerals, enzymes, hormones and other important substances and therefore it seems to be quite possible that honey increases fertility. At the same time a reluctant bride, under the influence of the light alcohol content of honeyed wine, became more pliable. For the same reason, a little wine during the honeymoon will help newlyweds to relax together. However, although a little wine does not hurt, hard alcoholic drinks should definitely not be touched while honeymooning.

After their marriage most people go on a honeymoon in order to relax, to get to know one another more intimately, to have a lovely holiday and to be happy.

The most important objective, however, is to get away from other people and, if possible, to start creating their first child. When planning a honeymoon, some people go on a cruise, while others prefer to go to a nice hotel in some big city they have always wanted to visit. Both choices are wrong if the couple plans to start a family. The original idea of a honeymoon is to get away from people and to relax. Big cities and cruises may be fine for a normal holiday, but at the start of married life, they are the wrong choice. On cruises and in big cities relaxation is not possible.

Many people today still have ritualistic celebrations in homage to the gods of fertility. In olden times the only chance of survival was often to have many children, and so the fertility of human beings and domestic animals has always been very important.

Nature is very wise. When people are not healthy, it will be very difficult or even impossible for them to have a baby. Causes of infertility include a wide range of physical, emotional and environmental factors. The ‘seeds’ of some men are too weak or the sperm count is too low. Some women will not be able to accept the sperm of the man because of ovulation dysfunction. This can be due to poor nutrition, hormonal imbalance, ovarian cysts, an abnormal uterus, a past history of pelvic inflammatory diseases and other problems.

Not long ago, there was an article in the Austrian newspaper Die Presse which was headed: ‘Sperm quality is going down continuously’. It said: ‘Because of chemical pollution, according to university professor Dr Walter Ludvik, the sperm quality in men has decreased 30 per cent during the last three decades.’ For this, the professor blames the destruction of the environment; exhaust fumes; heavy metals, for example lead; fertilisers; preservatives and pesticides. People take in all these toxins with their daily nutrition and when they use polluted water for drinking and cooking.

Newsweek reported that since 1938 the average sperm count had decreased by 50 per cent and at the same time the number of patients suffering from cancer of the prostate had trebled. In 1940 it was estimated that about 7 million American men suffered from ‘erection dysfunction’. Now the estimates are between 15 and 25 million and when partial impotence is included this goes up to about 30 million. In Europe these estimates are also pretty high.

Sometimes it is very difficult for a physician to find out the actual reason for infertility, but often the problem is due to stress or an unhealthy lifestyle and can be remedied. Often, when both partners have changed their eating and living habits, in due course the woman will become pregnant. I have often seen this happen, even in the case of couples who had already given up all hope.

I still remember the day a Greek lady came to see me. She and her husband had been married for over six years. They were longing to have a child and both had seen several specialists. These physicians conducted many tests, but there seemed to be nothing really wrong and their reproductive organs were healthy. It was probably just a question of too much stress; they should try to relax more and enjoy life. If this brought no results, their last physician recommended that they should see a psychiatrist.

When she came to see me this Greek lady was quite desperate. She was not so young any more and soon it would be too late for her to have a child.

I spoke with her for a long time and enquired about their eating and living habits. It turned out that twice a week they went out to eat at a snack bar and at home they often ate ready meals. Both had a lack of fresh vegetables and never ate wholemeal bread, cereal or other such things.

The lady told me that when she and her husband were engaged they often used to go hiking or swimming, but that since their marriage they hardly did any exercise or sports any more and only seldom went for a walk. I advised her to take these good habits up again. Also, I recommended that from now on they should eat more home-made, fresh and wholesome food.

They both had a hair test done and when a week later the results of this test came back, it turned out that both of them had a lack of certain vitamins and minerals, which I prescribed in high doses. The lady suffered from toxic quantities of copper and mercury and therefore it was no wonder that she could not conceive. I prescribed a homoeopathic remedy that would help to eliminate these toxins from her body.

After two months the couple came to see me again. They were very happy and thanked me profusely, as the lady was now expecting her first child. The only problem for me was the fact that thereafter my office resembled a meeting place for Greek ladies who wanted to have children!

Modern food is lacking in many nutrients needed by our future citizens, and it would be good if young couples who were unable to procreate after a couple of years of trying had a hair test done in order to find out what vitamins or minerals are lacking. Hair tests are much more reliable than blood tests. This is due to the fact that the composition of the blood changes every so often. Hair taken from the neck of the person in question indicates any possible lack of nutrients. Also, any accumulation of toxins will be revealed. Some toxins, especially from certain heavy metals or medicines, can cause health problems that prevent conception. Our modern world is full of toxins and almost each day new and dangerous toxins are being used in industry or are added to our food.

Men have their own biochemical problems. Typically, men often are short of zinc. Zinc is the controlling element for male sexuality because it regulates testosterone levels. Testosterone levels dictate a man’s (and a woman’s) sexual appetite, his physical stamina and his sperm count. Low zinc levels also affect the sperm’s mobility or ability to swim against the current. Normal zinc levels improve all of these. Old wives tales about oysters being a great aphrodisiac are scientifically correct. Oysters are loaded with zinc. They are great for men wanting to make babies. Other foods high in zinc are beef (lean), crab eggs, sunflower seeds, trout and wheat bran.

Deficiencies are often easy to fix because, if they are not too serious, one can simply eat more of the necessary foods and take the necessary supplements. Toxicity is a bigger problem; it may take a year to effectively deal with extreme toxicity. Toxins usually are lodged in every body cell. However, eating the right foods can naturally speed things up.

Sophia Loren longed for a baby. The beautiful movie star, with the world at her feet, could not get the one thing she wanted most: a cherished son or daughter. After dozens of tests and years of heartbreak, her doctors finally discovered she was toxic with copper. After the physicians corrected her copper imbalance, she conceived immediately.

If you have been unable to get pregnant and your doctor can’t tell you why, since all your reproductive organs are in good health, the chances are that you, your partner, or both have a biochemical imbalance. You also should know that unless three distinct trace elements, copper, calcium and zinc, are stored in your body in the proper amounts, it is impossible for a woman to conceive or carry a baby to term or for a man to impregnate her.