Guest Post – David Rivas

My name is David, and my journey of writing my book Resilient Brain, which is currently in the process of being published by Hasmark Publishing International, has a foundation built on confronting a severe challenge.  More than twelve years ago, I was excited because my wife Jessica was pregnant with twins, David Jonathan and Daviana, but David Jonathan came with a special package called severe autism.  As a pharmacist, I was not able to help him with medications.  I was devastated because I could not use what I knew best to support him, but I was not going to give up. My wife and I decided to seek out solutions, and I promised my son that I would do whatever it takes to maximize his quality of life.

I decided to go back to school and study nutrition.  The most incredible thing happened: the more I learned and applied nutrition, the more I could see changes taking place in David Jonathan.  My son went from a boy struggling with hyperactivity, a lack of attention, aggressive behaviour, like hitting his head to the floor, to a child playing multiple sports, and even making it to the honor roll in school.

Resilient Brain includes all of the nutritional steps that I took with my son to maximize his quality of life and the many leaps of faith that I took many times on my way to success.  My goal is to help benefit the community affected by autism and empower individuals to boost brain function with optimal nutrition.

David Rivas, RPh, MSc, CCN

Author, Pharmacist, & Nutrition Expert

About the Author

David Rivas is a pharmacist who has devoted the last ten years to researching nutrition strategies for autism due to his son’s diagnosis with severe autism. Unable to make him better with medications, he refused to give up.

He went back to college and finished a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and Functional Medicine from the University of Western States. His son improved dramatically with nutrition, from an extreme case of autism to an honor roll student in school who plays multiple sports. David has become an expert in establishing research-based nutrition strategies to boost brain function. He is an International Lecturer at LUMSA University, Italy, teaching nutrition applied to children with autism to healthcare providers and parents worldwide. Also, he is part of the Scientific Committee in the Revolutionary Master’s Degree in Integrative Treatment of Autism at LUMSA University. David is pursuing a Doctorate of Science in Integrative Healthcare with a concentration in Clinical Nutrition from Huntington University of Health Sciences. He is the founder and CEO of Neutral, a company dedicated to offering empowerment tools such as nutrition to parents, health care providers, therapists, and teachers for the well-being of children and adults with chronic diseases, including Autism Spectrum Disorder.

He went through integrative medicine training for healthcare providers related to children on the spectrum and is board certified in clinical nutrition.

He is married to Jessica and lives in Florida with his son David Jonathan and his daughter Daviana. He enjoys biking with all his family most weekends and going to the Special Olympics. He is a speaker/coach certified by the John Maxwell Team and a member of the Institute of Functional Medicine.