Harper's Story Week 2

This week has gone more smoothly than the previous one. She is starting to improve her eating habits again, which is a relief. However, I've noticed a concerning shift in her perception of what constitutes a healthy food choice. While we were grocery shopping, she picked up various items and asked, “Is this healthy?” To my surprise, she was choosing things like candy, cereal, and granola bars. When I said “no,” she would respond with, “But it’s gluten-free!” It became clear to me that she equates “gluten-free” with being healthy. When I asked her to define what healthy means, she told me, “Healthy is gluten-free.” This moment made me realize that, in my focus on teaching her to avoid gluten, I hadn’t fully explained what actually makes a food healthy. Just because something is gluten-free doesn't automatically make it healthy, and I see now that I need to shift my approach to help her understand this distinction.

This week, she also spent some time at my parents' house, and they bought her one of her favorite treats: Unreal Peanut Butter Cups. If you haven’t tried them, they are incredibly delicious—definitely a great gluten-free option, but still a candy. While at the store, she also picked out her preferred pizza crust, which is from Schar. It’s her go-to brand for pizza crusts and breads, and she loves it when she has pizza.

On another note, we’ve not been as consistent with her supplements this week as we usually are. Typically, she takes Douglas Labs children's chewable multivitamins, but these have been on backorder. As a result, my kids have been using Smarty Pants Organic multivitamins instead. When choosing a multivitamin, it's important to make sure it’s methylated and third-party tested to ensure quality. For adults, I personally recommend Pure Encapsulations O.N.E. multivitamin to my patients (you can check it out here). She also takes L-glutamine to support her gut lining, but again, we’ve been a bit inconsistent with that this week too.

I realize we need to be more diligent with both her diet and supplements, and I’m planning to have a more open conversation with her about what it means to eat healthy, beyond just focusing on gluten-free options.