I Did Not Figure Out Gut Health Because I Am Disciplined
How I stopped trying to willpower my way into gut-healthy dinners, and instead built an environment that works for three boys, one husband, and a very full life.
Key Takeaways
- How I stopped trying to willpower my way into gut-healthy dinners, and instead built an environment that works for three boys, one husband, and a very full life
I Did Not Figure Out Gut Health Because I Am Disciplined
On feeding three boys, convincing Tommy, and the food that finally made it all make sense.
Let me be honest with you. Because that is the only way I know how to do this.
Gut health became a thing in our house not because I am particularly disciplined or because I read the right book at the right time. It became a thing because after my oldest was born by C-section, I fell into a rabbit hole about what that meant for his microbiome. What it meant for his immunity. What it meant for the years ahead, not just the weeks of my recovery.
I came out of that rabbit hole with a mission. And then I had the twins and I had three boys and a company to run and a marriage to pour into, and the mission ran headfirst into a Tuesday.
That is the gap I am always trying to close. Knowing what I want for my family and figuring out how to actually do it when life is this full. This post is about how I have been closing it.
The Three Boys Problem
Variety over volume at a very real dinner table
Nobody cooperates. That is the foundational truth of feeding children. My oldest has opinions that are both strong and inconsistent. The twins will eat something for two weeks straight and then look at it like they have never seen it before in their lives.
What actually worked for us was variety over volume. I stopped trying to get my boys to eat large amounts of anything they resisted and started rotating widely, offering small amounts of many different things, and keeping the dinner table calm.
No lectures. No negotiations. Just the food there, alongside something they already love.
It takes longer than you want it to. And then one day your kid asks for more of the thing he swore he hated. It happens.
Research supports that when you choose variety over volume your kids will start eating things you never thought would make it onto their plates, and our dinner table confirms it.
