A question for those who have kids with mild food sensitivities

[NovelMama]

My girls are moderately sensitive to gluten, but they just don't care. It causes constipation and gas in them both, circles under PJ's eyes, "chicken skin" on their upper arms and thighs, and the wheat belly pudge.

The whole reason we all went GF in the first place is because, when she was 4, AJ started having severe stomach pains after eating it (although it was such a delayed reaction that we didn't even connect it to gluten at first - we only went off gluten because "everybody was doing it" and I'd heard people GF because of similar stomach pains, LOL). She stopped getting those after being off gluten for a year, but it ended up getting reintroduced into their diets and she didn't get the stomach pains anymore, so we thought maybe she'd been healed from it because we'd caught it so early and been off it for so long. But they older she (and PJ) got, the more these other issues started creeping up.

The problem is that AJ HATES eating GF, and it causes HUGE arguments. Those of you who have seen my homeschool posts about AJ know that this child has strong, strong opinions and that we've had a lot of battles over it. The same is true with gluten.

I don't want to fight with her. But I also am living proof that she's going to be miserable as an adult if she keeps eating gluten and I don't want her to deal with that. I'm also torn between being the parent/the logical thinker in this situation who is able to see the consequences of this when she can't, and the whole "parents, do not exasperate your children" thing. I am also very worried about creating food battles and how that might cause even worse issues with her down the road. She is also my worst eater - she eats like a bird and has a very limited number of foods she is willing to eat. And she simply *won't* eat if all I have are gluten free options of things and she doesn't feel like eating a non-bread/breaded type item.

Tomorrow she starts school for the first time at a hybrid program, and she wants sandwiches for lunch. But not with gf bread. So another battle is about to ensue. And I just don't want to fight it anymore.

What do you do when your kid doesn't care about the consequences of what they eat and how it affects their body? Do you hold your ground because you're the parent and know better, or do you say, "It's their body" and let them do it? Do you make *them* buy gluten options of food if they want it? Do you make *them* pay for the fiber supplements so they don't get constipated?

What do you do when natural consequences can have long-lasting effects and they're just not mature enough connect those dots? Or they do understand but just don't care? (Since plenty of adults can be that way too, so it's not necessarily a maturity thing but just a personality thing.)