4 Dietitian-Approved Nutrition Tips For People With ADHD
Those with ADHD (Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) face unique challenges when trying to stay on top of their nutrition, as difficulties with executive functioning - the skills that help people manage daily tasks and solve problems - and even medication side effects can make meal time particularly daunting.
However, there are ways to ensure you’re supporting your nutrition in the face of an endless cycle of buying groceries and washing dishes. Read on for tips from our US dietitian, Madeline Peck RDN, CDN.
Maintaining consistent intake
Whether it’s medication side effects or hyperfixing on a task at hand, you may look up at 4pm and realize you’ve hardly eaten. These things can impact our hunger cues, the signal we get from our bodies when it is time to eat. One way to combat this is to eat on a schedule. Setting reminders and blocking out time in your calendar for lunch can help prevent missed meals. You can also try breaking down your task into smaller phases, and using the end of these phases as cues to eat your next meal or snack.
Some ADHD medications can have side effects that impact dietary intake. For instance, extended release stimulants can suppress your appetite, making it difficult to meet your daily intake needs. Perhaps the lunch alarm dings, but the thought of eating feels unappealing?
Focusing on consuming something that is high in calories and low volume can help you stay on track. For instance, you can pack a smoothie with things like yogurt, nut butter, seeds, and protein powder to create a nutrient & calorie dense meal for a small serving, or skip the prep and grab a Huel Ready-to-drink if you’re in a hurry.
Throw away the rules
Sometimes choice paralysis can make it hard to decide what to eat. But you have permission to liberate yourself from the shackles of societal meal expectations.
If it’s time for breakfast and the leftover soup in your refrigerator is calling you, answer. What is most important is meeting your overall daily needs, so if you want to have eggs at dinner and lasagna at breakfast, do it.
Within your meals, you can eat untraditional combinations of food. Not everything has to look and feel like a cohesive meal. You can follow this equation for building a nutrient dense plate:
At least 1 source of protein + fat + carb + color = balanced meal
For example: a cheese stick (protein+fat), 4oz chicken (protein), carrots (color), hummus (carbs), and a piece of whole grain toast with almond butter and a honey drizzle (carb+fat).
Making your refrigerator work for you
Continuing on the theme of breaking the rules, try putting your produce anywhere but those refrigerator drawers. Making fruits & vegetables the most visible foods in your fridge will help you remember that they exist, which increases the likelihood that you will incorporate them into your meals and snacks.
If possible, try keeping them in see-through containers, and even chopping them to be ready to consume. If you plan to cook meals throughout the week, try putting all the refrigerated ingredients together in a labeled bin.
Eating for stimulation & a dopamine menu
For those with ADHD, the brain is generally understimulated, and therefore you may find yourself reaching for food for a boost of dopamine. Eating for stimulation is not inherently a bad thing, as there are a variety of reasons we eat beyond simply fueling ourselves (cultural, social, pleasure, etc.). However it is important to avoid relying on food as your sole source of stimulation.
A good place to start is to check in with yourself before you eat; ask yourself if you are eating for hunger, stimulation, etc. Try to do this without shame or judgment; identifying your motives is simply a way to observe your patterns and become more familiar with when you may be seeking food as stimulation. Next, take this opportunity to line up other things you can do for stimulation. This could be anything that engages you, such as fidget toys, doodling notebooks, crochet, etc. You may see this referred to as a “Dopamine Menu”.
