Does ADHD Affect Eating Habits | What Should ADHDers Eat | ADHD and Eating
I ate an omelet with everyday for about 8 months. Typically with Havarti with Dill Cheese inside. And frankly, the only reason I stopped was because I dropped my skillet on the floor and bent it to the point it was unusable. And my ADHD brain keeps forgetting to order another one.
If you have ADHD and this sounds familiar, you’re in good company. As it turns out…eating the same meal or foods over and over is very typical for many of us ADHDers.
If you’ve ever wondered why you do this or how your ADHD impacts how you eat, read on to learn how ADHD affects your eating habits as well as some easy tips for making sure you’re feeding your ADHD brain.
ADHD and Eating Problems
If you’re anything like me…eating and ADHD often used to look like either “How I’ve forgotten to eat all day?” or “how did I just down an entire bag of lime tortilla chips in one sitting?”
Now that I know about how adhd impacts eating, I realize the reason I forgot to eat all day may be due to hyperfocusing.
Or my ability to house an entire bag of chips could be due to lack of impulse control.
How Does ADHD Affect Eating?
As I constantly say, ADHD is a condition that stems from struggles with executive function. But you may not have ever thought about the amount of executive function involved with regular eating habits.
You’ve got the organization, decision making, time management functions involved with creating a meal plan or even just a grocery list that can feel overwhelming.
You’re impulsivity may make it difficult for you to stop binging once you’ve started eating something you enjoy...because when you enjoy it, it’s giving you that all important dopamine hit.
You also may be inclined to overeat because you’ve been distracted or hyperfocused and missed a meal or two. By the time you actually remember to eat, you are absolutely ravenous and just need food, whatever it is, in your belly now.
We ADHDers also have a tendency to be drawn to high calorie, sugary foods because, once again, they are going to give us that hit of dopamine that we crave.
And because of these lower levels of dopamine and another neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, we often struggle with the internal cues that signal we’re hungry or we’re full.
So I guess we could say, yeah, ADHD does affect our eating habits. But what can we do to make sure we are getting the right calories, vitamins, and nutrients we need to keep our brains and bodies running at optimum levels.
Let’s wrap up today with some tips for ADHD Healthy Diet & Eating Habits
What Should ADHD Eat?
I’m gonna divide these tips into 2 sections...first we’ll talk about behaviors and routines. Then we’ll discuss types of food to include or reduce in order to help your symptoms and support your brain.
What Should ADHD Eat: Behaviors and Routines
If you are someone who finds yourself in the forget to eat then binge cycle we talked about, it can be helpful to set up a routine or schedule for your eating including reminders. You could use alarms on your cell phone or reminders on your digital assistant to pop in and say “Hey, Christy, it’s 12 o’clock, time for lunch.”
If you’re someone who overeats because you’re always trying to do too many things while stuffing food in your face, you may want to do what you can to avoid distracted eating. This means no eating while doing things like watching TV, working at your desk, or while driving. In fact, if you can eat at a table, it may help with those fullness cues we talked about earlier and help you to refrain from overeating.
And a final behavior that can help set you up for improved ADHD eating is to set yourself up for success. If you struggle with a certain meal or eating during a certain time of day, make it easy for yourself. Have a go to meal or snack that will make it easy for you and reduce the need for decision making.
For instance, it often takes me a bit to get my appetite going early in the day. But I have also had far too many days where I realize it’s lunch and all I’ve had is green tea. That’s why part of my routine when I first wake up is to have an apple with peanut butter. I make sure I always have both on hand so it is easy for me.
And it is totally ok for you to eat the same meal or snack over and over if it means you are eating, you enjoy it, and it has a bit of the nutrition your brain and body needs. (In other words, not a bag of Doritos every day.)
Now you might be wondering “what should I be eating”...
What Should ADHD Eat: Foods to Choose
Well, protein for one. Along with preventing spikes in blood sugar, which can cause increased hyperactivity and impulsivity, protein is also a building block for neurotransmitters like...say it with me...dopamine.
Ideally, it would be great if you could include some form of protein with every snack or meal. And protein isn’t just meat...there’s protein in dairy products like cheese, yogurt or cottage cheese. It’s in eggs, beans, edamame, and nuts or nut butters. There are also all kinds of protein powders and protein bars that can help you increase your protein intake, although you do have to be careful with these. Sometimes these and other pre-packaged snacks have extra sugar or food additives that may increase your ADHD symptoms. So read the label and use sparingly if this is the case.
Along with watching out for sugar, us ADHDers also need to keep an eye on our caffeine intake. Since caffeine is a stimulant, it can lead feeling jittery or extra anxiety, especially for those on stimulant medications. I’m not saying you can’t have any, just pay attention to how your body reacts and adjust accordingly.
And finally, while not exactly “eating”, it is very important to make sure you are drinking plenty of water. Research has shown that even low levels of dehydration can lead to fatigue, irratibility, and difficulty concentrating for the neurotypical population. And considering water makes up around 75% of our brain, a dehydrated ADHD brain is definitely operating at a disadvantage.
And those thirst cues fall into the same category as the hunger cues we talked about earlier. So often, if we start to feel thirsty, it means we are already heading down the path to dehydration. So if you’re an ADHDer that struggles to stay hydrated, you may want to add alarms or reminders like the eating ones we discussed earlier. Or maybe buy yourself a big ol’ honking water bottle that you fill up each morning and challenge yourself to drink each day.
Be sure to check out my other Healthy ADHD Habits posts.
Eating to support your ADHD doesn’t have to be restrictive, it just takes a bit of planning…which I realize is not a strong suit for all of us, but that’s what I’m here for, right? If you’d like to learn more about how I can help you take care of YOU so you can take care of all the other things you need to take care of while building a successful business and juggling family life, click the button below to schedule your free, no-obligation call to discuss your goals.
