|
This is our closing issue on our ADHD series. After this you’ll have an arsenal of information to support you in your ADHD journey! This week I touch on food, supplements, and lifestyle practices. Please know that this is meant to be a glimpse into this world rather than a full illumination. Lifestyle practices alone could take a whole book! Nevertheless, my main goal is to empower you with these tools so your daily life becomes a bit easier and your symptoms feel far less distracting. If something in this series sparks a question or you’d like to explore how these tools might fit into your life, I’d love to chat. You can always reply to this newsletter, or you can set up a free 1:1 call with me here to learn more about how I work. Or just hop right in and schedule your intake appointment with me here! In Wellness, Mary Virginia In this issue we’re diving into interventions that make a measurable difference in ADHD symptoms. I start by touching on medication since that is the most common medical approach. Then I will take you to the three pillars of functional integrative nutrition: food, supplemental and herbal nutrients, and lifestyle practices. These weave together to play a crucial role in managing symptoms and optimizing brain function. While no single approach is a cure-all, combining these strategies with intention can create a strong foundation for focus, clarity, calm and overall wellbeing. Medication ADHD meds seem like a great place to start since most people are familiar with them. Prescription medication is outside my scope of practice, but there are some thoughts I like to share to support my clients. Whether or not to utilize stimulant medications is a discussion to have with a licensed medical professional who understands ADHD. Weigh the pros and cons based on the person and the circumstances. The right medication at the right dose can be an incredible boon for the right candidates. Among other things, using it can allow the person the focus and clarity to establish new habits of being that rewire the brain. Those practices ultimately might allow for meds to be reduced or needed less often. Please be aware that stimulant medications can suppress appetite, but that doesn’t make eating and food any less important. If you are struggling with food choice overwhelm, prepping and cooking, eating enough or often enough … please reach out to a qualified CNS who can support you to build a realistic and sustainable food plan that can comfortably nourish you! Foods As you’ve seen from me time and time again, a food plan must be personalized. That said, there are foods that are common to most ADHD recommendations. Here you go: Eat Regular Meals It’s easy to forget to eat when you have ADHD! Set a timer so that you don’t go longer than 3 or so hours between eating. That includes snacking! Not only do your cells need nutrients, your brain needs glucose to function. Add on that it’s a great, planned break from potentially energy-depleting lack of focus or hyperfocus! When you go without food for too long or you use up your energy, your brain and body will begin to bug you for easy, quick fuel. That’s when the cravings for simple sugars pop up - your brain is jonesing for glucose. And surprise! Processed foods and sugary treats really do work to trigger the reward/focus mechanisms and you feel better - but only for a short time before you crash. Regular meals set you up for both feeding the brain and avoiding the crash that comes with easy sugary treats. Keep It Simple The ADHD brain can become easily overwhelmed. Lots of energy is spent processing information, managing emotions, and trying to keep details organized. Sidestep food overwhelm by choosing easy meals you enjoy and that soothe your senses. For example, snacks might include cheese sticks and crackers, apple and peanut butter, hard boiled eggs with a salt sprinkle, or a creamy, customizable smoothie. Main meals can be built around easily microwaved or steamed frozen vegetables and proteins, or prepared foods that can be paired with fresh vegetables, fruit, and proteins. Put foods that nourish your body up front on shelves and in the doors of the fridge so you see (and choose) them first. Include a Protein and a Carb Every Time You Eat You see those snacks above? They all include protein. Protein covers several bases. First, it provides the building blocks for good mood and good focus neurochemicals. Second, it also offers up the building blocks for every enzyme, tissue, and biochemical process, which helps keep your body from feeling stressed and depleted. Third, because it takes longer to digest fully, it slows down the absorption of the sugars from carbs so you have a steady drip of time-release energy. Proteins can be meats, poultry, fish/shellfish, eggs, beans/legumes (pair with a grain to make a complete protein), and nuts and seeds & their butters. As mentioned, brains strongly prefer glucose as their energy source, and glucose comes from carbs. So eat your carbs so your brain can relax and do its thing. Whole grains (including popcorn!), starchy and non-starchy veg, fruit, and beans/legumes all contain carbs (and, incidentally, fiber!). Brain Supportive DHA and EPA Wild caught fatty fish (e.g. salmon, mackerel, sardines), grass fed beef, pastured poultry, nuts, seeds, extra virgin olive oil, avocados and avocado oil are some choices rich in brain supportive fatty acids. Fats are needed to build the coating for your neurons, called the myelin sheath. Myelination makes brain processes flow more smoothly and faster, enhancing cognition, focus, and memory. These all include omega-3 fatty acids, too, which cool inflammation in both brain and body. (Neuroinflammation worsens ADHD symptoms). Eat Fiber! Lots to love about fiber! It feeds the “good” bacteria in your gut that make short chain fatty acids (SFA). SFA’s communicate to your nervous system to make more happy mood & focus chemicals. They also nourish and heal the gut lining and support your immune system. Before that, fiber traps and removes toxins that can stimulate brain fog while making your stool comfortable and easy to pass. Whole grains, whole vegetables (esp. cruciferous veg like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage), whole fruit, beans/legumes, nuts, seeds. Green Tea Not only is it yummy and comes in a variety of flavors (who doesn’t love variety?), green tea contains both caffeine and L-theanine, which when taken together can improve symptoms of ADHD. Dark Chocolate, Cocoa, Cacao I’ll bet you didn’t see this one coming! Rich in magnesium, these forms of chocolate also carry flavonoids that improve blood flow to the brain. Fresh supplies of oxygen and nutrient rich blood improved brain processes like cognition and focus. What to Avoid Synthetic food dyes have been implicated in ADHD symptoms. You can read more about it in this article from Berkeley Public Health and this one in ADDitude magazine. Additionally, many people feel better without gluten, dairy, and/or sometimes soy. Mostly, it’s good to observe how your body feels with certain foods and shape your choices to those that make you feel good. As your nutritionist, I recommend that you not remove foods unless necessary. It’s worth a trial removal/reintro to understand how your individual body responds. Overall you’re looking to create an environment inside your body that makes you feel calm and nourished. That means reducing inflammation (eat the rainbow of vegetables!), supporting it with nutritional building blocks, and providing regular energy. Nutritional and Herbal Supplements Lots of families who live with ADHD have tried myriad supplements. However, there are still more folks who live with ADHD who are not aware that improving nutritional status and supporting biochemical pathways with supplemental nutrients and herbs can really change the landscape of their experience. It’s important, though, not to be haphazard about it. Key to the successful use of supplements is that the choice and doses of nutritional supplements are always tailored to your specific signs, symptoms, lab values, and genetic makeup. They are also influenced by your current food habits and preferences, which determine whether you can achieve the nutritional goals without a supplement (certainly preferable than another supplement to swallow!). There are several individual and combo products that improve focus/attention, calm overstimulation, and support cognition and memory. Again, it depends on your unique situation. Some of what I might recommend includes:
Lifestyle Practices Perhaps most surprising to my clients, lifestyle practices quite literally affect your biochemical and genetic expression. How you live your life can actually change your metabolism, how you digest and absorb nutrients from food, and - attention please! - rewire your brain. Each one of these and many more could have its own newsletter, and in fact I have covered some of them already (look for them here), but I will just list them for now. Please respond to this email if you’d like to talk about any of them!
And That's a Wrap on ADHD It has truly been a pleasure to share this three-part series with you - breaking down the complexities of ADHD, digging into how to explore your unique processes, and sharing practical strategies to help you find your own path to feeling balanced.
If something in this series resonated with you, shaped a new perspective, or left you with lingering questions, I’d love to hear from you! Reply below with your thoughts, experiences, or anything you’d like me to cover in the future, or email me at [email protected]. Your feedback helps shape what comes next, and I always enjoy learning from your insights. Thank you for being part of this conversation! Stay tuned for more Inner Workings' health and wellness deep dives!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI am Mary Virginia Coffman (I go by “Mary Virginia”), a clinical nutritionist who focuses on mental health, digestive health, metabolic health, and nervous system regulation. My unique combination of clinical interventions, education, and coaching will help you feel well in body, mind, and spirit. Categories |
RSS Feed