ADHD, Food & Snacking: It's not your willpower

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Hello, and welcome to Powerful Possibilities, a guide to ADHD

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from diagnosis and beyond.

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I'm your host, Catherine, and I'm a certified ADHD coach with

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my own experience of a diagnosis of ADHD and autism in my 40s.

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My career is dedicated to helping people like you navigate the

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misunderstood areas of ADHD.

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So whether you're recently diagnosed, you think you might be ADHD, Or you're looking

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to better understand your journey so far, this is your new go to platform for your

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insights and transformative strategies.

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Grab your coffee, settle in, and let's unlock the potential

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that's just waiting for you.

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You're in the right place.

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RODE NT-USB & Susan's iphone (work) Camera: What's up.

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Everybody it's episode six of powerful possibilities.

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With ADHD from newly diagnosed and beyond.

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ADHD coach Catherine.

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Today we are starting to talk about ADHD and food.

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You'll know, by now, I like to have fairly short episodes of about 30 minutes.

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And when I started to look at this, I realized that it's not

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something that we can even skate over the top of in 30 minutes.

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So today we're going to start by looking at some of the common areas.

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Where ADHD and food might show up in our behavior.

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We will have a quick look at the neuro-transmitters.

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that affect our behavior and how they're connected with ADHD and.

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Or food intake.

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We will include some practical tips.

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At the end as usual, so that you can make sure that this new found

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knowledge is put to good use.

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And you are not sitting in shame any longer, which is one

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of the main things we do here.

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is help You to let go of that shame.

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Before we go any further.

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I want to say thank you.

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There have been so many messages and lots of lovely feedback.

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Every single message comes through to me.

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And I read them all.

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podcasts within the first months.

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I would be thrilled if we got to the top 10%.

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It's just me.

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My iPad and laptop.

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I'm really grateful that so many of you are enjoying us.

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And to everyone who's got in touch and said how much

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they've enjoyed it, sank you.

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It means.

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So much to me.

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To know that.

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This is useful for you and you are.

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Allowing me into your ear.

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Thank you.

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So why you talk about ADHD and food?

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Right.

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Lots of people have this stereotypical idea of people with ADHD.

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Being too wired and too hopped up to think about food.

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And that does happen for some people.

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But the facts are quite different.

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And when I was looking at the research.

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I was really struck by some of the data.

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So I will.

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Put a little screenshot.

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Up in one corner, I will link in the show notes so you can go and read it yourself.

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But I was genuinely shocked and there isn't much that shocks me these days

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about the impact of undiagnosed ADHD.

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We'll start by looking at some of the statistics.

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We will look at how ADHD and own neurology afffect how we interact with food.

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we'll look at the neurochemistry that can affect our eating habits.

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And then we're going to look at some of the key ingredients that

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have been fairly conclusively shown to be helpful in our diets.

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To support ADHD brains.

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And next week, we're going to look at things like organizing

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your food planning ahead.

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Food in the ADHD home, where you may have people who have quite conflicting sensory

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needs and all of that is very complicated.

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So we're going to look at that next week.

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And we'll start this week.

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With a bit of data.

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Cause I know you love the data.

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But first, I would just like to say that am not the only person

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with ADHD who has a complicated.

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Back story when it comes to food.

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And I did have an eating disorder in my teens.

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Some would see that it's still there.

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It hasn't gone.

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It's just turned into something else.

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And I would say that.

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I am more aware of it now.

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thEn at any point in my life, because it's something that you can't get

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away from, everybody has to eat.

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And the problem is that.

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People judge other people on the basis of what they think they eat.

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And totally choose to eat and how they present in the world.

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So, this is a really tricky topic.

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It's a very sensitive one.

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I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist, a counselor.

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I'm definitely not a dietician.

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There are fantastic dieticians and nutritionists.

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out there who are looking at the impact of ADHD and autism on food.

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I'm not one of them.

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I'm just passing on the bits that I think will be most useful for you.

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So, if you are currently dealing with an eating disorder, Please contact.

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Local charities in the UK beat are very good and they have regular meetings,

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phone lines, you can text them.

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And they're great for people who live with people with eating disorders and

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those who are in the middle of it.

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And I would see that.

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Please take it seriously.

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But don't despair.

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So let's begin with some of those facts and the show notes

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contain all the references.

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So you can go back and check.

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Around 20% of children with ADHD will have some kind of eating disorder.

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At some point in their lives.

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A Duke university study found that around 30% of adults.

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With binge eating disorder.

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Also had a history of ADHD.

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Now that means 70% of them.

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Didn't.

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But I think when you start looking at the prevalence within the population compared

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to neurotypical population, That's when you start to see significant differences.

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For example.

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Girls with ADHD are 2.7 times more likely.

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To be diagnosed with anorexia.

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Then their neurotypical counterparts?

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And girls was ADHD are 5.6 times more likely.

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To be diagnosed with bulemia then their neurotypical peers.

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And this is according to a study in the journal of.

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Developmental and behavioral pediatrics.

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Somebody made a comment and said, you know, if 26.7% of.

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Severely obese women.

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Our ADHD.

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That still leaves more than 70% who haven't and I take their point.

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The problem is that that is five times more prevalent.

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In the ADHD community than in the neurotypical community.

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So.

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To kind of sum it up and I will include lots of articles for you to go and check.

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in the show notes.

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There's a real connection.

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Between eating disorders, whether that is binge-eating.

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Anorexia bulimia, any of these really challenging?

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Eating disorders and ADHD.

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Yeah, that makes sense.

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I've been reading recently about a kind of combined or shared genetic

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underpinning for the most common.

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Psychiatric disorders.

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Including depression, anxiety, general anxiety, specific

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phobias, and disordered eating.

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And.

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The researchers included ADHD and autism in there.

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I like to think of those as neurodevelopmental conditions, but

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we knew that the travel with these psychiatric illnesses and these eating

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disorders are psychiatric illnesses.

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But what if you're not there yet?

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What if.

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You are somebody who eats more than they maybe want to, who maybe has issues around

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snacking and you think you might be ADHD.

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are you included in this episode.

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Yes, you are.

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And at the end of the episode, I'm going to give some common sense.

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Information that you can use.

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When you're thinking about how you go forward,

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but it's not down to your willpower.

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It's not because you're weak.

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It's not because it's a moral failing and too many people equate how they

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eat with their moral character.

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And I want you to let go of that as quickly as you can.

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So it looks like the risk for obesity.

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Is it around four times higher in the ADHD population.

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Then the neurotypicals and that makes sense.

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When you start to think about.

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Old friends, executive functions.

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What the are.

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What they do and what drives them as well as the neurotransmitters involved in ADHD.

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So we know that executive functions are affected in ADHD.

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And there are scientists, psychiatrists, psychologists who can measure.

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Your level of variance from the standard in terms of your executive functions.

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I don't do that.

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I asked people to make their own assessment of their

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executive function abilities.

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And I think for most people that's adequate outside of a diagnostic area.

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But think about what feeding yourself involves.

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You must.

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Choose the right food for your body's requirements in nutritional terms.

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There's also an emotional element to choosing what we eat and how we eat.

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And when.

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But if you're thinking about food, you must plan ahead.

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Because, you know, those snack attacks when there's nothing in the house.

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Eh, and it's never the right thing.

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That's another executive function issue.

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And then the other thing that might impact the other side of nutrition is.

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How we're caring for ourselves.

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Our lack of sleep.

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So I'm going to go through some of the common things that happen.

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Around eating and food.

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That are more common in ADHD.

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They are not a diagnostic criteria.

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None of these mean that you are ADHD.

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Just something that you might observe in your own behavior.

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So the main executive function people think about is impulsivity.

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And impulsivity is making those choices in the moment.

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Which may not be aligned with our longterm goals.

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Our future Hills or any of the things that would hold us back.

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It means that you're more likely.

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To act on impulse.

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When you're surrounded by.

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High carb, high fat, high sugar refined food.

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And they spend millions advertising it to you.

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On purpose.

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So it's not you, it's the environment that we live in.

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And with impulsivity.

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We struggle more to halt our impulsive behaviours.

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It's harder for us to say

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no.

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To that.

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Donut or muffin when we go to get a coffee in the morning, because it's there.

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And it looks good.

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and we're a bit tired and.

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On impulse, we buy it.

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And I don't know many people who would Chuck a three or four pound.

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Like.

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Pound Sterling donut in the bin because you know, It 'Oh

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I shouldn't have bought that'

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I'm just going to Chuck it.

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I don't know many people who would do that.

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Bravo, if you do.

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It's not me.

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The other thing that we often struggle with is we are less aware of our

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interoception interoception that.

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Feeling of how am I feeling in my body?

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I Feeling hungry.

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How hungry am I?

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Am I full?

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And I've spoken to quite a few people with ADHD who say I'm either.

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Not hungry.

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Starving, like I haven't eaten for a week and then there's nothing

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until I'm uncomfortably full.

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So it's difficult to stop eating halfway through a meal.

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People talk about yeah.

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Leave so much on your plate.

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That's more difficult for us because we're maybe not aware of

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those inner cues from our body.

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And of course that means we're less likely to be aware of being tired.

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We are less likely to be aware of being thirsty.

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All of the things that we can mistake for hunger.

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And yeah.

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Throw in some impulsivity, some easy, really available refined food.

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And off you go.

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And that brings us to poor sleep habits.

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No.

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Sleep and ADHD.

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That's a whole other episode in the future, but we know.

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That anyone who has sleeps poorly is more likely to eat more the next day.

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And if you are chronically unable to sleep and lots of young people

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and adults with ADHD are, then it's going to show up in your choices.

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The next day,

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and again, that's not your "weak will"

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that is your brain releasing hormones telling you to search for high

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energy food because you are fatigued.

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But not many of us have the luxury of a disco nap.

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In the middle of the week.

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So you have to eat.

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Something or coffee or, you know, and a snack is at hand.

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So there's another reason that we tend to overeat or snack impulsively.

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And thinking again about our executive functions.

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And procrastination, which is often a product of our executive dysfunction.

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You've heard of "procrastilearning".

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I hope, which is one of my favorite things.

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But "procrastineating" is another one.

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And I saw that a couple of years ago.

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So we are faced with a task we don't want to do.

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And instead of starting the task - task initiation being

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one of our executive challenges.

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We just have a snake.

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Now a lot of people get into this habit without being aware of it.

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And when you do become aware of it, it can be a challenge to break.

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But we're doing it because we come from a background of lower dopamine.

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Lower circulating dopamine, and we'll look at that in a minute.

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And so.

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Food raises dopamine we anticipate enjoyment, nourishment.

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Good things from food.

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And so if you're trying to deal with laundry or paperwork or.

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Something really that you are just not up for.

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You may be tired.

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Having a quick bite, a chocolate before you start the task can feel like a really

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sensible thing to do in that moment.

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And of course that brings us back to the lower level of neuro-transmitters.

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It's not that we don't make as much dopamine per se, but our dopamine

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transporters are really efficient.

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And so quite often the dopamine is removed.

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Before we're ready for it to go to the receptor.

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But we know that dopamine in low levels means we are constantly under aroused.

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So we feel bored.

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And we're also low and.

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G a B a or GABA, which controls our inhibition.

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So if we are low in dopamine, So we're feeling under-aroused, bored,.

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And if we are low in inhibition, The one thing, we're not gonna find it easy to do.

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Is prevent ourselves from looking for that arousal, that stimulation.

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Eh, in the form of an easily available snack.

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And when I was younger, it used to be Nicotine.

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That was, that was my thing I can now understand why it was so easy.

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To fall into that and so difficult to quit.

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Both of these are connected to what Dr.

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Nora Volkow calls reward deficiency, which means that people with ADHD

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experience a lower level of reward.

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To the exact same stimulus as a neurotypical brain.

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I think the studies are from 2007.

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Incredible scientists working with her team on addiction reward and ADHD

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kind of came up as a side effect.

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So when you are.

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Experiencing reward deficiency.

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You will look for a reward more often we'll come back to that in future reward.

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Deficiency is a whole thing.

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But right now, we're going to come back to food.

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And.

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Tied in with food.

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Are there?

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They kind of.

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Thinking models, the thinking patterns that I see quite often in ADHD.

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Such as perfectionism.

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It's all or nothing.

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I must be perfect.

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You know, there's the idea that you must eat super clean.

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This a very rigorous attachment to rules.

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Can be part of it, but also when we fall short of those standards, we can.

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Throw our hands up in despair and just say, well, I'm never

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going to be good enough.

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And so perfectionism often stops you for trying for good enough.

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You know, it's the old 80, 20, 80, 20 is applicable to everything.

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But if you're 80% of the time managing to.

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Manage your snacks and plan your meals and meet your nutritional

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and emotional and spiritual needs.

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Then you're less likely to worry about the 20% perfectionism keeps you stuck.

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And that also feeds our procrastinating because we want to be perfect.

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We know we're not going to be perfect because we are human and wonderfully

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human at that wonderfully weird.

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But because we expect perfection when we can't reach it, we just put it off because

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it's another one of those micro failures.

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Again, That lack of self compassion, self compassion is the ability to

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say, well, you know, I'm really tired.

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So I made an unwise choice or I didn't plan that, that.

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That's okay.

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And move on.

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There let's say there is a unique combination of factors.

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In our psychology.

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That impact.

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Our behavior around food that are also magnified by our neurobiology

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and the way our brains are built.

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And the way that they are run with our neuro transmitters.

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RODE NT-USB & Susan's iphone (work) Camera-1: So what are then your transmitters

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that we want to think about in ADHD and how are they connected to food?

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So the main one that everybody talks about is dopamine.

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Dopamine is essential for motivation for pleasure.

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For reward the anticipation of good things.

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And it's something that people talk about.

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Somebody must've said something, cause I've heard three people say

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chasing dopamine in the last two days.

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Dopamine is not an illegal substance.

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That you chase dopamine is a neurotransmitter that

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does a job in your brain.

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It's connected with motivation and pleasure and reward.

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And as I said before in ADHD, It's imbalanced.

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We have less of it because our dopamine transporter cells are more efficient.

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And remove it before it's their job is done.

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One of the main things that can be a precursor to dopamine is tyrosine.

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And tyrosine is produced from protein.

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There's some evidence that our gut microbiome also affects our mood

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this is where science starts to get a little bit less conclusive.

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So I think it's not something that I want to focus on too much.

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There's some evidence that a healthy gut microbiome can also

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affect your brain chemistry.

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What are good things to include in your diet?

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Whether you have ADHD or not, but especially if you are somebody

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whose neurotransmitter levels are slightly less than you would like.

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So the first one

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omega three fatty acids are found.

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Generally in fish.

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That's where we think of it.

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But there are some alternative sources, including some vegan ones.

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I don't know much about the quality of those.

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I don't take them.

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I use An omega three fish oil.

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There's fairly good evidence that they are helpful in ADHD.

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Don't go crazy.

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Having too much of it.

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Instead.

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Focus on including whole food sources whenever possible.

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Obviously I mentioned tyrosine before.

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The main sources of it are of course, in lean meat.

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Some in eggs and also in legumes, like lentils, chickpeas.

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Keenwah.

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And the protein rich foods help because they are.

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Higher in a dopamine precursor, which is tyrosine.

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So making sure that you get adequate protein from whole food sources.

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As far as possible.

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And the other thing to include in your diet regularly are complex carbohydrates.

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There's a huge debate going on about ultra processed foods

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and how bad they are for us.

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And.

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I guess anything that needs a chemistry degree to understand ingredients.

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It's refined.

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But ultimately all foods are made of chemicals.

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And I don't want to stigmatize anybody.

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On the basis of what they're able to afford to buy.

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And it's a fact that refined food is cheaper.

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So if you're in a position where you cannot access.

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The kind of ultra low process, organic type foods that you would like.

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Please don't feel ashamed and just focus on doing what you can for yourself.

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Complex carbohydrates are generally not that much more expensive.

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There's things like brown bread.

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Brown rice.

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The whole grains, as well as fruits and vegetables.

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And.

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Fruit and vegetables again, they're quite expensive at the moment, but the

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more of them you can have generally the better your health is going to be.

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Recently, I've really struggled to get enough fruit and

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vegetables for lots of reasons.

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So that's one of the things I'm going to be focusing on over the next few months.

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And these help because they maintain a stable blood sugar level.

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Blood sugar level has an impact on your brain function.

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Although I would not say that there is a magical brain food that will somehow.

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Make your ADHD symptoms go away.

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I would say that there are elements that are available to most people.

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That you can include that will support your brain function, your neurotransmitter

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levels and your general health.

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Let's look now at foods to approach cautiously.

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If you have ADHD and none of these are going to be a surprise.

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Okay.

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This isn't to say that these foods are bad.

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So it's not about complete rejection of these things.

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It's about being aware of the impact.

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Understanding how it affects your ADHD and making an informed choice.

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LIke medication.

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It's your choice.

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You're in control.

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Obviously number one.

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To everybody's going to be thinking about is refined sugar.

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I don't mean sugar that you find in.

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Pears, apples, berries, bananas.

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Those are fine for most people unless you're diabetic,

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which is a different podcast.

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Refined sugar.

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Has a significant impact on your ADHD for two reasons.

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The first obviously is the spike and crash impact on your energy.

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From your blood sugar level, rising rapidly, and then falling.

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As your body dumps insulin into the system.

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And one of the things that I talked about earlier, in a blog post was that.

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We eat food is high in refined sugar.

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We experience arise and dopamine, because it's we associate this with

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a reward from a very early age.

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Sweet food is associated with a reward.

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The problem is that the physical impact of such a high amount of refined sugar

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act as an alarm, if you like in our body.

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And so we feel worse because there are physical side effects.

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And your brain reacts and says, I don't feel good.

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And what do we do?

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We look for something to make ourselves feel better.

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We maybe head back for more sugar.

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When it's the sugar in the first place that could have increased these

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feelings around feeling not okay.

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Want to see.

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No.

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That I think sometimes these studies missed the point.

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And the reason I'm saying that is because I was looking at a study where

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people who had a very high intake of sugary drinks were found to be more.

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Measurably ADHD in their behavior.

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And I think actually it's not the sugary drinks cause the rise in ADHD.

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It could also be that people with ADHD.

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with their a lower level of circulating dopamine?

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We're looking for that reward.

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So we have the sugary drink.

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Because of the physical response.

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The insulin, the lower blood sugar.

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The biological feeling that this is somehow not a good thing.

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We feel worse.

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And so we go back for more sugary drink.

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And so it's almost like a negative feedback loop, which is

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caused not by the sugary drink.

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But by our lower level of dopamine.

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I would love to hear from a scientist, a biologist.

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If I'm complete liberal, do let me know.

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But when you're thinking about foods to avoid.

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It's very individual.

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Some people are totally fine.

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And don't notice any difference with refined sugar.

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Some people feel.

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Much worse.

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And the main thing is that none of these things alone are going to make you.

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Not be ADHD brained.

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They are complimentary.

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And none of them should be taken to an extent where the impact your health.

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And that's one of the things that we're going to talk about in a minute.

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I did say we would end up with some practical strategies and

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that is one of the things that I love offering in the podcast.

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So when we think about ADHD and food intake, we are most likely going

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to be thinking about snacking.

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It's very rare to meet somebody who eats far too many bananas or apples,

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and we tend to go for the easy option.

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So what's going on there and how can we improve that?

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If it's our choice the factors in ADHD that affect our snacking

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are things like impulsivity.

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Our ability to plan and organize a head.

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Our sudden, massive hunger compared to not being hungry.

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And also the procrastination link.

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Sometimes we don't plan our days very well, and we just don't have time.

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To eat properly.

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So we grab snacks, Willy nilly throughout the day.

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There's a theory that this provides us with little dopamine boosts

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throughout the day, especially for using high sugar, high, fat food.

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Which does stimulate those pleasure receptors in your brain.

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But I generally think it's also as much of a regulation tool

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and a sensory soothing tool.

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We use snacks to feel good because we're doing something with our

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hands and our mouth and we are.

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Soothing outself.

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But snacking can be absolutely fine.

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If we do it with awareness and mindfulness and intention.

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Yes.

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I've mentioning mindfulness again.

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And although mindfulness is something that you should be.

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Cautious around if you have PTSD or other.

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Significant mental health problems.

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It's certainly something that is very useful to bring into your toolkit.

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When you're thinking about your snacking habits.

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Snacking also helps us avoid more demanding tasks that we don't want to do.

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So how can we make snacking?

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Something that we're comfortable to do throughout the D.

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In a mindful, intentional way.

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The first of all, we want to have the big rocks in place.

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And that might mean looking at your regular mealtimes.

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If you have a really chaotic routine, it might be, you don't have time.

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To plan and cook from scratch and things like that every day.

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But making sure you have three significant meals.

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Breakfast lunch and dinner is going to make snacking much more

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manageable and less attractive.

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And certainly in the high fat, high sugar terms.

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And it does that because it maintains our blood sugar level,

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which makes our brain happy, which regulates our neuro-transmitters are.

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Body is nourished.

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Through these regular meals.

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And you might want to think is there a way that I can access meal

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planning or meal organizing services.

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When I was studying a lot and I knew I didn't have time to cook

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from scratch in the evening.

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I used all plants when I was studying a lot and they send out.

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Healthy balanced whole food frozen meals that you can use

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for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

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And especially for dinner when I was working late.

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I find them invaluable because I could cook some really quickly.

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And I still was able to feel like I was looking after myself by

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providing something nourishing.

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But the other thing you can have on hand is a toolkit.

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Of the snacks that you like.

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And the are useful for ADHD.

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So things that include a lot of protein, like Greek yogurt.

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cottage cheese hummus is a good one.

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And nuts things like that.

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Things or lots of fiber.

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So I'm adding some vegetable sticks with your hummus.

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Using whole grain crackers.

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And combining protein and fiber together was some water is going to give you

Speaker: 00:28:52

a really nice satisfying snack that.

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Doesn't cause your blood sugar to go really high, very quickly.

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But it does give you that nice crunch.

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So think about the textures that you like, think about the flavors that you like.

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And then one of the fantastic things I've seen people do is create almost

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a tray that they have to hand so that they can quickly grab things instead of.

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Going into the cupboards and seeing what's in there.

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Of course, one of the root causes of this.

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As our procrastination, and it's easier to go and grab a cracker than

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it is to do a task that we don't want.

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It's just a form of procrastination.

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One of the things I'm going to finish with today is looking a

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little bit about procrastination.

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What causes procrastination and ADHD?

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It could be, we struggle with task initiation, which means.

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Just getting started.

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We might feel overwhelmed at the idea of the job we have to do.

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We might be facing a task that is not even slightly rewarding.

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And of course we aren't the best.

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Sometimes it deciding how long a task is going to take.

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And what that means is instead of being able to say, it takes me 10

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minutes to put the laundry away.

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We feel like it's going to take forever.

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And so we put it off.

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So procrastination has lots of root causes.

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And so classic strategies that you can put in place are things like using a timer?

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No, I don't mean use a timer in the way that some people do.

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One thing that has been helpful for me is a time timer.

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And I may be set at for 10 minutes and see how much I can achieve in that time.

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Doing things like laundry or cleaning the bathroom.

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That doesn't mean that I'm racing against the clock.

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It means I want an objective measurement.

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Of how long, a task that I did not look forward to is going to take.

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So that I can then put it into proportion.

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I can put it back into the context of.

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It'll take me 10 minutes to do this.

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And then I've got another 30 minutes to do something I enjoy.

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You might also want to use things like tying a task you don't want to

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do is something you do want to do.

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Or a value.

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I think I mentioned last week.

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One of my values is family.

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Things like cleaning the bathroom or putting laundry way.

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I don't think of them on their own.

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I think this creates a nice environment for me and my family.

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And because they tie it to a value it's slightly easier to do.

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Not easy, but slightly easier.

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You could even combine preparing a nutritious snack with fiber

Speaker: 00:31:22

and protein and something tasty.

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As a form of productive procrastination.

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As a productive break.

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So you're taking a break.

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But you're choosing to do something that's really good for you.

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You're still going to have a snack and it's part of your day.

Speaker: 00:31:37

You might want to have specific times for a snack.

Speaker: 00:31:40

So you may want to have.

Speaker: 00:31:42

Breakfast lunch and dinner.

Speaker: 00:31:44

Have a snack in between each.

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It can be really tiny.

Speaker: 00:31:47

But it maintains your blood sugar throughout the day.

Speaker: 00:31:50

fRom most healthy people and this isn't.

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Of course going to apply to people with medical conditions.

Speaker: 00:31:56

Please don't take this as medical advice.

Speaker: 00:31:59

From most healthy adults and young people.

Speaker: 00:32:01

Three appropriate meals and three small snacks is going to keep your blood sugar.

Speaker: 00:32:06

And your brain nice and happy and nourished and working really well.

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But when you do sit down to eat.

Speaker: 00:32:12

Try not to be distracted.

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I've seen devices where you can put your phone into a box and set a timer.

Speaker: 00:32:18

So you can't take your phone out of the box for 10, 15 minutes an hour.

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You may not need to go that far, but choosing to put your phone

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away, choosing to not watch TV and focus on what you're eating.

Speaker: 00:32:32

Is going to change how you experience that food and that break as well.

Speaker: 00:32:37

So that's a first look at ADHD and food.

Speaker: 00:32:40

We've looked at neurotransmitters involved in ADHD.

Speaker: 00:32:44

How food can affect them.

Speaker: 00:32:46

We've also looked at some practical strategies for snacking.

Speaker: 00:32:50

The also are connected with our need for procrastination or.

Speaker: 00:32:53

Y we might be choosing to snack instead of getting on with something.

Speaker: 00:32:57

We will come back to those in future episodes.

Speaker: 00:33:01

You must experiment with what works for you.

Speaker: 00:33:04

There's no one connect we to do these things and there's no one correct answer.

Speaker: 00:33:09

But if you are the parent or cater or partner of somebody and you are

Speaker: 00:33:14

concerned about their eating behavior.

Speaker: 00:33:17

And they are not ready to talk to you.

Speaker: 00:33:19

Then you can get information from charities online, like beat.

Speaker: 00:33:23

There are other groups like ADHD, UK ADHD foundation.

Speaker: 00:33:28

In the UK and they can point you in the right direction.

Speaker: 00:33:31

If you are concerned about your own eating behavior.

Speaker: 00:33:35

Please contact a medical provider.

Speaker: 00:33:38

Don't delay.

Speaker: 00:33:39

And.

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No that this isn't your fault.

Speaker: 00:33:41

This isn't something you've chosen.

Speaker: 00:33:43

And a lot of the time, people who have had binge-eating disorder find that

Speaker: 00:33:48

their medication for ADHD improves that.

Speaker: 00:33:51

And in some places it's prescribed for binge-eating disorder.

Speaker: 00:33:55

So there is a connection there and you can change how you behave

Speaker: 00:33:59

around food, but it's your choice.

Speaker: 00:34:02

And I want to make sure you knew that there's no judgment from

Speaker: 00:34:05

me about any of these things.

Speaker: 00:34:07

What all human.

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And we all go through different stages in our life, and we all have

Speaker: 00:34:11

different ways to deal with things.

Speaker: 00:34:12

But if you want to make changes hopes that the information I've shared with

Speaker: 00:34:16

you today is useful and helps you to drop some of the guilt and the embarrassment.

Speaker: 00:34:21

Because we live in a culture where we are definitely judged.

Speaker: 00:34:25

On how we look, how we eat and how we nourish ourselves.

Speaker: 00:34:30

And.

Speaker: 00:34:31

We know that ADHD has a significant impact on that.

Speaker: 00:34:34

Next week.

Speaker: 00:34:35

We're going to look at ADHD and food from a different perspective.

Speaker: 00:34:39

We're going to think about.

Speaker: 00:34:40

Fifth preparation and planning in the context of executive functions.

Speaker: 00:34:44

We're going to look at families and ADHD and eating.

Speaker: 00:34:49

And we are going to finish with.

Speaker: 00:34:51

I look about supplements, hydration, and mindful eating

Speaker: 00:34:56

I hope this has been useful.

Speaker: 00:34:57

I know it's a slightly heavier episode than usual.

Speaker: 00:35:00

I know it's a slightly more serious episode than usual.

Speaker: 00:35:02

But I do think that ADHD and food is the one thing we all have to do every day.

Speaker: 00:35:08

And so the impact of ADHD on it, of course is going to be significant.

Speaker: 00:35:13

If you have any questions, please send them in.

Speaker: 00:35:16

There's a form on my website, on the podcast page.

Speaker: 00:35:19

Or you can contact me at ADHD underscore coach underscore Catherine.

Speaker: 00:35:24

On most social media channels.

Speaker: 00:35:26

Let me know if you are listening.

Speaker: 00:35:28

And please leave a review and if you could leave a review, it

Speaker: 00:35:32

really makes a big difference.

Speaker: 00:35:34

And I would be so happy if you could share it with somebody

Speaker: 00:35:37

else that might find this useful.

Speaker: 00:35:39

Till next time.

Speaker: 00:35:40

Thank you again.

Speaker: 00:35:47

Thank you for joining us today on Powerful Possibilities, Navigating

Speaker: 00:35:52

ADHD from New Diagnosis and Beyond.

Speaker: 00:35:56

We're all about equipping you with the tools and insights

Speaker: 00:35:59

that you need to thrive.

Speaker: 00:36:02

If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and share it with

Speaker: 00:36:05

someone else you know who might benefit or who you want to understand you better.

Speaker: 00:36:11

Remember, your journey with ADHD is an ongoing journey of growth.

Speaker: 00:36:16

But you're not alone anymore.

Speaker: 00:36:19

Until next time, this is Catherine, reminding you that with the

Speaker: 00:36:23

right guidance, the possibilities really are powerful and endless.

Speaker: 00:36:30

Take care.