ADHD and Food: A Survival Guide
Photo by Ola Mishchenko on Unsplash
One of the biggest obstacles I have faced in my ADHD journey—one of which many friends, acquaintances, and family members with the same diagnosis have attested to—is preparing and eating food. Grocery shopping, since I had to start doing it for myself as a young adult, has been my worst enemy, and cooking is a whole other story. The anxiety of figuring out what to cook, making sure I buy everything I need, remembering to defrost/prepare/set aside time/et cetera for my food projects… At many points, I have given up, ordered a cheap pizza, and called it a day.
Over the years I’ve curated a bit more of a process to make sure I’m eating at all, let alone eating balanced meals that allow me to function better without feeling too overwhelmed by the process. It’s a delicate balance. In no way have I created a perfect methodology – and if I did, would my brain want to stick with it long-term? But I wanted to share the things I, personally, have learned over the years.
Charcuterie is Your Friend.
And no, it doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive; I’m basically implying you create yourself an Adult Lunchables. If you have ingredients you enjoy that you can cook with and eat on their own, that’s always a good thing to keep in your cabinets. I know, for example, I will eat walnuts on their own, and, when I have the motivation to put in a bit more effort, put them in pies, banana bread, and salads. They’re versatile for me, and that makes a huge difference. Same thing with sliced cheeses and lunch meats (good for sandwiches or just to snack on), broccoli (which I love cooked or dipped in hummus), and snackable fruits like grapes. I also like to buy pre-marinated chicken/turkey from affordable grocery shops like Aldi; they take a lot of the planning stress out of cooking, and chicken and turkey are high-protein and easy to add to quesadillas, sandwiches, salads, and to eat on their own. You may be shaking your head at my tastes and that’s okay, just find the ingredients you are likely to enjoy in your everyday.
Same Old Things
Photo by Yulia Khlebnikova on Unsplash
If you have a meal that you always come back to, keep it in rotation! I like to have about three options for each meal of the day of recipes I know I love already and are easy to meal-prep. My personal requirements for regular-rotation-recipes usually include 1) less than an hour cooking and cleanup, 2) minimal dishes, and 3) ingredients that I can reliably find whenever I am grocery shopping to limit the amount of stores I have to go to and the time I’m spending out (to prevent overwhelm). When you get bored of one meal, you can always do a quick recipe search that includes foods that you’re craving or ingredients you already have that you’re unsure what to do with.
It’s common when you’re neurodivergent, especially with ADHD, to get bored after a while with the same choices. Keep some backup recipes in the back of your brain to try out when you have the time and energy. The worst case scenario is that you’ve made something you’re not super thrilled with - share it with a friend who may like it more! Best case scenario is that you have something new for the recipe rotation. No matter what, you can give yourself a pat on the back for trying something new. Go you!!
Nutrients and Good-for-you Ingredients.
One of the biggest barriers to actually cooking and eating is the mental barrier of wondering if I’m getting the “perfect balance.” The truth is: balance is hard. And you’re not a failure if you’re not always eating 100% fully-balanced meals. It’s better to be fed than not fed at all, and that is especially true for neurodivergent brains that require a lot of power to function.
If we do want to discuss nutrients important to the ADHD diet, we should discuss proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats. (If this is overwhelming to you right now, feel free to skip to the next section - you can always come back.)
Proteins: beans, cheeses, eggs, nuts, low-fat yogurt, and meat all have high protein, and protein, while being a part of any healthy diet, is essential for ADHDers. It can help with our brain function, improve concentration, and keep your blood sugar lower.
Complex Carbs: Complex carbs include ingredients like oats, berries, apples, rice,whole wheat, and legumes. They are important in helping us feel full, and if you have ADHD, hunger and intense cravings can really prevent us from focusing and feeling good. Simple carbohydrates on the other hand, such as white flour and simple sugar, spike your blood sugar. disrupt focus, and leave us feeling especially sluggish and brain-foggy.
Healthy Fats: These are the superheroes in our diets when we have ADHD. Heart health, immune health, brain functioning, memory, mood stabilization, and energy are just some of the benefits of including extra healthy fats in our diet. On top of all that, they are key to nutrient absorption, which is especially important.
Nutrients: A balanced diet offers all of the important nutrients we need for our diet and can be gained from incorporating proteins, complex carbs, and healthy fats in our everyday diets. Some of the most important vitamins and minerals we can get out of this is iron (to prevent fatigue), zinc (regulates chemical pathways in the brain), magnesium (which is found lacking in people with ADHD), and Vitamin D (helps fight inattention and hyperactivity), and Omega-3’s (aids chemical messengers and helps fight inattention, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity).
Deep breaths, I know all that was probably overwhelming (and I do apologize). You don’t need to be a certified nutritionist to eat well and you don’t need to be perfectly balanced in your food habits to survive. I implore you, instead of writing an in-depth, idealistic meal plan that you are unlikely to follow, to see where you’re at in this current moment with your diet and to supplement with more ingredients targeting the areas you may be missing. ADHDers tend to jump the gun and try to make massive changes all at once that lead us to real issues on the road to building healthier habits. Remind yourself that change is slow and no one is perfect. And, it’s totally okay to opt for fast food when you’re just not feeling it. It is always better to be fed than not fed at all.
The Evil of Dishes
Good luck.
I’m just kidding; but I will say I know how big the dishes struggle is. You’re telling me I have to cook and clean? Ew. I could honestly write a whole separate article on cleaning with ADHD (and likely will soon) but for now, I will say that, just like shopping, it’s always in your best interest to make this process as comfortable as possible. Dish gloves are an essential for me, and so is doing my dishes through the process of cooking. If I let them pile up, I try not to be too hard on myself, but I always remind myself how good I will feel when the sink is empty.
Many ADHDers have different methods of keeping up with the dishes, but here are some suggestions:
One-pot meals and minimal dish usage.
Setting a timer and listening to some music/ a podcast you enjoy while doing them.
Really, find any way to make the task less boring. I like to play Tetris with loading the dishwasher.
If you start to feel super overwhelmed, take a break. It’s okay to take a break, and it’s a lot better to let yourself do it earlier, rather than letting yourself get to a place of intense sensory and emotional overload.
My Mortal Enemy: Grocery Shopping
I like to prepare myself for grocery shopping like I’m going to battle. I make sure I have my noise-canceling headphones and if I’m able, I go to shops when I know there will be fewer shoppers so that I can avoid the frenzied feelings of being pushed around, being swerved by others’ carts, and feeling like I’m going to get run over in the parking lot by the post- 9 to 5 crowd just trying to get tf out of there. If you’re someone that is overstimulated by lights, sunglasses are okay to wear inside. Wear comfy clothing, too! Grocery shopping can be such a huge task, make it as comfortable as you can.
When it comes to grocery lists, remember to get your basics - the things you know you’ll always eat - and then go from there. Keeping a whiteboard in my kitchen where I can immediately write the ingredients I’m out of has saved my life, and it allows me to write down new meal ideas and foods I may be craving so that I can remember to pick them up!
Perusing the store and all the grocery possibilities can be fun, but remember to take a step back if you’re looking at a new item and say, “am I going to use this? When am I going to use this? And do I think I will really like this?” before plopping it in the cart. It will save you money, time, and guilty feels (even though the dopamine of buying something new can be pretty nice).
If even all of this doesn’t seem doable, especially during high-stress, low executive-function weeks, ordering your groceries online for pickup/ delivery only costs a couple extra bucks and can be the difference between either not eating at all or spending a lot on delivery, and getting the food you need to feel fed and happy.
Pre-Prepped Meals are A-Okay!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve passed through frozen aisles, past full meals that take just a few minutes of heating in the microwave, past pre-prepped deli sandwiches and soups that would be so simple to eat, because of all kinds of strange thoughts in my head. “It would be cheaper to just buy the ingredients and cook.” But will I? Am I feeling too stressed that week to cook more? Will I be looking at my unprepped food with guilt, ending up spending on eating out anyway as my fresh food rots? “It’s unhealthier.” Am I going to end up getting fast food that is worse for my overall functioning, or, worse, not eating at all? I will say for a third time: It is better to be fed than not fed at all!!
Partnered Cooking, Cleaning, and Shopping
So many neurodivergent people can benefit from doing tasks with others because of the silent accountability and encouragement we feel from having others around. Body doubling is a great way to make some of the general tasks of living less daunting, but can be especially helpful when it comes to food.
Unlearning Food (and Other) Shame.
Ultimately, you know yourself. You know what foods you won’t eat and how, if you don’t have a plan to prep them or cook the foods you do like, they will sit and rot in your fridge. And that isn’t your fault, entirely; cooking is hard, and with the way our brains work can make meeting our nutritional needs and maintaining a healthy diet overwhelming. Watching ingredients sit there can harbor a lot of shame in ourselves and make it even more daunting to cook. You’re not a bad person or a failure for some food mishaps, or for not eating all your groceries before they expire, or for just not wanting to do this. It’s hard. But you deserve a fulfilling, healthy diet. You deserve to eat well and to take care of yourself! And you deserve so much compassion for the struggles that you face in a world that’s built for neurotypicals.
Final Thoughts
Over the process of writing this, I’ve gotten countless tips from other neurodivergent folks that are extremely helpful. So much of it comes down to playing around and figuring out what works for you in the moment. ADHDers tend to need different coping skills at different times. And while habits are hard to build, you can always start slow and play around until you find something that works for you.
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