Fuelling with ADHD: Challenges & Practical Strategies

Why am I writing a blog about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and nutrition?

ADHD impacts, amongst other thing, attention, focus, memory, impulsivity, organisation, decision making, and planning. These traits can make fuelling effectively a lot more challenging if you have ADHD, which is tough if you are an athlete wanting to fuel training and recover effectively. Or, to be honest, if you are anyone wanting to have the energy to consistently perform across all aspects of your life.

In addition, fuelling effectively may help symptoms of ADHD by providing the energy to support focus and improved mood, reducing the risk of micronutrient deficiencies that can impact energetic and cognitive function, and reduce the likelihood of impulsive food choices.

In the table below we look at how ADHD may impact eating behaviour. Of course, everyone’s experience is different. If you have ADHD you may not experience all of the below. And even if you don’t have ADHD, you may experience some of the below. Have a read through and consider if any of these resonate …

CHARACTERISTIC	POTENTIAL IMPACT ON FUELLING
Low dopamine levels in the brain	The reward hit (dopamine release) from eating food may be greater, potentially encouraging excess or even binge intake of – in particular – high fat, high sugar and high salt foods. Also known as ‘stimm eating’.
Poor interoceptive awareness	Hunger cues may be missed, which may lead to under eating or overeating when hunger is finally realized
Executive dysfunction	Planning, shopping, and preparing food can feel overwhelming. Preparing and cooking food with multiple components can be challenging and take a long time as it is hard to switch and prioritise the various tasks involved. Motivation to cook may also be generally low.
Easily distracted	Eating may be forgotten as other things distract attention, which may lead to under eating or overeating when hunger is finally realized. Ingredients may be forgotten at the grocery store, as something distracts attention, making it hard to prepare planned meals.
Hyperfocus	Eating may be forgotten when hyperfocussed on tasks, which may lead to under eating or overeating when hunger is finally realized.
Strong impulsivity	Food choices may be made based on the immediate reward or desire of the food or in response to emotion or extreme hunger, rather than long term need. Again, this can result in excess food intake, or just foods not suited to the needs of the moment … such as a burger just before a big training session.
Emotional dysregulation	Challenges managing emotional responses may increase the use of food to self-soothe (ties into low dopamine and strong impulsivity).
Hyperfixation	Certain foods may be eaten on repeat, which may increase the risk of deficiencies or mis-fuelling, particularly as an athlete.

Another thing to consider is that ADHD medication often suppresses appetite. If you are someone who takes ADHD medication and find you suddenly get SO hungry at the end of the day, it may be because you have undereaten during the day because you don’t feel hungry. Then, as the medication wears off, those hunger signals kick in BIG time!

So, what strategies might make fuelling with ADHD easier?

STRATEGY	WHY MIGHT IT HELP?
Set alarms reminding you to eat	It will reduce the risk of forgetting to eat because of missed hunger cues, distraction or hyperfocus, and ending up low on energy (making it harder to focus), and potentially overeating.
Have a list of go to less-than-10-mins to prepare meals	Avoid decision overwhelm by having a short go to list. Make it things that take less than 10 minutes and with only a few steps, and it also helps overcome the low motivation to cook and the challenges of navigating multiple tasks during the process.
Stock up on texture rich slow digesting high energy snacks	These should sustain energy for several hours as well as providing more of a reward (dopamine hit) because of the satisfying textures.
Keep stocks of long-life foods that make quick meals	So, there is something to eat if the food shop feels too overwhelming or got entirely forgotten.
A list of alternative dopamine hits	To develop a toolbox, rather than just a single tool (food), to support mood and provide comfort
Rewards for planning and preparing food	This can create a focus and incentive for being organized with food, which can be something the ADHD brain responds well to

 And here are some ideas for:

10 minute meals …

Texture rich slow digesting high energy snacks …

Long life foods that make quick meals … 

Finally, although certain elimination diets and micronutrients have been cited as ‘helping’ ADHD symptoms, at the moment there is no strong evidence this is the case. For sure micronutrient deficiencies should be avoided (for general health and potential indirect impacts on ADHD symptoms), but at present there is no strong evidence that any additional supra-dosing has additional benefit.

If you want to learn more about ADHD and nutrition, including practical strategies and ideas that might make fuelling easier, here are some internet and Instagram resources I think are really useful. Happy exploring!

Resources:

Instagram:

@thenutritionjunky – Becca Harris RD

@eatingwithadhd – Nicole Malcher MS RDN CDCES

Research:

Lange et al 2023, Nutrition in the Management of ADHD: A Review of Recent Research (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10444659/)

Websites & Articles:

Attention Deficit Disorder Association (https://add.org/adhd-brain/)

British Dietetics Association article on ADHD (https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/how-dietitians-can-bring-hope-and-better-health-to-people-with-adhd.html)