As an Intuitive Eating Nutritionist, I work with clients who are looking to improve their relationship with food. I work with a wide variety of adults, including people who have ADHD. Many of my clients come in knowing that they have ADHD (some just have a hunch) and as we begin talking, we are able to create a direct link between some of their eating behaviors, their nutrition, and their ADHD diagnosis.

Disclaimer: In this blog post, I will be sharing what I have found to be common in my practice for clients with ADHD and their eating behavior. It’s important to note that around 95% of my clients are women (or assigned female at birth) and are, on average, between the ages of 25-35. This blog post is for educational uses only.

ADHD and Disordered Eating

I have found that there is a nuanced link between ADHD and disordered eating. Many of my clients with ADHD display disordered eating patterns, but not always for the same reasons that other clients without ADHD might be showing these signs. For example, someone with ADHD may be skipping meals or not eating enough throughout the day, but not purposefully for the sake of weight loss like we see in anorexia. All-or-nothing thinking with food and exercise is common and the ADHD client can often also struggle with binge eating. They can feel stuck within the binge-restrict cycle with eating, which is common in other populations as well. Let’s dig in a bit more deeply…

How ADHD May Impact How You Approach Food

I often see the following struggles with eating behavior in my clients who have ADHD. Keep reading to learn more about each one and for some tips on how to start approaching these concerns!

• Difficulty sensing hunger and fullness cues
• Forgetting to eat
• Difficulty with organization or planning of meals
• A sense of overwhelm when thinking about cooking or cleaning up after meals
• Hyperfixations with foods
• “Picky eating” (or avoidant behavior) around certain textures or sensations of different foods
• All or nothing thinking with diet and exercise

Hunger/Fullness Cues, Forgetting to Eat, and ADHD Eating Behavior

I hear the following quote a LOT with ADHD clients: “I don’t notice that I’m hungry until it’s an emergency and I’m starving. And then it can feel too overwhelming to decide what to eat!” Does this sound familiar?

Many people with ADHD do not feel as in touch with their internal cues (this is called interoception or “interoceptive awareness“) as their neurotypical friends might. For example, I use the following hunger and fullness cue chart below very often:

While we want to try to stay between a 3 and a 7 in order to feel comfortable and at ease with food, it is common for an ADHD client to not notice they are hungry until they are at a 2 or a 1 (they are VERY uncomfortably hungry at this point!).

And what happens when we are THAT hungry? Our mood drops, we have a harder time putting thoughts together, we’re more overwhelmed, and we are ALSO more likely to over eat at the next meal because we will likely eat more quickly, less mindfully, and opt for whatever we can get our hands on (this is also important for anyone who struggles with binge eating to recognize!)

Forgetting to eat can be caused by:

1. Lacking more subtle hunger cues (due to low interoceptive awareness, long term restriction from dieting, or other reasons)
2. Medications that can hinder appetite (another cause of #1 to happen)
3. Hyperfixating on a task that pushes you through a meal time

How to manage “Forgetting to Eat:”

• I recommend using tools that you already know work for you and your brain. If you are a calendar person, plan out your meal times (including snack breaks) on your calendar. Maybe set a timer on your phone! There is no need to remake the wheel (i.e. don’t buy a ANOTHER paper calendar if you know you never use them – use your Google calendar if that works for you!)
• Make sure you have food in the house to eat that is easily accessible. If your calendar reminder goes off, but you don’t have anything prepped OR you know that it’s going to take a lot of work, you’re less likely eat. We want to eliminate as many barriers as possible for your brain. We’ll discuss this more in the next section.

ADHD Eating Behavior and Feeling Overwhelmed With Food: Organizing, Planning, and Cleaning

Do you ever feel like the task of cooking and cleaning up afterwards is too overwhelming, so you end up just not eating? This sense of overwhelm is common in ADHD and it’s important to recognize that it IS possible for you to make things easier for yourself so that you can get food in your belly.

My clients often think that meals have to be complicated if they are going to be “healthy.” But here’s the thing: we can make it REALLY simple! Here are a few tips that have worked for many of my clients and for my ADHD husband:

• Pick 1 or 2 days to plan and prep during the week rather than leaving each day up to chance. I know it can seem like it’s going to take forever, but it really will not! By using one block of time to plan instead of trying to do it over and over again throughout the week, you’re actually going to save a ton of time (but you’re gonna have to plan this into your routine or it will never happen!)
  • This could mean: pre-making rice to pair with meals, chopping up vegetables ahead of time for easy access, making a batch of hard boiled eggs, ripping up a rotisserie chicken to add to salads, sandwiches, or with crackers, etc
• Grocery shopping – GO WITH A LIST. Let’s try to avoid “aspirational shopping.” How many times have you bought a vegetable thinking “I want to be someone who WOULD eat this”…. and then it rots in your fridge. Buy the things on your list and then we are going to go home and immediately chop them up and put them in a clear container that you can see easily when you open your fridge. By the way – there is NOTHING wrong with buying pre-chopped vegetables, pre-cooked items, etc if it means your meal prepping will be easier!
• Use a white board or a paper list pad (I use this one! It has a tear-off grocery list!) on the fridge to help you remember what you have available (in the fridge and freezer) at all times. List out meal pairings and snack options. That way, you won’t get overwhelmed by decision fatigue when you go to the fridge.
• Try to avoid the fridge drawers (AKA the drawers of no return). Keep your food within sight and you are much more likely to eat it!
• Use meal delivery services if this works best for you!
• Focus on pairing macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) in any way that works for you! See the Macronutrient Venn Diagram and examples below. By pairing these macros, your meals and snacks will keep you fuller longer and be more satisfying
• Keep “backup meals” in stock at all times! Frozen meals and shelf-stable meals like canned soup, tuna, etc, can help you feel more at ease when you realize you’re hungry but don’t have anything on hand.

Examples of easy, balanced macronutrient pairings for ADHD eaters:

• The “Adult Lunchable” meal or snack as seen on my Instagram below. I love using segmented containers like these:

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A post shared by Ellen | Anti-Diet Nutrition | Body Image (@yourantidietbff)

• Rice bowls with a meat, beans (protein sources), avocado (for fat), and any of your favorite veggies
  • How to build a rice bowl
• Prioritize one pan meals or “Dump and Go” Instapot meals – this will help you feel less overwhelmed with cleanup.
• Overnight oats – I love to make 5 single-portion containers for the week on Sunday evenings. I do microwave them in the morning because I don’t like the taste of cold oats, but that’s just me!
  • My general recipe for each container: 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 tbsp ground flax seed, scoop of protein powder if desired, fresh or frozen berries, spoonful of nut butter (I like crunchy!), spoonful of plain greek yogurt, milk/non-dairy milk until it’s easily to stir up. Add some honey on top and let it sit in the covered container over night.
• SNACKS – don’t overcomplicate this! Here’s a good “formula” – pair a carb source + a protein and/or fat source! Examples:
  • Fruit + nut butter
  • Yogurt + granola
  • Crackers + cheese
  • Meat stick + cheese stick
  • Toast + avocado
  • Hard boiled egg + grapes

ADHD and Food Hyperfixations

We’re all familiar with this, right? The “I will eat this every single day until I absolutely hate it” meals? I really don’t see an issue with this as a nutritionist. Honestly, as long as you are eating and excited about the food you’re eating, I think that’s great. For the sake of getting in a bit more variety into your diet, you could begin to ask yourself:

“what could I add to this to make it more nutrient dense?”

For example, let’s say you are really into cereal right now. It’s likely that the main macronutrient in your cereal is carbohydrates, which is a good source of energy for your cells, but won’t keep you full or satisfied on its own for very long. So, maybe you could choose to add something either TO the cereal (ground flax seeds, higher protein milk, a scoop of peanut butter), or eat something alongside the cereal (2 hard boiled eggs, a protein powder shake) to add protein and/or fat.

ADHD and Picky Eating Behavior

This is a larger topic that I will spend more time on in its own dedicated blog post sometime soon. It’s very common for people with ADHD or autism to experience difficulty with textures or other sensory “icks” with their foods. When this is extreme enough to limit reliable intake of food, you may be diagnosed with ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), which is described in this following quote from NEDA:

“Individuals with ARFID limit the volume and/or variety of foods they consume, but unlike the other eating disorders, food avoidance or restriction is not related to fears of fatness or distress about body shape, size or weight. Instead, in ARFID, selective eating is motivated by a lack of interest in eating or food, sensory sensitivity (e.g., strong reactions to taste, texture, smell of foods), and/or a fear of aversive consequences (e.g., of choking or vomiting)”

I work with all types of “picky” or “particular” eaters, from mild to ARFID-strength. The approach we take to care is going to be totally dependent on the client, but my motto is “start where you are and work on slowly building up.” If you are looking for support with this, please set up a discovery call with me to discuss support!

All or Nothing Thinking and ADHD Eating Behavior

I know it can be SO exciting to get started with something new, to jump all in, spend a bunch of money on fun new tools…. but then you wake up feeling totally burnt out by this new “lifestyle” you felt excited about yesterday. My advice:

1. Take it slow: remember that small things eventually add up to big (sustainable) things.
2. Use accountability systems that work for you. This is why working with someone who you see weekly or every other week can be incredibly valuable! Not just for helping you figure out your unique situation but for creating realistic expectations and accountability.
3. There is no one-size-fits all approach to food and exercise. It’s incredibly important for us to figure out what works for YOU. If something seems “too good to be true,” it probably is.

I hope you found this blog post helpful! Don’t hesitate to leave any questions or comments below. Want me to be your nutritionist? Click the button below to learn more about my services.