ADHD & Everything That Comes With It: A Chat with Tanya Willis

In this episode of 'Organizing the ADHD Brain,' the host welcomes Tanya Willis, host of 'Menopause Made Easy' and author of 'Cookie Dough in the Dark.' They discuss a wide range of topics from ADHD diagnosis, particularly how many discover their own ADHD after their child's diagnosis, to the systemic challenges of getting diagnosed, and the intricate relationship between ADHD, eating disorders, and organizing one's life. Tanya shares her personal journey with ADHD, bulimia, and healthy lifestyle transformations while offering valuable insights into the importance of self-regulation, compassionate self-talk, and creating personalized solutions. Listeners also learn about the similarities between impulsive eating and buying habits linked to seeking dopamine hits. The episode wraps up with the host announcing the conclusion of season one and inviting listeners to join a supportive community for organizing and understanding ADHD. Key takeaways include the importance of a supportive environment, recognizing individual needs, and finding sustainable ways to live healthily.

04:37 Tonya's Journey in Health and Wellness
09:01 Parenting a Child with ADHD
18:17 Tonya's Personal Struggles with Eating Disorders
24:01 ADHD, Diet Culture, and Self-Regulation
28:53 The Importance of Personalized Health Solutions
33:21 Conclusion and Community Invitation

Tanya Willis is the host of Menopause Made Easy with Tanya podcast, author of Cookie Dough in the Dark and founder of the Vibrant Living Academy & the Midlife Reboot. She's a mum, dog lover and loves spending time in nature! 

Her mission is to help women thrive after 35, to be an inspiration to women that they don’t have to give in to the negative messages of aging that can be prevalent in society – you can get older AND be strong, healthy, and vibrant.

5 Hacks to Cut Cravings Freebie!! https://www.vibrantlivingwithtanya.com/5-Hacks-to-Cut-Cravings 

Midlife Reboot ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.vibrantlivingwithtanya.com/midlifereboot

Book a 20-minute call to see if COACHING is a good fit for you: Megs Calendar

Join the Organizing an ADHD Brain COMMUNITY: https://www.mindfulmegs.com/thecommunity

^USE CODE: PODCAST for $5 off your first billing cycle.^

Get your Free DOPAMINE MENU download MindfulMegs.com/dopaminemenu

The TO DO list Daily Planner is available here! TO DO List Daily Planner

The ULTIMATE Recycling & Disposal Guide: Disposal Guide

Transcript

MacBook Pro Microphone: 0:42

Hey, beautiful people. Welcome to another episode of organizing the ADHD brain. If you're new here. Welcome. I'm super excited that you've joined us. Today's episode is actually not going to be too much about organization, but I want to tell you how it's going to relate. And of course, if you are returning back after tuning in for so many weeks in a row, welcome back. I'm so honored that you're here And thanks for supporting the podcast. My guest today is Tonya Willis and she's the host of Menopause made easy She also wrote the book cookie dough in the dark and founder of the vibrant living academy and the midlife reboot. I really liked our conversation because we talked about on trigger warning here. We talked a lot about bulemia eating disorders, anorexia. We talked about her son's diagnosis for ADHD and what that was like. Realizing that she had ADHD as well. I think a lot of my listeners can relate to. Finding out about their ADHD while getting their kids diagnosed, One of the things that she brings up today is talking about her son. Getting a diagnosis and she mentioned, why would he get out of bed? If he's just going to get told that he's lazy. And when it comes to organizing, so many of us have been beat up for so long about all the stuff that we have, and then not being able to find this stuff. People saying couldn't you just get organized? Why don't you hire an organizer? Or why don't you spend this amount of time and just do it one weekend. It's not as easy as that. Right. We know that. And that's why you're tuning in today. But we do need praise research shows that when people praise us for the things that we are doing, we are more likely to show up again and do them. That's why it's important that we show up and talk to our spouses or significant others or our kids in a way that's going to support them in what they're doing. Instead of berating them for everything that they're doing wrong, they already know what they're doing wrong, and they're beating themselves up enough for it. Another way that this interview relates to organizing, I see so many parallels when it comes to eating. And getting that dopamine hit and looking for a specific snack, that's going to taste good versus one. That's going to fill up your body or even going to eat when you're not hungry. It's the same. When we go to buy things, I noticed so much of when I would buy something on Amazon or when I would go to target and do my holes there. Oh, I thought that these things were going to make my life better in the moment, but there's no one thing out there. That's going to solve your organizing issue, not a bin. As I talked about last week. there's no one thing out there that's going to suddenly change your life. And what's interesting is now that I've been organizing for so long and letting go of things. I now see things that I've bought and I say, Ooh, That's a good example of something that I wish I hadn't gotten something that just doesn't make sense in my life. And I bought on a whim because I thought it was a really fun idea. We're going to continue to have those fun ideas, but it's okay to start to check in and say, okay, I've bought something like this before, or is this going to end up being clutter in my home? Or is this something that's truly going to elevate my life? And I'm going to use on a regular basis. But I love the way that she talks about eating as a journey versus just trying to get to an end result. And that is so much of what organizing is. It's not about the end result because. As soon as you start to declutter, you're going to start to see your space in a whole new way, which allows you to live your life in a whole new way. This is a journey. It is not about getting to the end. And honestly, isn't the end, just dying after all. I know that's a little morbid, but still it's not about getting to the end. And if it is then what does done look like? Because if you don't know what done looks like. Then you don't know what journey you're on in general. And that comes back to the manifestation that we've talked about is like taking those tiny action steps in the direction of where we're headed. The episode today does cut off. There was more of the interview, but it got cut off based on the technology that I'm using. If you are interested in more support, but aren't ready to start coaching. My membership is now available and there is a code in the show notes below podcast. For you to get$5 off your first month of membership. This month coming up, we are going to be doing two body doubling sessions, another group coaching or Q and a, and so many other incredible things to come. I'll see you in the community.

Megs: 5:20

I'm here with Tanya Willis. I'm so excited to introduce her today. Tanya, tell us a little bit about who you are.

Tanya: 5:28

My name is Tonya Willis. I have two boys, they're 21 and 22, so they're not boys anymore. I'm married. I love dogs. I love being in nature. I love cooking and I have been in the health and wellness space for over three decades. I'm very passionate about increasing people's vibrancy and vitality. It really is my heart's mission, my soul's purpose to, just elevate and live our best lives. So I have dedicated myself to this arena. I'm a personal trainer, Pilates instructor. I do foam rolling. I love fascia. I'm a big behavioral change coach. I wrote a book called cookie dough in the dark. I help people with. eating habits. Oh my gosh, what else do I do? I have a podcast. I do so many different things, and I really believe in the three pillars, which is mindset, movement, and nutrition. So I have nutritional certifications, and so I give a very well rounded approach to helping somebody. That's just a tiny bit about me.

Megs: 6:34

Yeah, a lot about you in a, in a little bit of a nugget. That's incredible. Well, it's so nice to meet you. And I'm curious, how did you get into the wellness space?

Tanya: 6:46

If anybody could have seen me in public school in high school, they never would have thought I was an aerobics instructor or personal trainer or anything like this, because I was the kind of person who, when the gym class was on and we had to play field hockey, I would throw my ball in the marsh. So that I wouldn't have to partake in running up and down the field. I call it the Olympics of life. So I was never into sports. I'm not a team sports person, but I did like moving my body. I loved dancing. I loved being functionally fit. I've just carried on through that of just really knowing the importance of of managing my stress and my moods through exercise. I don't know how much I realized that when I was in public school and high school, but definitely when I was at university, I would get this desire. Like, I'm like, I've got to move my body. I need to move my body. I had too much. energy and the outlet was for me to move. So after I graduated, I had a sitting job and I was just like, this is not going to be my life and basically had anxiety attacks, breakdown, everything like that. And I started doing my personal training. I started teaching more. I started training on the side. I was so happy and then I just started to get more into the eating and I just really embraced. life because you just feel so much better when you're healthy. I was sick for a long time with a lot of chronic bronchitis and you know, we're going to talk about ADHD, which was definitely, you know, part of my upbringing, but never had a name for it. Although, I have never been officially diagnosed. I, have a dad that has ADHD. I have a son who has ADHD. And then my husband looks at me and goes, Oh my gosh, this explains a lot. as you can tell from all the things I do, I'm not focused on one thing. because I like to understand how the whole system works, how your whole body works, how your mind, your body, your spirit. And so over the last three decades, I've really pulled in the nutrition aspect, the eating aspect, the habitual aspect, social aspect, movement, aspect, mindset issues to really be able to help people move forward.

Megs: 9:11

I love that so much and I think that you're doing it the right way because I don't really feel like you can have health in a traditional sense if you're just going to the gym. And you don't have your mind, your body, your experience around that whole physical process. I love the idea of learning through life and growing through life and finding what is calling to you and what your body needs and craving that movement that you speak of. I want to jump into the nutrition, but I want to ask you a little bit about. you know, your dad and then your son. What has it been like being a parent to a son with ADHD and not necessarily knowing if you have it yourself?

Tanya: 9:54

You know, my mother she lives overseas, so she does not see my children that often, but when, when my son was just born, she was here and then I think she saw him when, he was two and she's like, he's hyperactive now. I'm very high energy, so I didn't see it because I'm just have a lot of energy and he had a lot of energy. I think it was more in the school time frame when he was, going through, not the beginning of school, but say grade six, five, six, seven, somewhere in there. Looking back, there's definitely signs. But I, as a mother was protective and I did not see the signs and my husband's like, we need to get James tested. And I was resistant because I didn't want anything to be wrong. And, and this is the interesting thing. There's nothing wrong with a person who has ADHD, right? It's learning how to work with their strength and to appreciate their weaknesses. So, I have to say that I really resisted the process of getting him tested. And part of what started to fall apart, was I am always make homemade meals. So nutrition is a major driver of behavior. So when you eat better, your brain functions better, right? You don't get the highs and lows of sugar drops, etc. And when you are physically active, you also are able to use that extra energy. And so what happened is in about grade 7, grade 8, there was too much sitting in the classroom. His sports kind of took a little bit of a, a downturn and you could really start to see some of this. energy that, that was going in the wrong direction, right? Getting in trouble more. So that was kind of like a red flag. And then it's very challenging to get help. I live in Canada. There was no free way to assess James. A lot of people that could assess him. It was, a very lengthy process. their waiting lists were so long, but it got to the point where I was like, I have to find somebody. Now, this is probably about grade 9 grade 10. And so somebody took us on to do all the testing and that kind of thing, because it was really interfering with his school at this point. And with his behavior, like impulsivity, not thinking through things, he's a boy. And even though he was active, it just probably wasn't enough. Then you start to have your peer influence on there. So anyway, he was finally diagnosed with ADHD and it kind of just went, Oh my gosh, now we have answers. So I have to say that in hindsight, I probably should have done it. much younger. But I would also say that it's not like you just call up a doctor and say, I need my son tested. It's a, it's a very complicated, lengthy process to find somebody. And it's a lot of money. It's not 200, like it's thousands of dollars. That's also, not working in a lot of people's favor to have the test done. we had it done though, it helped to cool the family dynamics. Because my husband thought he was lazy and unmotivated, and I was trying to say like, he's not, that's just part of this behavior. So it helped to reduce some family tension, and it helped James, it gave him confidence that he now knew that there was nothing wrong with him. That this was just part of how he was functioning, and then how could we help him in an educated way? I think it's the best way to say this without berating him. So that was, that was very useful.

Megs: 13:53

thank you for sharing about being hesitant to find out first, because I think a lot of parents still feel that way. And the more people talk about ADHD and it being something that you can work with instead of against, so many moms and dads are so afraid of what that diagnosis could mean for their child. And so in your opinion, based on having waited and knowing what that feels like, and then having gotten it done in high school, what would you say to those people who might be listening and who are afraid of that diagnosis?

Tanya: 14:28

Well, I would say that after we got the diagnosis, it really like calmed everything down in the house. So my husband and I are very driven, so it was very frustrating. And so that frustration comes out in, you're lazy. Do more and as the psychologist or the lady who did the report, who is very nice and said, why would he want to get out of bed and do something when it's just constantly going to be berated? I was also very hesitant about medication because my strong belief is that you can really do a lot of lifestyle, but there's also a time and a place where when you're dealing with teenagers, like I have more control when they're smaller, when, when they become teenagers, you don't have as much control over their diet. Right. So, he decided to take some medication but really used it on an as needed basis and allowed him to understand because there's negative side effects with medication. Right? And so he would start to see those negative side effects of losing his appetite, not being able to sleep. And he didn't want those things happening all the time. So he really started to understand, I need it when I'm going into an exam. I need it when I need to study. So again, really tapping into that internal dialogue with the body as opposed to just something he takes all the time. So I'm glad that he did that and he found a way to do that on his own. And because we got the diagnosis, because if you didn't have the diagnosis, you can't get extra time on exams. So getting that diagnosis, Allowed him to get time and a half on an exam. So he would go into his exams feeling way less pressure because we all know that when you're pressured, you don't think properly. And then when you have ADHD, you're already having some issues with focus and trying to stay on task. So just knowing that he had this, he was able to just be like, okay, I've got the time. this was, you know, 12 years ago where the landscape was not like it is today. It wasn't talked about. There wasn't a lot of education, even though it's existed for a long time. Like my father. He just constantly got in trouble constantly. And I got in trouble a lot in school too. I was a very smart child, but fidgety can't sit still. So when I look back and I look at when I was at a desk job, I literally had an emotional, physical break. I completely went unconscious in the office. Like I had ambulances come. So when I look back, I'm like, I, my body is not meant to sit still. It's not in my DNA to sit still. So I think it's really important that we understand that there's nothing wrong with us. That this is how we're built and how do we use those strengths and school you're sitting so much, it is not

Megs: 17:32

Yeah.

Tanya: 17:32

conducive to a lot of children who need to learn and move. So I think there's a lot of, of factors that when, when we start to understand, we can start to, um, With Children as opposed to calling them troublemakers and forcing them into a, you know, a square peg when they're a round objects.

Megs: 17:55

You hit the nail on the head. And you hit the, the square peg and the round hole on the head because

Tanya: 18:00

go.

Megs: 18:01

you can't put us in a box. None of us fit in a box. And there are schools out there, but a lot of it is non traditional schools, non public schools where you have to pay a lot of money for kids to get the support they need with ADHD. And really, it's more about allowing kids to have the freedom to move their bodies so that they can come back and learn in a classroom because they've moved their bodies. Enough to let it all out so that they can sit again so that they have enough dopamine now to allow them to focus on the task at hand versus forcing them to sit and try to pay attention. I know that I used to sit in class and I would, I would fall asleep. I would be so exhausted because I couldn't possibly focus on what was going on. It wasn't that it wasn't interesting. It's just that it wasn't my passion and there's so much now that I look back on. That I say, Oh, oh, there were signs. There were definitely signs.

Tanya: 18:57

Yeah.

Megs: 18:57

Oh, thank you for sharing so much of that. And you had mentioned you're listening to the podcast as well, and something that I've talked about on here is I've struggled with eating disorders my whole life, whether it was binge eating because I was bored and needed comfort, or it was completely depriving myself with anorexia and or bulimia and I now know that this is such a common thing amongst women with ADHD and oftentimes it's because we're lacking something that we don't realize we're lacking and we're looking for these external forces to fulfill a need. And I know that you work with a lot of women who have gone through eating disorders and you have had one yourself. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey?

Tanya: 19:42

Yes. Again. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. So,

Megs: 19:46

yes.

Tanya: 19:46

know 35 plus years ago, I was bulimic, I was binge eating. And I mean, if I tell you what I ate, you're a former binger. So, you know, some people just can't believe like you sit down, you can eat an entire pie, entire tub of ice cream, then you follow it up with home baked cookies. It doesn't stop. It's just now what I understand is that, that dopamine, the molecule of more, I didn't understand dopamine's role, right? I didn't understand this molecule of more. And so it was always like 1 cookie, like 4 cookies, like 8 cookies, like to 20 cookies. And then you are in this cycle of hating yourself and what's the matter with me? And, and it's a horrible place that I was in until my mid thirties, because even in my mid thirties, I'm in my mid fifties now. There was none of what we were talking about. So I had no answers. And so you're always thinking, what's the matter with me? I'm weak. I don't have willpower, right? Like, and so you're constantly. berating yourself and you're like, okay, on Monday, I'm going to stop this. Well, we know that doesn't work. Right. And so there was a lot of sugar consumption. And again, you know, I tell people it wasn't broccoli and carrots, it's high sugar, high carb, because your brain is looking for that hit. And it doesn't get the same hit off of broccoli, right? And so now,

Megs: 21:20

wish.

Tanya: 21:22

in my thirties, I had just had children and I don't know what happened to me, but you know, you have children, you want to look after your children. You want them to be healthier. The internet was coming in more, but I, I honestly didn't really look at a computer being a mother. until I would say they were about eight. I mean, that is not that long ago. That's 12 years ago. So I lived in the dark for a long time of not having this information. And then it took years for me to like put all these pieces together. And what happened was having children, I wanted them to be healthy. And then I would starting to look into how food impacts us and how it impacts our thoughts. I would make cookies on a, Sunday night, I would send them to school with cookies and they would come home and they'd be like, can I have some cookies? And I'd eaten them all. And so then I had to really, that level of awareness that I had actually eaten them all really started to get me to ask questions. So, you know, in my book, cookie dough in the dark, I really talk about the journey of letting go of diet mentality, And really embracing courage and compassion and curiosity. And when I started to accept this as a journey, rather than trying to get from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, my whole life changed. And I really just started to have compassion for myself and still did not understand dopamine. Didn't even know what dopamine was still did not. know any of this stuff, right? But I just started to ask myself questions, give myself grace. Why was I doing that? What was I feeling? And just through years of doing this, I just started to unwind. So many habits and societal programming and the normalizing of sugar and I still eat sugar. I still do all those things, but it's, it's very different to how I used to do it. And then when you read that a lot of people with ADHD have these tendencies. I look back and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like I had no self control. I had no self regulation. I binged. And the other thing that I teach women, I was never taught,

Megs: 23:41

Yeah.

Tanya: 23:41

taught how to self regulate ever, the first episode of my menopause made easy podcast is stop falling for the shiny stars. You need to look inward and you've got to embrace the journey and have fun with the journey. and realize there's nothing wrong with you. It's just that you need to start tweaking things and food is not going to fix the problem. So there's definitely a lot of work that I have done, but I'm so grateful that. I know the knowledge. I know the things that have helped me and I know how to help other women and I don't deal with women who have anorexia or bulimia. I deal with just the the binge eating, right? Like, really? Then the nighttime eating the constant snacking because you have not learned how to regulate yourself. You are eating because you're frustrated. You're bored. You're overwhelmed. You're stressed. How can you start to deal with those things without eating them?

Megs: 24:42

Yeah. What I find so interesting about what you've done is that It wasn't that you found out you had ADHD and all of these things started happening and then you started to, you know, figure out what worked in your life. It wasn't about just making a quick change and saying, well, this is what I'm going to do from now on. It was that you took a step back to notice a pattern of things that you were doing and then you found a system or a solution that worked in your life that could create the healthy lifestyle that you were looking for. And I say this because I was talking to my mother in law the other day, and we were just talking about just the age of social media and what we have now that we never had then. Even though I'm a millennial, we didn't have social media really until I was out of high school, thank goodness, but then things changed. Now we're inundated with so much information that you have to try not to be influenced by cutting off the entire world if you don't want to be. But people with ADHD that never got diagnosed. And it could be anyone out there. They created these systems to make their life easier without even knowing. And that's typically what people do. I mean, even looking back on so many of the things that I did in college or in high school, I chose to create a different world for myself, rules with which I could live by, even though the rest of the world wasn't living by them, but so that I could find ways to thrive. And now, of course, knowing so much more, we can do so much more with that information, but it is so fascinating. To see these people who have lived their whole lives, not knowing, but still working in a way as if they did know, right? They didn't formally know, but they created a process to do. And now we have so much information that we can say, See, that is why I created this solution. This is why it works. Because of all of this underlying information and this juicy stuff we now have to grasp and to build upon. So I love that you're doing that because I hated diet culture. Oh my gosh, it was the worst. I felt like I was always on a different diet. I always had to be low fat or, or no fat or no carbs, or it was one or the other. And then it was just so frustrating because I felt like I had to beat myself up. And that is the, the cyclical. world I was in. I would, I would binge eat, I would talk to myself as if I was the biggest asshole in the

Tanya: 27:10

Yeah,

Megs: 27:11

and then I would do it again as if I thought that that was going to change things. I now know much differently, but, you know, I think it just comes back to what you had said about Your son and, and them saying, like, if he's just going to get berated all day long, why would he get out of bed? You know, and if I'm going to beat myself up all day long, why would I try anything different? Because I'm not taking care of the body that I'm in by being kind to it.

Tanya: 27:39

the one thing I really try to what I did with myself, what I do with my clients is. To look inward. So we really talk about building a healthy toolbox. There's not one thing that will fix you. It's how do you notice, like you said, which I did, like notice my habits, notice when I'm reacting, how can I use these tools, which I basically created, like you're saying, created because I didn't have the internet. I didn't have. You know, it's really interesting when you say you're an organizer, because for my whole life, my closet has been very organized and I can remember in high school, all the red, all the green, all like my colors, it was color coordinated, or now I have all the skirts, all the tops, all the, and if it's out of order, it really messes with my head. My husband says I'm a horrible housekeeper, but I am a very good organizer because when the drawers are organized, like all the things people can't necessarily see. But when my drawers are organized, when my closets are organized, I have so much more peace within me and not that I live in a messy house, but he's like, you do not know how to clean a floor properly. And I'm like, I personally don't care about the floor. That's why I don't. But closets, come check out my closet.

Megs: 29:01

I

Tanya: 29:01

but I can remember that must have been soothing to me. to have that without me really understanding it. And this is why this is just my personal opinion, you know, because my doctor said, you could try ADHD medication. And I said, you know what? I don't know who I'd be. Like, I actually love myself. I'm okay with my quirks. Maybe if I was younger and in school or something would be different. But I'm like, you know what? I, I don't feel the need to explore that option. But as you know, when we're in perimenopause and our hormones are changing, this is why we're seeing a lot of women that are now being diagnosed with ADHD because of the chemicals changing, how it affects our brain, we can't deal with anxiety the same, and all this stuff. And so I am exploring hormones. I've really had a struggle with this. And she's like, Tonya, I get it. I understand your struggle because women come in here and I'm like the person that if I can't fix it, I feel. Like medication is a crutch, but I'm also like, it's not for all people. So that's not where I'm going. Cause for some people it's very necessary. I'm always just the person who is like, how can I do the lifestyle and then use it as a, as a tool in my toolbox? So that's something I'm exploring right now. As opposed to ADHD medication, where I have been talking to some of my friends and like women who are going through menopause and they have explored some ADHD medication. And for some people it works for some it doesn't. So, you know, I just say if, if, if you're willing to try it, see how it makes you feel, but also explore hormones, which I think for some may be a better solution.

Megs: 31:00

I think you hit the nail on the head again. It's just about finding what works for you. I started taking ADHD medication, but because there was so much negativity around it, I found that I stopped taking it because I didn't want to be a part of that negativity bias, but then I wasn't functioning as well as I could have been. So I decided to reframe my mindset around it and just accept that this is the right thing for me, but doesn't have to be my full time thing. And I was talking to a friend of mine who just uses supplements for her ADHD, and that works really well for her. And then what we found by talking together, this is one of my podcast episodes, I think in the beginning, like the third or fourth episode, we found that both her supplements and my ADHD medication didn't work the week before our cycle. And so I then started tracking my cycle and tracking the different ways that I felt because Research shows that ADHD and the symptoms associated with it, how your brain function changes based on where a woman is at in her cycle. And another thing that we fall victim to is just the fact that most ADHD medications, medications in general out there in the world are tested on men and not on women and not on our cycles. And while men have a 24 hour hormone cycle, we have a 28 day hormone cycle, which is naturally. Going to show up different and so that's why I love the idea of figuring out what works for you because your body and the chemistry that makes you up is going to be different than anyone else's and you work with the doctor right? Find what works for you and figure out what's going to make sense because in the end, you got to figure it out for you, not for the world.

Tanya: 32:55

I think it's important through your podcast, my podcast, and there's definitely more education out there is you really need to be the CEO of your own house. You

Megs: 33:05

I love

Tanya: 33:05

need, like, I love how you said, like, you became curious, you noticed, and then you're talking with your friend and you're like, Oh my gosh, the week before my period, this isn't working. That's really interesting. Right. And then you, you collect data on yourself. And so I think it's great that you're tracking your period and your cycle, which is really important. So if there's there, if there are women who aren't doing that, I think it's something to start doing. And then you also do like a symptom diary to see how you're feeling, because you Like you said, men have a 24 hour clock. Most medications have been tested on men because women are too complicated. Now, this is starting to change. So, maybe it is pulsing in the medication and then pulsing it out. Because what I teach at Balanced Menopausal Plate, you don't eat the same 28 days in a row. You pulse into different foods and out to help with your hormones to keep them balanced. There's not a lot of people talking about this.

Megs: 34:02

Tanya, it's been so nice chatting with you. Thank you for all the advice and the love and the stories. Thanks for joining us.

MacBook Pro Microphone-1: 34:09

​Thanks so much for tuning into this week's episode. One of the things that really stood out to me was when she was talking about her son. And how her mother noticed that he was hyperactive, but she never noticed because that's who she is. Hilariously when I first got diagnosed with ADHD, I was like, there's absolutely no way. There's no way that I could have gone my whole life. Without realizing that this is a part of my life. I remember saying to my therapist, doesn't everyone's brain work like this. And she's like, no. And that was mind boggling to me. So just really interesting. And it's so great that we're having these conversations because it just helps us relate to so much more. It was also interesting learning about the process of getting her son diagnosed and how expensive it can be even in Canada. It can be so expensive in the states, understanding how to get a diagnosis, where to get a diagnosis. I know for my daughters, there was a really long wait list. And at the end, the cost was over$2,000 each to get the diagnosis. And so. It's interesting because. On one hand, You can just accept that that is what's happening. But then on the other hand, she was talking about her son getting extended time on tests, based on his diagnosis. And that would require additional paperwork. And so there's benefits to that as well, but it is a pretty fascinating experience because there are so many people seeking that diagnosis who need the help who need it written down from a doctor. But don't necessarily have the means with which to do so right now. And so if you're in that boat, I see you. I just want you to know that you're not alone. And there are other ways to work with your ADHD aside from medication. And of course, aside from those additional steps that you can get through the school. No matter what, keep reaching out to the professionals out there. It's so important. I say this at the end of every podcast episode, if you listen through at the end, Is that I'm not a doctor. Tanya is not a doctor. We're here more coaching people on how to live their life a little bit differently. But when it comes to medicine, that's a youth thing and that's a you and your doctor thing, right? They're going to make the recommendations based on you. And you're going to figure out what works best in your life. As I said earlier, My community for organizing an ADHD brain is officially underway. I'm so excited to be having some delicious conversations outside of the podcast. And in the event that this podcast ever has additional ads in it. You will always get an ad-free version of the podcast in the membership as well. Aside from that there's regular body doubling sessions, a group coaching session. And a quarterly decluttering session. Come join the community. if you would prefer some more one-on-one coaching support. I do have one additional slot available in the month of February. I would love for you to join me so that we can start to make some bigger changes in your life where you're letting go of the clutter. And getting more clear on what you want as far as organization goes And understanding your brain at the same time. All of the information for that is in the show notes.

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I didn't give a ton of warning for this, but this week concludes the very first season of organizing an ADHD brain. Stay tuned for next week's episode or I launch season two. And we talk about so much more when it comes to organizing ADHD. And understanding how your brain is incredible. And. there's so much that you can conquer, especially when you eliminate the clutter from your life.