Intuitive Eating with ADHD: Why It’s Different (and How to Make It Work)

Intuitive Eating with ADHD: What Makes It Different (and How to Make It Work)

If you’ve ever forgotten to eat all day, struggled to meal plan, or felt like intuitive eating just doesn’t “click” with your ADHD brain — this episode is for you.

Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor, Heather Bray, breaks down how ADHD impacts your relationship with food — from dulled hunger cues and impulsive eating to medication-related appetite changes — and what you can do about it.

You’ll learn:

•  Why intuitive eating can feel harder with ADHD (and why that’s not your fault)
•  How ADHD medications affect hunger and fullness
•  Practical RD tips for meal planning and consistent eating
•  Habit-pairing strategies to make eating easier and more intuitive
•  How to adapt intuitive eating to your brain — not the other way around

Whether you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD or just relate to the chaos of remembering to eat, this episode will help you find your rhythm, build body trust, and take the next step in your empowered eating journey.

Listen now and hit follow so you don’t miss next week’s episode: Why We Struggle with Body Image (And 3 Ways to Start Healing)

Learn more at behindtheplate.ca

Grab the free Hunger & Fullness Cues Guide: behindtheplate.ca/hunger-fullness-cues

Explore The Empowered Eating Journey: behindtheplate.ca/empowered-eating-journey

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Today we are talking about a topic that is near and dear to my heart, something that I talk about all the time. It is how does intuitive eating actually work if you have ADHD? Because if your understanding of intuitive eating is I just eat when I'm hungry and I stop when I'm full, and you're sitting there like, but I never feel hungry, or I'm always hungry. If you've ever struggled to remember to eat, forgotten if you already ate, or realized it's 4 p.m. and you've only had coffee, you're not broken, you're human, and your brain just works a little bit differently. Today we're breaking down how ADHD affects your cues, your appetite, and your relationship with food, and what you can do to make intuitive eating actually work for your brain. Hey friends, and welcome to Behind the Plate, a podcast designed to help you eat with more clarity, confidence, and compassion, especially if ADHD, binge eating, or burnout is part of your story. I'm Heather Soman, a registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor. This podcast is where we ditch food guilt, question diet culture, and learn how to nourish our brains and bodies in the way that nature intended. So let's get into it. Okay, maybe it's just the world that I live in and the way my algorithms work, but I find that there's a lot more talk about ADHD now than there ever has, especially on podcasts, which I think is really helpful because it's a lot more prevalent than I think we ever thought it was. Again, this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and the reason for that is because I live with ADHD. I was diagnosed a year ago and I've learned a lot about myself and about ADHD in that year. Prior to I had suspected maybe I had ADHD, but I wasn't too sure. If you're curious about my story with ADHD, I would be happy to do a whole separate episode on that at some point, but really I wanted to give a bit of a breakdown as to my understanding of intuitive eating as it relates to ADHD and kind of some of the tips that I give to clients that I work with with ADHD. So let's start talking about a couple things. The first thing is I just want to make sure we're all on the same page as to what ADHD is. You've probably heard this definition before. You probably know somebody with ADHD. But it's really not about being distracted or hyperactive, which I think is what we commonly think of with ADHD. Now that there's more research out there, we're learning that it manifests in much more different ways. But ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how the brain regulates attention, impulsivity, and activity levels. It's like having a mind that's always moving, noticing everything all at once, and sometimes struggle to figure, filter out what's important. And here's the thing: that some brain wiring can make nutrition a lot harder. Even just remembering to eat can feel like climbing a mountain, let alone meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. So it's really having ADHD that makes nutrition really difficult. I think when a lot of people come to work with me for the first time, they're thinking that I might give them some kind of formula of supplements or foods to eat that are going to make their ADHD better. And though our research is so in its infancy, there's a big sort of meta-analysis that shows that some nutrient deficiencies, such as iron deficiency, for example, can make some ADHD symptoms worse. But I need you to know that there are no supplements or any specific type of diet protocol out there right now that is specifically going to make you and your ADHD a whole lot better. We're just really not there yet with the research. And again, I think I'm gonna have to do a future episode all about some of the myths around ADHD nutrition because my gosh, there's a lot out there. And again, we just continue to learn more because that's what science is. We are just always evolving. For many of my clients with ADHD, intuitive eating can feel extra challenging, if not completely out of reach, because the foundation, which is tuning into your hunger and fullness cues, isn't always clear when you're someone who lives with ADHD. ADHD can do things like dull hunger and fullness signals, make meal planning and meal prep overwhelming. It can make people go long periods without eating, followed by intense hunger or binging. And it can also be even further complicated by those who are on medications for ADHD. So stimulant medications specifically tend to alter our appetite levels, which can make it even more difficult to tune into those hunger and fullness cues. Some of those stimulants you may be familiar with, things like Vivance, Adderall, Aritolin, and Concerta. It's something that can, again, shut off that appetite cue for a lot of people. And it tends to peak midway through the day if you're someone who takes it in the morning. But what happens is when that medication starts to wear off, which is typically late afternoon, early evening, what some people experience is this flood of hunger and they feel like they cannot eat enough to satiate that hunger. So a lot of the work that I'll do with people is trying to build in ways that we can still get nutrition in throughout the day, despite the fact that they're on a medication that lowers their appetite. Regardless of if you're on medication or not, living with ADHD again makes eating difficult. So what can we do that's gonna help? I've put together a list of some of my favorite tips as it relates to eating for those with ADHD. I also have an entire chapter, or should I say, module dedicated to this in my signature program called The Empowered Eating Journey. I made this whole module specifically for folks who are neurodivergent or struggle with any mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety. I didn't do a lot of focus on ASD, so autism spectrum disorder, or bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or any other conditions like that, just because I wanted to keep it kind of focused, and that is predominantly the client demographic that I see, though I would love to do future episodes and future education opportunities on those conditions as well. Okay, so let's get back to it. The list of some of my top tips as it relates to ADHD with nutrition. So, what can help? So, first one is surprise, surprise, having breakfast. A lot of people who start any kind of medication will often be instructed to eat before taking their medication. Um, if you haven't, this might be an approach to take because one, you want to have something in your system and that can help with diminishing some of that energy crash that happens later on. Because when we think about it, food is our energy, it is our only source of energy out there. I know it feels like caffeine and stimulant medications give us energy, but the only things that truly give us energy are calories. A calorie is just a unit of measurement, a unit of measurement, a unit of energy. And that's really important. Those are the things that keep us going. So having a breakfast before taking medication can be really helpful. And if you're somebody who's not taking medication, having a breakfast can be a really great starting point for you because a lot of the times what can happen if you skip breakfast, and I know this probably sounds familiar to you, you skip breakfast and your day just kind of starts running at full speed, and next thing you know, it's lunchtime, if not past lunchtime, and you are famished. So starting with a breakfast can be really, really helpful. Now, what are we looking for when we're looking for a breakfast? We're looking for something that has a source of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Yes, all three of those things. My gosh, the amount of times that I've seen people just have a carb or just have a protein, and I'm like, guys, this isn't a full balanced meal. And the reason for that is because when we have all three of those macronutrients, it actually helps us digest, metabolize, and utilize that energy from the food in a much more efficient way and in a much more sustainable way. So instead of just having, let's say, um, I don't know, I'm gonna use a slice of toast for an example here. Let's say I have a slice of toast with, I don't know, honey on it. That is predominantly just carbohydrates, which are wonderful because they give us lots of energy. But without the fruit, the protein and fat to slow down my absorption and utilization of those carbs, I'm not gonna get the lasting energy that I'm looking for. So let's take that toast, have an av, add an avocado and an egg on top. And now we have ourselves a bit more of a balanced breakfast that has fats, carbs, and protein. And that nine times out of ten I find satiates people a lot more, and it actually helps with things like cravings later on, which we will get to. Alright, the next one is to use habit pairing. If you haven't read Atomic Habits, don't worry, I read it for you. And one of the biggest things that I took from it was habit pairing. Basically, what this means is that you are going when you're trying to add a new habit or a new behavior or whatever it is, you're gonna use a habit that you've already established in your day, such as brushing your teeth, let's say, and link the new habit with the thing you've already established. A lot of people find this helpful with remembering to take medications or supplements. They will pair the medication and supplement with something they're already doing. Again, like the brushing their teeth, for example. I'll often, let's say, people who are struggling with remembering to take their vitamin D every day, I'll say, hey, why don't we leave it out by your toothbrush? Or why don't we leave it by the coffee maker? Whatever it is that is linked with something you already do, that's the best way to start a new habit. So if you're somebody who often forgets a meal, let's say you often forget, again, we'll stick with breakfast, you forget breakfast, link it with something you already do. Can something of the breakfast nature be near your coffee maker? Can it be right beside the milk that you put in your coffee? Can we put a post-it on our coffee maker? Whatever it is that's going to help us remember, using habits that we already have established can help us with these newer behaviors. Okay, the next one that I think almost every single person I've worked with that has ADHD has found really helpful is to stock easy foods. I'm thinking like grab and go foods here, like yogurt containers, um, not like a big tub of yogurt because that requires taking a spoon and a bowl and scooping it out. I'm talking the ones that are pre-packaged, ready to grab and go. Things like mixed nuts or trail mix or string cheese, like pre-packaged cheese, so that again, you don't have to take it out, open the packaging, get the knife, and cut it. I know those things sound really simple, but if you're somebody who struggles with, again, that executive dysfunction that comes with ADHD, sometimes those little extra steps that sound so little when I'm talking about them, in reality, they can be the thing that gets in the way of us getting a nourishing meal or snack. Some other things that you can think to do would be something like, I don't know, prepping a bunch of sandwiches. Let's say, let's say, I don't know, keep it simple, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We could prep like three of those and have them for three consecutive days if that works for you. Or maybe you want to bring a smoothie with you on your way to drop off your kids at school. Great. What you could do the night before is prep that smoothie with all the ingredients minus the liquid, leave it in your fridge so that in the morning all you have to do is add your liquid, blend, and go, which alleviates maybe two to three minutes of prep time, but that could be the difference between you actually getting something nourishing in the morning and you not getting something in in the morning. So stocking the easy foods is gonna be a really important one. And I know what people are gonna say and I know what people are thinking, oh, but their process, their packaged, this and that. I get that. And you know what? One day we can work up to doing something like making our own yogurt bowls and using less plastic and you know, using whole like plain Greek yogurt or whatever it might be. Let's start with some baby steps and then we can move our way forward because the biggest thing here is getting you to eat more often throughout the day so that you're not going super long periods of time without having something to eat. Okay, this is one of my favorite ones, and it is to keep a list of default meals for the days when the decision fatigue is just making it feel next to impossible to choose what to eat. Now, some people call this the back pocket meals. I like to refer to it as that as well. What you can do is keep a list of foods that you feel like you could do or have no matter what that are really easy, um, easy to make and prep, stuff like that. So something I do in my own life is I have my meal plan, which is on a note in my phone. I have an iPhone, so I just use the notes app. I have my meal plans for the week and my grocery list, but at the bottom of that, I have sort of like a bank of recipes or meal ideas so that when I'm making my meal plan at the beginning of the week, I don't have to go and pull recipes out of thin air. I have some that are already there for me to just pick and choose from, which can make it a lot easier. Now, this can be so simple. It could literally be boxed pasta with red sauce, it could be tuna sandwich, it could be bagged salad with rotisserie chicken. It doesn't have to be any elaborate recipes, it just needs to be a combination of food, again, that has protein, fat, and a carbohydrate that is going to get you through. And make it really easy and simple for yourself because chances are if you're going towards that default list when you're already having the decision fatigue, you probably don't have the energy to make some big elaborate meal. And honestly, like just it's better to have something than nothing at all, right? So I'd rather you have that thing than look at a new recipe or look at an overwhelming recipe with like 500 steps and think, oh my god, okay, not 500, geez, with 20 different steps and think there's no way I'm gonna do all of this. I'm already so tired. So keep that list on hand, especially for the days where you have some lower energy or when decision fatigue is getting real. All right, another one, and this is gonna sound real simple, but that is to stay hydrated. So keeping your water bottle with you. If you're somebody who struggles with the hydration, I know this can be a difficult one. Maybe you're somebody who doesn't get the thirst cue, and that's okay. Again, it's actually more common than you think, just based on my own experience working with people. Few strategies I have is I mean, first of all, get a cute water bottle. Get something that you like to carry around with you. If you're somebody who is gonna drink more because it's coming from something with a straw, get the straw. Whatever works, right? If it's something that's flavored, that also works too. What I recommend doing is keeping your water bottle by the part of your computer, if you are somebody who works on a computer, uh, by the part of your computer where you get your notifications. So when an email comes in and you get a notification there and you see the water bottle beside it, you're much more likely to have some fluid at that time. And also having fluids with your meals and snacks, which if you're having more regularly, will help you stay a little bit more hydrated more often. The reason that this is so important is because our brain function relies so much on our hydration status. There was a study that showed that people who even had mild dehydration performed similarly on driving tests as to those who had had an alcoholic beverage. I mean, I don't think that's like monumental, but really it just means that if we're hydrated enough, our brain can function at its max capacity. And if your brain is already struggling with energy, with focus, all of those things, being dehydrated is just going to make all of those things worse. So that's why I know it sounds simple, but it is a really key, important one. The last thing here, and this I think goes into a different topic from another episode, but if you find yourself somebody who just wants to eat something for the sake of eating something, um, if you do it out of boredom, if you do it while you're, let's say, watching TV or whatever it is, and you're not actually hungry and you want to start decreasing how much you're actually eating food, not that you have to, you have full permission to eat food just for the sake of eating food, but if you've noticed that a part of you eating, crunching, chewing, whatever it might be, has to do with you getting some kind of sensory stimulation. What you might want to consider instead is does chewing gum help? Does having some kind of a fidget toy help or something to fidget with? Could be something like a craft, like knitting, for example. It can help with managing that boredom eating or if you're seeking stimulation in any other way. That's a really simple way of describing this entire thing. And if you're somebody who's not sure if you're going towards these things for sensory stimulation, if you work with a therapist, that would be a great thing to chat about. But that's just a bit of an introduction to that topic specifically. Okay, I want to bring back intuitive eating into this. So intuitive eating for ADHD is not about perfecting hunger cues. I need to make that so, so clear. It's more about getting curious about our bodies and the way we experience hunger because newsflash, everybody experiences hunger differently. Some people actually don't experience it in their stomach, some people experience it in their head, some people only experience it in their stomach. It's there's many different cues and symptoms of hunger for many different people. And it's funny when I ask people what hunger feels like to them and they look at me kind of sideways, I always get a different definition from different people. Most often I get something about their stomach. Um, but again, there everybody experiences hunger differently. So it's really about building curiosity and compassion and building systems that support you in your real life. So one of the biggest things here with intuitive eating, when I'm first working with people who haven't had a regular schedule of eating for a long period of time and they're finding they're really, really hungry or really, really full, and they're kind of oscillating between these two extremes and they feel like they're binge eating and they feel like they're out of control, I set them up with a schedule first. And often what happens is, oh, well, I'm not hungry at this time. Oh, well, I'm not feeling that we're just need we need to start with a schedule and a structure first and a framework first. And nine times out of ten, in my experience, I have seen that this schedule helps to get people into a rhythm and their body starts to send those cues on a much more reliable cadence without those extremes. Um, and that's a really important piece. I try to get people to observe this in their own bodies and how this feels for them. And like really, if you're starting to do this on your own, give it a few weeks, maybe even a month, just to get used to eating within a schedule and you will see that your cues start to realign and come back. If you're somebody who feels like you've lost your hunger cues entirely and you're really not sure where to get started, I do have a free download on my website at Behind the Plate. It's all about hunger and fullness cues and kind of I have a step-by-step as to how to get those back. I've also written blog articles all about this. So if you're somebody who, again, is oscillating between those extremes of really, really hungry, really, really full, you might need a bit more structure. You might also need some reminders. So you might need to set some alarms on your phone. I know it sounds really rudimentary, but this can be the difference between you having a meal or forgetting. I also like to sometimes put my lunch break in my calendar so that I don't just work through my lunch and forget about it. Um, those are some things that you can try or other external cues, like having a friend, a spouse, a colleague, somebody just remind you. If there's somebody who you've noticed eat within a regular cadence, they have sort of a regular schedule with eating, you can get other people to remind you. But really what I want to make very clear here is that intuitive eating is not one size fits all. It's about creating a way of eating that fits you, including your neurodivergent brain. I think sometimes that having ADHD can impact people's relationships with food for many different reasons. One of which is that a lot of people with ADHD tend towards the all or nothing thinking and they tend towards some more perfectionist tendencies. I myself, as somebody with ADHD, don't identify as a perfectionist, though I can certainly see how there are times where I have perfectionistic tendencies. What I think is really important here is people think that eating and diet and healthy eating specifically has to be one specific way. And if it's not that way, then you're failing it. And a lot of my work is about mindsets around food and relationships with food. And I think that's where understanding the way that your ADHD shows up in you, again, if you're somebody who goes towards all or nothing thinking, can actually help you realize how that mindset is holding you back. Because the reality of balanced eating, good diets, whatever you want to call it is, is that it's more about the sum of all of the parts rather than just one day, one week, one meal, whatever it might be. So thinking about it in that context may help you slightly. But again, having ADHD can make our relationships with food a little bit differently because we may tend towards that all or nothing thinking. And it can also also make us feel maybe like we're broken in a sense, where if we have these really strong hunger or fullness cues, or we're eating for stimulation, or we're stuck in this sort of binge eating cycle, dye culture makes us feel like we're broken. The world we live in makes us feel like we're broken, like there's something wrong with us. And really, I think it's just about understanding how that all comes up for you. So observing what those behaviors are and setting up systems to help you get through your day with eating so that you don't have to feel that way. If today's episode resonated with you at all, be sure to follow behind the plate wherever you get your podcasts. Next week, we're gonna be digging into why we struggle with body image and three ways to start healing your body image. Until then, be gentle with yourself. Intuitive eating is not about perfection. It's about learning to nourish your body in a way that works for your brain. If you're looking for further resources, head to behindtheplate.ca where you can get my hunger and fullness cues freebie. It's a PDF download that takes you through the hunger and fullness scale, which is something I use with a lot of my clients in my practice, as well as with a step-by-step guide as to how to get your hunger cues back. I also have a blog article on that exact topic. And if you're looking for even further support, the Empowered Eating Journey is my online program with dietitian support that's created to help you understand the way that your relationship with food works and how to eat in a way that is sustainable without diets. Just good old nutrition science and understanding the way it applies to you specifically.