ADHD Management Tool: Breakfast
Eating well with ADHD can be hard.
Personally, I struggled with an eating disorder for almost 15 years. I recovered and earned my master’s degree in nutrition to help other women heal from their own challenges with food and body image. But despite my expertise, I still had major troubles with meal planning, grocery shopping, and getting food on the table at the right time. These problems puzzled my partner to no end.
When I discovered last year that I have ADHD, those difficulties suddenly made a lot more sense.
Among my clients and friends with ADHD, there are similar themes: the overwhelm of family meal planning, the tendency to forget about food entirely until we are hangry and desperate, our aversions to certain textures, our cravings for sweets, and the effects of medication on our appetite. It’s a lot to manage, and yet none of the ADHDers I’ve talked with were given any nutritional guidance by any of their medical providers.
Considering the profound impact food has on our physical, mental, and emotional well-being, I’m dismayed that more providers aren’t offering supportive nutritional strategies.
I’m on a mission to change that, starting with some simple, straightforward breakfast suggestions.
Have ADHD? You need protein. (And fiber, and fat.)
ADHD symptoms like distraction, procrastination, overwhelm, impulsivity, anxiety, and sugar cravings are likely the result of decreased production and/or availability of neurotransmitters in the brain including dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.
Stimulant medications work by making these neurotransmitters more available, but according to Daniel G. Amen, M.D., author of the book Healing ADD, “the right diet can actually decrease the amount of medication needed.”
So, what’s included in the the “right” diet? Protein, fiber, and fat.
“Protein boosts dopamine levels and helps us feel more driven, motivated, and focused,” says Dr. Amen.
Protein is also used by the brain to synthesize the neurotransmitters mentioned above, so getting more of it on a daily basis can help correct any deficiencies.
“Protein helps the cells communicate better, which increases concentration, and it also assists in preventing blood sugar surges.”
-Brain Balance Center
Fiber slows the absorption of energy into your bloodstream, preventing spikes and crashes in your energy, mood, and focus. Plus, the micronutrients found in colorful, fiber-rich vegetables help regulate emotional responses and reactions in ADHDers.
Fat, with more than twice the calories-per-ounce than carbs or protein, takes longer to digest and keeps you fuller longer. This allows you to focus on whatever you’re doing without stalling out mid-project and heading for the cookie jar. It’s also necessary for the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K, which are linked to brain functions like mood, memory, and cognition.
Eating a hearty breakfast helps prevent executive dysfunction.
I once heard “executive function” described as the CEO in the frontal lobes of the brain, calling the shots about what, when, and how things need to happen.
For better or worse, those of us with ADHD don’t have CEOs who subscribe to the values or organizational systems of the productivity-obsessed society we live in. Unless we’re passionate about something or fearful of an impending deadline, we struggle with focus, task prioritization and completion, and time management.
Starving your CEO of necessary nutrients makes it even worse at its job.
Eating a solid breakfast including protein, fiber, and fat feeds your CEO, helping you accept the reality of your mismatched environment, make better decisions, direct energy to the right places, and maintain focus for longer periods of time.
Not all breakfast foods are equally helpful.
If you have ADHD, balancing your blood sugar throughout the day will make a profound difference in how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Most of us tend to enjoy sweets and flour-based foods (i.e. candy, cookies, cereal, crackers, bread), reaching for them when our mental energy dips. We may even rely on them to get us through a typical workday or a difficult emotional episode.
While the scientific validity of the so-called “sugar high” is debatable, we do know that our dopamine levels surge when we ingest sugar, which gives us feelings of pleasure, and for those of us with naturally lower levels of available dopamine, it simply helps us feel more normal.
But your body and brain thrive when energy is released in a sustained manner rather than in spurts. Pure sugar and refined carbs are effective sources of instant energy, but without protein, fiber, and fat to pump the brakes, you’ll find yourself sputtering, cranky, and craving more snacks in about an hour when you inevitably feel the effects of hypoglycemia: anxiety, irritability, spaciness, and decreased cognitive abilities.
In other words, despite the initial boost you’ll get from eating something sweet and tasty like a Pop-Tart or a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats, this kind of breakfast will kill your clarity, focus, and confidence when it wears off, which will prompt your brain to drop everything and walk you straight over to the candy bowl.
This sugar-fueled cycle aggravates our symptoms by contributing to anxiety, moodiness, and cravings.
Even oatmeal, so often touted as a healthy, high-fiber breakfast option, is quite starchy and isn’t sufficient by itself to prevent this crash. You need a balanced combination of protein, fiber, and fat to feel your best.
What foods should you avoid with ADHD?
If you can, let go of any morality around the foods you’re eating. Foods are not inherently “good” or “bad,” nor are the people who eat them, and infusing certain foods with guilt, shame, and regret is what leads to disordered eating.
Plus, labeling certain foods as “off-limits” instantly makes them more attractive to us due to the double buzz of pleasure we get from doing something slightly naughty that also tastes delicious. This is especially true for those of us with ADHD who a) hate being told what to do, and b) crave those feel-good chemicals more than the average bear.
Pop-Tarts are not “bad” and you’re not wrong for eating them, but you’ll likely feel some unwanted effects after eating them.
To offset and reduce those effects, I suggest pairing sugary or high-carb foods with foods that are rich in protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
Here are a few breakfast-specific examples:
If you have a bowl of cereal, add a generous handful of nuts & seeds.
If you enjoy french toast, fry up an egg or two as well.
If you love muffins/coffee cake/cinnamon rolls, add a piece of ham or deli meat.
If you typically eat a piece of toast, make it avocado toast or add some beans.
If you like to keep it on the lighter side with a piece of fruit, eat a hard-boiled egg too.
If smoothies are your thing, add a heaping spoonful of peanut/almond/cashew butter or a serving of silken tofu.
Over time, especially as you start feeling more focused and regulated, you may find that brain-healthy breakfast options are actually more appealing than the sugary stuff.
Here are some great ideas for ADHD-friendly breakfasts.
Last night’s leftovers: Typically, dinners include healthy sources of protein (meat or fish), fiber (vegetables), and fat (olive oil, butter, cheese).
Breakfast salad: A handful of mixed greens with a boiled egg and a generous spoonful of hummus, drizzled with olive oil or a balsamic vinaigrette.
Breakfast sandwich: Two pieces of low-glycemic toast (my favorite) with butter or mayo, a fried egg, a slice of ham or deli meat, a handful of greens, and a salted slice of tomato.
Breakfast burrito: Wrap some canned beans, shredded cheese, and salsa into a large flour tortilla. You can make 3–4 of these at once, wrap the extras in plastic or foil, then refrigerate or freeze them for ready-to-eat breakfasts on busy mornings. Heat them up in the microwave or a George Foreman-style panini press.
Vegetarian bowl: Ratatouille, shakshuka, or even a hearty veggie soup pairs wonderfully with a few pieces of pan-fried, extra-firm tofu.
When is the best time to eat breakfast?
“I’m not hungry first thing in the morning,” many clients tell me.
No worries. It’s ok to wait until your appetite kicks in, but ideally, we want you to start feeling hungry within 1-2 hours of waking up. If not, we work on strategies to balance circadian rhythms with appetite (see pointers below).
While it’s not critical that you eat first thing, eating a protein-rich breakfast within 1-2 hours of waking up can drastically improve sustained focus and energy throughout your entire day.
“If people have protein in the morning, they actually need less medicine for ADHD throughout the day.”
-Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
If you’re in the “not hungry in the morning” camp, here are some tips to make breakfast more appealing.
Eat with or before meds. If you take a stimulant medication that decreases your appetite, eat breakfast before your medicine kicks in.
Eat dinner earlier. Start to shift your dinner-time a bit earlier, so your stomach has been empty longer when you awake. Try for 7pm, then 6:30pm, and then 6pm. It’s ok to take many weeks or months to make this shift. It’s not about eating at the exact same time every night, it’s about creating an earlier trend that your body adapts to over time.
Of course, this kind of a shift requires prior planning, which doesn’t come naturally. At the urging of my partner, I set a daily reminder on my phone at 4:30pm to check the fridge and start thinking about cooking.Eat smaller dinners. This doesn’t mean skimping on calories or food overall! Consider front-loading your calories into the morning and midday hours when you’re active and using the most energy, opting for a bigger lunch or a protein-rich snack mid-afternoon.
Get more sleep. Prioritize 7–9 hours of good sleep every night in order to feel better in the morning. If you struggle with sleep (many ADHDers do), get honest with yourself about what holds your attention in the hours before bedtime. Are you staying up too late, engaging in stimulating activities? Are you staring at a screen? Are you drinking alcohol? These activities can make us feel groggy or even nauseous in the morning, making food less appealing. Consider some healthier wind-down activities, like restricting screen time after 8pm, reading a book, and sipping herbal tea.
Breakfast is a complementary form of medicine.
Whether you’re taking medication or not, a hearty daily breakfast routine can dramatically improve or reduce the ADHD-related symptoms you experience.
Eating protein in the morning regulates your neurotransmitters, stabilizes your blood sugar, balances your hormones, improves your focus, prevents sugar cravings, and boosts your mood.
In other words, a protein-rich breakfast helps you get more done, make better choices, manage big emotions, and of course, plan healthier meals for the rest of the week.
This is the first article in a series on simple strategies in food and nature for adults with ADHD. The suggestions in this series will help you feed your brain and balance your nervous system, therefore easing your symptoms and improving your quality of life.
Follow along here or on Medium.