When the Best Made Plans Fail: Rethinking Nutrition for Exercise with ADHD

Navigating the world of nutrition and physical activity with ADHD can be, well, frustrating.

The internet is full of tools, strategies, and endless how-to advice on everything you need to do and how you are supposed to implement it. Consistently.
Doing it once or twice is probably not the problem. But doing it consistently (and not overdoing it) over time until it becomes a habit might feel overwhelming and lead to failure.

Be consistent. Follow a plan. Stay focused. Only follow the information relevant to you.

Right….

If you're reading this as a neurodivergent or have someone in your life with ADHD, you're already laughing at that list.

Not that it's bad advice. It's not. It's just not a reality for many people with ADHD, at least not in the way it's often taught.

One beautiful jar and and entire kitchen of mess that's still there three days later

Today, we're diving deep into the relationship between ADHD, nutrition, and physical activity. We're exploring both the obvious and the less-obvious ways ADHD might be influencing diet and fitness plans (or the lack of a plan!) and how these could specifically impact someone trying to create a nutrition plan to support physical activity, to optimise their health and fitness, increase their (your?) physical activity, or train for an event or challenge.

This article got a bit long. Please skim through the subtitles and read the parts that jump out at you. This is not intended to be a diagnostic tool or a step-by-step guide; read it how it suits you.

ADHD can significantly affect eating habits and physical activity:

ADHD often leads to spontaneous decisions and most definitely extends to food choices. This can result in skipped meals, frequent snacking, or a preference for quick comfort foods rather than preparing meals to support specific training goals.

This impulsivity is often viewed as a lack of willpower, which can lead to feelings of frustration and failure. But in truth, it's the result of trying to follow a plan designed to suit someone who is neurotypical.

But even if that is the case, any nutrition strategy founded on willpower is doomed to fail, which has nothing to do with ADHD and everything to do with understanding behaviour change.

Conversely, to impulsivity, ADHD might cause you to hyperfocus on your diet and nutrition, leading to excessive focus on diet and obsessive behaviours around food.

This can feel like you've swung from being overwhelmed with information to needing ALL the information about all the food, all the time.

This could develop into a problematic relationship with food, creating anxiety and stress that can be counterproductive to your athletic performance and overall well-being.

It's a challenging line between having a plan that suits your health, performance, and lifestyle needs and not crossing over to food being your primary focus at the expense of all other goals.

Common advice for people with ADHD is to learn and practice Mindful Eating. The concept is to help combat distraction during meals; introducing mindful eating practices can be helpful. These include eating without electronic distractions, savouring each bite, and listening to your body's hunger and fullness cues.

But…. mindful eating requires concentration. With ADHD, it can be hard to stay present during meals, impacting the awareness of hunger and satiety signals, the cornerstones of mindful eating.

When recommendations like 'learn to eat mindfully' are generally given, they tend not to be very helpful to people with ADHD. The strategies must focus more on the individual's needs, challenges, and goals. A person with ADHD can absolutely learn to eat mindfully, but they might not do it the same way as everyone else.

But they need to break a few rules. No electronic devices while eating? Not in front of the TV? For a person with ADHD, sometimes we need those 'distractions' to focus. Remember, these strategies are just tools and should not be considered a set of rules to be adhered to.

A pretty common experience for people with ADHD is forgetfulness. Have you ever suddenly realised you haven't had any water today and then proceeded to try and drink an entire bottle all at once because if you don't do it now, you'll forget?

Yeah.

Adequate hydration is an essential part of optimising athletic performance. Unfortunately, while significant evidence states drinking to thirst is an effective tool for hydration, this might not work for people with ADHD.

Instead, tools like setting reminders on your phone or using other habit-building techniques can be helpful.

Meal planning, meal prep, and batch cooking: all accepted cornerstones of healthy eating… as well as accepted examples of adulting elusive to many with ADHD.

If this is you, you are not alone.

Following a dietary plan can be challenging due to difficulty initiating tasks with ADHD.

This is very annoying for those of us who keep trying and failing to follow these plans because we KNOW that it can make life so much easier when they can be prepared with a menu or meal plan.

And fueling athletic performance more manageable.

A food and meal planning strategy you can stick to is beneficial for managing impulsivity and distractibility. Having meals and snacks prepared in advance that support your exercise and training goals reduces the chance of reaching for simply whatever is available when you're hungry.

Finding a strategy that works for you, sustainability is the key.

Heightened sensory sensitivities can influence food choices, with certain textures, tastes, or smells being off-putting, inadvertently limiting the variety in the diet.

This is pretty common for people with ADHD. Instead of forcing these foods down, consider talking to a nutrition professional about helping you create a meal plan or dietary strategy that fits the foods you like and passes on the ones you don't.

When medication is taken for ADHD, it can, for some people, affect appetite and eating patterns. It can cause reduced appetite during the day and increased hunger later on, disrupting regular meal patterns.

For some people, this looks like not feeling hungry during the day until the medication wears off in the evening. Lack of energy intake during the day can leave you feeling ravenous at night.

This can be further compounded by the stimulus effect of ADHD medication that can increase the body's energy needs.

For active people and those with athletic training goals, maintaining a positive energy balance is essential for athletic performance and maintaining muscle mass. This requires eating strategies when not feeling natural hunger cues due to medications.

'Time blindness', or trouble perceiving the passage of time, is common with ADHD. This can result in long gaps between meals or snacks, impacting metabolism and energy levels.

Like the section above about medication and appetite, time blindness can lead to a negative energy balance that can impact training goals and athletic performance.

Energy levels can fluctuate wildly due to ADHD. These inconsistent energy levels might make maintaining a regular exercise routine harder.

This can be incredibly frustrating if you've managed to maintain a training schedule and just need more energy to follow it.

While no nutrition plan will completely alleviate this issue, consistent and balanced energy intake from food can help. Focusing on fueling your exercise before, during, and post-nutrition strategies can be a great first step when increasing physical activity while supporting energy levels.

ADHD can challenge the ability to emotionally regulate, leading to emotional eating - a behaviour where one eats in response to feelings rather than hunger. This can be particularly disruptive if you adhere to a specific nutrition plan to fuel your physical training.

Emotional eating can lead to impulsive food choices, which can throw off the balance of your nutrition plan and affect your energy levels and performance.

The drive for perfection is a common issue with ADHD. How the health and fitness industry perpetuates that is a whole topic itself.  Letting go of this perfectionism is easier said then done, but start by understanding photos like this are BS and cause more harm then good for everyone.  A skinny white women standing in an all white perfectly clean kitchen eating vegetables with olive oil in her matching workout clothes is an excellent example  of how health and fitness marketing would like us to believe if we are not like this we are failing. We are not failing, but the industry is most certainly failing us. 

These ADHD-related issues can further complicate when creating a nutrition plan supporting physical activity. Erratic eating habits can lead to inconsistent energy levels, which is not ideal for maintaining a regular exercise routine. ADHD-associated hyperfocus can sometimes lead to overtraining, and the distractibility characteristic of ADHD increases the risk of injuries during exercise.

Taking ADHD medication also adds another layer of complexity, as it can cause a decreased appetite or cause dry mouth, potentially affecting fuel intake and hydration status, both crucial for optimal athletic performance. Additionally, emotional dysregulation linked to ADHD can affect motivation to stick with an exercise routine or healthy eating plan.

Recognising these interactions between ADHD, nutrition, and physical activity is a game-changer for people who are neurodivergent. Identifying what applies to you can help you navigate these challenges and create a sustainable, personalised nutrition and training plan that supports physical activity, fuels the body properly, and fits with lifestyle and preferences.

If you've made it this far reading, it might feel like doom and gloom. But the truth is, just being aware of these (potential) issues is the first step. It might help you identify something specific that's getting in your way. Identifying ONE thing to work on can be less overwhelming than taking on everything.

Now that you're (more) aware of how ADHD might be impacting your nutrition and, consequently, your physical activity and athletic performance, you can start to make a plan that works for you. This could involve strategies to manage impulsive eating, tips for staying hydrated, ideas for meal prep that consider hyperfocus tendencies, and tactics to handle sensory sensitivities.

Regardless of how many apply to you, pick one to get started with.

Just one. That might be the hardest part.

Next, consider seeking professional advice. Consult a nutritionist, dietitian, or healthcare provider experienced in working with adults with ADHD. They can provide specific recommendations and modifications to your nutrition and physical activity plan that align with your needs and goals that are specific to you, not to ADHD in general.

Lastly, remember, it's not about perfection. It's about progress. As my kids remind me, practice makes progress, not perfection.

Hi, my name is Kristine Peter, and I'm a Nutritionist, Nutrition Educator, and Coach. I'm also a passionate neurodivergent advocate navigating the world outdoor adventure and mental health. 

If you would like to learn more about finding ways that work for you to change the way you eat to meet your goals, you can book a free introductory call with me.