“You just need to eat fewer calories”. Sounds great! But how do you do that when ADHD often makes it so hard to control appetite?? The common dietary struggles I see among ADHDers are strong sugar cravings, impulsive eating, and sudden, insatiable hunger.
Hopefully, you know by now that it’s not about lack of willpower or character flaws… The underlying reason for dysregulated eating patterns is chemical and hormonal imbalances, something that you can’t fix just by really wanting it.
For example,
- If you have blood sugar issues or low serotonin, one of our “happiness” neurotransmitters, you’re most likely to crave simple carbs.
- Your naturally low dopamine makes you want to frequently snack on something. Not because you’re hungry and your body needs energy but because you have that physical need for quick stimulation.
- Getting ravenous at night is often a side-effect of ADHD medication wearing off and it also has to do with very low blood sugar levels.
- And if your problem is not being able to stop eating because your mind keeps telling you that it wants more, you might have a condition called leptin resistance. Leptin is our satiety hormone. Its job is to send the message to the brain “You’re full. Stop eating and go spend some energy.” But due to various reasons including excess body weight, continuously high insulin, high triglycerides, and inflammation your brain can become insensitive to the leptin signals so it doesn’t get the message about fullness.
As you can see “eating less” is more complicated than it seems. There are all these internal processes that have a huge effect on your eating patterns. So how do you get your body and mind work in synchrony?
In this post, you’ll find out what foods you can and should eat on a daily basis to curb hunger and stay in control of your eating behaviors.
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What To EAT To Control Appetite
We often focus too much on what we should avoid to get in better shape. Cut calories, cut carbs, remove sugar, stop eating junk food, etc. While these are not bad ideas, in our minds, we still perceive them as this huge ordeal, a sacrifice we have to make to look better… And let’s face it, it’s extremely hard to keep up with this kind of mindset especially for someone whose executive function is not working at its best…
Instead, let’s switch our focus to eating foods that our bodies need first so that we can keep our “happy” hormones and neurochemicals in balance, achieve, and most importantly, sustain a healthy weight.
Protein for better satiety and reduced ADHD symptoms
I can’t recommend this enough! A high-protein meal helps keep your blood sugar stable and “the hunger hormone” ghrelin down.
In particular, people with ADHD need to consume foods high in amino-acid L-Tyrosine, the precursor to dopamine. Animal sources include eggs, fish, cheese, and beef. Good plant-based sources are nuts and seeds, seaweed, soy (organic only!), and beans.
If you are a stress eater or have sugar cravings at night, the foods that you want to include in your last meal include organic, grass-fed red meat and poultry, fish and seafood, beans, and lentils, pumpkin and squash seeds, eggs, oats, and spirulina. They are high in amino-acid L-Tryptophan, which is involved in the synthesis of serotonin in the brain that promotes relaxation, a sense of well-being, and appetite control.
How much protein is “enough” for better appetite control? For everyone that would be a different number, depending on age, gender, health, and lifestyle. But generally speaking, the person should be consuming about 1 g of protein per 1 lb of lean body mass. I know you are probably not a fan of counting your macros and calories. So make sure you eat 4 to 6 oz portion of quality protein (pasture-raised, wild-caught, grass-fed, or organic) at every meal.
If your ADHD meds tend to significantly reduce your appetite during a day I recommend eating high-protein breakfast before you take them, get a protein shake, or a bar at lunch (look for organic options that are also low in sugar), and then a wholesome dinner at night
Fiber for improved mood and less sugar cravings
Fiber (especially in the form of vegetables) is known to support healthy microbiome and gut motility. It also regulates blood sugar levels thus, makes you more resilient to sugar cravings and reduces appetite.
Try getting 1 cup (50-75% of the plate) of non-starchy, colorful veggies with each meal. They are great in the form of salad, steamed, sautéed, or roasted.
If you are really drawn to carbohydrates, your body tolerates them well, and when you cut them, you get irritable and have trouble staying asleep add a small amount of starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes, peas, beans, legumes, and whole grains at dinner or/and 1-2 hours after exercise. These are tryptophan-rich foods that will help your body make serotonin and melatonin.
Fruits are also great sources of fiber. For fat loss, it’s best to eat one portion before exercise or 30-40 minutes before breakfast.
Healthy fats for sharper mind and fat loss
Water to improve cognition and avoid “false” hunger
Vitamins and minerals to reduce cravings and create dopamine
- Chromium helps you stabilize blood-sugar metabolism and thus, have fewer cravings for refined carbohydrates. For healthy women, experts suggest consuming 25 mcg of this mineral per day. The best food source of chromium is broccoli.
- Craving for sweets could also be an indicator of low potassium. The recommended daily intake of dietary potassium for adults is 4,700 mg. You can get it by including sweet potatoes, bananas, tomato paste, avocado, squash, white beans, spinach, and wild-caught salmon into your diet.
- In case your weakness is salty foods, calcium and/or sodium deficiency might be the reason for it. Your daily target of calcium is 1,000-1,200 mg a day. Calcium-rich foods: kefir, cheese, sauteed kale, broccoli, Bok choy, and bone-in sardines. Sodium stores can be depleted through excessive sweating, for example during a workout or a sauna therapy. Now, an average person already consumes too much of this mineral, unfortunately, mostly from processed foods. The RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) for sodium is 1,500 mg per day. Try not to receive it from the refined products that have a negative impact on your health. Instead, add real sea salt or Himalayan salt to your food.
- Vitamin B complex contributes to energy metabolism, so you feel satisfied and vitalized. B-3 and B-6 are also required for the conversion of L-Tryptophan to Serotonin that helps you avoid emotional eating. B vitamins are found in red meat, seafood, dark leafy greens, bananas, egg yolks, and dairy.
- Zinc deficiency is often associated with PMS cravings and social anxiety which often leads to compulsive eating. The RDA for adult women is at least 8 mg/day and a maximum of 40 mg/day from all sources. Whole grains, nuts and seeds, pastured eggs, meat, seafood, dairy products, and legumes offer relatively high levels of zinc.
- If you crave chocolate, magnesium is what you really need! Consider adding raw cacao powder (or nibs), green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds, almonds, black beans, whole grains, and avocado to your diet. The daily requirements of magnesium for healthy women is 310-320 mg/day.
In addition to Tyrosine, your body needs some vitamins and minerals to make Dopamine. These include folate (not folic acid), magnesium, iron, niacin (B3), B6, and D3. A steady flow of Dopamine ensures better appetite control!
If your diet already contains enough whole, nutrient-dense foods you don’t have to take supplements to fulfill your daily micro-nutrient requirements, but if you’d like extra support, search for some good-quality multivitamins in the most bioavailable form.
Fermented, probiotic-rich foods to minimize emotional eating
Spices for faster satiety
Herbs to make “feel-good” neurotransmitters
Important: These herbs can interfere with the effect of ADHD medications. Always consult with your doctor before taking any supplements!
Conclusion
As you can see, in order to stay in control over your eating behaviors you need to switch to a different mindset. Instead of trying to overpower your cravings make sure to add foods your body needs to successfully manage appetite! If you do that you’ll have much less desire to overeat junk food and will be able to spend your energy on something more productive than resisting “hunger”.
Food should be delicious! We all want to be able to enjoy it. Otherwise, there is zero chance we can stick to the plan. But mainly, food is your fuel. It has to be restorative and nurturing. If you deprive your body of the essential elements, don’t expect it to operate at its full capacity. Remember, strong, persistent cravings or urges to binge is your body’s trying to tell you that it’s lacking the bulding blocks it needs to function properly!
For better appetite control first, focus on being consistent at:
- Eating balanced meals that contain the required amount of proteins, fats, and carbs, as well as vitamins and minerals
- Staying hydrated
- And consider adding good-quality multivitamins, probiotics, and herbal supplements for extra support
- Lifestyle choices are also very important. You want to get enough sleep, be active, do things that you love more often, spending time in the sun, etc. to boost your dopamine levels, improve mood, and make it easier for yourself to stick to a healthy diet.
How do you manage your appetite? Do you mostly rely on medication to suppress it or you’re trying to back it up by developing healthier habits?
Let me know in the comments!
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