Why Eating Feels So Hard with ADHD (and How to Motivate Yourself to Eat)
This blog post is an excerpt from my Youtube video talking about why it’s so hard to motivate yourself to eat with ADHD - if you’re in a mood to watch (I recommend at 1.25 speed at least.. Feels like the most ADHD friendly setting) - check it out here! Or if you’re in a reading mood, read below.
Watch the full youtube video on Finding Motivation to eat with ADHD
Finding Motivation to Eat with ADHD
Finding the motivation to eat with ADHD, when you have to eat multiple times a day, everyday, for the rest of your life… can be really overwhelming and really challenging. But it doesn't have to always be like this.
Eating regularly, nutritiously or even eating anything at all can be really hard for people with ADHD. Without the right approach, eating requires a lot of executive function, a lot of organization, steps and planning.
Since eating is such a regular task that we have to do, we can't really opt out of it. This can really impact our motivation to eat with ADHD, which can almost result in a paralysis-like state where you know you should eat, you know that you'll probably feel better if you eat, but just having such a hard time actually doing that.
Something that I think makes it so much worse is just the lack of acknowledgement around all the barriers that people with ADHD and so many neurodivergent folks face around eating and being able to eat regularly. Lack of awareness of these barriers is one key reason why eating is hard with ADHD.
Like any other thing that involves being a neurodivergent person figuring out how to exist in a neurotypical society, it just involves finding the right approach that works for your brain. So you can access food regularly and eat regularly and are motivated to do so. This is what I work on with clients.
ADHD, Dopamine and Motivation to Eat
People with ADHD generally have less dopamine available than neurotypical people. Dopamine is one of the main neurotransmitters behind executive function, as well as motivation and being able to connect a task with a reward and then with that being able to actually do that thing.
Since there are so many tasks associated with eating, executive dysfunction and eating often don’t do well together…
Being in a state where we generally have less of the main neurotransmitter that is responsible for us feeling motivated to do anything, aka dopamine, it’s easy to quickly feel overwhelmed by all the tasks associated with eating, and having this regularly act as a barrier to eating.
ADHD Burnout and Eating Motivation
Being a neurodivergent person existing in a very neurotypical society can become really exhausting and result in burnout.
It requires a lot of energy just to be able to function in a neurotypical society as a neurodivergent person, which doesn't really leave a lot of energy left for tasks like eating, which typically requires a lot of energy in terms of executive functions like planning what you want to eat, going out and getting the groceries, putting groceries away, actually cooking, actually eating, cleaning up, cooking for other people if you have to do that, and then having to do it again the next day.
All those of the tasks associated with eating can be very energy intensive, and a lot of the time we just may not have that energy, which makes it really hard to stay motivated to eat.
Difficulty Recognizing Hunger Signals with ADHD
It’s also really common to have difficulty recognizing hunger cues with ADHD. People with ADHD often have lower interoceptive awareness than neurotypical folks - this is also referred to as interoception. They're pretty much the same thing, but this is basically our ability to recognize the signals that our body sends to our brain about what it needs and then being able to respond to those.
We may have a harder time tuning into the reality that we're hungry and our body may express that in ways that aren't seen as normal. For example, people often think of hunger as a rumbling stomach, but we may not experience that. We may experience it more as irritability, dizziness or thinking about food. There's so many other ways.
Being able to recognize hunger cues can also really be impacted by stimulant medication. A lot of stimulant medications are appetite suppressants which makes it even harder to pay attention to hunger signals.
I also think that our ability to hyperfocus on things if we're really focused on work or something we're studying that day or just like whatever whatever it is we're focused on all of our attention is going there and then that doesn't leave a lot of attention left for being aware of signals that our body is sending us about what it may need.
ADHD Decision Fatigue
Decision fatigue over what to eat can be a huge factor that impacts our motivation to eat with ADHD. There are so many options for what you can eat, and if you don't really have a structure or a strategy to support you on how to eat or what to eat with ADHD, it can get really overwhelming.
This can look like standing in front of the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes trying to figure out what to eat. With so many options, it's almost too much and can result in that almost paralysis-like state. When this occurs, it's often a lot easier to just go on not eating and not eat anything than actually figure out how to put stuff together and make food for yourself.
ADHD Food Sensory Sensitivities
Another barrier that can really affect your motivation to eat with ADHD is the amount of sensory sensitivities that a lot of folks with ADHD will experience around food. It's really common to not be able to eat certain foods based on things like their texture or smell.
A lot of the time we just won't be able to eat foods that activate our senses in a weird way that's not pleasant. This adds another barrier to eating with ADHD and another barrier just makes finding motivation to eat with ADHD even harder.
ADHD and Food Allergies, Intolerances and Gut Conditions
The higher incidence of allergies, food sensitivities, and gut conditions in folks with ADHD can also be a huge barrier to eating that impacts our motivation to eat with ADHD.
Having different food needs as well as a lot of restrictions around food is another barrier to eating regularly with ADHD.
How to Improve Motivation to Eat with ADHD
Lack of motivation is a huge barrier to eating with ADHD, and please know that you are not the only one struggling with this. So many people with ADHD struggle with this - it's just not talked about a lot.
There's nothing wrong with you. You're not broken. You're just a neurodivergent person doing your best to exist in a very neurotypical, ableist society.
Just because these are your eating patterns right now doesn't mean that this always has to be something you struggle with. Changing your eating habits, as well as how you're accessing food with ADHD takes time.
But since eating is something that we have to do every day, multiple times a day forever, I also think there is a silver lining to this - pretty much every day is an opportunity to improve our relationship with food, how we're accessing food and to work on improving our motivation to eat more regularly with ADHD.
In the next blog posts I’ll be getting more into 5 strategies for how to actually motivate yourself to eat with ADHD. I’ll also be making youtube videos on each strategy! So if you’ve made it this far be sure to subscribe to my Youtube Channel so you don’t miss the videos going over different ways to motivate yourself to eat with ADHD.
