Nutrition for ADHD Brains
What happened when I got "roasted".
Not too long ago, I was soundly roasted in a Facebook post for suggesting that nutrition, the food we eat, played an important, if not to say, crucial role in ADHD.
After I got the subsequent and stinging RSD reigned in a bit, (even when you know you’re not wrong, the need to defend yourself still burns) I spent an endless night mentally composing replies to the witc, er, woman. Because she’s far from alone in her scepticism, an awful lot of people don’t understand why nutrition matters so much for us ADHDers, I thought I’d explain a little more.
With ADHD, we don’t make enough dopamine or norepinephrine, and/or the little we do make doesn’t travel efficiently. Addressing that can help ease the severity of our symptoms, which is where nutrition comes in.
First: What does your brain need to make dopamine?
Protein. That comes from food.
Second: What turns that protein into dopamine?
Iron, B6, B9, B12, magnesium. (And vitamin C and copper help convert dopamine into norepinephrine.) All nutrition.
Third: What helps dopamine actually move and “stick” where it should in the brain?
Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA/DHA)
Fourth: How do we stop that dopamine disappearing too fast?
We need inc, and magnesium features again. Also nutrition.
Then we add blood-sugar spikes and crashes (which can make ADHD symptoms explode). Nutrition again.
There’s also poor sleep. We need a cascade of nutrients to help our body sleep. These nutrients tell our body when to wake up, when to wind down. They make melatonin, and they help us fall asleep, stay asleep, and rest deeply. Without them, we can battle to sleep, and lack of sleep sets fire to our symptoms. More nutrition.
And, we mustn’t forget gut health. Over 90% of our serotonin (helps us feel calm) is made in the gut and roughly 50% of dopamine. Also nutrition.
There’s more, but you get the idea.
Nutrition will never cure ADHD, but it absolutely can make symptoms milder and life noticeably easier.
