Healing The Binge-Restrict Cycle of Disordered Eating With Those Also Navigating ADHD

Welcome to the Satiated Podcast where we explore physical and emotional hunger, satiation and healing your relationship with your food and body. I'm your host Stephanie Mara Fox, your Somatic Nutritional Counselor. More and more adults in the US are being diagnosed with adult ADHD. Adult ADHD can be characterized by trouble with organizing or cleaning, issues with prioritization, time blindness which is losing track of time, difficulty focusing, hyperfocus, troubles with maintaining a schedule, hard time finishing projects, impulsive behavior, mood swings, trouble navigating stress, and sometimes increased anger. For many with adult ADHD, there is an overlap in struggling in their relationship with food. the impulsiveness that comes with ADHD can lead to binge eating or emotional eating behaviors and the time blindness can lead to restriction as a person forgets to eat which can spark the restrict-binge cycle. For some (not all), ADHD can be a reaction to past trauma. If it didn’t feel safe to be here, your mind scatters itself in a million different directions. The binge-restrict cycle can also perpetuate as these food behaviors give a focus and something that can be completed when presence feels threatening to the body. Today, I chat with Aleta Storch who is an anti-diet dietitian, therapist, and certified body trust® provider, who lives in the Pacific-North-West. She specializes in providing anti-diet, values-centered, body liberation work with folks that have disordered eating / a history of dieting, autoimmune conditions, and/or ADHD. Aleta is the owner and founder of her virtual group practice (Wise Heart Nutrition). She is also the creator of the groundbreaking, Eating with ADHD® approach and model, which she developed as a resource for supporting ADHDers in navigating food and eating difficulties, and in developing intuitive eating skills in order to nourish both the body and the brain. This approach is the basis for her monthly membership program, Neurished. She believes wholeheartedly that food freedom and body trust are birthrights, and that every individual is the expert of their own body. We explore the overlap between ADHD and disordered eating, why someone navigating ADHD may be drawn to diet culture, and tips for ensuring adequate nourishment is coming in while navigating patterns of ADHD which can be supportive for any person trying to create more consistency in their eating day. One last thing I want to mention is that we started to explore after we stopped recording that ADHD has also been more and more misdiagnosed because we've been living through traumatic times and a trauma response in the body can look and feel very similar to symptoms of ADHD. For many individuals, not all, their ADHD stems from past trauma. So if some of the patterns we discuss today sound familiar it could be ADHD tendencies and it could also be a trauma response your body is holding onto. Now, welcome Aleta! I am super jazzed to dive in with you about this connection between emotional dysregulation and ADHD and how it all informs our relationship with food. And before we even get to all of that, you know, how did you uniquely get into this work? Because this is I feel like it's coming out more and more how a lot of individuals food struggles could actually stem from a misdiagnosis of ADHD. So I'm curious what has been your unique journey to get to this point?

Aleta Storch 04:13

Yeah, I'm really excited to be here. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, my journey is essentially like a personal one. It was sort of a personal discovery around the relationship between ADHD and food and eating and disordered eating and the emotional dysregulation. Yeah, so I struggled with disordered eating in college and undergrad. And I went through the process of healing and recovery, and I found intuitive eating and Health at Every Size right away, which I feel really, really lucky about. And so I did a lot of the work around like letting go of diet culture and challenging food rules and practicing a lot of permission around food. And then when I went to grad school, I started to feel really, really overwhelmed and I kind of ended up back in that restrict binge cycle. But it didn't feel like it was coming from this place of diet culture. Like I wasn't intentionally restricting it was that I like, didn't have my stuff together. I like I didn't have the capacity to plan out my meals and to shop and to cook and to clean up and grad school kind of just became like my focus. And that's all I had time and capacity for. And so I was really confused, right? Like, well, why why am I binging at night? Why am I feeling so overwhelmed, and so out of control with food, and I had been not necessarily diagnosed as a kid with ADHD, but a lot of teachers had thrown it around, physicians kind of thrown it around. And it was sort of like, okay, well, they'll grow out of it, she's fine. Which makes sense like a kid in the 90s. And so then in grad school, I was like, I need to figure out what's going on. Because I had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and doesn't feel like anything is working for that. I just feel overwhelmed and dysregulated all the time. So I went back into psychiatrists, and did all the testing and diagnosed with ADHD, and a lot of things just started to like, fall into place and make sense. And I really started to dive into like different, like tools and strategies and support for managing ADHD. And as I did that, the food stuff got a little bit easier. And I think that was because I had done so much healing work, right, it was like the two, the two pieces together. And so I went on to specialize in eating disorders. And I was working in partial hospitalization program in Seattle. And a lot of the clients would do really, really great in program when like, food was served to them, and they were reminded to eat and they were in community. And then the second they stepped down, they would really, really struggle. And they just started to notice that a lot of those clients that they seem to be neurodivergent, or like, I think it really connected with them and kind of have a lot of like similar traits, similar personality. And and so I really just started to explore, like, what is there, maybe this connection between disordered eating, eating disorder and ADHD, and the more I like, started to look into it and started to kind of like, notice and look around, it became clear that there is a really big connection. And it's often just seen as like binge eating, right, like ADHDers binge eat but it's actually there's a lot of unintentional restriction that happens with ADHD. And that tends to get overlooked, and especially in eating disorder treatment facilities. So then yeah, I just kind of like dove in headfirst. And that has been my hyper focus for the last like four years. And I, I absolutely love it. I love working with neurodivergent clients, it's fills my heart.

Stephanie Mara 07:38

Yeah, I can feel that emanating off of you. I really appreciate that you're bringing in this piece, that when the behaviors came back around, which is funny, because I just put out a post that was like when your you know, food coping mechanisms reappear, and sometimes that can happen, and you really identified this feels different. This isn't coming from diet culture, which I think a lot of the time, we are kind of pinpointing that it's always off of food rules, diet culture, and there could actually be a lot of other factors that are happening in why the binge or binge and restrict cycle is occurring for you. And I'd love for you to share more about those correlations with what's happening with ADHD and why someone would find themselves binging or restricting.

Aleta Storch 08:29

Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I think with ADHD, a lot of the issues with food can either be like, directly as a result of some of the symptoms of ADHD to something like like time blindness or organization. And then it can also show up because of just sort of like this, this way of being in the world where ADHDers are experiencing a lot of shame, and a lot of frustration and a lot of failure. And that can kind of turn into perfectionism, right? Or like, this need to try harder, try harder, because then that will kind of manifest as failed. Like, this is like something I can control something I feel like I can be good at. And so while that may have more of like a diet culture feel to it, it really is more related to this, like sense of identity or sense of self. And so again, like someone could have totally gotten through the whole, like letting go of diet culture, challenging food worlds, right and still feel like well, I'm just not good enough. I am never going to achieve all the things I want to achieve. And food becomes the pathway for finding value and meaning.

Stephanie Mara 09:38

Yeah, yeah. What I'm really hearing is that some of the characteristics of ADHD, like you were talking about time blindness. You know, I know that for some individuals like that restriction piece, it's not actually intentionally restricting. It is losing track of time and continuing to just go off of the next thing, the next thing, the next thing that your body actually has to get to the point of screaming at you, where you're feeling dizzy or lightheaded or, or something that you then realize, oh, wait a second. I haven't eaten anything all day long. And I think that there's been a lot of blame on self. I'm doing something wrong. This is my fault.

Aleta Storch 10:21

Yeah, yeah. And the self blame and right, like the lack of understanding, especially in the eating disorder treatment field of, like, it's possible to forget to eat. And I remember when I was going through my own process, right, people being like, yeah, right, like, no one forgets to eat, like, that's your own thing. You're just trying to avoid it. And I think that shows up a lot in in the treatment process. And there's this idea that like ADHDers aren't compliant, but often, like they're trying so hard, and juggling, right, both like the diet culture piece, and the ADHD piece and so it can be really hard to untangle those two, but really identifying like, what is intentional versus right, what is just like a different than brain function, and there's just not a lot of support and treatment for that.

Stephanie Mara 11:10

Yeah. And then, you know, we were talking about before this call of this connection between emotional dysregulation, and we talk a lot about this on the podcast, that this piece around trauma and emotional dysregulation can be kind of the root of the food coping mechanisms, and I'm curious how ADHD then gets thrown in the mix here.

Aleta Storch 11:35

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So one of the, like, hallmark characteristics of ADHD is they call it like, emotional dysregulation. And I don't, I don't necessarily like love that term, it stresses right like, we should be in control of our emotions all the time. And again, I think that's one thing that neurodivergent folks were taught and you know, folks who have experienced trauma and that we should be, we should be able to control we should be able to regulate all the time. And so with ADHD, emotions can become this, like really visceral experience, and can feel really overwhelming and really big and really intense and can feel like something that's like, not able to be contained. And so I like to think of emotions as something that needs to be moved through the body, right, like that somatic experiencing, almost like a, like an emotional, an emotional relief has to happen. And one of the ways that that can happen is through food. Right? Like, if, if you're crunching something, there's sort of like that somatic release of frustration, or annoyance, or anger or eating until you're uncomfortably full, right? Again, like it is moving emotion through the body. And so food can be a really great way of doing that. And I think oftentimes, too, when someone is unintentionally restricting, then it's harder to like, regulate their emotions. So it's kind of it kind of goes both ways, right? Like the emotional dysregulation, so like using food to regulate, and then the opposite. If you're not eating, then you're going to be more dysregulated.

Stephanie Mara 13:12

Yeah, I love that you're bringing in this piece, that food has potentially been a strategy to move emotion through your body, and we get so many messages around, I love that you, you know, just got curious about this emotional regulation piece of yeah, this idea that we're always supposed to be in control of our emotions, which if that's the belief that we have been given, and then we are living in a, you know, a trauma response in our body and navigating symptoms of ADHD, that there's like, even more pressure of like, what can I do here to try to move this emotion through my body, especially if you grew up in an environment that didn't teach you how to do that. Food is such a resource that is so readily available. And I just when I heard that it took away, like any sense of shame inside of my body of like, can we bring in so much compassion that that was such an amazing resource to navigate what was already happening inside of yourself?

Aleta Storch 14:16

Yeah, yeah. And something we've learned so early on too right like little kids, like, if we're crying, we're often offered milk or food. Right. And so, it yeah, it's something that I would say most of us have experience and have done so from a really early age. Yeah.

Stephanie Mara 14:34

Yeah. What have you found when someone is realizing hmmm, because I've had clients where they start learning about ADHD, and they maybe take a quiz and like, oh, man, I think I might have ADHD and then you know, they maybe go get a diagnosis, and they're like, oh, it's like it's like a light bulb went off like, oh, it was never my fault that I was doing these things with food. It was really my best strategy to navigate this ADHD patterns that were happening inside of my body, what have you found when someone gets to that point starts to help them be in relationship with food in a different way?

Aleta Storch 15:12

Yeah, yeah, I think I mean, it can be a mixed bag, right? There can be like so much compassion and release and relief. Oh my gosh, there's an explanation. And then there can be also this experience of like, anger and grief and frustration, right? Like, well, what could have been like, my whole life, I've been experiencing this. And now I'm finding out that there would maybe like an underlying reason. And so I think just really trying to lean into that compassionate part of self and allowing the grief to be there. And then like, coming back to the self compassion, it's so important when people have this realization, right, like the ADHD is getting in the way of food and eating and interrupting their relationship with food, we really do need to continue to untangle, right, like, like, what is this diet culture? What is this with ADHD, and I really like to use the approach of kind of like a pyramid of fundamental food. So really focusing on how do we get enough, and that might mean like challenging food roles. And also like addressing some of the like time blindness, or the disorganization, or the decision fatigue, really making sure people are eating consistently. And regularly which again, right like, you're, you're kind of addressing both sides of that, and then working into like, variety and pleasure and satisfaction. And so it's a very similar process. But it's, again, coming at it from both sides. And recognizing that like, one piece of it is going to be emotional, and like, a lot of like self reflection and undoing narratives. And the other side of it is going to be a lot of like logistics and tools and strategies. And also the self compassion, right that like these tools, and strategies aren't always going to work. And it is really frustrating when your brain function with certain way and you feel like you don't have control and things aren't going the way that you want them to. So all of that has to come with so much self compassion, but really starting again, like with that groundwork, like how do we eat enough? How do we eat consistently? And then yeah, kind of living into the food freedom piece.

Stephanie Mara 17:24

Yeah, and I am really loving that you are pointing out that it's kind of sifting through is this coming from diet culture? Or was this coming from your ADHD? I think that's an important distinction, because there could be flavors of both happening at the same time, I imagine. And that it's also just getting clear of sometimes you're doing healing with both. Have you found that those, I truly am curious about this, I could probably do more research on this, but have you found that those who are drawn to diet culture, often are trying to navigate ADHD?

Aleta Storch 18:04

That is a good question. I mean, again, I think it can be like something that someone feels like they can be good at. I think a lot of ADHDers feel like outsiders, feel like they're not going to be accepted, right. And dieting or body shaping or pursuing thinness is kind of seen as this like way in or can like provide a sense of community. First, ADHDers are very susceptible to diet culture, because it does create a lot of community and belonging and accountability, right. And like uses a lot of strategies in a way that are really helpful. Like, you know, data, or accountability buddy, right, checking in, monitoring, I think those things are really, really helpful for ADHDers, and they show up in diet culture. So I could see how we would be drawn to that. I don't, I don't have like science to back that up per se. But I hadn't really ever thought about it that way that I could see how that would be true.

Stephanie Mara 19:06

I was just curious about your experience with that. And I'm wondering how you've navigated because you were talking about, like, eating consistently. And I know with some individuals that I work with, sometimes that can feel like a diet, like even just to eat consistently throughout the day. They're like, this feels like I'm back on a diet again. And I'm wondering how you've navigated that it's so important to get that consistent nourishment in for so many different reasons while also not feeling like you're back on a diet.

Aleta Storch 19:35

Right. Yeah, yeah. I mean, so much of it is gonna come down to like getting curious, right? And so, if you're noticing that, okay, I go like 5, 6, 7 hours without eating, and then all of a sudden, like, I can't focus, I'm exhausted. I feel like crap. Like nothing is going my way. I'm emotional. Right? That is really good information and then being able to experiment with okay, well, what if you eat every three hours? And then just notice. Like, is there a different experience? And I would say like nine out of 10, maybe 10 out of 10, people say like, oh, like I'm not having that crash midday, I'm not feeling terrible, I'm not irritable at my husband when I get home from work, and so that information, I think, can be really helpful in driving more about like intuitive eating, right, so you're not eating every two hours, because I said, so. And I think that's where like that diet feeling can come in, but I'm eating every two or three or four hours, however often works for that person, because I now like the lived experience, I have the wisdom of what happens if I don't, and I can choose, it's sort of like this informed consent. And I like to talk a lot about that with, with my clients. But diet culture, there's no informed consent, you're just told what to do. And you tell it, and a lot of the work with creating food freedom is creating those choice points. And that there's like, not one is better than the other, right? Like, if you're not eating consistently, you're not like a bad person, you're just not gonna feel very good. And again, like, that's okay. But most of the time people are coming to me because they want to feel better.

Stephanie Mara 21:15

Yeah, yeah. And in working with those that, again, are navigating ADHD in their body, have you found that intuitive eating has been difficult to practice, and just being able to intuit the body and know what the body needs?

Aleta Storch 21:30

Absolutely. I think intuitive eating as it was designed is a very, like neurotypical approach, and is not necessarily neurodivergent friendly. But that doesn't mean that I can't be, it's sort of like, how do we adjust the approach to, to kind of take into account the different symptoms and experiences that someone with ADHD or like, lots of other things, right? Like, it's not just ADHD that it doesn't work for. How do we make those adjustments and kind of redefine, like, what is intuitive mean, it doesn't mean, oh, when I'm hungry, I eat from when I'm full, I stop and, and that's how I'm being intuitive. It might be, oh, I know, that three hours after I eat this meal, I like, I tend to crash. And by feeding myself, I know I feel better. And so it's sort of like that preventative, or planning. And it can be really hard to be connected to your body with someone with ADHD, right? Like, we tend to function cognitively. And so being able to, like break away from that and check in and notice, and like there are tools and practices for creating more of that, like interoceptive awareness, right, the awareness of what is going on inside of our bodies. And so just being able to build some of that can help with the intuitive eating. But again, like not feeling like it has to be this hard and fast rule, if that makes sense.

Stephanie Mara 22:57

Yeah, absolutely. I'm wondering, what neurodivergent tweaks you have even created to support the individuals that that you have been supporting.

Aleta Storch 23:10

Yeah, yeah. So even something like like checking in with hunger, right, kind of rethinking, like, what does hunger even feel like, isn't just like, my stomach is growling, or food sounds good. That might not happen. And it's probably not just gonna happen naturally, either. And so you might need a reminder. And I like to think of these things as like brain traps, right? Like, what are the things that are going to trip your brain that you can't avoid, that will help you then check in where you just might need that extra support to check in with your body versus like just doing it naturally. For some people that's alarms. Alarms can get really old, right? And if there's too many of them going off during the day, it's just like, okay, whatever, I'm not gonna listen to that. And so it might be like, really intentionally placed snacks that are on your desk. And so that mid day, if you see them, right, like that, the trigger oh, am I hungry? And this is right here. So now I can get it. Or placing a note somewhere that you know, you're gonna go like the bathroom, like on the toilet seat. People always laugh at that, but like, a post it note of Are you hungry can be really helpful. And so yeah, just kind of like creating these opportunities to check in rather than just like honor your hunger because if it's just honor your hunger, someone with ADHD might never eat. And the same with honoring your fullness, right? Like might not ever stop because we might not ever feel that so that yeah, that would be one example of starting to, like feel a lot of compassion and like have an understanding of how our brains are working differently as well. And yeah, just like making space for grieving, right, but what it means to be neurodivergent and building more acceptance around our bodies as well as and food as well as our brains and having permission to just kind of exist as we are.

Stephanie Mara 25:00

I love these ideas and totally hear you, I have a lot of individuals who tell me they're sick of all of the alarms that they have set for themselves that they just needed to turn them all off. The other thing that I have found is there are a lot of new apps that you can schedule a text message to yourself. So I think there's one called like, reminderbase or something like there's, there's a lot out there even if you like, you know, go searching your app place of just like text messaging myself, where you can schedule okay, at 12 o'clock, I want to text message myself, are you hungry, and it will text you at that time. And so if you're, again, like, you might also deal with some overstimulation and so if like your phone isusually on silent, but you notice the like light light up on your phone, and you can look at your phone and see that text message from yourself. You know, I love that you offered just a couple of different suggestions of like really finding the ways that feel gentle to your body to not feel like you're bombarding yourself with your own reminders.

Aleta Storch 26:07

Totally, yeah, like, yeah, you don't need an alarm going off every five minutes, right. But I love that idea of the text message too, because it almost feel like an accountability buddy, right? Or like you're engaging in community, even if it's being sent from you. And I had a client recently tell me that they set an alarm, and they were able to record a message of their voice. And so instead of saying just like eat, or you should eat or check in with yourself, it was a message of like, why they wanted to eat. So I think it was something like I want to like be able to show up for my kids and be in a good mood. So check in like, do you need food to be able to do that. And so I think that can also be such a valuable tool is kind of returning to like the underlying why and the underlying values for making changes. And rather than just feeling like, well, this is what I have to do or what I should be doing. Because I know I feel a lot of resistance to being told what to do or follow the rules. Yeah, oftentimes my clients will find that really helpful.

Stephanie Mara 27:10

Yeah. And I love that you brought this into a also a wider dialogue that all of this is connecting back with the body, and really just learning this is my body. This is what I'm working with. And I really, I'm on the same page with you around, there can be a lot of grief, and anger and sadness that it's like, but this wasn't the body that I wanted. Or this wasn't the thing that I wanted to navigate this lifetime. And also sometimes making space for that too, as you learn about your body and its needs and how to best support it.

Aleta Storch 27:44

Yeah, there's definitely that parallel process of like, body acceptance, and brain acceptance. And at the same time, like a lot of folks are experiencing like weight stigma or fat phobia, and then are also experiencing a lot of like, shame and stigma around how their brain functions. And so the processes really like do happen in parallel that like you can't accept one and not the other, that it sort of has to happen together.

Stephanie Mara 28:13

Yeah. And that's not talked about. I feel like as much of brain acceptance, there's a lot of talk about body acceptance, especially with yes, exactly what you're just talking about all the weight stigmatization that we have in our culture, the fat phobia, all the things that happen in the clothing industry, fitness, industry, wellness, diet culture, and all of them. And it's not as addressed as much of how to love the way that your brain functions. And I'm curious on your journey, or with the journeys that you've gone on with those you've worked with, what has facilitated that and learning like, this is just the way that my brain functions, and how can I love myself and my brain up in that process?

Aleta Storch 28:58

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I would say number one is like connecting with other people who have the same or very, like, similar lived experience, because it can feel so so lonely. And I think I really ran into, like the narrative of like, I'm the only person who's having the issue. I'm the only person that's struggling with that, like everyone else seems to have have it together and then starting to, like, connect with other ADHD peers hear other people's experience was really validating. And I was able to identify like, okay, these struggles are very real. And then also being able to start to see like the, I guess, like the strength, right, or the pros of having a neurodivergent brain, like, oh, I really respect this person. They're incredibly creative, or they're really outgoing or they're really funny. And then being able to notice like, okay, well, what parts of me right are, are showing up in that same way. So I think that can be a really, really helpful way to do some of that healing. And it's similar with the body image stuff, right? You can't do it alone. If you're feeling lonely, and you don't see other people doing the healing work, it can be a lot harder. So that's like, usually my number one suggestion. And that's what, what was really helpful for me.

Stephanie Mara 30:11

Yeah, I completely agree with that, you know, something, especially I think is I realized, oh I might have some little neurodivergent tendencies. And that while this may seem silly or cliche, going into, like, TikTok videos, or Instagram videos, and seeing people openly talk about it, or even kind of joking about it, of just like, I think I saw a TikTok video the other day that was like, here's my day, navigating ADHD and just seeing like, oh, yeah, yeah, there's that there's that. And just being able to laugh at it with someone that's like, I really get it. I navigate this too, I think building that sense of community that you're not alone. And there can also be some, some humor that can come into this to bring some kind of like, lightness into the experience, because it can feel really isolating, especially when you're just in it, and you're trying to navigate it all.

Aleta Storch 31:11

Yes, absolutely. I, I feel like humor is so important, because a lot of the stuff we experience is really ridiculous, right? Like, I just like random things that happened, like, oh, I started my oven and realize the cookies I put in there last week are still in there and I burned them. Right? Like, yes, you could be really hard on yourself. Or you could just look at that situation and think like, alright, that is ridiculous. And I have a membership program and every Thursday we do the ADHD moment of the week. And it is an opportunity to bring like, what is like, the weirdest, silliest stupidest thing that that you did, or that happened to you this week. And it's actually like one of my favorite parts of the community chat, because I can relate to so much of it. Right? And if we can laugh at ourselves and laugh with other people, there's a lot more room for compassion.

Stephanie Mara 32:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you find that, ya know anybody who's listening to this, maybe they've been on this journey for a while, or they're getting curious that maybe they have some symptoms of ADHD, and they're curious to learn more, and they're maybe starting to connect, oh, I wonder if my food behaviors have been helping me with this, what you'll find is a first step or a baby step someone can take on this journey, you know, just to further support themselves.

Aleta Storch 32:31

Yeah, I mean, again, I would say like, finding community and seeing what resonates, I would say like joining our Facebook group, we have like a intuitive eating with ADHD Facebook group, right that people can can go in and see like, how much of this do I relate to or be able to, like, bring questions, ask questions, that would be right, like a brief kind of resource that's available to everyone. I think there is a lot of value. If someone suspects that they have some sort of neurodivergence, I think there is value in getting an assessment, because then it is easier to be taken seriously and to practice the tools, the medications, the treatment that is needed. And I know that that's like not a possibility for everyone. But I would say if someone does have access to that, like, just bring it bring it to your physician. The worst they can say is no. And then you can ask someone else. But yeah, I would say that that first step. There's lots of really great books out there amazing podcasts, just like start picking up information. And just notice, like, how much of it resonates or not.

Stephanie Mara 33:38

Yeah, well, I so appreciate your perspective. And just bringing your wisdom and your experience here. How can individuals keep in touch with you and the work that you're doing?

Aleta Storch 33:47

Yeah, yeah, probably the best place to start is Instagram. So I'm on there as at the underscore, ADHD, underscore, rd, and there's a link to my website, which has our membership program Neurished. It's like a monthly membership with coaching workshops and community and it's amazing love to have more people join us. And then the Facebook group intuitive eating with ADHD is also a really great resource and way to find us.

Stephanie Mara 34:15

Yeah, and I find you put out a lot of really beneficial awesome content, just to support with that compassion piece of yeah, so this is what's going on for you today. Like, here's some, here's how we can navigate this or let's like, bring some awareness to this. And yeah, so definitely recommend following you. Even I find that, you know, if you don't necessarily have ADHD, I find just bringing awareness to some of these pieces of oh, like some of the tools that are offered with someone may be navigating that can often be supportive for most individuals as well.

Aleta Storch 34:55

Yes, yes. Especially like in times of stress or overwhelm, or like different life experiences, right, but yeah, brains can function almost as if they are neurodivergence. And yeah, and everyone can use a little bit of compassion.

Stephanie Mara 35:11

Yeah. Such a great point. I mean, we've been living definitely in some high dysregulated times and so sometimes it's also asking yourself, Is this ADHD? Or am I actually going through a very traumatic, stressful experience right now?

Aleta Storch 35:27

Yeah, yeah. So important. And in both of those, right, like food can be a really wonderful tool, and just sort of recognizing, like, how can you maybe use it in a way that feels good to support you. Yeah.

Stephanie Mara 35:40

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for this dialogue. And for those who are listening, I will leave all the links in the show notes. So reach out to us if you have any questions, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day and talk to you all again soon. Bye!

Keep in touch with Aleta here:

Website: www.wiseheartnutrition.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/eatingwithadhdofficial

Instagram: instagram.com/the_adhd_rd

Email: admin@wiseheartnutrition.com