Managing ADHD through food and movement is what I was doing for almost a year. Exercise took the edge off my infinite pep, and an ultra low carb, high fat (ketogenic) diet meant no sugar or grains to fog up my mind. I was functional, happy and making progress on my physical goals. Until I wasn't.
Recently, I had to make a choice between physical health goals and brain health goals. The ketogenic way of eating was causing some strange side effects. Namely, I kept getting horrible tonsil stones. If you haven't had them, Google and prepare to be horrified. They resulted from consumption of dairy which was my main source of fat. A high fat diet can vastly improve brain function. It certainly did for me, but not being able to swallow or talk or sleep from pain resulted in diminished cognitive abilities. Raise your hand if you know what I mean.
At this time, my weight loss had stagnated as had my muscle gain. I still had body fat to lose and strength goals to meet, and my legs were sore all the time despite supplementing appropriately. I assessed my options. I could:
suffer through the tonsil stones and hope they resolved
or,
try a new way of eating knowing it might relapse my ADHD
A Spring macro sale at Kind Fitness Co. caught my eye on Instagram. I decided to buy one-time macros customized to my body, activity and goals to see how many carbs it would be recommended I consume. At that point, I was keeping it under 25 carbs a day. My macros came back in a near reversal of how I'd been eating fat vs. carbs. They also came back with an additional 400 calories. It turns out I'd been undereating which is why my weight loss/fat burning/muscle mass increase stalled.
The first two weeks were an enormous challenge. Finding carb rich foods I can safely digest is no small task. I am allergic to gluten, soy, pea protein, tapioca, most grains excepting long grain white rice and sprouted brown rice, sugar, and more. Even too much natural sugar makes me break out. Fortunately, my body is happy with bananas. I started eating 3 bananas a day plus drinking more almond milk and was able to, eventually, hit my goals.
The results were immediate. You can view them here. While my weight crept up around a half pound a week, I dropped a size and a half. After three months, I was lifting more, running further, and hungry all the time. I've had to buy shirts and pants a size down. Perhaps the most startling change is how quickly my muscles recover with carbs than without.
The downside, of course, is that I've needed and consumed more carbs, my ADHD has worsened. I can still manage the physical energy with exercise (I went from 3 to 8 workouts a week), but my focus is forever fractured. To the point I've resorted to resharing older posts here to keep my account active while I get my brain figured out.
I've missed you, Steemit. I've missed Discord and the amazing communities here. I didn't realize how invested I'd become in this platform until my posting got spotty and I wasn't able to get over to your posts to comment and upvote. It was a part of my daily routine, and one I'm fighting to get back to.
I'm staying away from foods that wreck my focus as much as I can. I realized that I can't give up the carbs. Not due to addiction. I work to eat them every day. I can't give up what they've done for my physical health. Which meant I needed an intervention for the ADHD. I'll write more in another post about how it interrupts my enjoyment of life. What I want to talk about now is that I just have so much I want to do, but I can't think long enough to get anything done. So I called my doctor and restarted Adderall. I took my pill, sat down with my journal and made a to do list. Then I blew through that to do list with the discipline of a praying monk.
My point is that meeting one need can create another. I don't necessarily like taking medication, but I will take it to be a successful entrepreneur, mother, and partner. Again, that aspect of ADHD is for another post. Here I am sharing that I made a decision I know many of you have struggled with--which part of me to prioritize. I could frame it as choosing to protect the house for my brain, or I could argue a healthy mind leads to a healthy body. Any way you look at it, I needed help. Now I have it.