Nutrition + Nature: Relief for Women with ADHD
Options Beyond Medication
I’ve recently joined the ever-growing list of women who discover they have an ADHD brain in the middle of adulthood. Along with my discovery came the realization that, as a nutritionist and hiking guide, I already have a professional toolkit in ADHD management and harm reduction.
In fact, the professional development came first.
As I watched more and more of my female friends and clients get diagnosed with ADHD, I was dismayed by the lack of options for treatment/management/support offered by their medical practitioners.
Some of them had to fight for a diagnosis, their pleas dismissed as baseless, stimulant-seeking behavior. Another friend was simply asked, “What medication do you want?” None of their providers offered any suggestions besides prescription medication.
I didn’t have ADHD as far as I knew, and had never seriously considered that I might (although I’d fallen prey to some of the quizzes on Instagram, and they all told me I had it, but I’d chalked it up to predatory product marketing), yet I found myself openly wondering about supportive nutrition and time spent in nature.
As a nutritionist and health coach, I was curious:
Could lifestyle factors like food and outdoor recreation play a helpful role?
Could they increase focus, energy, and confidence while decreasing brain fog, overwhelm, and shame?
Before I could figure it out, I had to learn more about ADHD in women.
A Realization I Didn’t Want, But Couldn’t Deny
As I explored literature and media, I was surprised by how much I recognized myself in the stories, symptoms, and challenges of women with ADHD.
An lifetime of inexplicably impulsive behavior.
The eating disorder. The substance (ab)use.
The depression. The anxiety.
An erratic career, marked by repetitive cycles of hyperfocus, burnout, and job-hopping.
My sensitivity, passion, emotional aptitude, and an incredibly low tolerance for monotonous bullshit.
The reassurance from people who love me that I’m just such a free spirit — that’s why I’ve found it so painfully impossible to function like a “normal” adult when it comes to jobs, finances, and relationships.
The surprise gave way to an earth-shaking realization. I felt like I was watching puzzle pieces drop in and lock into place, like a game of Tetris. I was no longer just researching ADHD information for friends and clients. I was reading, listening, and learning about myself, too.
Amongst the grief and relief that accompanied this realization, a newfound clarity and sense of purpose took root.
Supportive Lifestyle Strategies
I began to recognize more deeply why the food paradigm that I teach my clients and personally practice—intuitive eating, with meals and snacks containing protein, fiber, and fat—has resolved so many of my mental health challenges and substance use issues.
Through food, we can support our hormones, eat for brain health (which is distinct from mental health), and balance our blood sugar — all of which help reduce and manage some of the most difficult, painful experiences of women with ADHD.
And I recognized why excursions on wilderness trails have offered more potent relief from life’s challenges than anything else I’ve tried.
Through escaping the overwhelming distractions and demands of the attention economy, we facilitate awe and soft fascination, allowing our brains to seek novelty and follow curiosity in the ways they’re naturally designed to.
Perhaps most importantly, I recognized a pattern in my past: my darkest, most devastating bouts of depression and anxiety had occurred when I wasn’t practicing these supportive lifestyle strategies.
Is ADHD Really a Disorder?
There is evidence that ADHD brains have always existed, and that they served a helpful evolutionary purpose before the tyranny of our consumer-based, capitalist society systematically separated us from nature, both within ourselves and in our surrounding environments.
As a practitioner, I reject the pathological perspective of ADHD; as an individual affected by it, I resent the shame and separation that the clinical description inflicts.
This paper sums it up perfectly:
Certain behaviors are regarded as rule-breaking and thus undesirable and deviant, and it is only through this devaluation that they can be characterized as symptoms of a disorder.
If you’re a woman with an ADHD brain, I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with you.
Options Beyond Medication
There are options beyond medication (in addition to, or instead of — whatever feels best for you).
If you’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, or you think you might have it, here are two places to start:
Nutrition
What you eat — as well as when and how often—absolutely affects how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Including protein, fiber, and fat in regularly-eaten meals and snacks (every 3–4 hours) balances your blood sugar, fuels optimal brain activity, and supports healthy hormone function. This translates to sustained energy (rather than spikes and crashes), clearer thinking, more effective problem-solving, and increased emotional stability.
Nature
Spending time in peaceful, natural places without human-made distractions quiets your racing brain and offers relief from the overwhelm of modern society. Everybody needs time in nature, but brains like ours require extra rest and recovery from the over-stimulating, over-demanding culture we live in.
Adding some cardiovascular activity (e.g. hiking) increases the number of neurotransmitters in your brain, improving symptoms and cognitive functions as powerfully as some ADHD medications.
Honoring Your True Nature
Nutrition for ADHD isn’t about fixing, correcting, or controlling anything your brain does. It’s a gentle, responsive model of care that supports your whole health — body, mind, and spirit — by providing you with nutrients that optimize the function of your brain and body just as they are.
This way of eating positions you as an active, curious, kind, and influential manager of your neurological system (rather than a victim of a defective brain, which is how the mainstream medical model positions us).
If you think you would benefit from live, expert support around incorporating these aspects, I would love to work with you. With my master’s degree in nutrition, years of experience in health coaching, and thousands of hours in the wilderness, I’m here to help you find the peace, success, and confidence you deserve as the wonderfully responsive, passionate, brilliant woman you are.
I am learning more about utilizing food to help you optimize your life with this brain, including:
- MTHFR gene mutation
- Minerals zinc, magnesium, and iron
- Vitamin D
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Probiotics
As I continue to research the science to boost my expertise in these topics, I’m offering Nutrition + Nature Coaching for Women with ADHD at a reduced rate. You can book a free consultation with me here:
