Sticking with a healthy diet and exercise routine

A healthy diet and regular exercise is essential for controlling ADHD symptoms.  However, as many of us in the ADHD community know, sticking to a healthy diet and exercise routine can be a challenge.  Symptoms like impulsivity and reward seeking can lead ADHDers to overindulge in foods high in fat and sugar.  Meanwhile, exercise routines get boring and abandoned.   

 

I've seen a number of articles on ADHD-friendly tips to improve your diet, exercise, and lose weight.  While many of these articles contained valuable information, I found that applying these ideas to daily life can be difficult.  This got me thinking about different tricks that have helped my clients and me stay on track.

• Have a clear sense of purpose.  What are the reasons you want to make changes to your diet or exercise routine? Do you want to manage ADHD symptoms, improve your health, lose weight? What will happen if you do not make these changes? Once you have a clear idea of why you want to make these changes, find a way to remind yourself of this purpose on a daily basis.
• Eliminate temptation.  You can't be tempted by what's not there, so don't keep junk foods in the house. 
• Concentrate on adding not taking away.  Instead of focusing on the foods you are avoiding, focus on adding more whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. 
• Make small changes.  Start by making small changes, like drinking more water or eliminating soda from your diet.  Sticking with these small changes will boost your self-confidence and minimize feelings of deprivation.  Plus, these changes will add up over time.
• Have fun with it.  Purchase a pedometer and challenge yourself to increase your steps a little bit each day, make yourself a reward chart,  walk with friends, or find some other way to make it more interesting and fun.
• Have an accountability partner.  Share your goals with a friend or family member.  When we are accountable to someone else, we are more likely to stick to our goals.
• Keep things interesting.  This is perhaps the most important advice for ADHDers who often drop healthy eating and exercise habits when they get boring.  You have to change things up on a regular basis.  Try a new sport or a new recipe.  Take a different route when you are walking.  Get creative!