Break the Cycle: Eating Well When You Have ADHD
Part 2: Simplifying Meals

Making meals doesn’t need to be a drawn out process.  Tuna sandwiches, spinach salads, oatmeal, and a handful of dried fruits and nuts are relatively easy means of improving your eating.  When approaching a new routine, start simple.  Leave specialty meals for restaurants and occasions.

Begin by eating often.  As someone with ADHD—and someone recovering from a clinical eating disorder—I developed the habit of avoiding eating until I didn’t have a choice.  As a result, I approached mealtimes with a major disadvantage:  It’s difficult to make any decision while hungry, but especially decisions about food.  Eating well means eating three meals plus healthy snacks every day.  You may not eat a complete meal every time you are supposed to, but if you set a goal to eat when you wake up and at least once every four hours (even if you have to schedule it at first) you will start seeing a difference.  You will be eating less and making better decisions about what you are eating.  Meal times will feel less panicked.

Eating at least every four hours means eating four, five or more times a day and that can be a huge task if you’re trying to plan it ahead of time.  Before I learned how make my own meals, I lived on snack foods—trail mix, protein bars, bananas, cups of yogurt, hard boiled eggs, string cheese—picking my meals out of convenience stores and gas stations.  And as dreary as it sounds, this was an actually an improvement because it meant I was eating more often.

Eventually, I brought the concept of “grab-and-go” foods into my home.  If you approach meals individually, the free hours of your day will be consumed with making food.  On the other hand, if you make bulk meals, you will tire of chicken casserole well before the fifth night of leftovers.  But if you keep your pantry and your fridge stocked with ready-to-eat foods, you’ll be able to “assemble” a limited variety of healthy meals in minutes.  I call this the “assembly method.”  Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Identify your Building Blocks

Healthy meals are made from one serving of protein, one serving of complex carbohydrates, and as much fresh produce as you can eat.  Ideally, most of this produce will be vegetables and many of these vegetables will be leafy greens.  That is something you should work towards.  Complex carbohydrates are, ideally, complete grains like quinoa, amaranth, wheat berries, oats and barley.  Breads, pastas, and cereals are fine if you understand the ingredients.  Chips, pretzels and crackers don’t count even if it says “whole grain” on the label.

Look at each building block category and write a list of ones you like to eat and choose a few varieties to include in your grocery list.  Start with 2 proteins, 2 carbs and 4 produce. You can add more options as you get comfortable.

Step 2: Get Foods “Meal Ready” using “Cooking Blocks”

If you wait until dinner to bake chicken, boil pasta and slice and sauté veggies, you’ll probably end up avoiding it.  But if these building blocks are ready in your fridge, making chicken and vegetable pasta will be easy.  Set time aside to get your grocery store items “meal ready” during designated cooking blocks—two- or three-hour sessions built into your schedule during times you plan to be home, ideally right after you’ve returned from grocery shopping.  Prepare three to five servings of each food as simply as possible with minimal spices, seasoning with fats (oil, butter, mayonnaise), acids (vinegar, lime or lemon juice) and salt and pepper. As each building block is completed, pack and store it in the refrigerator, cleaning up as you go.

Step 3:  “Assemble” Meals by Mixing and Matching Building Blocks

Mixing and matching blocks can turn chicken pasta one day into a cold quinoa and chicken salad the next by switching out a carb.  A tuna sandwich becomes a salad with tuna.  Or that tuna sandwich could also become a grilled cheese sandwich with side salad.  So on and so forth.

Distinguish meals using pre-made (or pre-prepared) spreads, sauces, dressing, or additional spices, spice blends or condiments.

Some tricks for keeping the assembly method simple:

• “Prep-foods” need preparation to become meal-ready. “Non-prep” foods are meal-ready when you buy them and include include, cheese, lunch meat, nuts, breads, canned beans, yogurt, bean sprouts, tree fruits, peanut butter and salad greens.  With the exception of produce, non-prep foods will last from a week to several months, so if you’re just starting, don’t be afraid to stick to mostly or all non-prep foods.

• Make cooking blocks manageable by writing out the steps. Star prep-foods on your grocery list and create a sub-list, writing prep method and times next to each.   Look at your sub-list: If it says “bake chicken for 35 minutes; boil quinoa for 20 minutes; chop vegetables for 15 minutes,” do it all at the same time with chicken first, quinoa second, and veggies last.

• Never prepare foods while hungry. Have a snack first.

• Make extra meal servings only if you will eat it throughout the week. This works best for breakfast. If you make excess, pack and freeze it if you can.

• Because of the minimal time required to “assemble,” make lunch (or other meals) the night before.

• Don’t forget snacks. Keep apples, dried fruit and nuts, energy bars (store bought or homemade), toast and peanut butter or hummus and sliced veggies within reach.  Keep them in your purse, your car, your office or anywhere you might get “stuck.”  Bulk breakfast foods such as oatmeal, yogurt/cottage cheese and fruit, smoothies and boiled/baked eggs and cereal can also make great snack options.

Remember, even a super-simplified version of the assembly method will be challenging if the habit is brand new.  Like anything else we attempt, small, incremental goals are the best way to ensure success.  Just increasing healthy snacking, or switching out a few purchased lunches for homemade sandwiches will start you down a new path.

Don’t wait until your kitchen is perfectly prepared, your pantry fully stocked and you’ve freed up time in your schedule for cooking.  Find a small step you are comfortable with and start tomorrow.  Keep a journal and document your attempts, successes, struggles, thoughts, feelings and questions.  Find a friend interested in similar changes and embark on the journey together.  Take a few extra walks because exercise helps regulate cravings and impulsive eating.  Have a “Tupperware” party–instead of buying Tupperware, exchange prepared foods with a group of friends.

Never forget, changing your eating habits is a long-term project that takes several months, if not years, to get right.  However, after a while, you won’t have to think about it at all.  Every accomplishment will leave your body and your brain feeling just a little bit better, and those small gains will, over time, add up to a healthier way of life.

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Handy Recipes Help Make it Meal Ready

Oat/Grain Cereal—At night, put a cup of oats or grain of choice in a medium to large crock-pot.  Add water according to instructions and 1/6 cup of cream for every full cup of water.  Add raisins or other dried fruits.  Stir once and set on low.  When you wake up, turn off your crockpot and add spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, and chopped nuts.  Pack and refrigerate for a hearty breakfast that can last over a week.

Deli wrap-ups—Take a couple slices deli meat and spread your favorite condiment on top then add a slice of cheese.  Put salad greens and sprouts in the middle.  Roll and stick with a toothpick.  Pack and refrigerate several for lunch or high-protein snacks.

Mixed Veggies—Chop your favorite (or most tolerable) vegetables—carrots, mushrooms, cucumber, broccoli, sweet peppers—into large chunks and place in a food processor.  Pulse the “on” button a few times until veggies are in smaller chunks—take care not to turn the vegetables to mush.  Sauté, then pack and refrigerate.  Mixed veggies can be added to omelets, salads, or pastas and grain dishes or served as a side.

“Massaged” Kale—Pull apart and rinse leaves.  Wring them dry with your hands and place in a bowl.  Drizzle olive oil and a splash of lemon juice.  Add a pinch of salt.  Knead the leaves—breaking down coarse fibers—and watch them wilt away.  Once the pile of kale has shrunk to a fraction of its original size, pack and refrigerate.  The “massaged” kale is great as a salad base, an addition to wraps, or a veggie portion for a meal.  It keeps up to a week and is much softer and easy to eat than unmassaged kale.

Smoothies—Chop bananas and other fruits.  Freeze them in a Ziploc bag.  In the morning, blend frozen fruit with almond or dairy milk and a scoop of protein powder.  Put in a thermos for a snack or a meal-on-the-go.  You can make a weekly supply by using unfrozen fruit; just add ice when you’re ready to drink it.