Podcast Summary: ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast

Episode: "Healthier Cooking Options for the ADHD Brain" (Revisit)
Host: Kate Moryoussef
Guest: Aleta Storch
Date: July 28, 2024

Episode Overview

This bite-sized revisit episode centers on practical, ADHD-friendly approaches to cooking, food preparation, and self-compassion around nutrition for women with ADHD. Host Kate Moryoussef speaks with Aleta Storch, a dietitian specializing in anti-diet, value-centered body liberation for people with ADHD, disordered eating, and autoimmune conditions. Together, they break down the realities of feeding your ADHD brain, navigating sensory challenges, overcoming shame, and finding ways to make nourishing yourself easier and more forgiving.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Disconnection from Food and the Pyramid of Nutrition

• ADHD & Food Disembodiment:
  • Many people with ADHD feel "disconnected" from food, unsure of what and when to eat or how their bodies actually feel.
  • Gentle nutrition—a term introduced by Aleta—focuses on getting enough food, before worrying about variety and specific nutrients.
  • Aleta: "You start at the bottom of the pyramid which is like just getting enough food...and then working your way up through those things like variety and pleasure and accessibility, right?" [00:53]

2. Sensory Sensitivities and Food Variety

• ADHDers' Sensory Barriers:
  • For many with ADHD, texture and color aversions persist from childhood, making variety a challenge.
  • It’s important to acknowledge this struggle and approach change gradually, without pressure or arbitrary timelines.
  • Aleta: "There's no timeline...for some people, they spend six months or even longer just figuring out how to eat enough and then we can move up to more of that variety." [02:35]

3. Practical Tips for Cooking & Food Prep

• Embracing Simplicity:

  • Forget the myth that “healthy” means elaborate, from-scratch cooking or Instagram-worthy meals.
  • Having favorite, ready-to-eat foods available makes feeding yourself more realistic and reduces executive dysfunction overwhelm.
  • Host Kate and Aleta agree that using pre-cut vegetables, canned or frozen goods, and even pre-grated cheese is not a sign of failure, but smart accommodation.
    • Aleta: "The biggest tip I start with is to keep it simple...It's just not true that everything has to be prepared from scratch or that everything has to be Instagram-worthy." [04:12]
  • Making It Easier:
    • Buy pre-prepared ingredients if that helps—it's about making the process easier, not about perfection.
    • Kate shares her use of pre-chopped "sofrito" mixes in multiple meals, balancing convenience and cost against stress and food waste.

• Letting Go of Shame:

  • Both discuss the importance of releasing shame around using shortcuts, especially when ADHD brains struggle with complex, multi-step processes.
  • Kate: "I don't have to prove that I'm a good mum, I'm a good wife for spending another hour in the kitchen if I don't need to." [06:06]

4. The Instant Pot & Other ADHD Kitchen Tools

• Leveraging Devices for Success:
  • Aleta recommends the Instant Pot as a game-changer—throwing in frozen meat and ingredients, hands-off, minimizes the executive planning needed for meals.
  • Aleta: "Every ADHDer should experiment with [an Instant Pot] and see if it's something that works for them...just being able to throw things in and walk away makes making dinner so much easier for me." [10:09]
  • Kate echoes this: having a tool for nights when nothing is planned helps avoid the takeout-shame spiral.

5. Letting Go of Comparison & Embracing Individual Needs

• Rejecting Neurotypical Standards:
  • Kate shares that releasing the expectation to cook and plan like others brought her immense relief and self-acceptance.
  • The core is choosing what works for you, not what looks “right” to the outside world.
  • Kate: "Once we make that choice...I can either go do things my way, which works and still feeds me and my family, or I can still keep pushing and resisting and kind of, you know, getting angry with myself." [12:08]
• Unlearning Internalized Ableism:
  • Aleta: "It's totally like unlearning that internalized ableism...that belief that we're broken if we can't do things perfectly or consistently or in an organized way...the self compassion piece is huge." [13:04]

6. Planning for Imperfect & Changing Days

• Flexible Meal Strategies:
  • Instead of planning for “perfect” days, Aleta suggests having various meal options for different energy, time, and motivation levels—e.g., a grab-and-go breakfast for rushed mornings, more elaborate meals for high-energy days.
  • Aleta: "Can you have one breakfast option that's just grab and go for those days where you don't get up early—but then you could have an option for the days where you do get up early?...That way you're still nourishing your body and not falling into that pit of shame." [14:51]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Aleta on Gentle Nutrition:
  • "Our bodies don't really care about what nutrients we're getting if we're not getting all of those other food needs met." [02:35]
• Kate Normalizing 'Cheating' at Cooking:
  • "You can cook from scratch but you can cheat as well." [06:06]
• Aleta on Instant Pot Simplicity:
  • "Being able to throw things in and walk away makes making dinner so much easier for me." [10:09]
• Kate on Self-Acceptance:
  • "It's nice to be able to have that place where it's almost like a self-acceptance and a forgiveness...the way we are, and let's find a way that works for us." [12:58]
• Aleta on Unlearning Ableism:
  • "Unlearning that internalized ableism...the self compassion piece is huge. I think that it comes into every conversation that I have with an ADHDer." [13:04]
• Kate on Flexibility:
  • "Every day we just try the hardest that we can with the resources that we've got, depending on our cycles, depending on all the outside, you know, circumstances that are going on because nothing's linear and no one's perfect ADHD or not." [13:39]

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 00:53 – Gentle nutrition & the nutrition pyramid for ADHD
• 01:42 – Sensory barriers to eating a variety of foods
• 04:12 – Simplifying food prep and removing shame
• 06:06 – Permission to use pre-prepared or "shortcut" foods
• 10:09 – The Instant Pot as an ADHD-friendly cooking tool
• 12:08 – Letting go of comparison and embracing individual ways of nourishment
• 13:04 – Self-compassion and unlearning internalized ableism
• 14:51 – Flexible meal strategies for varying days and energy levels

Conclusion

This episode delivers layered, compassionate, and actionable advice for women with ADHD who struggle with meal planning, sensory issues, cooking overwhelm, and shame. Listeners are urged to:

• Start where they are (even if that's just eating enough)
• Use convenience foods without shame
• Lean into tools and hacks like the Instant Pot
• Drop neurotypical or perfectionist standards
• Build self-compassion as a core ingredient in ADHD wellbeing

Kate and Aleta’s frank, validating conversation reminds listeners that feeding oneself is not about performance—it's about nourishment, kindness, and doing what works for your unique brain and life.