Eating With ADHD and Food Sensory Struggles with Jackie Silver

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Hacking Your ADHD

Episode: Eating With ADHD and Food Sensory Struggles with Jackie Silver
Host: William Curb
Guest: Jackie Silver, Registered Dietitian (Accessible Wellness)
Date: June 16, 2025

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Overview

This episode of Hacking Your ADHD delves into the complex relationship between ADHD and eating habits, focusing on the unique challenges neurodivergent individuals often face. Host William Curb welcomes back Jackie Silver, a dietitian specializing in neurodivergent nutrition, to break down executive function barriers, sensory sensitivities, low appetite (especially linked to medication), food aversions, shame around eating, and practical solutions for making nourishment less overwhelming and more accessible.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Eating Is Particularly Challenging With ADHD

[02:20–04:42]

• Executive Dysfunction:
  • Planning, shopping, prepping, and remembering to eat are all tasks heavily impacted by ADHD.
  • For those on stimulant medication, appetite suppression can make eating consistently even harder.
  • Hyperfocus or distraction often leads to forgetting meals.
  • Many with ADHD (and autistic people) have dulled interoceptive awareness—making it difficult to recognize hunger and fullness cues.
  • Sensory struggles with food textures and sudden "ick" reactions (getting sick of a favorite food overnight) are common.
  • Emotional or impulsive eating for dopamine, as well as increased eating disorder risk, are noted.
  • Quote:

    "You think you're never gonna get sick of it. And then the ick comes and you're like, I never wanna touch this again in my life." – Jackie Silver [04:22]

2. Low Appetite, Medication, and “Liquid Meals”

[05:01–07:21]

• Many with ADHD and/or those taking stimulants experience nausea and very low appetite.
• Jackie’s practical strategies include:
  • No-shame solutions: Liquid meals like Ensure, Boost, or smoothies packed with fruits/veggies/fiber/protein.
  • Safe, easy options: Toast with nut butter and banana, oatmeal, starchy foods.
  • With consistency, some hunger cues can return over time.
  • Quote:

    “There's no shame in that. It's better to eat something than nothing.” – Jackie Silver [05:55]

3. The Unique Emotional & Executive Burden of Eating

[07:36–11:59]

• Eating is one of the few tasks required multiple times a day, for life—making it a major recurring burden.
• Many neurodivergent people feel shame around their eating struggles, especially if they view popular foods (like pizza or nuggets) as “childish.”
• There’s societal pressure and ableism around what “adult” eating should look like.
• Quote:

  “There's so much shame in that. No shame. And yeah, it is really difficult.” – Jackie Silver [09:18]

4. Simplification & Systems for Reducing Overwhelm

[11:04–12:28]

• Building “systems” (rituals, reminders, safe foods) to minimize the stress and time food demands on you.
• Mechanical Eating: Eating on a set schedule even without hunger cues aids consistency, energy, and concentration.
• Examples:
  • Calendar reminders, alarms, smart home device prompts.
  • Flexible routines (doesn’t have to be breakfast/lunch/dinner, tailor to your needs).
• Quote:

  “My goal with clients is to help them just simplify it, take up less worry, less stress, so they can focus on all the other amazing aspects of their life.” – Jackie Silver [11:41]

5. Mechanical Eating vs. Mindful & Intuitive Eating

[14:56–18:01]

• Mechanical eating isn’t mindless eating; it’s a way to scaffold nutrition when cues are unreliable.
• You can blend in intuitive approaches: checking in with your body for subtle fullness or hunger, noticing energy shifts, emotional triggers.
• Some can practice intuitive eating more easily when medication is wearing off (evenings).
• Quote:

  “You can eat mechanically and at the same time start listening to your body's signs... it honestly comes from paying attention and awareness.” – Jackie Silver [15:09]

6. Coping with Dopamine Seeking & Emotional Eating

[18:01–21:22]

• Many with ADHD crave specific sensory experiences: crunchy, spicy, sour foods.
• Incorporate these “stim foods” deliberately in meals to reduce impulsive snacking.
• Non-food dopamine seeking: walking, fidget toys, crafts, gum, hot tea.
• Pair comfort/snack foods with protein or produce to support satiety.
• Practice sitting with cravings to discern needs (“what am I actually seeking?”).
• Quote:

  “No feeling is forever. Everything is temporary.” – Jackie Silver [21:34]

7. Sensory Struggles, Food Aversions, and “Picky Eating”

[21:49–27:15]

• Food aversions are very common in both autistic people and those with ADHD.
• Three approaches:
  1. Optimize nutrition within current safe foods.
  2. Slowly try to expand safe foods (using texture/flavor similarities, air fryers, blending, pairing, gradual exposures).
  3. A mix of both, tailored to the individual.
• Sensory aversions are not the same as typical pickiness—they may not go away, but exposures help (10–15 for neurotypical children, about double for autistic children).
• Adult exposure is harder but still possible with support.
• Quote:

  “For a child who's grossed out at the thought of broccoli, it's like they're looking at a fried bug.” – Jackie Silver [28:15]

8. Impact of Food Trauma and Early Experiences

[29:27–29:45]

• Past negative food experiences or being forced to eat foods can create lasting aversions and trauma.

9. When to Seek Professional Help

[29:55–30:50]

• If eating feels overwhelming; you’re seeing negative physical or emotional impacts; experiencing unplanned weight loss, low energy, or complications from medication—it’s time to get support from a dietitian/nutritionist familiar with neurodivergence.
• Quote:

  “If you find that eating just feels like this daunting task...and it really overwhelms you...that could be an indication. It's a good time to find a professional.” – Jackie Silver [30:07]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the endlessness of eating:

  “Eating is one of the only tasks in life that we have to do multiple times a day for our entire lives...it's so liberating on the one hand, also frustrating on the other.” – Jackie Silver [07:53]

• On shame and societal norms:

  “I tell them, like, who says those foods are only for kids? You know, don't, like, be easy on yourself. There's no shame in that. No shame.” – Jackie Silver [09:18]

• On cravings and self-reflection:

  “No feeling is forever. Everything is temporary.” – Jackie Silver [21:34]

• On food aversions:

  “I just want to optimize my diet, be as healthy as I can within my safe food. And I'm totally respectful of that.” – Jackie Silver [22:21]

• On getting help:

  “It's better to eat something rather than nothing…the task of feeding ourselves is hard. It's a lifelong task. So have self compassion with yourself.” – Jackie Silver [30:54]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:20] Impact of ADHD on eating (planning, hunger cues, food aversions)
• [05:37] Tips for managing low appetite and using liquid meals
• [07:53] Frustration of repetitive eating and executive burden
• [09:09] Shame, food preferences, and societal judgments
• [11:07] Simplifying mealtime and building systems
• [12:28] Mechanical eating: eating on schedule, setting reminders
• [15:09] Combining mechanical and intuitive eating
• [18:19] Addressing dopamine seeking with food and alternative strategies
• [21:49] Tactics for picky eating and sensory aversions
• [27:26] Food exposure statistics for neurotypical and neurodivergent kids
• [29:27] Importance of considering food trauma in aversions
• [30:07] When to seek dietitian help
• [30:54] Jackie’s main message: compassion and permission to eat what works

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Final Takeaways

• Eating with ADHD is difficult, but support and self-compassion are essential. Simplification, structure, and no-shame approaches matter most.
• Mechanical eating, safe foods, and snack planning are valid tools—not failures—and can even support hunger cues returning over time.
• Addressing dopamine seeking and emotional eating can mean building in sensory satisfaction deliberately—food can be functional, comforting, and enjoyable.
• Food aversions and picky eating are not “bad behavior”—they're often rooted in sensory processing, experience, or trauma. Progress is possible, but respect for current limitations is valid.
• When in doubt, seek support. Specialized dietitians like Jackie Silver are equipped to help neurodivergent individuals find strategies that work for their unique brains and bodies.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Jackie’s website: jackiesilvernutrition.com — virtual nutrition counseling, free download: neurodivergent grab-and-go food list
• Instagram: @AccessibleWellness

Highlighted Tip (from the outro):

“Give yourself permission to eat without shame. There's nothing wrong with sticking to your safe foods when you need them. The idea that adults should eat a certain way can be unhelpful and ableist.” – William Curb [33:42]

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Transcript

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[William Curb]

Welcome to Hacking youg ADHD. I'm your host William Curb and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Hey team. On today's episode, we're breaking down one of the most frustratingly simple yet hard ADHD challenge eating. Because, come on, we have to do it every day. But also, you have to do it every day. We've got a returning guest, Jackie Silver, a registered dietitian with a Master's of Health Science in Nutrition Communications. She's built her practice, Accessible Wellness around making food and nourishment doable even on the days when executive function is nowhere to be found. In our conversation, we dig into why eating with ADHD can be so difficult.

From executive function to low appetite, forgotten.

Meals, and food aversions, we also explore practical strategies for eating, managing dopamine seeking, snacking, handling picky eating, and finding low effort meals that still meet at least some of those nutritional requirements. Plus, we talk shame, sensory preferences and how to stop making mealtime harder than it needs to be. If you'd like to follow along on the Show Notes page, you can find [e-mail] 227 all right, keep on listening to find out how to get your munch on. Well, it's great to have you back on the show.

I had a lot of fun last time we got to talk and I should have looked this up. How long ago? That was a couple of years ago now, right?

[Jackie Silver]

Like a year and a half ago. Yeah, it's wild. It's so great to be back thanks for having me.

[William Curb]

I figured we could start here maybe talking a little bit about how ADHD can impact our eating habits and just like, ability to feed ourselves, because that often doesn't feel like the crux of adhd. But I do feel like it's a really big issue for a lot of people.

[Jackie Silver]

Absolutely. So there's many ways that eating impacts ADHD or is related to adhd. I would say one of the biggest factors is executive functioning, getting in the way of meal planning. So that task execution of planning and preparing meals is very difficult for folks with adhd. Also for anyone who's on stimulant medications, and if they have that side effect of appetite suppression, it makes it really hard to eat during the day. And then as a result, some people end up bingeing at night to make up for what they have not eaten during the day. Forgetting to eat is very common. Getting hyper focused on your work and just all bodily cues go out the window. Difficulty tuning into your interoceptive awareness of your hunger and fullness cues is also very common. Those cues are more dulled in people with ADHD and autistic folks. And that's also partly from stimulant medications. You know, not having appetite cues. But even if you're not on stimulants, a lot of people with ADHD struggle to know when their body's telling them that they're starting to get hungry or when they're starting to get full. And they often end up waiting until they're hangry to the maximum, you know, until those signs are very extreme, or stopping to eat when they feel uncomfortably full. So that's very common. Also, food aversion, sensory. Sensory struggles with different textures is common. Getting the sudden ick with food, you know, eating the same food on repeat. I could see you can relate to that. The same food on repeat for three months. You're obsessed with it, you love it, you think you're never gonna get sick of it. And then the it comes and you're like, I never wanna touch this again in my life. So, yeah, I help clients cope with that. And impulsive eating, stress eating, emotional eating, that dopamine seeking from food, that stimulation, that's very common. And also people with ADHD are at increased risk for eating disorders. So binge eating particularly, but other eating disorders as well.

[William Curb]

So, yeah, there's a lot there. The ick from food, the one that always gets me is sometimes I'll be like halfway through eating a burrito and like just some combination, little combination in the burrito. Will, like, hit my tongue in the wrong way. And I'm just like, oh, I want to keep eating this. But now I can't. Like, it is making me nauseous to think about eating it. I'm like, this is not fun.

[Jackie Silver]

Yeah, it's not talking about this, like.

[William Curb]

Low appetite aspect too, because that is something that, yeah, we can get it definitely from stimulant medication as a side effect, but also get this low interoception where we just aren't realizing that we are hungry. That was actually something that my starting meds corrected for me was that I was more able to realize that, oh, I need to go and eat something. When I was unmedicated, I'd often just forget about lunch and then be like, oh, it is too late in the day for dinner. What do I want to do? And just eating something that didn't help me feel full or energized or anything.

[Jackie Silver]

Eating with low appetite is very difficult, especially if you get nausea. I've had clients on stimulants tell me, like, they literally can't eat. They just feel nauseous during the day when they're on their meds. So we try to come up with ways that feel safe for them to be able to eat. Because, you know, if you're not eating during the day, you're going to be tired, you're going to have those blood sugar crashes. It's going to be harder to focus. Your mood might be off, might be irritable. You really feel a difference when you are eating throughout the day. So a lot of my clients have done well with liquid meals, and I just want to validate that there's no shame in that. It's better to eat something than nothing. So there are nutrient supplement drinks on the market, like Ensure Boost Berry. So I've had some clients have success with that. They say it's just easier to drink it. Smoothies are also a good one. You can get your fruits in there. You can get veggies. You could put flax meal or chia for fiber. And you can have protein, you know, either protein powder or Greek yogurt. So that's a very balanced meal as well in smoothie form. And that's easier for some people to tolerate. More like starchy foods could feel safer with low appetite. You know, very simple, like toast with peanut butter and banana slices, maybe oatmeal. Those kinds of foods will feel easier to eat with low appetite. And the good thing is that once people start to eat consistently, like once they're eating Breakfast or eating lunch. Even on the medication, their appetite cues can start to come back. And I've had clients tell me that they actually have started feeling hungry for breakfast for the first time in years, which is a really welcome change for a lot of people.

[William Curb]

It feels so weird to think, like, we aren't getting the cues for hunger, and it's like, oh, why is this, like, a big deal? But yeah, it is. Like, I was playing around with some questions, and one of the joke questions that popped into my mind was, like, asking, well, how important is eating, actually? But at the same time, my brain's.

Like, but that's kind of a valid question.

Like, every day I'm like, oh, I have to go and feed myself again. And that's frustrating.

[Jackie Silver]

Yeah.

[William Curb]

Especially with, like, kids, where I'm like, okay, I have to feed myself and I have to make sure they're eating too, and all this stuff.

And I'm like, this is an everyday thing.

This is not just, like an easy automatic thing.

[Jackie Silver]

Oh, absolutely, Absolutely. I always say eating is one of the only tasks in life that we have to do multiple times a day for our entire lives. Like, when you think about it like that, it's so liberating on the one hand, also frustrating on the other. But just to know that, like, okay, if it's something that we have to do multiple times a day, every single day, that's not gonna be easy. I have not thought of any other task in life that we have to do as often as feed ourselves. Like, you know, if you think about brushing your teeth, that's twice a day, that takes two minutes. Flossing once a day, exercise, you know, for some people, it's once a day, but it's not going to be five times a day. Like, with eating. And eating takes a lot of planning. It takes a lot of mental energy to plan out your meals, go grocery shopping, find recipes, make them, store them, reheat them. Like, it's a lot of mental work and physical work.

[William Curb]

Yeah. And then like, also taking the food with you when if you're not going to be where the food is, packing snacks and all that kind of stuff. And it's like, oh, this is not just a set it and forget it kind of thing. Even when we have all these things that can help us get there, it still takes effort. And it's frustrating because so many people.

Like, have zero problems with eating.

And so then it's. It feels there's, like, a shame involved in feeling bad about, like, why. Why is it so hard for Me?

[Jackie Silver]

Yes. I've had clients tell me they feel so much shame about, you know, the fact that, like, they work a full time job, they have kids, you know, run a household, but, like, they can't feed themselves, you know, there. There's so much shame in that. And also I've had clients tell me that they have so much shame in the fact that they feel like they eat like a kid. Like they only eat pizza, fries, nuggets. And I tell them, like, who says those foods are only for kids? You know, don't, like, be easy on yourself. There's no shame in that. No shame. And yeah, it is really difficult. I do appreciate that there can be a lot of shame associated with feeding yourself because it's so hard. And when you have adhd, you have that just added layer, making it so much harder.

[William Curb]

Yeah, I definitely know the. Just feels so bad when you have this preference for plainer food and then you go out with other people and they're like, oh, why, what are you doing? You can get the fancy thing. I'm like, yeah, but it's not even that I don't like the fancy food. It's that the plain food feels better.

[Jackie Silver]

Mm, yes. Yeah. I've had clients who are scared to go out to restaurants with friends for that exact reason. Yep, you're not alone.

[William Curb]

So we have some of these strategies then for getting ourselves to eat when we're not hungry, but with like, you're saying, like, I really like the mention of some of the liquid foods because that is something that I. It's like, oh, yeah, just having something. There's memes of being the ADHD beverage goblin. I was like, looking at my desk, I'm like, oh, I have a tea and a Red Bull and a water. And you know, some days there'll be a protein shake there too. And it's just like, oh, I just sipping throughout the day usually. Good way to keep myself hydrated, which is also something that can be hard to do.

[Jackie Silver]

Oh, yeah.

[William Curb]

While this is hard, we don't have to make it harder than it needs to be.

[Jackie Silver]

Yes, exactly, exactly. It should be simplified as much as possible. And yeah, it's great to have systems in place to make the task of feeding yourself easier because ultimately, like, we don't want it to take up all of our time, all of our energy, all of our overwhelm, you know, we want it to be simple. We want to be nourished and fueled and feel good, have good energy, feel good, and then have time to focus on other parts of Our life because there's so much more to life than eating. Ultimately it should be simple, as simple as it can be. It's never going to be easy. You know, it's a lifelong activity. It's hard. But my goal with clients is to help them just simplify it, take up less worry, less stress, so that they can focus on all the other amazing aspects of their life.

[William Curb]

Yeah, there's this aspect with executive function, and this is something where we kind of get doubled up on where not eating hits you right in the executive function. So you have this double whammy of like, oh, I have low executive function from not eating, but now I need to use executive function to choose what to eat. I know personally, I find that making sure I kind of eat on a.

Schedule is very helpful there if I.

Know when the times that I'm supposed to eat is often very helpful. Is that something that you recommend for clients?

[Jackie Silver]

Oh, yes, very often. Especially if someone doesn't really have those hunger cues, especially in the beginning. It means that we can't rely on our hunger cues to know when to eat. So we have to engage in something called mechanical eating, which is essentially eating on a schedule even if you don't feel hungry. So I often recommend get people started on a schedule. Like you said, those set times that are going to work for you. And now there could be flexibility with it. Like, it doesn't have to be that you're eating breakfast, lunch, dinner. You know, I've had people tell me, you know what, they don't want to eat breakfast. I'm like, okay, that's fine. Let's set up your schedule so that you have the other meals and the other snacks that you want to be able to have in a day. And so when we start doing that consistently, sometimes our hunger cues do start to come back. Not always. But mechanical eating is certainly a great way to get into the habit of being a bit more consistent eating during the day, helping to reduce that impulsivity around food. That nighttime binge eating that might come helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels, helps give you energy, prevent that mid afternoon slump or crash, helps you focus, helps you pay attention. All these good things that we want can help regulate bowel movement. Even so, I recommend coming up with a way that works best for you, that you will be able to remember to eat mechanically at set times. So for some people, that's setting alarms on their phone. If you find that you'll end up ignoring those alarms, maybe it's, you know, asking your Alexa or your smart Home device to remind you. Maybe it's setting an intentional calendar event in your calendar for like 12:30 to 1:00 clock every day is lunch. I'm taking a lunch break. I'm going to stop working. Whatever system will help them best is what I would recommend.

[William Curb]

Yeah, I used to always have lunch just like automatically in my calendar for a long time because it meant I couldn't schedule over it without like being like, oh, I have to move this. I have to figure out when this is going to happen if I'm not doing it and be like, okay, well, I won't do it here and I won't do it. I'm like, okay, that's. I can't push it for two hours. That's too much. And so, yeah, having it in my calendar really helped me think about the fact that I need to make time for it because it's not just instantaneous like lunch and then I'm full and I have to make the food and then eat the food and all that goes into that.

[Jackie Silver]

Exactly.

[William Curb]

One thing I am thinking about with this too is this idea of also mindful eating. I know this isn't the case, but when my brain is here, like when it hears mechanical eating, it goes, oh, that's just eating without thinking. But that's probably not what you're talking about too, is it?

[Jackie Silver]

Right. Great question. So I actually have a blog post about how neurodivergent folks can incorporate mechanical eating with intuitive eating. So there certainly can be a mixture of both. You can eat mechanically and at the same time start listening to your body's signs of telling you when it's hungry or when it's full. So it honestly comes from paying attention and awareness. When you're more aware, you're going to notice them more. So it could be you start to notice that you're getting a little bit irritable and it's getting harder to focus and sit and do your work. You could ask yourself, oh, when did I last eat something? Oh, yeah, it was three, four hours ago. Okay, that makes sense. This is probably my body starting to tell me that it's time to eat so soon. Whereas if maybe they've waited eight hours and they just feel famished and hangry and super irritable, then you know, asking yourself, okay, well, I ate eight hours ago. This is my body telling me I need to eat right now. And alternatively, with the fullness is starting to pay attention to when your body is starting to tell you that it's full. So, you know, there's a difference between that comfortable fullness and uncomfortable fullness, which is what I call like Thanksgiving dinner fullness or Christmas dinner full. You can all, you know, most people can relate to that. It's quite uncomfortable. So starting to pay attention and check in with yourself of when you're starting to notice, you know, okay, maybe I'm not so interested in this food anymore. My stomach is starting to feel a little bit tight. Like, I feel content. Those are the subtle signs of comfortable fullness.

[William Curb]

I didn't realize how bad my fullness cues were until I had a medication switch. And then, like, I was eating something, I'm like, oh, I'm full. And I'm like, oh, that's not something I felt before. Like this. Oh, that didn't last. So I am kind of back to figuring things out again. But it was very like, before that I thought I had a much better sense of what my fullness thing was. And it was I was just like, oh, I'm just eating too much because I'm not getting those cues the way that or my cue is being more full than I want to be.

[Jackie Silver]

Yes. And that reminded me that another approach, if you want to incorporate mindful eating or intuitive eating, is to perhaps during the day, if you're on stimulants, you. So you could say during the day, you practice that eating on a schedule. And then at night, when the meds. The effects of the meds wear off and your hunger does come back, that's when you can practice more those tuning into your hunger fullness cues.

[William Curb]

Because, yeah, there's also the aspect of we're not always eating because we're hungry either. Because I know I've been that thing where I'm like, I feel incredibly full, but I, you know, like, I can see a cookie on the counter and I really want that cookie now. And I was like, okay, that's not my hunger telling me I want that cookie.

[Jackie Silver]

It's like the dopamine seeking. Yes, that's very common. So there's many, many ways to work with that. I tackle this from many different approaches in my work with clients with adhd. One thing I find is that people are often craving, like, specific textures, like really strong flavors or spicy things, sour, crunchy. So I would recommend incorporating those textures into your meals throughout the day so that you're getting that dopamine stimulation. And also what does help with that is eating consistently throughout the day. That does help reduce binging, but as well is I like to encourage people to find some other ways that they can still get that dopamine. So, you know, maybe it's going for a walk, maybe it's doing a workout, maybe it's having some fidget toys, maybe it's chewing gum, sipping on a nice warm cup of tea at night. Because I find a lot. It often happens when people are watching TV and they're just sitting. So, yeah, having some, like, stimulation for your hands, like knitting, drawing, coloring, other ways to get stimulation, not saying that you cannot get it from food like that. I'm not against that. For folks who are. Who want some more strategies to manage that, that could be helpful for people. Yeah, sometimes it is that their body does need something to eat. So I say, like, okay, how can we make it a little bit more filling? You know, because when with that dopamine, people are more likely to go for carbs, sweet sugar, those comfort foods. So, you know, if they want to have some cookies, like, can they pair it with a fruit or a glass of milk for some protein, you know, to make it more filling.

[William Curb]

And one of the things I've been practicing recently and trying out a bit more is also when I have those feelings and being like, oh, I need to do something about this. Being like, well, no, I don't. Let's sit with this for a couple minutes. Be like, okay, I'm just going to pay attention to this feeling and how it feels. And yes, it's uncomfortable, but it's often I'm like, oh, well, what do I really want? And then sometimes I'm like, oh, I don't actually really want that cookie. I just want to do something. Or I do really want the cookie, but I want to be doing something else because I'm already feeling full. I don't need a cookie. And yeah, sitting there in those feelings and kind of figuring it out. And also, they don't last as long as I think they're going to. In my head, when I have those uncomfortable feelings, this is how I'm always going to feel forever until I do the thing that the feeling is telling me to do. I was like, walking out of Costco and I see the pizza there, and I'm like, I really want that pizza. And if I just walk by and go leave the store, I forget about it before I even get to my car.

[Jackie Silver]

Yes.

[William Curb]

But while I'm walking by, it's telling me like, oh, you're never gonna not want that pizza. Like that. This, this feeling is forever. And I'm like, that's interesting to be like, oh, yeah, My. My brain. I don't have to trust everything, I think.

[Jackie Silver]

Oh, absolutely not. Yeah, yeah. No feeling is forever. Everything is temporary. That's. Yeah.

[William Curb]

Which is, like, fun. I'm like, yeah, there's nothing I felt that has lasted forever, but nonetheless in the moment.

[Jackie Silver]

Exactly. Oh, wow. I love that. Thank you for sharing.

[William Curb]

So I think one place we can go to here is also this idea of food aversions and picky eating. Because we were just talking about food textures and stuff, and you said like, gooey, and it like, really triggered this thought. I know. I have a friend that he just cannot eat food that is gooey. He is. He's like, this is just like someone's like, oh, how do you want this? Like, really gooey brownies. Like, that's the grossest thing I've ever seen.

[Jackie Silver]

So I see a lot of food aversions in autistic folks, my autistic clients. But it is also common in adhd. And so there's also many ways to tackle it. There's like kind of two approaches and then a middle approach. So one approach is, you know, people tell me, like, I don't want to eat my unsafe foods. Like, I'm not interested in eating the foods that I have aversion to. I just want to optimize my diet, be as healthy as I can within my safe food. And I'm totally respectful of that. Yeah. So then we work on that route. There's some people who say they want to expand their diet, they want to try some new things, and then there's some people who want both a middle road, like, they want to optimize within their safe food and also see if they can branch out a little bit. And both approaches are totally valid and totally manageable. So. Yeah. So I would say, like, for people who. Who might want to try to expand and try some new things, I would say look for the textures that you really gravitate to. So for a lot of folks, that's crunchy. So. And then try to come up with a list of crunchy foods that are not familiar to them. So, you know, maybe that's freeze dried fruits or freeze dried vegetables or celery, you know, that's crunchy. For people who like certain sauces, can they try to incorporate their favorite sauces into a new food? You know, like maybe make cheesy broccoli or something. Oh. Another thing for crispy is like, can you make foods in the air fryer that gives it a really nice crispy texture? Another strategy is to incorporate a very small amount of that New food alongside their safe food. So, you know, if. If they really want to eat more chicken, like, can they have a very small amount of chicken with whatever they're having? For some people, it helps to blend some new foods into a familiar food. So maybe, you know, if they like pasta with tomato sauce, can we blend some cottage cheese in there to get more protein? Can we blend some extra veggies in there? Adding veggies to smoothies, some people find that a lot easier to drink those foods that they don't like eating whole. So putting it in a smoothie form, putting it in a soup. Yeah, those are a couple of strategies.

[William Curb]

So there's a food aversion then, like.

Different than, like, kids being picky eaters, or is that kind of like in the same bucket usually?

[Jackie Silver]

I would say it's similar because kids who are picky eaters or selective eaters, they. They do have aversions. They might grow out of it, especially if they're getting the support, you know, the dietitian or ot feeding therapy as a kid, then they're more likely to have a wider diet. I would say folks who are adults and have not had that opportunity as a kid to, you know, maybe they weren't diagnosed yet, their parents weren't aware of it, they're more likely to have those aversions and that, you know, picky quote, unquote, eating into adulthood.

[William Curb]

Yeah, I can see that. I. I've dealt with my kids being picky, and I. One of the aspects I find with them is that we will have these times where it's like three steps forward, two steps back, and we're just making it, like, it feels like we're not making progress all the time with something of the foods. And it's like, we get so excited when something's like, oh, they really love this new thing. And then they're like, nope, never want to eat it again. Is that something we also see with adults where it's like, you kind of make a little bit of progress, but then you also have a little bit of rollback, too?

[Jackie Silver]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. I would say. Yeah. Honestly, the younger you start, the more chances you have for success. Having said that, I have seen a number of adults successfully expand their diets and try new foods and incorporate them and find things that they like. But then I've also seen, you know, adult clients who just, you know, are more rigid and they, like, they have no desire to try new things and they just want to stick with their safe foods, which, you know, I Totally respect. I'm not going to force people to eat stuff that they really don't feel comfortable. That's not part of my values. But it is harder. I will say it's harder as an adult. It's definitely possible, but it is harder.

[William Curb]

Yeah. Getting myself to eat a food that I don't want is one thing. Getting my child to eat another. Like me, I'm, like, being like, I am this authority figure saying, you just have to try this. Whereas I don't have that authority figure for myself. Being like, you need to. Just need to have it a little bit on your plate. You don't even have to eat it. You just have to smell it, you have to touch it, look at it. You don't have to taste it, though. And, like, doing all the steps in between for trying to help. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't have that for myself.

[Jackie Silver]

Great example of why it's harder for adults.

[William Curb]

Yeah. What I'm thinking with this, too is the idea of, like, the number of times you need to try something before because it takes time for your pellet to kind of enjoy things. Right.

[Jackie Silver]

In the studies that exist, they find that neurotypical children who are selective eaters, it takes about, say, 10 to 15 exposures to a new food before they'll accept it. And in autistic children, I can't remember the exact number, but it's about double that. So it takes more time. It does.

[William Curb]

My wife will not be excited about that. One of those things, too. Like, it's in our own world. It's like, oh, they're, you know, like we. We see the same foods over and over again, and then we, like, talk to friends and they're like, oh, yeah, these are the only foods. And we're like, oh, well, thank God our kids love all these fruits and vegetables, too. It's really easy to compare yourself to what you imagine things should be rather than what reality is.

[Jackie Silver]

Yeah, absolutely. And it's different for everyone. And there's so many neurodivergent adults who are selective eaters, and often it's because they have not had exposure to these foods. They think they don't like them, they assume they don't like them, and so they haven't really tried them. And when they're open to trying them, oftentimes they find new things that they really enjoy. I really like this analogy of, like, let's say, you know, in parts of Asia, their food culture is very different. So a lot of times they'll eat, you know, like lollipop bugs or deep fried bugs. So for us, that might horrifying and disgusting and, like, make you want to vomit at the thought of eating that. But I bet if you were there and you had the opportunity to try, you might try a little bit and it, you know, it might gross you out, but then if you try it again and again and again, you might start to enjoy it. So that is kind of how it is with collective eating as well, in children also adults. You know, for a child who's grossed out at the thought of broccoli, it's like they're looking at a fried bug.

[William Curb]

Yeah. That's not even considering if they had some sort of bad experience with it at some point.

[Jackie Silver]

Oh, yes.

[William Curb]

I'm sure many people have horror stories of, like, how they were, like, forced to eat foods that they didn't want.

[Jackie Silver]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[William Curb]

That kind of trauma is what makes this even more complicated.

[Jackie Silver]

Or if they've had an incident as a child where they choked on a food and then they have a fear of eating those foods again. Yeah, that's very real.

[William Curb]

So with all this in mind, when should someone start looking to being like, you know, I might need a dietitian or nutritionist to help me with these issues. Like, what is there, like, a point where some people should start looking for professional help here?

[Jackie Silver]

Yeah. So if you find that eating is just. Just feels like this daunting task that you have to do every day and it really overwhelms you, or it takes up a lot of your time, a lot of your brain space, your thoughts, then that could be an indication. It's a good time to find a professional. If you're really not eating and you're. We're low energy, maybe you don't have. You're not able to exercise like you used to, or you start unintentionally losing weight, this could be from starting a stimulant medication. That's also an indicator that it's a good time to seek professional guidance from a dietitian or nutritionist.

[William Curb]

Okay, so I was wondering if there.

Are any final thoughts you wanted to leave the audience with.

[Jackie Silver]

Yeah, I mean, I would say, you know, just the main message is that you're not alone in your struggle and it's better to eat something rather than nothing. And the task of feeding ourselves is hard. It's a lifelong task. So have self compassion with yourself. You know, it's okay that it's hard for you. That's very common. And go easy on yourself.

[William Curb]

All right, well, thank you so much. If people want to learn more about you and your work, where should they go?

[Jackie Silver]

I run a private practice. We're a team of two dietitians. We offer virtual one on one nutrition counseling to neurodivergent kids, teens and adults in many US States and also in Ontario, Canada. So the information for that is on my website, jackysilvernutrition.com there's a link right on the homepage to book a free 15 minute discovery call where we can chat and see if we would be a good fit to work together. I also have a ton of free resources on my blog. We publish two to four new blog posts a month, all topics related to neurodivergent nutrition and simple recipes Social. So check that out@jackie silvernutrition.com you could follow me on Instagram. I'm Cessible Wellness where I also share tips and I also have a really cool free download on my website which I'll send you the link and you could put it at the bottom of the podcast. And yeah, so it's a neurodivergent grab and go food list. So it's a list of carbs, proteins, fruits and vegetables that are super simple, really grab and go which is like perfect for folks with adhd. Yeah, you can grab that for free on my website.

[William Curb]

Awesome.

Yeah, well I'll include links to all those in the show notes and I'm sure a lot of people are going to be interested in this because yeah, it is something. It feels like it shouldn't be hard but sometimes we do need a bit of help with it so.

[Jackie Silver]

Oh absolutely. Yeah. And there's no shame in needing help. No shame at all.

[William Curb]

Thank you so much for what you do and thank you for coming on the show.

[Jackie Silver]

My pleasure is so fun.

[William Curb]

Thanks again to Jackie for coming on.

The show and thank you for sticking with us all the way to the end.

Be sure to go check out everything.

Jackie mentioned at her website, jackysilvernutrition.com or you can find all those links on the show notes [e-mail] 227 before we go though, let's do a quick rundown of today's top tips. 1. When needed, you can try out mechanical eating where you are eating on a schedule regardless of your hunger cues to compensate for this poor internal reception or appetite suppression from meds. 2. Try creating a grab and go food list. Having a list of foods that are easy to prep, safe to eat and.

Require minimal effort like string cheese, baby.

Carrots or maybe some pre cooked rice packs. You can help reduce friction when deciding what to eat. 3. Work on acknowledging emotional and sensory triggers for eating. Sometimes we crave specific foods because of their texture, taste or comfort rather than hunger. Recognizing that why behind the urge can help make you make more aligned choices. And don't forget it's okay to fill those other needs as well. 4. Give yourself permission to eat without shame. There's nothing wrong with sticking to your safe foods when you need them. The idea that adults should eat a certain way can be unhelpful and ableist. Focus on doing what works best for you. Alright, that's it. Thanks for listening. I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode. Feel free to connect with me over at hackingyouradhd.com contact or over at bluesky hackingyouradhd if you'd like links or to read this episode's transcript, you can go to the show notes [e-mail] 227 and if you'd like even more Hacking youg ADHD, be sure to sign up for my newsletter, any and all distractions, which comes out every other week. In it, I give out my best distractions of the week, either what I'm reading, what I'm playing, or what I'm watching. I also try to give out a few bits of actionable advice in each newsletter, although your mileage is going to vary there. If that sounds like something you're interested in, head on over to hackingyouradhd.com newsletter to sign up. And I wanted to make sure that you know about the Hacking youg ADHD Patreon, which you can [e-mail] Patreon I've gone with a pay what you want model, meaning that all levels of the Patreon will receive all the same stuff. You can pay $0 or $2 or $10 and it's all the same, the only difference coming from the roles that are assigned on the hackingeradh Discord, which you get access to from the Hacking Radhd Patreon. If either of those things sound like something you're interested in, just go over to hackingyouradhd.com Patreon to sign up and get yourself some access. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, which you can [e-mail] ackingyouradhd and finally, if you'd like another way to support the show, the best way to do so is to tell someone about the show, especially if you think a particular episode would resonate with them. Just click the share button on your podcast player. And now for your moment of dad. Two goldfish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, hey, you know how to drive this thing?

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[Jackie Silver]

Nice.

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T Mobile is the best place to.

[William Curb]

Get the new iPhone. IPhone 17 Pro on us with eligible traded in any condition.

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