9 Food Rules for ADHD Families: What to Eat, What to Avoid

A well-rounded diet can have a powerful, positive effect on your cognition, mood, memory, and behavior. The wrong diet can aggravate ADHD symptoms. Here’s what you should (and absolutely should not) be eating to help your brain and body.

By Tana Amen, RN, BSN

The right foods can have a powerful, positive effect on your cognition, mood, memory, and behavior. The wrong foods can worsen symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD). That’s why it’s important to note the best foods for ADHD.

In two studies done in Holland, Lidy Pelsser, Ph.D., demonstrated that an elimination diet (eliminating sugar, gluten, dairy, eggs, certain meats, and food dyes) improved symptoms in 70 percent of children with ADHD. (That was without eating some of the best foods for ADHD, the powerful brain-focusing foods that I will tell you about later.) As someone who knows what it’s like to grow up in an ADHD household filled with drama, this little food fact got my attention.

Everything you put on the end of your fork matters. When you eat to improve your health, you improve the quality of your life. Food impacts neurotransmitter levels of serotonin and dopamine, which play a big role in how you feel and perceive the world. Serotonin, for instance, is responsible for mood, sleep regulation, and appetite control. When levels of this neurotransmitter drop, the results can be mood disorders, anxiety, and negativity. This may be why we crave carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, and chocolate, all of which raise serotonin levels temporarily. Complex carbs, such as apples and sweet potatoes, work the same magic, but don’t set you up for more cravings. Likewise, dopamine helps to increase focus and motivation. Eating small amounts of protein throughout the day can boost dopamine and stabilize blood sugar.

It is critical to make sure that the food you eat is loaded with nutrients that your body is able to properly digest and absorb. At the Amen Clinic, we created nine simple food guidelines to help you heal your brain and body.

Rule 1: Eat high-quality calories, but not too many.

The quality of your food affects how your brain and body work. Try to eat high-quality food, and be careful with calories. Impulsivity leads many people diagnosed with ADHD to eat the wrong things too often. In fact, impulsivity is associated with unhealthy weight gain, which has been shown to be bad for the brain. Eat only high-quality calories. One cinnamon roll contains 720 calories and a small quiche more than 1,000 calories while a 400-calorie salad made of spinach, salmon, blueberries, apples, walnuts, and red bell peppers will increase your energy and, maybe, make you smarter.

It’s not as simple as calories in, calories out. Some calories adversely affect your hormones, your taste buds, and your health. Eating sugar and processed food, even in small amounts, leads to craving more food and feeling less energetic. You can eat more if you eat healthy, high-quality food that gives you energy and turns on the hormones that affect metabolism.

Rule 2: Drink plenty of water.

Your brain is 80 percent water. Anything that dehydrates it, such as too much caffeine or alcohol, impairs your cognition and judgment. Drink plenty of water every day.

To know whether you are drinking enough water for your brain, a good general rule is to drink half your weight in ounces per day. If you are significantly obese, don’t drink more than 120 ounces a day. If you are an athlete, make sure to replenish electrolytes after the game or working out. Cutting out sugary drinks and juice eliminates about 400 calories a day from the average American diet. That allows you to either eat more healthy food or eliminates a lot of calories, if you are trying to shed pounds.

Rule 3: Eat high-quality, lean protein.

It is important to start each day with protein to boost your focus and concentration. Protein helps balance your blood sugar, increases focus, and gives your brain the necessary building blocks for brain health. Think of it as medicine, and take it in small doses. Recent studies show that consuming large amounts of protein at one time can cause oxidative stress (a problem that burdens your body and brain), making you feel sick. Great sources of protein include wild fish, skinless turkey or chicken, beans (eat them like a condiment, not too often or too much), raw nuts, and vegetables such as broccoli and spinach. I use spinach instead of lettuce in my salads for a nutrition boost. Protein powders can also be a good source, but read the labels. Whey protein contains casein, which is an excitotoxin in the brain, and can be overly stimulating for some people. Many companies put sugar and other unhealthful ingredients in their powders. My personal preference is pea and rice protein blends.

Rule 4: Eat smart carbs.

Eat carbohydrates that do not spike your blood sugar and are high in fiber, such as those found in vegetables and fruits, like blueberries and apples. Carbohydrates are not the enemy; they are essential to your health. Bad carbohydrates — ones that have been stripped of nutritional value, such as sugar and simple carbs — are the problem.

Sugar is not your friend. It increases inflammation in your body (which leads to inflammation in the brain, as well) and erratic brain cell firing. Sugar gets you hooked, and perhaps plays a role in aggression. In a recent study, children who were given sugar every day showed a significantly higher risk for violence later in life. The less sugar in your life, the better your life will be.

Get to know the Glycemic Index (GI). It rates carbohydrates according to their effects on blood sugar. Carbs are ranked on a scale of one to 100+ (glucose is 100). Low-glycemic foods, as you would imagine, have a lower number. This means they do not spike your blood sugar, and are generally healthier for you. High-glycemic foods have a higher number; they quickly elevate your blood sugar, and are not as healthy for you. In general, I like to stay with foods that have a GI rating under 60. Eating a diet that is filled with low-glycemic foods will lower your blood glucose levels, decrease cravings, and help you focus.

When eating carbs, choose those that are high in fiber. Experts recommend eating 25 to 35 grams of fiber a day, but studies suggest that most people fall short of that. Boost your fiber by eating lots of vegetables and a little fruit. Think of legumes as you would a condiment. You can add fiber to smoothies, but don’t use grain-based fiber. My favorite types of fiber supplements are inulin or glucomannan. When reading a food label, you want to look for more than 5 grams of fiber and fewer than 5 grams of sugar per serving.

Rule 5: Focus on healthy fats.

Good fats are essential to your health. Essential fatty acids are called “essential” for a reason. The solid weight of your brain is 60 percent fat (after all the water is removed). When the medical establishment recommended that we eliminate fat from our diets, we got fat. You want to eliminate bad fats from your meals — trans fats, fried fats, and fat from cheaply raised, industrially farmed animals that are fed corn and soy. Fats found in pizza, ice cream, and cheeseburgers fool the brain into ignoring the signals that tell your brain that you are full. They disrupt the hormones that send those signals to your brain. Focus on healthy fats, especially those that contain omega-3 fatty acids, found in foods like salmon, sardines, avocados, walnuts, chia seeds, and dark green leafy vegetables.

Rule 6: Eat from the rainbow.

Eat foods that reflect the colors of the rainbow, such as blueberries, pomegranates, yellow squash, and red bell peppers. They boost the antioxidant levels in your body and help keep your brain young. I’m not talking about Skittles, jelly beans, or M&Ms. Nor do I mean grape jelly, mustard (which contains food dye and sometimes gluten), or ketchup, which is loaded with sugar. These highly processed, sugar-filled foods have no place in your pantry if you are trying to use food to heal your brain.

Rule 7: Cook with herbs and spices.

Some herbs and spices are so powerful that you could keep them in your medicine cabinet instead of your kitchen cabinet.

Turmeric, found in curry, contains a chemical that has been shown to decrease the plaque in the brain thought to be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease.
In several studies, a saffron extract was found to be as effective as antidepressant medication.
Scientific evidence has shown that rosemary, thyme, and sage help boost memory.
Cinnamon has been shown to help improve attention and blood sugar regulation. It is high in antioxidants and is a natural aphrodisiac.
Garlic and oregano boost blood flow to the brain.
The hot spicy taste of ginger, cayenne, and black pepper comes from gingerols, capsaicin, and piperine, compounds that help boost metabolism9.

Rule 8: Make sure your food is clean.

Whenever you can, eat organically grown or raised foods. Pesticides used in commercial farming can accumulate in your brain and body, even though the levels in each food may be low. Also, eat hormone-free, antibiotic-free meat from animals that are free-range and grass-fed. Grass-fed bison and beef are 30 percent lower in palmitic acid — the saturated fat associated with heart disease — than industrially raised beef (fed corn, soy, and pharmaceuticals, and restricted in movement).

It is critical to know and understand what you are eating. You are not only what you eat, you are also what the animals you eat ate. In addition, eliminate food additives, preservatives, and artificial dyes and sweeteners. To do so, start reading food labels. If you do not know what is in a food item or product, don’t eat it. Would you buy something if you did not know how much it cost?

Fish is a great source of healthy protein and fat, but it is important to know about the mercury levels in fish. Here are a couple of general rules to guide you:

The larger the fish, the more mercury it probably contains, so go for smaller varieties.
From the safe fish choices, eat a variety of fish, preferably those highest in omega-3s, like wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, anchovies, and Pacific halibut.

Be mindful of pesticide levels in fruits and vegetables. Foods with the highest levels are: celery, peaches, apples, blueberries, sweet bell peppers, cucumbers, cherries, collard greens, kale, grapes, green beans, strawberries, nectarines, spinach, potatoes. Foods with the lowest levels of pesticide residues are: onions, pineapple, sweet peas (frozen), cabbage, mushrooms, eggplant, avocado, kiwi fruit, broccoli, watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet corn (frozen), asparagus, bananas, papaya, grapefruit.

Rule 9: Eliminate problem foods.

If you’re having trouble with focus, mood, energy, memory, weight, blood sugar, or blood pressure, eliminate the foods that might be causing trouble, especially wheat and any other gluten-containing grain or food, dairy, soy, and corn. Did you know that gluten makes some people emotionally unstable? There are reports of people having psychotic episodes when they’re exposed to gluten. When these people eliminate wheat and other gluten sources, their stomachs and brains function better. We have many stories of patients who lose weight and improve symptoms of brain fog, irritability, eczema, and irritable bowel syndrome when they eliminate gluten from their diet.

One of our patients became violent whenever he ate MSG. What’s worse, MSG is not required to be listed on a label unless it is a single food additive. It can be disguised by being added in with other ingredients.Children with ADHD and autism often feel and behave better when we put them on elimination diets that get rid of wheat, dairy, processed foods, sugar and sugar alternatives, food dyes, and additives.

High protein breakfast foods help boost focus and mood all day long. Use these recipe ideas to help your child shine from the first bell to the last.

By Laura Stevens, M.S., Susan McQuillan

Maryanne knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but getting her 8-year-old son, who has attention deficit disorder (ADHD), to eat in the morning is difficult. Getting his clothes on, teeth brushed, and backpack filled leaves Maryanne little time to prepare a serious morning meal, let alone something Steve will eat. When it comes to breakfast, 8-year-old Madeline, diagnosed with ADHD last year, knows what she likes: carbohydrates. Her meal of choice is toast with jelly or waffles topped with fruit or, as her mother puts it, “anything made with white flour.”

While there’s nothing wrong with eating carbohydrates in the morning, an all-carb breakfast, or no breakfast at all, is a recipe for inattention. Carbs won’t steady a child’s blood sugar throughout the morning, help her stay alert, or prevent the energy dips that cause her to lose focus in the classroom. High-protein breakfast foods are ideal.

Research suggests a direct correlation between breakfast and academic success. A 1998 study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, showed that children who ate breakfast regularly had higher reading and math scores, lower levels of anxiety, and hyperactivity, better school attendance, improved attention spans, and fewer behavior problems.

For children with ADHD, the menu matters, too. In a 1983 study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, researchers at George Washington University tested three breakfast types (high-carbohydrate, high-protein, and no breakfast at all) on 39 children with ADHD and 44 kids without the condition. For the hyperactive children, performance on several tests, including a test for attention, was significantly worse after eating the high-carbohydrate breakfast, as compared with the scores of the children who ate the high-protein breakfast.

Why is this? Research out of Orebro University in Sweden shows that children with ADHD have nearly 50 percent lower levels of an amino acid called tryptophan. Tryptophan is one building block of the neurotransmitters in your brain that carry important information; it is needed for attention, learning, and self-control. It is also generated by eating high-protein foods. In other words, a diet rich in protein jump-starts better learning and behavior.

Seeking Balance at Breakfast

Like most children with ADHD, Madeline has very specific preferences and she will reject any food she’s not fond of. Her mother knows what foods to keep on hand and which to serve first thing in the morning to ensure that breakfast goes smoothly. She tries to balance these foods in ways that give her daughter as many calories and as much high-quality protein as possible, especially on school days.

“When you’re thinking about your child’s eating habits, or any other behavior, you have to recognize his unique temperament and behavioral traits, and work around them,” says Dr. Stanley Greenspan, M.D., author of The Challenging Child. A balanced breakfast — high in protein and carbohydrates from whole grains, fruits, and/or vegetables — ensures a varied supply of nutrients along with enough calories to sustain mental and physical energy until the next meal.

“If you don’t eat properly, you can become distracted, impulsive, and restless,” says Ned Hallowell, M.D., founder of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health in Andover, Massachusetts, and author of Delivered from Distraction. “Skipping breakfast or self-medicating with food can sabotage the best of ADHD treatment plans. In treating the condition, you must consider a balanced, healthy diet an essential component of a proper regimen.”

Protein Power

“Protein helps keep your child’s blood sugar levels steady and prevents the mental and physical declines that inevitably come from eating an unbalanced breakfast containing too many carbs,” says Hallowell.

Combining protein with complex carbs that are high in fiber and low in sugar will help your child manage ADHD symptoms better during the day. The sugars from the carbohydrates are digested more slowly because eating protein and fat along with fiber results in a more gradual and sustained blood sugar release.

For your morning menu, try scrambled eggs with whole-grain toast; or natural peanut butter on whole-grain bread. Make sure to skip sugary cereals, which can cause spikes in blood sugar and increase hyperactivity in ADHD kids.

Children need more calories and protein per pound of body weight than adults do, to ensure normal growth and development and to maintain good health. The average daily amounts of calories and protein recommended by government health experts for normal-weight children and adolescents are as follows:

Ages 1-3: 1300 calories, 16 grams protein
Ages 4-6: 1800 calories, 24 grams protein
Ages 7-14: 2000 calories, 28 – 45 grams protein

A varied diet that supplies enough calories will generally supply enough protein. Children with ADHD who are strictly vegetarian and those who avoid meat or dairy can get enough protein from a diet rich in whole grains, legumes (dried beans and lentils), and the many meat and dairy substitutes made from soy protein and wheat gluten.

Protein in a Pinch

Here are some quick, easy, and tasty ways to get enough protein into your carb-lover’s diet without turning your kitchen or dining room into a battlefield. The idea behind all of them is to start with her favorite carbohydrates, such as waffles, toast, jam, or fruit. Then add in high-protein foods you know your child likes, such as eggs, meat, peanut butter, yogurt, cheese or other dairy products, or beans. Combine these foods in creative ways:

Top waffles with melted cheese or ham and cheese, instead of syrup or fruit.
Spread peanut butter on apple slices, a halved banana, or celery sticks.
Fill a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, black beans, and cheese.
Spread a toasted, whole-grain bagel or toast with natural peanut butter or another nut butter, such as almond or hazelnut. Adding a dab of all-fruit jam is just fine.
Wrap a slice of turkey bacon around a firm-ripe banana; broil or grill until the bacon is thoroughly cooked.
Sauté lean, breakfast sausage patties with pieces of diced apples.
Swirl crushed fruit or all-fruit jam into plain yogurt and top with dry, whole-grain cereal or chopped nuts.
Fill an omelet with chopped or sliced fresh fruit or spreadable fruit.
Serve tuna or chicken salad, sloppy joes, chili, or baked beans over toast.
Offer eggs and a smoothie. To save time, make hard-boiled or deviled eggs the night before.
Toast a slice of whole-grain bread and add a little whipped butter or margarine and a dab of all-fruit jam; milk.
Serve whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk, lean meat from last night’s dinner (pork chop, chicken), and orange sections.
Top plain yogurt with fresh fruit or mix in oatmeal.
Offer a grilled-cheese sandwich made with whole-grain bread and two-percent cheese.
Blend up a homemade instant breakfast shake or make sausage patties (see recipes, left sidebar).
Serve a veggie omelet with a bran muffin.
Offer mixed nuts, fresh fruit, and a glass of milk — a great breakfast for kids that graze.

What works best for Madeline, her mother says, is to eat a small breakfast at home and to have a second breakfast on the way to school. Madeline takes her medication with her first meal, so by the time she’s heading out the door, it’s beginning to take effect and she’s better able to focus on eating. To fill in the protein gaps, her mom may send along some scrambled eggs with cheese in a tightly wrapped tortilla, a high-protein cereal bar, or a bottled yogurt smoothie.

Maryanne discussed Steve’s breakfast problems with her doctor, and they developed some strategies. He suggested that Maryanne and Steve get up 15 minutes earlier, to give her more time to prepare breakfast, and advised that Steve take his medication with his meal rather than just after waking up, to delay the appetite suppression.

The doctor gave them a list of possibilities get more high-protein foods into her son’s diet. Their list included lean meats and poultry, eggs, unprocessed nuts and seeds, and milk products, as well as complex carbohydrates, such as whole-grain cereals and bread and fresh fruits.

ADHD Friendly Recipes

Instant Breakfast Shake
– 3 ounces low-fat milk
– 3 ounces plain yogurt
– 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
– 3 tablespoons soy or rice protein isolate
– 1/2 cup blueberries, strawberries, or peach slices, fresh or frozen

Process all ingredients in blender on high until smooth. Serve immediately. If your child doesn’t find the shake sweet enough, add a teaspoon of sugar or half a packet of artificial sweetener.

Homemade Sausage Patties
– 2 pounds coarsely ground lean pork, beef, or turkey
– 4 teaspoons sage
– 1/2 teaspoon thyme
– 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
– 1/2 teaspoon basil
– 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
– 2/3 cup water

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Shape into 8 patties. Fry in a non-stick skillet until fully cooked and slightly browned, or package for freezing and use patties as needed.

9 Food Rules for ADHD Families: What to Eat, What to Avoid

Contact Information

Lynda Sloan Allen, MEd, CPP