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What Food to Avoid for Adults With ADHD Disorder

So much attention is being paid to food these days. Increases in obesity, allergies and disorders such as autism and ADHD have focused our collective minds on the role of nutrition in our lives. If you are an adult with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you already may have some idea of what foods affect you, but here are some general nutritional strategies you can follow that may have an effect on your ADHD symptoms.

  1. Food with Additives

    • If you have ADHD, now might be the time to get back to basics. Organic food used to be the norm; there were no such things as additives and preservatives, chemical sugars or sugar alcohols. In the 1970s, studies by Dr. Benjamin Feingold linked food additives to behaviors of what was then called hyperkinesis and now is known as ADD/ADHD. His program advocates avoiding foods with artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and preservatives, although not necessarily avoiding "junk" food. For example, on the Feingold diet, you can snack on Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Puffs, but you must stay away from the usual artificially orange-colored Cheetos. On the other hand, Dr. Wendy Hodsdon, a naturopathic physician in Portland, Ore., goes further, advocating a whole foods diet that emphasizes whole grains (with the exception of wheat), vegetables and organic meat and dairy, while avoiding all processed and preserved foods.

    Simple Carbohydrates and Refined Sugars

    • Certified nutritionist Marcia Zimmerman believes any type of sugar has a negative effect on ADHD and should be curbed. Look for sugars hiding behind other names such as high fructose corn syrup, dextrose and maltose. Avoid artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal), sucralose (Splenda), saccharin (Sweet 'N Low) and acesulfame K (Sunett). Keep blood sugar levels constant--this is the advice of today's doctors and nutritionists treating a variety of conditions, and it's no different for ADHD. Avoid foods that cause sugar levels to spike and then crash: white bread, white rice, white pasta and juice. Avoid the empty calories of soda and snack foods such as Twinkies or chips.

    Use Common Sense

    • The jury is still out on the exact connection between ADHD and diet. Proponents of the Feingold diet program and other similar diets say their results speak for themselves. Others, such as Dr. Eugene Arnold, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Ohio State University, state that while food elimination diets might work for young children with ADHD, they do not seem to have a similar benefit for adults with ADHD.

      The bottom line is that you should be sensible in your diet. It's common knowledge that eating too much sugar, too many snacks and too many calories is bad for you, whether you have ADHD, some other condition or no condition at all. Following a healthy diet of whole grains and whole foods, with an emphasis on natural ingredients rather than chemical ingredients, can only be good for you and just may improve your ADHD symptoms.

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