34. Intuitive Eating for ADHD with Becca King of @ADHD.Nutritionist

May 6

On this week’s episode, Brittyn welcomes Becca King and she is @ADHD.Nutritionist on Instagram. Becca is a registered dietitian from Charlotte, North Carolina, and as an adult with ADHD who struggled for years with disordered eating, Becca is passionate about helping other adults with ADHD who struggle with binge-eating, chronic dieting, and body image issues.

She helps her clients find food freedom and improve their self-esteem. She uses the principles of intuitive eating and weight inclusive approach to nutrition for ADHD in her virtual practice.

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IN THIS EPISODE

What is intuitive eating and how can you helpfully incorporate it into your child’s eating patterns
How to approach intuitive eating when you have a picky eater
Common misconceptions about intuitive eating and ADHD

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to the Nourishing Autism Podcast where you take a deep dive into the research on autism and dietary changes, nutrition supplements, and lifestyle modifications. Every week, we break down nutrition topics and an easy-to-understand way for you to feel less overwhelmed and feel confident on your nutrition journey with autism.

34. Intuitive Eating for ADHD with Becca King of @ADHD.Nutritionist

[00:00:00]

Hello everyone. And welcome to the nourishing autism podcast. I'm your host Brittyn Coleman, the autism dietitian, and I'm so excited that you're here today. I loved this episode, I was able to interview a colleague of mine. Her name was Becca king and she is @ADHD.Nutritionist on Instagram. We had an awesome conversation. We had met oh a year and a half ago when we did dietitian business coaching together. And it was just so great to find somebody in a similar field, because they're not a ton of dietitians who are in this field.

So Becca is a registered [00:01:00] dietician from Charlotte, North Carolina, and as an adult with ADHD who struggled for years with disordered eating Becca is passionate about helping other adults with ADHD who struggle with binge-eating, chronic dieting, and body image issues. Helps them find food freedom and improve their self-esteem she uses the principles of intuitive eating and weight inclusive approach to nutrition for adhd in her virtual practice. It is an awesome interview i hope you enjoy this episode with becca king

Brittyn: Okay, thank you so much, Becca, for being here for this episode of nourishing autism. I'm so excited to have you.

Becca: Yes. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Brittyn: thanks.

So Becca and I first connected when we did business coaching with Libby Rothschild, I will just slip her name in love her. And we really connected because we have such an overlap in what we do. I mean, Obviously I work in kids on the spectrum. You work with adults with ADHD. But I [00:02:00] always just find your content just being so helpful and informative for me included.

So I would love for you to share with everybody what you do and how you support your clients.

Becca: Yeah. So my name's Becca king. I'm also a registered dietician. I have ADHD myself and I work with adults who have ADHD and struggle mostly with disordered eating. Most of my clients have been struggled with binge eating or overeating. And I kind of work with them. I kind of take the intuitive eating approach.

So kind of working on healing their relationship with food and figuring out, I think it's a nice fit with ADHD because it can kind of help you break free from like this like societal's expectations of how you should eat and kind of figuring out a way of eating that makes you feel your best. And it might not look like, but a neuro-typical person eating pattern or eating style.

Brittyn: Definitely. I think with intuitive eating it's learning a lot about what your [00:03:00] body's signals are saying. And I've had trouble with that in the past too. And I really love your mindful approach. For people who don't know what intuitive eating is, some people think it's just eating whatever you want all the time.

Would you mind sharing a little bit about what that actually is?

Becca: Yeah. So while it is basically it's removing the restriction around eating, you know, the roles that we might have around food. So I guess you can eat whatever you want, but it's. Connecting with how foods feel in your body when you eat them. And I think that gets missed a lot of times in the representation of intuitive eating associates.

And like, I'm just going to eat cake and cookies and pizza and hamburgers all the time. And it's like, but if you ate all those foods, you know, 24 7 typically are not kind of feel, feel great. Or at some point you're like, I think I might want a vegetable.

Brittyn: Exactly.

Becca: So yeah. So there's still a few. Gentle nutrition is still a part of intuitive eating.

It's just a little less structured with [00:04:00] like, oh, I have to have specific times that I eat and I have to track all these, you know, the calories and this and that. So kind of learning to trust our bodies and listen to our bodies versus having more external rules to guide us this.

Brittyn: My mind was blown when I read the intuitive eating book, it was just never something I'd ever heard about in dietetic school. And just with the movement of food, freedom. So liberating to me. And I realized that I grew up with so many food rules and still had so many. And I learned that sometimes when you start intuitive eating, it kind of looks like eating pizza and cake and all the things at first until you learn like those internal cues and,

Becca: Yeah. The, the honeymoon phase is what some people call it where like, yeah, you might eat more of those foods because your body has expected you to restrict them typically or eat a lot of them and then restrict them again. And so there can be a period where you eat a little bit more of them, but then once your body kind of learns [00:05:00] that food isn't available, whenever it there's kind of a shift where it's like, yeah, actually.

I do enjoy eating some nutritious, like eating more nutritious it's because it genuinely, generally does make us feel better, you know, need to know more energy and to focus better and things like that when we are

Brittyn: Yeah.

I also found, I like didn't actually like some of the foods I used to overeat, I

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: free access to them. And I was like, I actually really don't want to eat the ice cream in my fridge because now I'm giving myself full access to eat it, but I really don't enjoy the way it tastes.

And I really don't feel good after this. Funny how. It switches, it takes time, but that's what was really monumental for me. When

Becca: fun for me too. It's fun for me to do that with my clients. When we do like, I'll have them bring food to some of our coaching calls and like some of their like off limits or forbidden foods, or some of them call them Shane foods because they're not off limits, but like I over eat them. And so whenever I have them [00:06:00] and once we do the activity, they're like, I actually don't really like this.

Like I thought I was like, I built this up in my head is like this food I loved and like, Once you get more connected with your body and like the taste and the texture and how, how, like, it feels as it's digesting in your body. And it's like, oh, actually I don't really like this. Like, it was just that like, having it built up on a pedestal makes you like, want it even more.

Brittyn: So true. So how do you find with intuitive eating? How does this intertwine with ADHD and how do you support people in this way?

Becca: Yeah. So I find a lot of I'm sure. Especially with kids too on the spectrum, like mindfulness approaches can be very helpful with managing things. And so I find intuitive eating allows you to incorporate mindfulness practices with eating and for my clients and I support them. I've just kind of figured out.

For a lot of my science figuring out how to eat enough and to eat consistently throughout the day or figuring out, you know, Hey, I might get, I might get hyper [00:07:00] fixated on a food one day and then being okay with like that's okay. And we can ride that wave and then have a plan for when things are going to shift a little bit.

Or like one thing that's like, I don't like this food anymore. And I liked it for, you know, I ate it every day for three weeks and how I never want to see it again.

Brittyn: Exactly. I see that with a lot of my clients, but they're young children who sometimes can't communicate that. And so their parents are like, Yes. we have a new food. We're eating it every day. And then all of a sudden, one day they don't want to eat it anymore. And I'm like, yes, we got to come up with plans and like ways that we can make sure we don't like burn out on those foods.

But it for my clients is hard because it can't always communicate exactly what. One. But it's neat to be able to actually talk about like the science behind that and why that happens and how to prepare your body to overcome that. When you notice that your, we call it like food jagging in the feet.

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: Yeah. Well, that's really neat. And I, before I saw your page, I [00:08:00] never really realized how important. Intuitive eating is for people with ADHD. It just, it clicked for me so well, and it then made a lot of sense why it's been working for me. But I just, I love all of the things that you share. It's just so needed.

I haven't seen anyone else really go into either

Becca: Yeah, yeah,

Brittyn: sphere.

Becca: yeah. Yeah. There's a couple other dieticians that have kind of popped up on Instagram that Jason ADH D stuff still in that non diet approach too, which is really nice. So I'm not the only

Brittyn: Good. I can go. That's exciting. I think my area is also growing and it's exciting to see more dieticians. I'm like there's room for a million dieticians in this space because so many people need support and I'm sure you feel the same way. It's like, please, like, I will neither to be more people

Becca: And then you can find someone for, for, if you are the client, you can find a provider that like you actually like gel with and [00:09:00] it get along with really well. And I think that's. Important versus like, yeah, I don't, you know, I don't, we don't get along or we don't click that and you're not going to get as much out of this out of your time together.

Brittyn: It's so true. It's so true. So one thing that I work with a lot of my clients with is sensory input and how they get sensory input from different foods or how they may avoid certain textures or senses. Because eating is really our most sensory rich experience. Do you notice that with your clients or yourself as well, certain foods you're eating for.

Becca: Yes, definitely. Especially for like the dopamine component for a lot of my clients, like eating for stimulation is a huge thing. And it's very common or even. Again, like the bubbles and carbonated drinks is another one where people are like, Ooh, that's Iowa. I love it. Cause it's such like a sensory experience compared to just drinking plain water.

But I do have people kind of on both. I [00:10:00] also have some adults too, that still struggle with like sensory issues. Avoiding certain things are having a hard time eating a wide variety of foods because of sensory issues. And I think it's always interesting, cause it always gets talked about a lot with children having being more picky eaters and it doesn't always get addressed as like sometimes it doesn't go away as you become an adult, like you still have some of those sensory issues around.

Brittyn: Yeah.

And, you know, because I only work in kids, I think sometimes I'm a little blind to see some of that. I know that it exists, but that's just not my area to work in. So I mean, I know the way of course, that I approach picky eating with kids and respecting their sensory preferences, but also of course growth happens when we're pushed outside of our comfort zone at the same time.

So how, what is that product? Like for adults overcoming picky eating as well. Would you say it's similar?

Becca: I would say it's, it's pretty similar. I think the challenges, I think. For adults is making some of those foods for [00:11:00] themselves. Like if they're not interested in that food, they're the one who has to make it versus sometimes like kids have that their parents are going to be preparing the food.

So like it's harder to motivate herself to try something new that you're like, I don't like this food, like, and I'm going to sit here and cook it. Like, I don't think, I don't think so.

Brittyn: That makes a lot of sense. yeah. I think having a child and like cooking for them and wanting the best for them, nutrition, it's so easy to do something healthy for somebody else. And then it's so hard to do it

Becca: For ourselves,

Brittyn: Yeah,

Becca: but definitely respecting those preferences too. I think because I have a lot of adults who experience shame around that too, of like, why can't I like these foods or these different things, or I should be eating wider variety than what I'm eating and being okay with. Like, Hey, it's okay.

If you only like. Cooked a certain way. Like you don't have to eat steamed vegetables if eating steamed vegetables processed to out and you won't eat them. Like if you like them [00:12:00] roasted and you liked them really crispy, then we're just going to emphasize eating more vegetables and that's totally cool.

Brittyn: It's so interesting because I mean, to your point, I think that like diet culture makes out like steamed veggies and chicken to be like the perfect meal. And it's not true. It's like, you can get those nutrients in so many other ways. Where are you going to enjoy it so much more? And. So a lot of times I'm like teaching parents on different cooking or different ways to cook things.

Like let's toss it in the air fryer, or like to make it crispy and to make it a texture that your child may be more open to trying. And exactly, like you said, it's okay. If you only like it cooked one way and just like being kind to your body and or. Parents, like just respect it, some of your child's needs, but then also, like I said, encouraging them to take steps forward.

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: So one thing that we actually talked about right before we got on this call was or right before we clicked record was also the power and like expansion and new foods and not, [00:13:00] it's so easy. And the autism and ADHD world to just be like, restrict this, restrict this, like go gluten and dairy free. And then.

Like food, freedom world is like eat all the foods. So I could imagine that there's a fine balance in between both of those

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: conflicting a lot with a lot of colleagues. I'm assuming.

Becca: Yeah.

And for me it's again, and I think that's where intuitive eating as nice as like figuring out, Hey, does eating these foods impact my ADHD symptoms or do these foods not make me feel good when I eat them. And. You have the, you know, the choice there of whether or not you're going to choose to eat those foods versus it being like, oh, I can't eat that.

Or just giving a blanket statement to everyone that you have to avoid these certain foods. And they might be foods that you actually enjoy and don't bother you. Like dairy doesn't bother me. It doesn't make my symptoms. Maybe if she symptoms are. Enjoy eating it. So I'm not like kind of restricted because somewhere on the internet it says [00:14:00] it it's going to HDU and I'm like, it doesn't make a difference.

Brittyn: Exactly. It's everyone is so individualized and the internet definitely puts a blanket approach on autism and ADHD. Especially in the autism space, feeling every child on the spectrum has to be gluten and dairy free or else it's just going to be. Chaotic. And it's not true. I have many clients who see extreme success, still eating, gluten, still eating dairy.

I also have some clients who have tried gluten and dairy free and it's worked incredibly well for them. And then others who have tried it, who is. And so I think that it's super harmful to just create that kind of like the approach. So I'm grateful for providers like you, who are like let's extend and let's listen to your body instead.

And I, I just think that that's really special and Practicing intuitive eating and kids is another piece that I want to explore more and how to integrate that. And it's it's definitely, it can be a difficult [00:15:00] challenge when communication may be an issue too, and helping kids understand how to expand.

So thank you for sharing all the information that you do about intuitive eating.

Becca: Yeah, of course. Yeah. It was just an error. I was like, no, it's talking about this. And like, someone should be talking about it. It's like, so I'm just going to try it. I'm just going to start talking about it. See how it goes. So I remember when Libby Libby. Figuring out my nation when I was working with Libby.

And I remember her being like, I think I have something, cause I was like, I know I want to do intuitive eating. And I was reflecting on my own like personal journey and working with one of my friends who had ADHD as well. And I was like, oh my gosh, there's this whole piece of the puzzle that no one's talking about with disordered eating.

And, and I remember Libby kind of looking at me like okay, you could try it, like see how it goes. And I was like at minute, It's gone really well.

Brittyn: off. yeah.

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: It's funny because I mean, you [00:16:00] know, better than anybody and it's like, she may not have idiot shoe, but you understand your life's journey, how it's impacted you and your relationship with food, you know, better than anybody else that that's a missing area. Same with autism and picky eating a lot of my colleagues or my classmates, when I would say, I really want to go into autism and nutrition and picky eating.

And they were like, okay, Good luck

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: even need. But I started with my brother growing up and sometimes it takes that personal experience to really see a gap in the community where you can fill it. And it

Becca: Yeah.

Brittyn: like you've done just that.

Becca: Yeah. And it's, it's really cool to like be able, I'm so grateful that it can be a resource for other people, other adults with ADHD. Cause they think it's just something for a lot of my clients, especially women, they don't get diagnosed later in life most of the time. And so. A lot of the time they've been struggling with disordered eating or their relationship with [00:17:00] food for most of their life.

And they're like, I've never understood why. And then being able to start making more connections with ADHD and like issues with executive function around a cooking and meal planning and all of that. And they're like, oh, this makes so much more sense now. Or like where they've been going through treatment.

Once they leave like an inpatient facility and go outpatient, like, or they're like, you know, they have to go home and follow a meal plan on their own, but they can't get the two, they can't wrap their head around, like getting the executive function to make or prepare different meals. And then.

Unfortunately labeled by some providers is like, they're just being non-compliant. And they're like, no, I I'm like stuck in paralysis on the couch because I'm so overwhelmed by cooking. And like, but I want to cook the meals and I want to eat the meals and I want to do it all, but I'm just overwhelmed.

And I can't like initiate. I can't get the task started and I don't know where to start and it's too much. And it's and if, unfortunately, a lot of, I think. Some for a lot of powers don't understand that component of ADHD is so they're like, you're just being lazy [00:18:00] or you don't want to do it. And it's like, no, that's not it at all.

Brittyn: Oh, my gosh. Well, I'm sure then your programs offer not only guidance for people, but a lot of validation that what they're experiencing is also what a lot of other people experienced.

Becca: And that's why I love group group coaching for that reason, because it can be. So valid and you'd be like, oh my God, I'm not the only person that forgets to eat. Like, cause other people would be like, my friends are nerds and be like, how do you forget to eat? And I'm like, how do you remember to eat every single time?

Every single day at like the exact same time? Like it blows my mind. I don't understand. Or no understanding like, oh, I really that's why I love crunchy foods because it does it's that, that sensory experience is really stimulating for me. And it just being able to click and share those things with other people and talk about everything like, oh, I'm not the only one who does these things, or, you know, and I think that can be huge, especially for adults and like women who are diagnosed later in life of it, not feeling like, oh, I'm the [00:19:00] only one who's been doing these things and struggling with these things and being like, oh, there's all these other women that experienced these things too.

Like, and that, I think it's so helpful to see.

Brittyn: It's so true. Yeah.

Having a community around you with other people working on the same exact thing whether it's you who is working on nutrition or a parent who is working to expand their child's diet, you aspect just makes a whole world of a difference. I mean, I see my group clients making progress so much quicker than private clients because, and I stopped offering private consulting. My groups were excelling so much quicker. And it's because you have this community around you.

Becca: Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's, so that part is so important, especially if you don't have other people in your life or around you in your day-to-day life who have, are struggling with the same things or have similar experiences as you that like, it's so nice to find that nice little community online of like people, even if they're not physically around you to have [00:20:00] that space, that you can go rely on it.

Communicate with

Brittyn: It's so true. Well, how can people find your groups? How can they enroll? How can they find you? And.

Becca: I am on Instagram, mostly on Instagram. I'm on at ADHD dot nutritionist. And if you go to my link in my bio, I do offer a free 30 minute call to see if we're a good fit to work together and kind of learn about my small group coaching program. Right now I do a 10 week small group. And then I have a support group afterwards, but it's basically a crash course in intuitive eating.

But through the lens of having ADHD to kind of account for. Yeah, sensory issues for executive function, you know, eating if you're on medication, all of that sort of stuff. So I think it's helpful to look at it through that lens versus sometimes try a lot of it. Some of my clients, like I've tried intuitive eating, but this was like the missing piece because it's, you know, or it's like, Hey, like the idea of not having necessarily having a plan or like some people like [00:21:00] neuro-typical people who teach intuitive eating will be like, don't really have a plan.

Just kind of go with the flow and the. That doesn't work. I can't do that. And it's like finding like that right. Amount of structure. That's not too much structure for people with ADHD so that they can still be able to check in with their bodies and needing to additively, but it doesn't have to feel like a free for all, because I know when I first started into what I'm eating, I was like, how do you like meal plan without it being like disordered or like dieting.

out a way to do that. That actually works because like, if you don't have any idea what you're going to eat and just going with the flow doesn't really work well.

Brittyn: Not at all. Well, that's amazing that guy and we'll wink all of your resources and your Instagram and everything in the show notes, if anyone wants to find them there. But thank you so much for being. And just sharing your approach to intuitive eating and how you work with families and how you are, how you work with individuals and how you support them.

I love [00:22:00] learning from you. So thanks for sharing with us.

Becca: thanks. I love learning from you too. I'm always like, yes. I like always, I have to say if a lot of, a lot of your posts, cause they, they relate to things that some of my clients struggle a lot too, so

Brittyn: thank you. Well, thanks everyone for listening.

Becca: having me.

Brittyn: Thanks Becca.

This podcast is brought to you by the Autism Nutrition Library, a one-stop hub and community for all things autism nutrition created to help you explore evidence-based nutrition approaches that have proved to be effective to help individuals with autism feel their best, do their best, and be their best.

Join now by clicking Autism Nutrition Library or by stopping by my Instagram @AutismDietitian. See you next week.

Transcribed by Descript

ABOUT Brittyn Coleman, MS, RDN/LD, CLT

I’m a Registered Dietitian, Autism Nutrition Expert, and the Creator of the Autism Nutrition Library.

I work with parents of children with autism to optimize their child’s diet, supplements, and lifestyle based on their unique needs. I help expand accepted foods for picky eaters, improve digestion and gut health, find the root causes of many symptoms, and ultimately help them feel their best so that they can do their best and be their best.

Not only do I relate to families on a professional level, but also on a personal level. I have been a part of the autism community for over 20 years, as my younger brother was diagnosed on the spectrum at a young age.

I look forward to working with you to uncover the root cause of your child’s symptoms and help your child be the best version of themselves!