Eating With ADHD and Food Sensory Struggles with Jackie Silver
On today’s episode, we’re breaking down one of the most frustratingly simple yet hard ADHD challenges, eating, because come on, we have to do it every day, but also, we have to do it everyday. We’ve got a returning guest, Jackie Silver, a Registered Dietitian with a Masters 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 dysfunction 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 mealtimes harder than they need to be.
Website: https://jackiesilvernutrition.com/
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Blog: https://jackiesilvernutrition.com/blog/
Meal Prep Made Easy Course: https://jackiesilvernutrition.com/meal-prep-made-easy/
William Curb: 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've 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 binging 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 intro-ceptive 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, 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 max, until those signs are very extreme or stopping to eat when they feel uncomfortably full. So that's very common. Also, food aversion, 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 going to get sick of it. And then the ick comes and you're like, I never want to 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 no, 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.
William Curb: Talking about this like low appetite aspect too, because that is something that yeah, we can get definitely from stimulant medication as a side effect, but also get this low intero-ception 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. But 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 nutrition supplement drinks on the market, like Ensure Boosts, 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. If you can get your fruits in there, you can get vegs. You could put flax meal or chia for fiber and you can have protein, you know, either protein powder, 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 heart, 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. It's like, oh, why is this like a big deal? But yeah, it is like I was played 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 is 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, OK, 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, OK, if it's something that we have to do multiple times a day every single day, that's not going to 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 kinds 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. 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 a 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 feels there's like a shame involved in feeling bad about like, 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'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 are you doing you can get the fancy thing? 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 hmm. Yes. Yeah. I've had clients who are scared to go out to restaurants with friends for that exact reason. Yeah, you're not alone.
William Curb: So we have some of these strategies then for getting ourselves to eat when we're not hungry with like your same like I really like the mention of some of the liquid foods because that is something that I like. It's like, oh, yeah, just having something. There's memes of being the ADHD beverage goblin. I was like looking at my desk and 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 a 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 read the executive function. So you have this like 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. And personally, I find that making sure I kind of eat like on a schedule is very helpful there, if I know when the times 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, OK, 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 night kind 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 movements 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 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 one o'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, OK, well, I won't do it here. And I would like, OK, 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 all the that goes into that.
Jackie Silver: Exactly.
William Curb: One thing I am thinking about with this, too, is this 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. OK, that makes sense. This is probably my body starting to tell me that it's time to eat soon. Whereas if maybe they've waited eight hours and they just feel famished and hangry and super irritable, then, you know, asking yourself, OK, well, 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, OK, 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: Mm hmm. 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. 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 were off and your hunger does come back, that's when you can practice more of those tuning into your hunger 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, OK, 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, 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 as 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 want some more strategies to manage that, that could be helpful for people. Yeah, sometimes it is that their body doesn't need something to eat. So I say like, okay, how can we make it a little bit more filling, you know? Cause 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 of minutes, be like, okay, I'm just gonna pay attention to this feeling and how it feels. And yes, it's uncomfortable, but it's often I'm like, oh, well, you know, I'm like, what do I really want? You know, 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, like 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, like when I have those uncomfortable feelings, like this is how I'm always going to feel forever until I do the thing that the feeling is telling me to do. Like I was like, you know, like walking out of Costco and I like 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: Yeah.
William Curb: But while I'm walking by, it's telling me like, oh, you're never gonna not want that pizza. Like this feeling is forever. I'm like, that's interesting to be like, oh yeah, 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, but 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. Cause we were just talking about food textures and stuff. And you said like a gooey and it like really triggered this. I know I have a friend that he just cannot eat food that is gooey. He is like, this is just, he's 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 a aversion to. I just want to optimize my diet, be as healthy as I can within my safe foods. 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 foods 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, maybe that's freeze dried fruits or freeze dried vegetables or celery. That's crunchy. For people who like certain sauces, can they try to incorporate their favorite sauces into a new boot? 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 foods. So, 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, 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 do have aversions. They might grow out of it, especially if they're getting to support 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, maybe they weren't diagnosed yet, their parents weren't aware of it, they're more likely to have those aversions and that picky quote unquote eating into adulthood.
William Curb: Yeah, I can see that. I have dealt with my kids being picky and 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 some 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 wanna 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 adult clients who just are more rigid and they have no desire to try new things and they just wanna stick with their safe foods, which I totally respect. I'm not gonna 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, 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 palate 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, there, you know, like 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 that we're like, oh, well thank God our kids love all these fruits and vegetables too. It's really easy to compare yourself to your, what like you imagined things should be rather than what reality is.
Jackie Silver: Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And it's different for everyone. And there's so many nerd, original 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 we'll eat, you know, like lollipop bugs or deep-tried bugs.
So for us, that might be horrifying and disgusting and like make you wanna 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 the left of 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: Mm-hmm. 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 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, that 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 a nutritionist to help me with these issues? Like what, is there like a point where 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 thought, then that could be an indication it's a good time to find a professional. If you're really not eating and you'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 wanna learn more about you and your work, where should they go?
Jackie Silver: I run a private practice, we're a team of two dieticians. 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, JackieSilverNutrition.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've published two to four new blog posts a month.
All topics related to neurodivergent nutrition and simple recipes. So check that out at JackieSilverNutrition.com. You could follow me on Instagram. I'm @accessiblewellness. Right, 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, include links to all those in the show notes. And I'm sure a lot of people are gonna be interested in this. Cause yeah, it's 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, it's so fun.
This Episode's Top Tips
1. When needed, you can try out mechanical eating, where you are eating on a schedule, regardless of hunger cues, to compensate for poor interoception 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 pre-cooked rice packs) 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 the why behind the urge can help you make more aligned choices, and remember it’s okay to fill those other needs as well.
4. Give yourself permission to eat without shame. There’s nothing wrong with sticking with 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.