Supplements: Without Which ADHD Person’s Nutrition Isn’t Complete
Supplements for brain health is NEED OF THE HOUR.
Our food pyramid consists of macronutrients, micronutrients and should include supplements for maintaining good health.
Yes, you read it right!
But supplements are not included as a part in any food pyramid.
However, the reality is supplements became part of our nutrition whether you like it or not!
Usually young and healthy neurotypical persons don’t take any supplements to maintain good health but maybe they should, given the nutritional profile of our food these days.
But for growing children and old persons supplements are necessary to maintain good health.
Nutritional needs of neurodivergent persons
However, in the case of neurodivergent people, they need supplements to maintain good health throughout their life irrespective of their age. But before going into details of supplements let me address some issues with respect to nutrition itself.
The care givers of neurodivergent persons should prioritize fixing their nutritional needs first before taking them to physician specialists.
In many instances, for neurodivergent persons some nutrients either they are deficient altogether or in some other cases they are not absorbed properly or not processed efficiently. This will lead to the observed behaviors seen in those individuals.
Hence, it’s important to fix the nutritional deficiencies before making that doctor’s visit and getting that tag. In this regard we need to make several adjustments in macronutrients and micronutrients. Further, we also need to add supplements as part of their dietary plan to maintain good physical and mental health.
The macronutrients are the ones we need to address them first for any person whether it’s neurotypical or neurodivergent if they have health issues. Because if the right kind of balanced macronutrients are not taken then any medication prescribed may not give expected results or sustain those results in long run or even forced to take them lifelong.
Those of you who know about my posts are aware about the topics of my interest, i.e. addressing issues related to persons with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) following vegan diet.
Macronutrients for ADHD management
Macronutrients provide the basis for any treatment plan in naturopathy. In some individuals fixing macronutrients might be enough for them to feel better and they may not need any adjustments in micronutrients or addition of any supplements. But in most situations, it’s not the case.
How do we fix macronutrients?
In this connection, I have already discussed the preferred carbohydrates, proteins and oils and fats for ADHD persons in my earlier posts. If we follow as discussed, then the macronutrients will get fixed for most individuals, and the person gets a balanced nutrition.
In my son’s case I have done it in a reverse way without knowing the importance of macronutrients. I have wasted precious amount of time in understanding his needs. Especially being a vegan, considerable changes were made in his macronutrients profile after understanding his needs better.
With regard to protein quality and quantity they were quite deficient in my son’s case and after fixing them we found much relief from his behaviors. In this regard we had to add some sources of protein while stopping the protein from other sources. I have discussed them at length in earlier posts.
Further adding other macronutrients like oils and fats in considerable amount in his diet plan have helped him to a large extent in managing his behaviors. They played a major role to a greater extent than carbohydrates and proteins.
With respect to carbohydrates part of macronutrients I didn’t make any changes. Since the addition of extra supplemental protein and inclusion of considerable amounts of oils and fats, his carbohydrate intake has come down naturally because of the feeling of satiation. If in case, you need to make changes in carbohydrates then I have listed preferred carbohydrates sources in an earlier post.
After settling the macronutrients then it’s time to focus on micronutrients. Although they are termed micronutrients, but their job is mega in terms of keeping our health in order.
Micronutrients for ADHD management
Until now, I have not discussed this topic yet. This post is a kind of introduction to micronutrients for ADHD management.
Micronutrients consists of biochemicals, vitamins, and minerals in our body and usually we get them from our diet. Their origins can be from plant-based or animal-based which support us in maintaining good physical or mental health.
If there’s a deficiency in any of them then also the ADHD person will not be able to focus and work properly. So, to supplant the deficiency in the diet the supplements given are known as dietary supplements.
Supplements can also be from herbal sources, then they are called as herbal supplements.
Herbal supplements are two kinds. First kind, they support our dietary needs such as minerals and vitamins.
Secondly some herbal supplements contain phytochemicals which act as antioxidants or anti-inflammatory or exert some physiological influence over our body when consumed. By this influence they will help us relieve from the disorder faced by us.
Herbal supplements are mostly crude extracts or standardized extracts of herbs and mostly they are not harmful when taken within the suggested dose or when taken for the suggested periods.
Although many herbal supplements are safe on their own but because they exert pharmacological influence, many of them interfere with the prescription medicines. Hence anyone taking regular medicines must consult their physician before starting the herbal supplements. Or discuss with the naturopathic doctor about the prescriptions medicines you are currently taking.
Probiotics
Apart from dietary supplements, herbal supplements some supplements really don’t fall into any of these categories, and there’s another kind known as probiotic supplements.
Addition of probiotic supplements is a recent phenomenon just popularized in the last couple of decades. Our gut consists of a variety of microbiota and in ADHD persons it’s reported their gut was not working properly because of imbalance in gut microbiota. Supplementing gut microbiota was found to be helpful in some ADHD individuals.
Next course of posts
In the next several posts I will be describing a variety of supplements from all categories. Most importantly I will start with the supplements which have helped in managing my son’s ADHD.
Please refer to my earlier post on supplements about the precautions while using them.
In the next post I’ll be discussing about the most obvious supplements discussed in the ADHD circles, i.e. omega fatty acids, a well-known dietary supplement. Further, as usual I will add a perspective from my side whether their inclusion in my son’s diet plan has helped or not helped in managing his ADHD behaviors.
Until the next post,
Cheers
Vara
