Actual_Cryptid
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2021
- Messages
- 200
You can try food substitutes, stuff like Huel that is quick to eat. Have the kid drink the shake or whatever, it's over quick. You don't want to rely too much on just adding extra sugar. Could try more calorie-dense stuff.
The other alternative is big breakfast and a big dinner, and just a couple snacks during the day. If the kid is interested in exercise then something like a recovery shake might be workable.
If the doc isn't worried just yet, don't push too hard. Encourage healthy habits, but if you push it too hard especially for teens you can encourage unhealthy eating habits. Teens are already at risk for eating disorders, especially with the social media pressure. I had a friend in highschool in a similar spot, his mom started teaching him how to bake because if he baked an herbed foccacia or something he'd eat some just because he made it even if he wasn't hungry.
I think there's a lot of people who might have ADHD but don't necessarily have debilitating symptoms, and like to recommend non-pharmaceutical alternatives because they can manage otherwise. My wife cannot function without pharmaceutical intervention. Like, unable to focus on something easy like making mac and cheese or keeping track of cross-stich patterns. Without medication, she cannot function at a normal human level. With medical intervention, she can not only function day to day but managed to get accepted to medical school with a scholarship because she can take coherent notes and read a book. In a pre-modern era she would have been diagnosed as possessed or some other "this one came out wrong" which is a thing that the "nobody had ADHD before 1850" types seem to forget existed. Cure-all diets advertised on podcasts are not a substitute for evaluating a patient, and the people promoting that sort of thing are irresponsible.
If you have "undiagnosed X" and you cured it with diet and exercise, you probably didn't have undiagnosed X.
The other alternative is big breakfast and a big dinner, and just a couple snacks during the day. If the kid is interested in exercise then something like a recovery shake might be workable.
If the doc isn't worried just yet, don't push too hard. Encourage healthy habits, but if you push it too hard especially for teens you can encourage unhealthy eating habits. Teens are already at risk for eating disorders, especially with the social media pressure. I had a friend in highschool in a similar spot, his mom started teaching him how to bake because if he baked an herbed foccacia or something he'd eat some just because he made it even if he wasn't hungry.
I think there's a lot of people who might have ADHD but don't necessarily have debilitating symptoms, and like to recommend non-pharmaceutical alternatives because they can manage otherwise. My wife cannot function without pharmaceutical intervention. Like, unable to focus on something easy like making mac and cheese or keeping track of cross-stich patterns. Without medication, she cannot function at a normal human level. With medical intervention, she can not only function day to day but managed to get accepted to medical school with a scholarship because she can take coherent notes and read a book. In a pre-modern era she would have been diagnosed as possessed or some other "this one came out wrong" which is a thing that the "nobody had ADHD before 1850" types seem to forget existed. Cure-all diets advertised on podcasts are not a substitute for evaluating a patient, and the people promoting that sort of thing are irresponsible.
If you have "undiagnosed X" and you cured it with diet and exercise, you probably didn't have undiagnosed X.
