4 ADHD-Friendly Tips for Taking Supplements and Eating Regularly from The Better Belly Podcast with Allison Jordan #234
Meet my friend Allison Jordan, host of The Better Belly Podcast. In this episode, Allison and I chat about the basics of ADHD in women, gut health in relation to ADHD, and how to make the little habits easier, like taking your supplements or eating meals regularly.
Allison shares:
As you guys know, we are currently in an ADHD series on The Better Belly Podcast. And I thought, what better way to do an ADHD series than to have an expert on supporting women with ADHD onto the podcast?
Patricia Sung is the host of the Motherhood in ADHD Podcast, a Top 5 Parenting podcast, that encourages mamas with ADHD or suspected ADHD with practical strategies and relatable missteps. Patricia is a hobby-hopping, anxious adventurer, willing to try almost anything once.
On today's episode, we talk about what ADHD is, why ADHD can look so different in women than men, common signs that you have ADHD, common signs of ADHD that often get overlooked, and Patricia's top tips on how to incorporate new goals into your life, such as taking vitamins regularly or changing your diet, when you have ADHD.
Whether you KNOW you have or THINK you have ADHD, this episode is for you.
Be sure to subscribe to the The Better Belly Podcast!
Allison’s website
Allison’s instagram
Welcome to the Best of Friends Series, where you are meeting a few of my friends in the podcast community. I’m sharing interviews that I have done on other friends’ podcasts. Not only do you get a new episode, I hope that you’ll find a few shows to add to your podcast queue. There’s a wide variety of topics coming your way, so keep an eye out for a new friend every other week of the summer.
You’re not alone.
“This is a chance to invest in yourself and build a community that will empower your future. Worth it!” –ADHD Mama D.B.
Our annual ADHD Moms Luxury Weekend Retreat is coming up October 11-13, 2024 in Houston, Texas! And we hope you’re coming, too!
I’ll take care of all the details - you simply show up and enjoy.
Put it on your calendar now.
Having a circle of moms who support you and believe in you matters. Register for your all-inclusive ticket here: patriciasung.com/retreat
Watch this 2 min video of our last ADHD moms retreat!
Links Mentioned in this episode
Allison’s website
Allison’s instagram
Patricia Sung [00:00:02]:
Are you overwhelmed by motherhood and barely keeping your head above water? Are you confused and frustrated by how all the other moms make it look so easy? You can't figure out how to manage the chaos in your mind, your home, or your family. I get you, mama. Parenting with ADHD is hard. Here is your permission slip to let go of the Pinterest worthy visions of organization and structure fit for everyone else. Let's do life like our brains do life, creatively, lovingly, and with all our might. When we embrace who we are and how our brains work, we can figure out how to live our lives successfully, and in turn, lead our families well. At the end of the day, we just want to be good moms. But, spoiler alert, you are already a great mom.
Patricia Sung [00:00:52]:
ADHD does not mean you're doomed to be a hot mess, mama. You can rewrite your story from shame spiral to success story, and I'll be right here beside you to cheer you on. Welcome to motherhood in ADHD. Hey there, successful mama. It's your friend, Patricia Sung.
Patricia Sung [00:01:09]:
While I am on break for the next few weeks, I am bringing you some friends. This is my best of friends episode, and these are all interviews that I've done for other people's podcasts. First of all, thank you to these hosts for sharing their episode with us. And I want you to go in the show notes and see where do you find them? Go listen to their other episodes. Put their show in your queue, in your download list so that you have an extra friend to hang out with when you're cleaning or on a walk walk or riding in the car. Every time I am interviewed, I find myself often sharing very similar things, but there's always some nuances and new things that, oh my, wow, I have never shared that before. I've never talked about this in this way. And I can't wait for you to get a new flare and perspective and, a new podcast friend to join you today.
Patricia Sung [00:01:57]:
So listen in to this episode on a friend's podcast. Go check them out and enjoy this best of friends episode. Meet Allison Jordan of The Better Belly podcast.
Allison Jordan [00:02:09]:
As you guys know, we are currently in an ADHD series on the Better Belly podcast. And I thought, what better way to do an ADHD series than to have an expert on supporting women with ADHD onto the podcast. Patricia Sung is the host of motherhood and ADHD podcast, a top 5 parenting podcast that encourages mamas with ADHD or suspected ADHD with practical strategies and relatable missteps. Patricia is a hobby hopping anxious adventurer willing to try almost anything once. On today's episode we talk about what ADHD is, why ADHD can look so different in women than men, common signs that you have ADHD, common signs of ADHD that often get overlooked, and Patricia's top tips on how to incorporate new goals into your life such as taking vitamins regularly or changing your diet when you have ADHD. Whether you know you have or think you have ADHD, this episode is for you. Hey, friend. Welcome to the Better Belly podcast.
Allison Jordan [00:03:15]:
If you're currently trying endless supplements, doctor visits, and diet changes to heal your mystery symptoms, you are in the right place. We're here to solve the real root causes behind your gut, hormones, skin, sleep, and brain concerns, literally anything and everything in your body. My name is Allison Jordan. I'm a functional medicine practitioner that has supported over a 150 clients just like you to heal problems that no 1 has been able to fix. You don't need a perfect diet or a random supplement you found on Instagram to heal. You need a proven system that heals your whole body from the inside out. That's what I'm here to share with you, episode by episode. It's time to make health easy again.
Allison Jordan [00:04:02]:
And just as a reminder, this information is not meant to diagnose, manage, or treat disease. Always consult with your own health practitioner before you make any changes to your health. Alright, guys. I'm so excited to introduce you guys, Patricia. Patricia, thank you so much for coming on to the Better Belly podcast.
Patricia Sung [00:04:24]:
Thank you so much for having me, Allison. I cannot wait to dive in.
Allison Jordan [00:04:28]:
Awesome. So, Patricia, the very first thing I wanna talk about with you or have you tell our listeners is what even got you into this conversation on ADHD to begin with? And especially, like, ADHD with moms, was that together at the same time, or was there stages of this? Give us the story.
Patricia Sung [00:04:45]:
So I was originally diagnosed when I was 18. I was a freshman in college, and, I basically fell apart. And I went from being, like, model high school student, national Honor Society. I'm at school on scholarship, and I literally just, like, fell apart. And at the time, I had no idea why because I thought I was a very, you know, responsible human being who was, like, new strategies. And I thought that I I really thought I was gonna be successful when I went to college. I thought this was gonna be, like I mean, it's gonna be hard, but, like, I'm a good student. That'd be cool.
Patricia Sung [00:05:27]:
No. Doesn't I? All of that structure that I had in high school was gone. And all of a sudden, I was the 1 responsible for instead of just upholding the systems that everyone else gave me, I actually had to make my own systems, and I didn't know that. 1 of those, you know, wish you had known before you started things.
Allison Jordan [00:05:45]:
They don't give you a syllabus for
Patricia Sung [00:05:46]:
it in college. That's for sure. Yeah. There was no how to be a human. That was not how to adult. That was not a class. And, you know, I've I figured out how to make it work. I thought it was just a school thing, and I made it through, like, I've made it through school.
Patricia Sung [00:06:05]:
Somehow, I didn't lose my scholarship, figured it out, and figure out how to make my life work now that I have this information. But, like, keep in mind, this was the year 2000. So now you know how old I am. Like, I didn't they didn't just didn't have the information they have available today. So I really did not know how much it was affecting me on a broader level until I had kids. And then when I was, after I had my oldest, I had really awful postpartum anxiety, which is very common to co occur with ADHD. Mhmm. And I was up 1 night, like, 3 AM googling, like, how do I be a good mom with ADHD? And there was not much there.
Patricia Sung [00:06:44]:
I know that there were people working diligently at this at the time. My oldest is 9. So 10 years ago, I know there were people doing this, but I did not find them on the Google when I was looking at 3 AM. And I was just like, this there's gotta, like, there's this has gotta be easier. Like, I literally looked at my husband. My my kid was, like, 2 weeks old. I was like, can we send him back? I don't wanna do this anymore. Can we send him back? Like, not in a joking matter.
Patricia Sung [00:07:09]:
I genuinely wanted to send that kid kid back. I was like, I just want my old life back. This is terrible. And, fast forward to when my after my youngest is about a year old, I don't know what your religious preference is, but I'm a Christian. And then God put it on my heart to be like, I would like you to start a podcast for moms with ADHD. And I was like, no. Not doing that. And, I you know, God was persistent.
Patricia Sung [00:07:32]:
And here I am, 5 years later, where now I have taken, like, that and be and be able to deliver this information to other moms to have the resources that they need to be the kind of mom that you want to be. And that it doesn't have to be this hard. It doesn't have to be this terrible. Is it hard? Yes. But it doesn't have to be that hard. Now I get to do what I love every day, help moms and, host a community online and hang out with them. And and, yeah, sometimes I'm like, wow. How did I get here? This is pretty cool and weird.
Patricia Sung [00:08:20]:
But, yeah, it all came together. It's all meant to be.
Allison Jordan [00:08:22]:
And if that is not an endorsement, a good enough endorsement for your podcast, I don't know what is. Because I tell my clients a lot. You know? They say, I think I have ADHD. Do I have ADHD? ADHD? And and it can really impact their ability to just say, like, I just wanna change my diet. I just wanna remember to take my supplements, which are things that they're, like, they're a 100% committed to when they work with me, but then it's really hard. And I'm always pointing them to other resources of saying, hey. Let's, like, learn some things and some tips and tricks that are specific to having an ADHD brain. Even if you just think you have 1, if you don't have a diagnosis, if the trip tips and tricks work, use them.
Allison Jordan [00:08:57]:
Then it works. And that's what you're doing and bringing into the world and bringing a lot of compassion. So if anybody's listening to this and they're like, I just need somebody to help me feel compassionate towards myself and the struggles or the emotions that you have, especially as a parent, let alone maybe I mean, you have experienced your working you're a working mom with ADHD, all those things, your podcast. I'm gonna point to them right now. But before they jump over there, we do wanna have a conversation that's a little bit more specific, to health. And before we even get there, let's just great lay some ground rules. What what is ADHD? How would you define it? Like, give give us your best ADHD definition.
Patricia Sung [00:09:40]:
So when you have ADHD, you have a neurodevelopmental difference, and your your body functions differently. Your brain functions differently than other people. And, like, to be totally honest, they don't a 100% know exactly what's going on because it's not like you can, like, stick a camera in your brain and, like, scope around and see what's up that that that kills people. So we don't know for sure. Like, a lot of this is, like, scientists' very best guess at what they think is going on. They believe it has to do with our the levels of dopamine and various, like, hormones that are going on in our bodies. And that's why, like, when you are a female and you have all of these hormone changes in your life, you know, getting your period
Allison Jordan [00:10:25]:
by week.
Patricia Sung [00:10:26]:
With resins. Right. Right. Yeah. Perimenopause. Even just the week by week changes of your cycle, why you see so much difference in how you feel like you're showing up as, like, a different person sometimes. And a lot of times, people will be diagnosed with bipolar before ADHD is found. Now whether or not that's an incorrect diagnosis, not my place to say, but that is something that pops up because the hormones affect so much of how your ADHD shows up in your life.
Patricia Sung [00:10:54]:
There is a very widespread on how people will show up throughout the month if you're still having a regular cycle that's happening. So, like, to go back to the original question, we believe it has to do with the chemicals that are going on your body, and we we know that it is something that you are most likely born with. There are some cases where people will have, like, a head injury and they end up with ADHD. But most of the time, it's genetically how you were born. And that to me is so important because then we can know that, like, this isn't me. I'm not messed up. I'm not broken. It's not that you you're just too lazy to get things done in life.
Patricia Sung [00:11:29]:
No. Like, physically speaking, chemically speaking, your body functions differently than other people. So it's not your fault. Now does that mean we don't have any responsibility in what happens next? Absolutely not. The actions that we take and the way that we support ourselves makes a huge difference in how that is gonna show up every day, but it's not your fault. You didn't do anything. Like, you're not you know, it's not like you ate too many Fruit Roll Ups as a kid, and now you ended up with AHE. That's not a thing.
Patricia Sung [00:11:58]:
Like, there's a blog about it, but don't go look it up because I don't want that to show up in Google. But, anyways, like, this is not your choice. What is your choice is figuring out how are you gonna support yourself. So when we think about, like, what is ADHD from, like, an actual real life perspective, what are we seeing there? Well, then we go to the diagnostic manual, which is, the the book that doctors use to figure out, like, do you have ADHD or not? It's called the DSM 5. It's a little old. I think the last 1 is in, like, 2013. So there should be an update in the next year or 2 because every decade or so, they update it. It tells us that when you have ADHD, you will show up either as primarily inattentive, primarily hyperactive, or combined, you have both of them together.
Patricia Sung [00:12:46]:
Lucky you. The old, the old saying of ADD, that's out. We've rebranded. We don't use that term anymore. It's either you have ADHD that's more inattentive, which was old name, ADD, or combine or the hyperactive side. How does this show up? So hyperactive only people, you see that more in their, like, physical being. It's the kid who's always jumping off the stuff. Like, it's it's stereotypical.
Patricia Sung [00:13:13]:
If somebody were to, like, look up in the dictionary. Where's the kid with ADHD? It's that 5 year old that everybody's like, oh, dear. Not him again. Like, that kid bouncing off the walls doesn't listen. Like, that's more of the hyperactive leaning. It is not only 5 year old boys that have hyperactive ADHD. It's probably also your friend who's, like, literally, like, always mountain biking and, you know, has 17 hobbies and, like, literally not never sit still that can also show up like that. So when we see, like, this word hyperactive, a lot of times we we give it a stereotypical definition or, like, you know, picture, and that's not necessarily how it shows up.
Patricia Sung [00:13:55]:
On the other side, you've got inattentive, which means for people that are like that, it tends to be more in the, like, easily distracted, gets lost in their thoughts, daydream, disorganized, etcetera. And then you have the people in the middle who have both. And there's and, like, a lot of times, we'll see things like impulsivity, your friend who talks too much. Any anyone you label as that person's too much. They're too dramatic. They're too sensitive. They talk too much. Any any friend who is too much, that that's a red flag.
Allison Jordan [00:14:33]:
Yeah. Because there could be sensory problems. Right? Because there could be some sensory, like, craving or or opulsion, certain sounds, certain feelings, needing to have her prior perception, or needing dark, needing sound to not be so loud, or wanting sound to be louder. There's like go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Patricia Sung [00:14:51]:
No. I was just saying that there's a really wide array of symptoms. It's not like, there's no like, everybody with ADHD does this. That's not there. So that's where we can get in these places where it feels hard to diagnose because if you look at me and how I show up as someone with ADHD, it could be utterly and totally different than another person, which makes it harder to pick out. And it does range in, like you know, like you're saying, there's, you know, interoception and proprioception and all these ways that, like I mean and I haven't even gotten into all the things that tend to come with ADHD, which are not ADHD, but or they're, like, they're buddies. They come along, things like dysgraphia, dyscalculia, things like anxiety and depression, things like autism, things like, what am I missing? Chronic illness, fibromyalgia, all the autoimmune thing. Like, there's, like, this huge list of things that tend to also come along with it.
Patricia Sung [00:15:47]:
Like, you don't usually get just ADHD by itself. You usually got other problems too. So when you have this, like, such a widespread, it can be hard to diagnose. And, also, people will say, like, well, but my ADHD looks like this, so clearly you don't have it. And it's like, well, not well, that's not how it works. Yeah. So
Allison Jordan [00:16:04]:
starting to be talked about, which I think is why maybe some of our listeners even are, like, starting to pick up on these almost, like, alternative versions, the the versions that are not, like, the the little boy who can't sit still in his chair. So, you know, that was my brother. He's got ADHD. Diagnosed as a kid, point blank done. And now I'm looking back, and I don't have a diagnosis yet, but I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, I have, like, so many of them are hidden signs that or the signs that were not poster child, ADHD. And those are we're really seeing them a lot more on social media or people like yourself who are trying to to be more thorough, maybe, more thorough in in the range of experiences people are having.
Patricia Sung [00:16:48]:
And that's and it's on 1 hand, like, I so appreciate how social media and all, like, have brought to light things that people have struggled with their whole lives and never had a name to put to that struggle. And there's a lot of people who use their lived experience as, like, scientific research, and that's not that's not necessarily true. So, like, you like, we have all these great resources out there, and that means there's also a bunch of junk too. So it is hard to, like, filter through what's most valuable, but, like, at least now it's getting talked about. Because even when we look at, like, the DSM 5 on where we diagnose, things like emotional regulation and, like, sensory issues tend not to show up as much because they're not as quantifiable. Like, when you look at a doctor saying, I need to diagnose this. I need to be able to check 6 things on this list to say that this person is hyperactive. Yeah.
Patricia Sung [00:17:36]:
When you say that person is, like, emotionally all over the place, that's not a quantifiable, like, thing. I can't like, how am I supposed to say that you're you're dysregulated? You you you're a hot mess, but you you're only, like, kind of a hot mess. So, like, like, you can't put that on a checklist. So these things that show up, the lesser known pieces of it are now getting talked about, which is wonderful. And, like, what do we actually do with this information? That's when we go like, when we start get the inklings of, like, oh, this this sounding awfully familiar. Like, I have a checklist on my website that's like, hey, here's all the things that are, like, symptoms that show up. And this is what it would actually look like. Like, if you're the 1 who goes to the restaurant and looks at the menu and has to read all of it and then doubts your choices 6 times, and then you have to ask the waiter well, no.
Patricia Sung [00:18:24]:
Wait. No. Oh, no. Wait. Hold on. I don't wanna ask the waiter any questions. I don't wanna bother anybody. So So I'm just gonna try to guess what this is.
Patricia Sung [00:18:29]:
I don't know what this word means. Let me get out to Google. Like, if that's you and you get very apprehensive about choosing your item off the menu, that is a way that being indecisive shows up. But, like, most people when they go to the doctor, they're not like, I really have trouble picking food off the menu. They're going like, well but I'm always, like Anxious. Stressed out. I'm anxious because I forget things. I'm anxious because, like, my I keep forgetting to send in this stuff for school.
Patricia Sung [00:18:53]:
I'm depressed because my, my partner is always mad at me. And so all of these other things are what surfaces, but we're not looking at the like. But but what does this look like in real life? So, like, you go to this if you go grab this checklist off my website, I'm telling you, I'm not a doctor. I can't diagnose you. But I can tell you, here's 1 of the things that I've seen in working with thousands of people with ADHD. So now you can go to your doctor. First of all, make sure they know about ADHD. Don't if they don't know what they're talking about, go see somebody else.
Patricia Sung [00:19:21]:
You go to your doctor, and you're like, here's all the things that I deal with. These are all the struggles that I have. Can you help me sort out them? Like, can you help me sort the best that is my life. Can you help me sort through this? And that way, they can look at all the pieces and say, oh, you know what? This probably is ADHD and anxiety, or this is ADHD and depression. And that then somebody who is an expert and well, well experienced and, you know, can with a medical degree can then help you say, here's what we're dealing with. Let's start here. Let's try treating this first and actually work on a plan that encompasses everything. So that's why when it comes to, like, self-diagnosis, I always tell people, if you're happy with that, cool.
Patricia Sung [00:20:03]:
Like, that's all you need is for you. If these resources help you, great. And if you're dealing with lots of problems, let's go see somebody who can help you with all the problems, not just the 1 problem.
Allison Jordan [00:20:14]:
Yeah. I actually went and grabbed that checklist from your website. I'm gonna put it in the show notes. So people just, like, go to the show notes and click on a link checklist of common symptoms for ADHD. I love that you shared that. You actually have a lot of resources on your website, so I highly recommend anyone listening to go check this out. Just So
Patricia Sung [00:20:34]:
you can go there. I'm
Allison Jordan [00:20:34]:
so excited.
Patricia Sung [00:20:35]:
Thing called a toolkit, and it literally has all the web it's like, it's all in there. So if you sign up for the toolkit, you'll Okay. You'll get all of them. Okay. And that way, you can go in and download all the stuff. Because, I mean, obviously, I have ADHD, and I have made many things because I find that fun. So I have a ton of resources on there.
Allison Jordan [00:20:51]:
Very nice. And we and we and and anybody who thinks they have ADHD or maybe don't they're not even sure, but if they love digging into things, they'll love you for it. So I actually do have that link for the toolkit. So scratch that. We'll just have that 1 link. Has a toolkit. It has, I guess, all your free goodies in there, which Everything is in 1 place. Is even more exciting.
Patricia Sung [00:21:10]:
It's time to be true to you. You're invited, mama, to this year's 3rd annual successful as a mother weekend retreat. It is to relax, unwind, rest, and take care of a very important person in the family, which is you. This year's retreat is on October 11 through 13, 2024, and you're invited. This is an all-inclusive retreat. It covers your meals, your hotel, all of our activities. All you have to do is show up, and I take it from there. We are staying in the historic boutique hotel, the Sam Houston in downtown Houston, where we will learn about our ADHD, tune in to who you are and what you need so that you can trust your gut, all while eating delicious food you didn't cook, you didn't clean up, hanging out with awesome other moms who are just like you in their ADHD journey, trying to make things work, fill out the permission slips, do all the things, but not this weekend.
Patricia Sung [00:22:10]:
This weekend you get to relax. I will take care of everything and you get to focus on you. Head over to my website patriciasung.com/retreat and grab your ticket. This is a small group and we already have 5 moms from last year coming, so I don't have a ton of spots left. Do not wait. Do not procrastinate. When you hear this and you say this is for me, go grab your ticket. You can use a payment plan.
Patricia Sung [00:22:36]:
I don't charge extra for that. Go sign up, get your ticket, and take a weekend to take care of you while I do all the work. So head over to patricasung.com forward slash retreat and get your ticket for the 3rd annual ADHD moms amazing getaway weekend and relax. Patriciasung.com/retreat.
Allison Jordan [00:23:00]:
We've covered the grounds on a little bit of background. What is ADHD? There's it sounds like you you really like this definition of it's this biochemical, neurological thing going on inside your body. It's not a character deficiency. You're not bad or lazy or crazy or have poor willpower, though it might show up or feel like those sometimes. Yeah. But it it it's really in your cells. And then we've talked about some common symptoms and then some maybe, like, still common but not talked about symptoms. Honestly, it's probably a better way.
Allison Jordan [00:23:29]:
It's not that they're not common symptoms, but, unnoticed. Let's talk about what the like, the 2 things that I really loved and wanted to just get some dig in time on this episode is just talking about the 2 most common changes that somebody my clients and listeners are trying to make when they're they're like, you know, they got bloating and they got constipation and they get headaches. And they're trying to fix their gut health so that their hormones get balanced and they just feel good when they eat. So the 2 most common things they're trying to do is change their diet. And, honestly, within that, a lot of it's remembering to eat. Let's just be real. Like, I'd say that is the most common thing. So, I'm even wondering, could we narrow it down to talk about remembering to eat the second thing, which I'm gonna tell you both just so we can, like, let you go.
Allison Jordan [00:24:13]:
The second thing would just be how to remember or set yourself up for winning with taking medication, supplements, things that you're like, I'm gonna be taking this daily in some way, shape, or form when when like a shot once a week or once a month is not an option because I know that's another workaround. Yeah. But, I'm gonna let you break that up and and talk about both.
Patricia Sung [00:24:34]:
So I think when it comes to having ADHD, 1 of the questions I love asking excuse me. 1 of the questions I love asking is, how can we make this easier? Your brain can do a whole lot of cool stuff. It's not the best at holding information. So you can use lots of other things to hold information and then let your brain do the cool stuff. So I try to do my best to anytime I have to hold on to information, it is not in my brain. Where can I put that information so that I can find it later? But it's not in my brain? Because my brain is not gonna remember, and who knows when that's gonna reappear. Maybe never. Maybe 17 times in the next 40 minutes.
Patricia Sung [00:25:19]:
I don't know. So when we're, like, like, how do we make this easier? When it comes to, like, taking a medicine so, I actually have just I think I think I can say I'm healed. I've healed from mold toxicity for the last 4 years. And so I had done a ton of supplements, a ton of treatments in this process, And so I am an expert at taking many medicines. And the first thing is, 1, read the instructions. If you don't like reading instructions, how do we make this easier?
Patricia Sung [00:25:48]:
Do you have someone in your life who could read these instructions and tell you the important things? Like, do you need to eat it with food? Do you not need to eat it with food? Do you are you not allowed to eat it with food? What time of day do you need to do that? And then I write in Sharpie on the bottle, AM or eat with dinner. And so it's written on the bottle, and I don't have to go then figure out what was supposed to happen. It's already in the bottle. This is when I'm supposed to take it. Then number 2 is oh, that may be number 3. See, here's where the ADHD comes in. I'm like, did I say multiple things? I don't know. Next, let's give numbers.
Patricia Sung [00:26:21]:
Next would be using a system like a pillbox is really helpful. Now, you know, keep in mind, if you have like young kids around or, like, medicine that other people shouldn't be taking, you may have to modify. But, like, a pillbox then tells you when you were supposed to take the things, and you can look at it and be like, is Wednesday empty? Great. I took it. Wednesday, still here. Oh, Need to do it. So that's a hard part with you know, when you have ADHD, you're taking this medicine so that you remember to do things. And then did you remember to take the medicine that helps you do the things? I don't know.
Patricia Sung [00:26:52]:
So I don't ever rely on my brain to remember whether or not I took the medicine. I don't know. That's what the pill box is for. And if you have to take medicines multiple times a day, I have them arranged by day. So I have a pillbox for breakfast, a pillbox for when I first get up, a pillbox for lunch, a pillbox for dinner, a pillbox for going to bed, like, whenever you need to take the medicines. Again, written on there. I use the they're called whiteboard crayons because you can wipe them off and rewrite. But they they they stick.
Patricia Sung [00:27:19]:
It's not like, expo. If you touch it, it disappears. So I use whiteboard crayon. I write it on the pillbox, and this is my breakfast box. And then it goes where I eat breakfast. So it's on the counter, like, where the, you know, the plates and the cups are. Is the most is this the most aesthetically pleasing kitchen design item I could add? No. But I have decided that remembering.
Patricia Sung [00:27:47]:
Again, I'm all trying to my my mouth is moving faster than my brain has inputted the information. Let me slow down. When I get excited, sometimes that that happens. Okay. When you are deciding, like, what's more important to me that my kitchen looks beautiful or that I take my medicine, I say it is more important that I take my medicine. So I'm leaving that out where I'm going to see it. Granted, you know, make sure it's not within reach of, like, tiny people who shouldn't be, you know, eating medicine. So you will have to adapt based on your family.
Patricia Sung [00:28:18]:
But that is going to be where I need to take it. And then I have a set time. And, like, if you're super organized, maybe it's every Sunday. Maybe it's just whenever you run out, that's when you get it done. I don't know. You have to choose for you. And that's part of, like, the important part here is, like, I'm gonna give you 16 ideas. I don't expect you to employ all 16 of them.
Patricia Sung [00:28:38]:
Some of them you're gonna think are trash. Some of them you're gonna be like, that's brilliant. Take what you need and leave the rest. So for me, I put the box out on the counter. I know that here I'm eating breakfast. I'm going to eat it. Well, what happens if I forget to eat? I have an alarm that says Patricia, go take your medicine on my phone. So where are all these ways that you can put the keeping of this information elsewhere so that it's not on me to remember to take the medicine.
Patricia Sung [00:29:04]:
All I have to do is wander by the kitchen. Oh, look. Here it is. Let me take it. And I was able to fill the pillbox really quickly because I wrote on the bottle with the Sharpie, this is breakfast medicine. Take 3 times a week or every day or whatever that is. And then I actually write it on the cap. And then if I have a refill, that means that I can just take the cap and put it on the next bottle.
Patricia Sung [00:29:23]:
I'm not having to transfer all that information again. So there are ways to make this easier on you. Can you ask yourself, like, what's gonna make this easier? I love I Any questions before I go to food? Because that's
Allison Jordan [00:29:36]:
No. And that's great. I mean, I'm I'm I'm encouraged and I'm encouraged because number 1, I'm encouraged because some of what you listed is what I'm telling my clients, and I'm just like, man, is there anything that I'm missing that is just like not reaching my, like, ADHD friends? Definitely, if we've talked about I I personally, when I've gone through your protocols, I write on the top on the lid. And if it's black lid, I put, like, a little whatever tape piece of tape and just Sharpie onto that. I just put in in bold letters the simplified version. It's like Yeah. AM, 2 pills, you know, 3 months or whatever. I might even write the start date on it or something to to know when I started it and Mhmm.
Allison Jordan [00:30:16]:
But, you know, the the whole pillbox system, I've used that in a variety of ways, and it's great to rehear that, you know, you for you, that works. For for me, I tend to keep them in the big pill jars, and I just keep them on my on my kitchen counter. And then if I have, like, a a dose I need to take at lunch when I'm at work, which for a while I was working in an office. I had literal pills in my office, so I didn't have to it doesn't work if you tell yourself, I'll remember to take the bottle in my purse. No. You won't. No.
Patricia Sung [00:30:47]:
You won't.
Allison Jordan [00:30:48]:
But have it at the office. What I didn't hear, what I've never heard anyone say before, I love I'm, like, actually dying. I loved this. You said, have someone else read the bottle instructions to you. Oh my goodness. This is I'm actually, like, really wanna try this now with with with different clients because I've never considered I I do totally know that when I look instructions, like, if I have to build something and read instructions, I have my husband read it. I actually know that. It's too much data, and I will I will skim it and then miss a step, and have halfway built it and have to unbilled it because, you know, I forgot to put the screw in at whatever point.
Allison Jordan [00:31:26]:
But Yep. That's really interesting that it's possible that with, like, my again, I I kinda wanna claim I have ADHD, but, like, I I get really interested stuff and it's actually easy for me to read instruction models, but I've never considered that if you depending on kinda what's going on in your brain, maybe you don't feel really motivated that you read it. It's gonna be really hard. And Just having someone else do it is like mind blown. I love so I love everything that that you shared there. So thank you. No other I don't have any other questions. And maybe just for our listeners, if you're listening to this, write down like, pause this, write down some of what if there was something that stood out to you that Patricia just shared, write it down in a little note, Terry, because remember, we're not gonna remember it.
Allison Jordan [00:32:07]:
Text you I sometimes text to myself an idea if I just, like, can't pick any other way to do it or email it to myself. But do that, and then you can go implement later. But I I love that. Thank you so much, Patricia. Let's talk about food now.
Patricia Sung [00:32:23]:
K. So the same kind of, like, questions pattern is gonna be here too. Like, where are you getting stuck? What's hard, and how do we make it easier? So, like, for example, if you're like, I really struggle with reading, maybe you have dyslexia. Cool. Okay. You're asking for help for somebody else. In the same way when we look at food, it's like, hey. Where's the struggle bus? Where are you getting stuck that this isn't happening? For example, for me, I work from home, and I know that I only have between like, when my kids are at school, that's the only time I have from work, so I'm, like, busting through.
Patricia Sung [00:32:56]:
I don't want to stop and eat, and I won't. And that's part of for 1, I mean, I have I take medicine from ADHD, and so I will be less hungry during the day, but I know that's not good for me, to not eat at all because I'm also a very hangry person. I know this about myself, so I have to eat something. So how do I make this easy for myself? First of all, literally, right here. If I realized I didn't eat, I have these, like, cinnamon almond butter bar things right here. Like, if all of a sudden I realized, uh-oh, it's, like, 1:30, and I didn't eat yet. I will just grab this and eat as, like, this is, like, my plan, not plan b, but maybe, like, plan x. If, like, if none of the other things worked, at least there's a short term solution here, and they're right here to grab and go.
Allison Jordan [00:33:43]:
And can I add to that? Not to break your train of thought too much, but I find that sometimes when I'm talking to my clients, they don't wanna do that because they feel like it's so much lesser. And to me, it's like, no. It's it's there there's don't have any guilt about the fact that you're relying on that. Like like, take the guilt out. There is no, like, the you fed yourself. You like and you prepared for it because you even, like like, had I mean, maybe listening to this right now, you can think what's a go to thing. For me, I've just made it nuts. I literally carry a bag of dried nuts in my purse.
Patricia Sung [00:34:13]:
There might be 1 over here.
Allison Jordan [00:34:15]:
Right. Right. Because just nuts for for my diet and how I feel when I eat them. Sure. Sometimes I get bored of eating them because, like, sometimes I try to switch up my snack. But if you just have 1, 1 option, you save a lot of misery for yourself and potentially other people for being hangry. And so I love that. So that was the only thing I wanted to add is just, like, no shame and guilt.
Allison Jordan [00:34:37]:
We're removing that. You fed yourself. This is great.
Patricia Sung [00:34:41]:
Yeah. And it's like, when I look at a problem, I look like like, here's my ideal. Unicorns and rainbows, what would I do for myself? Then it's like, okay. What's realistic? What what could actually happen? And then maybe even, like, another layer of, like, well, this isn't ideal, but it'll get by. And then there's, like, the bare minimum. Especially when you are a parent, having a bare minimum option as a like, I've already determined that this is the bare minimum is super helpful because you don't know what's going to pop up. You don't know when all of a sudden somebody's gonna get a stomach bug. You're cleaning that vomit.
Patricia Sung [00:35:15]:
You were up at 2 AM. Like, all that stuff. What's the bare minimum? The bare minimum is I have to eat something. Is it this granola bar? Fine. Is that my ideal? No. I don't wanna have a granola bar for lunch, but it's better than nothing. That's the bare minimum. Nothing is not an option for me.
Patricia Sung [00:35:30]:
I cannot not eat. Like, lord, help the rest of my family if I didn't eat. That's not an option for me. Bare minimum is, did I eat this some kind of bar thing?
Allison Jordan [00:35:40]:
I had a Oh, no. Go ahead. I had a guest come on to, into my program actually as a guest expert. It's just 1 of our free additional things we do in my program. And they talked on this very similar thing and then she had, like, this thing where you just have a wheel of 10 1 to 10, and you can literally fill out whatever your your ideal is, which is 10, which is actually, you have to be realistic. 10 is not gonna happen very often, and then and that's not bad. It's just it's just realistic. 10 is
Patricia Sung [00:36:08]:
Yeah.
Allison Jordan [00:36:08]:
Is is not your norm. 6 to 7 is probably gonna be where your normal more is. And then as you go lower on the scale, you're gonna have the things that are your bare minimum. And maybe it's sleep or maybe it's exercise, like or maybe it's relaxation. In your ideal world, you do 20 minutes of meditation every day, and that's your 10. But real but on a bare minimum day, you take a hot shower, and that's, like, your 1. Like and so we can do that. You're really describing the same process, but with food.
Patricia Sung [00:36:34]:
Yeah. And you can literally apply that to any point of your life, but, especially, when you are someone who's juggling a lot of needs at the moment. Yes, we wish we could be at level 10 and everything's wonderful, but, like, that happens once a year. So how do we take care of ourselves? And, like, like, like, hold on. Pause. Reverse backspin. When you talk about self care, self care is the, like, necessities that have to happen for somebody's welfare. I'm trying to remember.
Patricia Sung [00:37:03]:
I'm like, oh, did it have definition definition? I think it's, like, the bare necessities of, like, welfare, health security. Like, it's, like, very basic, like, life requirements. It's the necessities to make them happen. Like, the self care is, like, being this, like, luxurious, like, thing you could do just, you know, when you have time. That's not that's not the the no. Self care is the bare minimum for you to function as a person, and, like, take care of other people means you need more than the bare minimum. So, like, if if our bare minimum, all we got today is granola bars, fine. We just made the bare minimum today, and that's okay.
Patricia Sung [00:37:43]:
But taking care of yourself is not an optional activity because then, you know, we can kick that can down the road a little bit, but at some point, it all comes back to kick us in the butt. So, anyways, reverse the fact. I remember
Allison Jordan [00:37:55]:
Food, the first tip you had was, like, just have your, like, bare minimum ready, snacks or your granola bar or your nuts.
Patricia Sung [00:38:04]:
Like, when I think about working from home, I know that I'm not gonna stop and make, like, a 20 minute I'm not gonna do, like, 20 minutes of cooking to make my lunch. It needs to be ready to go. So what are my options for it to be ready to go? I can have leftovers from the dinner, you know, the night before. I can order DoorDash. I can, you know, like, even I think about, like, even harder than that. It's like, if I have
Patricia Sung [00:38:33]:
to get something out of
Patricia Sung [00:38:34]:
the freezer and preheat the oven and then wait 20 minute like, I'm just not eating. So if I know that about myself, and, like, part of that is the acceptance that I have of being like, look. I'm not gonna do that. I know you're gonna be like, Patricia, it'd be really easy to get that thing out of the freezer and pop it in. No. It's not easy. I won't do it. So I'm not gonna try to set myself up for failure.
Patricia Sung [00:38:54]:
That's not happening.
Allison Jordan [00:38:55]:
Yeah.
Patricia Sung [00:38:55]:
So, like, 1 of the things that I do for myself is on the weeks where I know I'm not gonna be doing a lot of cooking, I'm not gonna have leftovers, is I order like, there's a local company here called, I think they're only in Houston. It's called Nosh. They deliver premade meals in a box. It's, like, pretty healthy stuff. And I know that having my NOSH delivery once a week to have meals for lunch is a better solution than, oh, crap. I didn't eat, and I'm yelling at everybody at the end of the day. So, like, do I wish that I was spending money on premade food? Actually, they're very affordable. If you're in Houston, you should try them.
Patricia Sung [00:39:32]:
They're good. But, like, if my like, I'm looking at my value system and prioritizing. Me not eating is a terrible option. I'm not gonna go cook something for 20 minutes. I'm not gonna even like a salad, when you're like, wait. I gotta, like, cut stuff and then put it to you. When When I'm on working days, I don't wanna do that. And some people are gonna be like, well, you're so lazy.
Patricia Sung [00:39:52]:
No. I'm not lazy. I'm honest. I'm not gonna do that. So more important is that I find the way to make it work for me. So I would rather order the premade things and eat them. And if that's not in the budget, okay, how can you premake the things? Like, when you make dinner, can you make a double batch, box it up, and that you can literally just take the container out of the fridge and stick it in the microwave? Like, do you wanna make a bunch of sandwiches on Monday and you can eat them all week? How do we make this easy? And the whole idea of batching, like, basically, I'm just having somebody else batch my food for me. Someone else is cooking it and putting it into servings.
Patricia Sung [00:40:28]:
Like, if there's a way that you can batch these things, like batching putting the medicine in the pill box is batching. I made all those executive decisions at 1 time, and now I don't have to think about them the rest of the week. How can we do that for you so that it feels easy? If this is important enough that you know you need to eat. Oh, I'm like, it is stormy here. I don't know if you can hear the thunder. I'm like, oh, I hope my Internet doesn't go out. Okay. If it is important enough for you to eat, then is this solution worth it so that you can be able to make this goal? And, yes, you have to consider the you know, your budget and your time and all the other things.
Patricia Sung [00:41:05]:
But doing the thing in the easiest way possible within the parameters that you have is what we wanna do because bottom line, like, I need to eat food. Otherwise, I am a mess at bedtime. So that is worth it for me to make that decision earlier in the day and say that the I I am worth spending $7 on this nosh meal so that I'm not yelling at my family come 8 PM. So when you're looking at it for you, what are the ways that you can do this in an easier way? And, yes, somebody's gonna have an opinion about it. Somebody's gonna say you shouldn't do you know what? You don't live here. Like, you're not me. I'm I I don't and and, honestly, like, once you hit 40, a lot of it's like, I don't really care what you think. I wanna do what's best for me and my family.
Allison Jordan [00:41:57]:
Yes. I can't wait to hit 40.
Patricia Sung [00:41:59]:
And I'm I am very happy to have made it here. I'm still alive. I almost died. I'm glad to be here. Like, I I will keep my wrinkles here to prove that I'm still here.
Patricia Sung [00:42:09]:
Of course.
Patricia Sung [00:42:11]:
It's about how do you make it easier for you. How can you batch it? How can you delegate it? Is there somebody else in your family who loves cooking? Can they be in charge of that? Like,
Patricia Sung [00:42:20]:
can you have
Patricia Sung [00:42:21]:
it premade set out so that all you have to do is grab and go? Can you have, like I know a lot of people that do, like, they call them, like, adult lunchables. Like, basically, you have some lunch meat, sir, like, some kinda, like, chopped up protein. You got some vegetables that are already precut. Like, if you can afford it, go buy the chopped veggies that are already cut. Like, if that's what's gonna take for you to eat veggies is to pay the extra dollar to have for them to cut the carrot instead of you, is that worth it to you? Like, is the dollar worth it for you to eat vegetables? If you have the dollar to spend, spend the dollar or $2. Like but it comes down to what what works for you. What matters to you? Is that where you're gonna devote your resources? Hey. I'm gonna skip Netflix so I can buy precut veggies.
Patricia Sung [00:43:10]:
Then do it. But that's up to you and your value system, but make it easier. Stop making it so hard. It's okay. I gave you the permission slip. Make it easy.
Allison Jordan [00:43:19]:
I love it. So, I mean and, again, I encourage you guys, pause. Maybe just, like, write out just pull out a note and write out 1 through 10 on a line and just start, like, filling in 6 or 7. What's, like, your most average way you can complete a meal in a day? 10, what's your, like, most idyllic situation? That might happen sometimes, but maybe not all the time. And, like, 1, what's, like, what's your plan? And maybe we need more of the and maybe it's, like, the ones that are, like, the 1 where we're not filling it out very well because, well, 1 shouldn't exist. I should always hover around a 6 or 7, and then we kind of implode because we don't have that 1 plan. But that might be something really actionable someone listening to this right now could take. But, additionally and we're we're we're closing out on our time here.
Allison Jordan [00:44:01]:
And, Patricia, if anybody's been listening to you and they're just like, this is amazing. We already mentioned it. Go and get Patricia's ADHD Mama Toolkit. It's gonna have a lot of stuff like this or similar to it inside of it. But, Patricia, can you also tell us you have a membership group, which I imagine has gotta be like this, but, like, everyday access all the time amazingness. Can you tell us more about your membership
Patricia Sung [00:44:32]:
Wednesdays. So you can come there's 2 different time slots, so you can come to both or 1, whatever works for you. And we get together, and we spend half the time getting things done. So, like, actionable time to prepare, like, your week ahead, look around, like, at your calendar, what's going on, and so that you feel really good about how, like, how you're going into the week. Do you have the things ready that you need? Do you do you have the permission slip sign that you need to have? You know? And then the second half, we hang out and talk. So it's different every week. So some weeks, I share like this, and I'm like, we have a monthly theme. So, I don't know when this episode will air.
Patricia Sung [00:45:05]:
If you I don't know if you know either. I'm like, I could tell you what the if I remember the theme, I could be wrong. But it's everything from, like, you know, sometimes we're like, this month, we're talking about relationships and how do you support your relationship when you have ADHD in the mix. We talked about parenting last month. We're gonna be talking about, let's see. We like, upcoming themes we have are, like, planning your week, planning your month. 1 the moms asked for, like, easy entertaining. Like, how do you host people and it not be stressful? Like, we're gonna do that 1 month.
Patricia Sung [00:45:34]:
Like, some kind of theme that we can rally around. So, like, I'll do a talk like this on whatever we're we're talking about. Sometimes we just divide up and, like, talk about cat memes and silly dog videos and, like, what's the, you know, whatever, like, favorite
Allison Jordan [00:45:51]:
Bring joy to your
Patricia Sung [00:45:51]:
heart.
Patricia Sung [00:45:52]:
Show. Like, the whole point is to have community that you that gets you. And the people who aren't gonna roll their eyes when you're like, I just can't make lunch. Like, it's too much for me at that point. They're not gonna be like, well, if you just made sandwiches ahead of time, then you totally like, there's none of that attitude. It's moms who get it and are like, we are, like, in very similar shoes of, like, yeah. Lunch is hard, and can someone just be charge of meals from now on? Because I I don't wanna grown up all the time because I feel like those are the kind of moms that are in this group. So we get stuff done.
Patricia Sung [00:46:24]:
We build community. We learn about our ADHD, and, they're really awesome. And if y'all would love I'd love to have you. You are welcome to join, and it's risk free. If you come the 1st time and you're like, oh, this is never me. I really don't think that'll happen. But, you could change your mind the 1st week, and I will give you your money back. Because I don't want anyone here who's like, oh, I don't know.
Patricia Sung [00:46:42]:
Like, this is a beautiful community of moms who are supporting each other. And, if that sounds like your people, come on. And I don't always talk this fast. I was like, I'm a I'm on a roll today. I'm a little usually a little slower talker, but, you know
Allison Jordan [00:46:55]:
I love it. I love it. It's it's just the energy. Hopefully hopefully, you still have energy after this.
Patricia Sung [00:47:02]:
Well, today's my teaching day, and so I was, like, already on a roll of, like, rocking and rolling. And so I'm hyped up. I love what I do, and I love sharing. So, you know, I say also 1 of my, like, telltale signs of people with ADHD is if you listen to their podcast and if you put it on, like, 1.5 and you're like, woah. This person's way too fast. You gotta slow this down. They might have ADHD. We'd we tend to be fast talkers.
Patricia Sung [00:47:25]:
So and if you listen
Allison Jordan [00:47:26]:
to that keep up with our brain.
Patricia Sung [00:47:27]:
Yeah. If you listen to everything on, like, 1.51.72x, then you might be 1 of my people too because we're always like, come on, people. Pick it up.
Allison Jordan [00:47:36]:
So Yeah. That's me. You talk too slow. Give me the information. Moving on. Moving on. Again, Patricia, thank you so much just for sharing what you've been doing, what God has been putting into your life, all how you got here, and honestly, hopefully encouraging some moms and women today who are just trying to process what it looks like to be a woman with maybe or actually ADHD. So Patricia, thank you so much.
Patricia Sung [00:48:03]:
Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Patricia Sung [00:48:07]:
For more resources, classes, and community, head over to my website, motherhoodinadhd.com.