The 14 Day Meal Plan That Turns ADHD Into A Superpower! | Dr. Jolene Brighten

1. 0:00 – 0:32

   Why this 14‑day meal plan exists: merging nutrition science with lived ADHD experience

   1. APAlex Partridge0:00

      Because in your book, you have this 14 Day Meal Plan that really is a collision of your two worlds. On the one hand, you've got this huge experience, 20, 25 years as a nutritionist, and on the other hand, you've got this huge experience as an ADHD woman and all of the research you've done in that department. And those two worlds collided, and you've developed this plan to supercharge female ADHD brains. And a lot of the f- the food in that plan is in front of us on this table right now. So let's start with ghee.

   2. JBDr. Jolene Brighten0:29

      Okay.

   3. APAlex Partridge0:29

      Why is ghee on the plan?

2. 0:32 – 1:58

   Ghee: butyrate, gut lining repair, and calming neuroinflammation

   1. JBDr. Jolene Brighten0:32

      Oh, so ghee's gonna surprise a lot of people because we often hear things like, "You should be dairy-free," or if you're perimenopause right now, you've lived through the fat-free era. Ghee is rich in butyrate. Now, butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that your microbiome should be making for you. Unfortunately, ADHDers have less microbial diversity, and then as, as estrogen declines, we have even less microbial diversity. That short-chain fatty acid, butyrate, helps the lining of your intestines heal. It also helps the blood-brain barrier heal, and it's anti-inflammatory. It helps with lowering neuroinflammation, and it helps with w- helps with lowering systemic inflammation as well, but also the gut lining, and it positively impacts that vagus nerve that we were talking about, which helps that rest and digest so you get out of the fight, flight, freeze, fawn state of the nervous system that so many of us can find ourselves in, myself included, as my time blindness was trying to tell me that I would never make it here on time today. [laughs]

   2. APAlex Partridge1:38

      [laughs] So interesting, Jolene. And we move on to saffron, which when buying the props for today's episode, I realized is one of the most expensive [laughs] pound-for-pound foods you can buy. I think it's like, it's like the, the weight of a s- a, a postage stamp, and it was like 4 pounds 50, which is about $7, I think. But, but is it worth it? What, what's the science behind saffron?

3. 1:58 – 2:29

   Saffron’s case for ADHD and women’s hormone-related symptoms

   1. JBDr. Jolene Brighten1:58

      So saffron is absolutely worth it. Now, I'll say all the science comes from supplements and standardized, but I think that when you look at eating meals, so what cultures are eating saffron, they're also including ghee, turmeric, you know, other things that can be really beneficial. So saffron for my perimenopausal women, helps with sleep, helps with hot flashes, can help with mood. For PMDD, it's been researched and been found effective. The standard of care for PMDD we discussed earlier is SSRIs.

4. 2:29 – 3:33

   Saffron + medication synergy: improving ADHD med efficacy and side-effect profile

   1. JBDr. Jolene Brighten2:29

      That only works for 30 to 50% of women. I'm talking about women who think about leaving this planet before their time. So saffron has been shown to be beneficial for that. And then interestingly enough, they did a study on children with methylphenidate, Ritalin, and saffron and found that when they take saffron, it made their ADHD meds work better. I started to implement that in my practice, and what I found is that luteal lag we kinda get into for women on ADHD meds when estrogen is dropping or taking a backseat to progesterone and they're like, "My meds don't work," I have found that bringing on saffron actually helps that h- them have better efficacy with their medication. And we also know that saffron can help mitigate some of the side effects of drugs like SSRIs. So it is worth it. It is very, very expensive. The good news is you don't need a lot of it. I'm always a food first person, but I will say that, you know, for some of these things like PMDD, ADHD, that are diagnosable conditions, the, the research clinically speaking is validated on supplement form, which is about 28 to 30 milligrams that you would take of that.

5. 3:33 – 4:36

   Salsa (capsaicin): a fast neurotransmitter “boost” when you can’t exercise

   1. APAlex Partridge3:33

      So interesting, Jolene. A- and then you brought salsa with you today, which [laughs] which surprised me. Like, why, why salsa?

   2. JBDr. Jolene Brighten3:40

      Oh my God, my book was written on chips and salsa, let me tell you. [laughs]

   3. APAlex Partridge3:44

      [laughs]

   4. JBDr. Jolene Brighten3:44

      So salsa's actually surprisingly a great way to boost your dopamine and your serotonin. So I always tell people, like, uh, 20 minutes of physical activity will buy you two to three hours of focus and peak cognitive performance. But you might find yourself in a situation where you can't exercise. Eating salsa, specifically it's the burn, the capsaicin, can help boost those neurotransmitters, and it may feel counterintuitive, but it's actually incredibly healing for the gut as well. And researchers are so interested in capsaicin, which is in the salsa, the thing that burns your tongue, they've been trying to figure out how to put it in a capsule to sell a supplement. And as it turns out, it's the repeated dose in food that actually has the most benefits. And the reason why when they wanted to put it in a capsule is because it may be preventative against cognitive disease like dementia.

6. 4:36 – 5:05

   Potatoes and the carb backlash: using resistant starch to feed the microbiome

   1. APAlex Partridge4:36

      Moving on. One of the most, or what appears to be one of the most controversial foods at the moment online, potatoes. Why, why do you think potatoes are, are being so misunderstood [laughs] at the moment?

   2. JBDr. Jolene Brighten4:47

      Well, because, you know, after we moved on from fat-free, we moved to carb-free, and women are not supposed to eat any carbs. And here's the reality about potatoes. If you cook them, you cool them, so put them in the fridge, and you eat them the next day, you know, our mutual friends, Rich and Roxy, I was just giving her permission to eat potato salad-

   3. APAlex Partridge5:04

      [laughs]

7. 5:05 – 5:55

   How the 14‑day plan ramps fiber without backfiring

   1. JBDr. Jolene Brighten5:05

      ... it creates resistant starch. Resistant starch is incredibly beneficial for the microbiome, and it helps you make that butyrate that we started this whole conversation with. So in the 14 Day Meal Plan, we start bringing up fiber-rich foods. I don't go too quick on you because if you're not eating a lot of fiber, you're gonna hate me. You're gonna be the gassy person at work. You're gonna be like, "Why? Why, Dr. Brighten?"

   2. APAlex Partridge5:28

      [laughs]

   3. JBDr. Jolene Brighten5:29

      But in the second week of the meal plan, we get into bringing in more resistant starches. And so people will tell you eating potatoes, white rice, white bread, these things are bad. If you are cooking them, cooling them, you are creating resistant starch. Other ways to get that are, like, green bananas. Who wants to eat a green banana? It's not necessarily me. It's for some people, but it's not totally for me. So this is another way to boost your resistant starch, diversify your microbiome, and help you get more butyrate.

8. 5:55 – 6:43

   Blueberries, walnuts, and avocado: polyphenols, omega‑3s, and B6 for progesterone support

   1. APAlex Partridge5:55

      So interesting. And just before we move on to a, a, a, a particular habit that really is one of the most important ways to improve ADHD performance, like, just quickly, there's blueberries as well, there's walnuts, and there's an avocado. Is there a summary of those three?

   2. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:10

      Yes. So blueberries, that's... I'm like, people, polyphenol max, right? The kids are always like looks maxing all of these things.

   3. APAlex Partridge6:16

      Yeah. [laughs]

   4. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:17

      All you polyphenol max, so.

   5. APAlex Partridge6:17

      ADHD maxing.

   6. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:18

      Yeah. [laughs]

   7. APAlex Partridge6:19

      [laughs]

   8. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:19

      So all of the berries that you can eat, especially blueberries, they're anti-inflammatory, so we talk about that neuroinflammation. Walnuts, they're a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. Yes, they also have omega-6s, but omega-3s are crucial for the ADHD brain. And then avocados, and we'll take it from a different perspective, rich in vitamin B6, essential for helping you have optimal progesterone levels.

9. 6:43 – 6:54

   Playful wrap-up: self-experimentation and expectations

   1. APAlex Partridge6:43

      Incredible. So useful. So if I eat all of these on the train home today, I'll finish my book tonight?

   2. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:48

      [laughs]

   3. APAlex Partridge6:48

      [laughs] So will that work?

   4. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:49

      You let me know.

   5. APAlex Partridge6:50

      Yeah. [laughs]

   6. JBDr. Jolene Brighten6:50

      I wanna know. Do the experiment. Be the N of 1. [laughs]

Episode duration: 6:54