Ep 109: ADHD Nutrition Secrets with Catherine McClory - Protein, Brain Fog & Essential Supplements

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Are you struggling with 3pm crashes, brain fog, or ADHD symptoms that seem worse at certain times of the month? Catherine McClory, a Registered Nutritional Therapist diagnosed with ADHD at 35, joins us to share game-changing nutrition strategies that transformed her life and those of her clients.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why 25-30g of protein at every meal is crucial for dopamine production
• The hidden link between iron deficiency and brain fog (especially in women)
• How your menstrual cycle impacts ADHD symptoms and executive function
• The top 4 supplements for ADHD: B-complex, Magnesium Bisglycinate, Lion's Mane, and Omega-3s
• Simple meal strategies to maintain steady energy and focus throughout the day
• Why addressing your nervous system comes before nutrition changes

Catherine shares practical tips like what 30g of protein actually looks like on your plate, why your 2-egg breakfast isn't enough, and how to properly supplement for optimal brain function. We also dive into the fascinating connection between hormones and executive function throughout the monthly cycle.

About Our Guest: Catherine McClory is a Registered Nutritional Therapist specializing in women's health and ADHD nutrition. She helps women navigate their cycles using personalized nutrition and lifestyle medicine, with particular expertise in PMS, PMDD, PCOS, and endometriosis.

Connect with Catherine: 

Website: naturalcyclesnutrition.co.uk 

Instagram: @naturalcyclesnutrition 

YouTube: @CathNutritionalTherapist

Key Takeaway: Your ADHD brain needs specific nutritional support, and small changes can lead to significant improvements in focus, energy, and overall functioning.

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Transcript

All right welcome back guys today I have Catherine McClary and she’s a former client of mine and I wanted to have her on because she is well into the world of nutrition and supplementation and she has ADHD herself and so I want to have her to have a fun conversation about those kind of things she specializes in well let me just let you say it. Can you tell everybody what you do Yeah sure and say hi my name is Catherine. I’m a nutritional therapist and yeah, I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 35 so the late diagnosis I specialize in nutrition and I have a particular interest in nutrition for women’s health and then even more specifically than that nutrition for menstrual cycle nutritional change the cycle that’s something I’m interested in. I tend to work with cycling female clients because of that and I specialize in conditions such as premenstrual syndrome PMDD if you’re not sure that is premenstrual dysphoric, which is like a really severe form of PMS where symptoms stopped to impact Functioning And also conditions like PCOS, which is polycystic syndrome endometriosis anything really around the cycle so have painful periods I have a really interest in supporting women with these kind of conditions and I’m incredibly passionate about the fact that nutrition because I see so many I’m really great results with my clients and unfortunately I don’t know what it’s like in the US but in the UK, I am continually sending back my clients to that to the GP so I got blood test that continually see really low levels of certain micro nutrients like iron B12 folate that just haven’t been picked up causing my clients to be feel very fatigued Throughout the month so yeah that’s what I’m interested nutrition and particularly women’s health cycle and for the male listeners, there is going to be lots of information about nutrition and supplementation so hang in there with us nutrition because I had experience where I mean I was insulin resistant and have talked about this. You know in our sessions and things like that and I was insulin resistant and I just felt like that particularly really affected my ADHD symptoms. I was so fatigued And that kind of fatigue is going to make all your executive function skills you know and when I changed my diet and before we hit record, we were talking about you know what is it with diet and Catherine will tell us about like the protein aspect of it but when I changed my diet, what’s interesting is I naturally went to more protein, more protein, carbohydrate, and that really really changed my symptoms changed my skin changed everything so how can ADHD people help themselves with diet? Yeah there is definitely a lot of things that we can work on like supporting ADHD diet I suppose the first thing linking it back to the recycle in the phase of the cycle is that our executive function is gonna change throughout the month and that is related to fluctuating levels so in the female cycle we have like four different stages so we have the menstrual phase while we’re having a period menstrual And the follicular phase when eastern levels are quite high and there is sea plants have they tend to have better executive function because eastern helps stimulate our dopamine stimulate serotonin and it seems to be. It’s generally easier to get things done and then the switch I see is kind of post ovulation ovulation being main of the menstrual cycle And again clients to feel quite good there, but then when we see that the final phase which is called the phase the dominant hormones are switching become more progesterone dominant, and so progesterone is quite calming hormone, but it can be more challenging in terms of executive function. It doesn’t particularly like high stress levels and actually like our calorie needs change the cycle so Nice steady energy levels throughout the day, we’re gonna need to have nice balance, balanced blood sugar levels so making sure that clients are getting 25 to 30 g of protein in each meal or breakfast lunch or dinner and then making sure we’re having if we’re snacking we’re having a snack that contains protein so rather than just you know like a packet of breast a slice of toast, putting some nut butter on it or hummus with carrot sticks or boiled egg something that’s a nice source of protein And particularly as a specifically with ADHD so protein is made up of building blocks, which are called amino acids and there’s a particular called pyrone and that is a dopamine so it’s important that we are kind of feeding that to ourselves throughout the day so that it’s going to optimize our potential to make dopamine And ADHD can be related to slightly lower or fluctuating dopamine levels so that’s really important one of the absolutely fundamental things to make protein with every single meal and throughout the day and I noticed just that recommendation makes such a massive difference to clients levels of focus throughout the day Their abilities to maintain their energy and not get those kind of energy dips in the afternoon commonly people would say that feeling extremely tired between you know that lunch is quite common between two 3 PM struggling like to get through the day and that might be there. They’re reaching for caffeine or some sort of stimulant to keep them going Struggling to get things done prior particularly important for ADHD to make sure we providing the building blocks to make your transmitters two questions just to make it really practical for people. I have an idea in my mind how much 30 g of protein is but we were talking about chicken. Is that like 3 ounces of chicken? What does that look like About like one chicken breast would be about it generally like if I could say like if you use your hands to be harmful portion with protein like a chicken breast harmful portion with each that would be around there and say they’re doing eggs that look like I think we’re like 8 g depending on the size so that’s a good point because a lot of clients they’re just having like a couple of an extra breakfast but actually you need a few more so I’d say like a 3 to 4 egg omelette would be about right and then you could do something like add another source of protein like smoked salmon to it and then you feel like kind of hitting that recommendation With a lot of clients who are vegetarian and often talking about it a lot because like animal proteins proteins like digested plant proteins also contain carbohydrates so just having one portion of like lentils or beans with your meal would definitely not be enough to meet your protein recommendations even if it was a good handful. You need to make sure that you’re having at least two or three sources of plant protein first making sure you’re having lentils and you’re adding some like nuts and seeds or adding some hummus as well so I thought I’d like being aware of the difference between protein, protein content, and the other thing that I wanted to bring up with it’s interesting because I have a lot of clients especially women it seems I don’t think I’ve ever had a man mention brain fog, but I’ve had a lot of women mentioning brain fog and I changed my diet like 13 years ago and I have a suspicion that brain fog has to do with diet, but that’s not science that’s just that’s just my my life experience where I don’t deal with brain fog I feel like I once did Brain fog comes from so many nutrition talking about women. I have seen this quite a lot in women that have lower iron levels so that’s one I really like getting clients to test and I’d say even levels that are just on the lower end of normal. You can be getting symptoms like brain fall. Lots of fatigue even be assigned a little bit low optimizing that I suppose nutrition could be something like being low or low in a blood test I suppose trans particularly with with females because we are cycling then we are losing blood each month on the menstrual cycle to make sure our replenishing those levels of iron so that’s a really hot one that’s a really good point because it’s my understanding that men can get too much iron Definitely tend to recommend buying supplementation if they are showing symptoms of low then that’s definitely something we need to look into because it’s a lot rare of males with low levels of iron. I’d be slightly concerned getting them to go straight to the doctors so they can look to see if there’s any sources leading anywhere in the body that we’re Missing or if they could have something like a gluten sensitivity so they are absorbing the nutrients very well. it’s definitely a bit more of a red flag for male clients to present with low iron as a female all of the time. I actually say I’ve seen this weekend every single one of them had iron levels. It’s just so commonly so commonly messed my experience, one of the absolute things that I would go to as soon as they are saying that they’re feeling foggy or they’re feeling fatigued For sure can also have so many different contributing factors and I’d say particularly with my female client like the executive function, particularly if they have kids responsibilities. It’s just a lot to be doing, especially with those changes across the menstrual cycle that we’re experiencing so stress levels or elevated one of our stress that can really impact our ex Function ability to think and that is also really common cause of brain fog so I’m really often like working on supporting the clients nervous system before we actually do anything nutritionally so things like breathing exercise exercises actually often with clients to slow them down because then I’m wanting to do everything they’re like going to the gym. Five times a week is really high intensity Exercises those kind of things and I’m saying that’s all good and great. Can we incorporate some more my body things could you switch out a couple of sessions for things like yoga Pilates just to help calm what are you doing? You make each breath if you’re going before in hold for four seconds of exes and hold for four just that technique just like 5 to 10 minutes a day just so calming for people nervous assistance. I’ve seen like that in itself. Make a massive difference Driven by the amount to the day how much we’ve got to get done in particular with ADHD because I feel like life is already a big load on our executive function. We’re trying to keep up with the neural factor in the menstrual cycle. The executive function. A lot of my clients nervous system are quite frazzled so supporting that just so important often before I do anything nutrition just like really highly stress just nervous system before they go into nutrition for sure and then not only work with your clients with supplementation but you have extra expertise. Don’t you recommend supplements helpful for ADHD there’s so many different things I would say in terms of like supporting brain function things really helpful so a good vitamin complex is really important and that’s just because of the effects that vitamin nerve transmission. They’re just so important to make sure Our brain cells are working while I’m communicating well and they can also be quite depleted by stress and it can be hard to get enough of the vitamins through the diet because I don’t know them in the UK but in the US we have this thing called five hour energy in a bottle have a lot of vitamins in it and it also has a lot of caffeine and things like that might be fine. I don’t know. I should send you the label and should I be drinking between my husband and I I call it my juice like if I feel kind of down I can take that and not only lift my energy but lift my mood and I assume what’s going on those beef vitamins in there Potentially can be used uplifting energy potentially another key so I am constantly recommending my client so important it’s actually quite hard to get amount of magnesium throughout the diet and unless we are eating lots of dark green, leafy vegetables, nuts, and seeds and I don’t really see clients eat for optimal amounts at least before sessions. I’m constantly reminding them to do that And it’s involved in like 3/300 different reactions in the body energy processes brain function it’s quite rapidly depleted by stress excreted by the body when we are feeling quite stressed, which is most people right magnesium a good strong base. There are lots of different types. The one you recommend is called magnesium at least a dose of 300 mg and that can also be helpful for sleep because I find a lot of my ADHD clients that they can struggle to sleep as well because you know we’re like processing things lots of thoughts running through as well so having our supplements in the morning about an hour before bed so helpful for just helping calm the brain and help with relaxation so find that really helpful for ADHD clients. I don’t think I’ve heard of that. I’ve heard of trade in all of that but I don’t BISGLYCINATE want to check out what else would I recommend getting medicinal mushrooms recently ADHD so there’s a particular called lions name. Not sure if you heard about that one but some really really interesting research coming out in terms of how it supports the brain. I think it’s like brain derive neurotropic factor so it helps to boost a certain compound in the brain that helps the brain cells to communicate, and that can be really helpful for boosting are effective function and forming new memories Really supportive of my ADHD clients and it also has an amazing effect on the guts and Microbiome bacteria in the gut and the lion helps to cause a probiotic might have a probiotic live bacteria, and then probiotics are the food for bacteria, and that particular species of bacteria helps to produce mucus that keeps lining sealed, and lion has been in particular can really help to feed that species so it can be really helpful for clients with digestive complaints as well And then working on you know I’ve got a brain so connected if we’re feeling common or brain so that’s one of my fave had a really good results actually with lion mushroom with all of these supplements it’s not something that they absolutely straight away about the consistency overtime. I’d say at least a good three months so 12 weeks of supplementation Some positive effects and you always need to prescribe any potential interruptions. It’s normally with the herbs like you were mentioning when we were talking before some medication mushrooms tend to be food supplement but some of prescribed with. Do you recommend a capsule or how do your clients take a capsule in the morning Was actually in Los Angeles and I just noticed that I was really into there in America creatine don’t know how good it is, but you know the good quality supplement you can always check. They won’t have too many different things added to some of their generally supplements unfortunately get what you pay for the more expensive ones generally I suppose but just watch out for some of the cheap ones my understanding there is some companies that we test supplements so you can go online and make sure that the brand of supplements that you’re using is a good supplement line because we’ve had a lot of problems in the US. I don’t know if you guys have had this problem as well Over the years there’s supplements that don’t even have what they say. They have in them because they’re not testing so they will get an external company to make sure it says on the label and also contaminant just check that they are. They don’t have anything extra that we don’t want so set something like we talking about medicinal mushrooms, and they are kind of like little sponges you want them to be grown organically and just to be tested to make sure they’re not contaminated anything. Is there at least the last couple years a big flood of lions mane products like lions mane coffee if you’ve experienced that kind of taste like dirt with supplement capsule suggestion in fact, I am going to do that. I’m going to add lions mane to my supplement lineup so are there other supplements that we should be looking into so I’d say it can kind of depend on the client and supporting specific symptoms because then I would be thinking so I suppose ADHD would be a good quality Beaver smell like magnesium mushrooms. The other one would be a omega-3 supplements one of our healthy fatty acids and so many people were not getting optimal levels through our diet. I’m eating like your oily fish at least three times a week so you can tell the fish that things like salmon, sardines, anchovy Fish. I recommend those at least 2 to 3 times a week and then they were also plant sources of a mega Chia seeds and flax seeds diet flaxseed you have to grind the ground is quite tough. You can’t access the mega tree, but they are a different form of omega-3. That’s just a bit harder for the body to absorb so it’s better to get the form of omega-3 called THA or EPA in life the fish oil supplements supplement with an oil supplement so if you feel like you’re not, you’re not eating enough fish in your diet then having a good quality omega-3 capsules once a day whether that’s a fish oil or an algae oil supplement is just really importantthat actually have a really big impact