Beyond Distracted
We're Christen and Rachel, two friends who were diagnosed with ADHD as adults. For most of our lives we couldn't figure out why we seemed to struggle more than other people did. But with our diagnoses we had more clarity and explanations for why we do what we do. It turns out we aren't stupid or lazy or "less-than"... we just have ADHD!
Join us as we talk about: all the ways ADHD unknowingly affected us as children, and later as young adults; the coping skills we are learning post-diagnosis and how we are reframing what we think about ourselves; our crazy and hilarious ADHD moments of the week; and the songs we are listening to on repeat (because don't you listen to the same music over and over?) Oh, and we might get a little distracted along the way!
Beyond Distracted
Episode 10: ADHD and Food
This week, we're serving up a smorgasbord of personal tales and insights on how ADHD influences our culinary cravings and eating habits. From the comfort of routine restaurant orders to the trials of introducing novelty into our diets, we're peeling back the layers on the foodie experiences unique to adults navigating ADHD. Satisfy your curiosity and perhaps find a kindred spirit in this hearty discussion, where we acknowledge that while we may not always have our culinary lives perfectly seasoned, we're all in this kitchen together, laughing and learning one bite at a time.
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Produced by Rachel Smith and Christen Everett.
Please talk to your doctor or primary care physician about any medical questions or concerns.
Hey Rachel, hey Kristen.
Speaker 2:How you doing. I'm good, want to talk about ADHD and food, food, food. Sure, okay, we might get a little distracted, probably.
Speaker 1:Always, beyond distracted, beyond distracted.
Speaker 2:Let's go Trigger, warning about today's episode that we will be talking about food and there may be some notes about eating disorders. If this is a trigger for you, please skip this episode and know that we love you very much, okay, rachel. Yes, yes, adhd and food. One of the amazing Instagram things that I saw the other day was from Natalie Barron. I'll make sure to post it. She says my three hunger moods, deeply inspired by ADHD. I'm so hungry I feel sick, but I also hate all food. I'm not really hungry, but the six snacks I've had clearly weren't the correct ones. Yes, and then the other one is more cheese, always more cheese.
Speaker 2:That's always the answer it is always the answer and I Unless you're lactose intolerant, I mean. Even then I mean it's fine, sometimes it's worth it. You just take the lactate and you call it a day, it's fine. But I have found, especially with my ADHD, that it is very different for me and other people with how I eat, what I eat, what I hyperfixate on eating. Unfortunately, we could probably make a game out of the number of times we say hyperfixate in an episode All the time, but it's what we do and I don't know about you, but I very much enjoy hyperfixating on certain meals or like certain foods and I can't get enough of them. I want them in every single thing. Yep, I also hoard, purchase them to a certain degree. Oh yeah, like I'll purchase four when I have no business purchasing four of something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I'll eat it for every single lunch, or every single dinner, or every single snack, and then eventually, Eventually you get tired of it. I don't want it anymore, right? And then I now have two packages of something or another that I no longer want.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So I thought that this would be fun to discuss. Do you have any meals or foods that you've hyperfixated on?
Speaker 1:Well, I don't like to cook.
Speaker 1:My hyperfixations tend to be on fast food, more like when I don't want to cook, then I want to just go on and eat fast food and I think that that kind of plays into some of this Right, like the lack of executive functioning, also just the general lack of cooking skills that I do not possess. I don't know, that's maybe a double negative, but you know I'm not good at cooking and I don't particularly enjoy it, and so it's a lot for me to get started in the kitchen and then actually be able to cook something that I enjoy as hard Like it's food that you eat out is way more tasty.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, do you eat the same thing, like when you go somewhere? Do you get the same thing every time? Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So, like I have restaurants, like when we go to this restaurant, I get this, and when I was like, depending on what I want to eat is what restaurant we go to. And so like I always get the same thing from Jim and Johns If I want, if I want like a really good wrap, like a chicken bacon ranch wrap we have like a local bar and grill that we go to.
Speaker 1:If I want a chicken salad, we go to Texas Roadhouse because they have the best chicken. Critter salad is like noted. Oh, I've never had that. That sounds wonderful. Oh, it's like fried chicken on a big salad. It's huge. Oh, it's amazing, wonderful. Texas Roadhouse has the best ranch dressing. Just so you know, interesting Midwest girls here.
Speaker 2:Yes, very ranch on everything at you branch. It's a problem. It is a problem. Yeah, no, I definitely. When I go to Jimmy John's I have the exact same order. Yep, when I go to certain places I want the same thing because it tastes good and I know it's going to be good and it's such a risk to try something new.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like not just the fact that you might take a bite of it and then it tastes bad, but also the financial cost of like not that. Jimmy John's is going to make or break us right, but like the fact that I'm going to have spent almost $8 on a sandwich and then it's not going to taste good and I'm not going to want to eat it, that's devastating to me, yeah.
Speaker 2:Nope, that makes sense. I think my biggest issue generally it doesn't happen too much with meals per se. I can generally get through like any meals that I'm hyperfixating on or like just eating and eating on. But I will like if I have a snack. Or even right before we recorded this, I was eating like a breakfast bar thing, even though it's you know three in the afternoon and I've, I think I've purchased maybe 10 boxes of those and I'm getting to the point where I know I can't order anymore because I'm about to hit that limit of they're starting to taste weird to me.
Speaker 1:So once you get to that point, is there's enough time in between? Can you go back to them? Or is it something where, like you're never able to eat them again?
Speaker 2:Oh, I can go back to them. So like I just have to start spacing it out more and I try and just be more intentional about it. But I also sometimes the hard thing too is depending on what it is or what kind of food it is like that's like a power bar essentially, but even that one I could tell it was clearly in a like a my purse or something, because it was kind of like smushed, and so I like started eating it. I was like, oh, this is, this has been in a, this has been in some type of confined space and and traveled a little bit with me. So sometimes that also happens to where. Then I like will randomly find things and I'm like, why do I have like four of these power bars like hidden in my car and I don't want them anymore? And I'm like, okay, so I'll try and either you know eat them as a random snack or you know eat half of it or something like that, cause I don't want to be wasteful. But yeah, and then if it's something that is manageable in terms of like a canned food or like a different kind of like individual thing, like I can donate it or do something with it and I'll figure it out. But, yeah, or I'll somehow pawn it off on you know, chase, because yeah, I can generally do that, but it works.
Speaker 2:He eats everything, right, he eats. He eats just about everything. He's pretty good about it. Or, you know, I'll work it into something else later on, but it's. It's interesting because I also find that I not even when it comes to meals that I've like eaten or a certain kind of food that I've eaten like repeatedly, is that I'll sometimes, even when I'm in the middle of a meal, particularly I have an aversion sometimes to certain kind of meats, like chicken. There will be days that like I'll be like mid meal of eating chicken and I'm like, nope, I'm done and I'm just done.
Speaker 1:I get that with certain meat, like certain recipes.
Speaker 2:I don't know that.
Speaker 1:I can necessarily pinpoint it to a specific food per se, but sometimes I'll just be eating it and I'm like I am so over this.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, meal Completely and you're just like the, even though you probably should continue eating or it's, you're not at like a balanced point per se. You're just done, yeah, and you can't make yourself really do anything else either. So it's, it's very interesting. I also will find, like I said, I have like issues. I like, I like just about any food, but if the texture is wrong, I'm done. That's one for me. That it's really, really hard. I had chicken and waffles. I love chicken and waffles and we were at this place and the chicken was just not. It was not it, it was. It was not good and I was just like great, I've now purchased this and I don't want it, yeah, and I think I had like a few bites of it. I ate like the waffle and everything else, and it was fine, but the chicken was mm-mm. This is so random you triggered this memory.
Speaker 1:So we've kind of, over the years, we've slowly been moving towards like more whole foods, like real foods, less processed stuff, and one of the things that we did is like, growing up we always ate like whatever the breakfast syrup Like it's not maple syrup, right, because it's just like it's like antemima or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when we were first married, we went to a pancake festival maple syrup festival and that was the first time I'd ever had real maple syrup, like actual maple syrup, and I did not quite like it the first time because it was different than just like the sugar syrup that we put on our pancakes.
Speaker 2:That's valid.
Speaker 1:Growing up and so, but eventually we started switching and we we now exclusively have real maple syrup for our waffles and pancakes on Saturday mornings and my husband and I were on our anniversary trip a few weeks ago and we went to this really good like breakfast place and I got a stack of pancakes and they were so good except, oh no, they didn't, it was fake syrup. It was fake syrup and it's like I'm rude, so I need to be like buddy the elf and just carry around a little miniature shooter of maple syrup, that's so funny but like it's, I'm completely ruined.
Speaker 1:yeah now, because I I love real maple syrup and the fake stuff now is just like so gross.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's, I think it's, it's similar. If you have a, I personally it's. This triggered a story for me. So when I was a kid, my parents you know Midwest, my parents hunted a lot and so we had a lot of venison growing up, and so when I was a kid, I didn't really have anything other than like chicken and venison growing up. Until when we moved and my parents weren't hunting as much, my parent, my mom, had to go buy beef and I apparently this is one of my mother's favorite stories is that she gave me beef and I was like no, I don't want this. And she was like why? And I was like it's wrong, what's wrong with it? And she was like it's, it's just beef, Kristen, you just have to eat it. And I was like where's the other food? Why, why do we have this? And I told her like, go buy venison. And she was like we can't just go buy it because you know like a four year old, doesn't understand the concept of like hunting.
Speaker 2:And and then, like, every time I would see a deer outside, I'd be like, can we have that one? Can we have that one? Can we have that one? And she was like no, kristen, like you're just gonna have to like eat this, and I was very upset about it. And so that was one that she was just like the fact that you immediately noticed, even though it was genuinely probably prepared borderline identically I was still like absolutely not. Yeah, this is not what I asked for. And again, I'm not a picky. I was never a picky kid, except for that. And even to this day, like I like beef, but like it's not my favorite. Interesting, yeah, it's very, very interesting.
Speaker 1:Well, you made meatballs yesterday for us and I and Corey had never had I don't think we'd ever had chicken meatballs before.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love chicken meatballs.
Speaker 1:So that was kind of we both liked it. Yeah, the kids were kind of questionable about it.
Speaker 2:But they were, yeah, they were, they did. They liked the pasta, though and the salad.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, I was surprised about the salad, the salad was great.
Speaker 2:That was. That was phenomenal. Yes, that was a very good salad.
Speaker 1:That was the one. You know. We're on the journey of the non-processed food, because that was definitely the Olive Garden bottled. That was salad dressing, that was so good.
Speaker 2:You know what it's all about. It's all about moderation and having a good time. But the other thing I know we both significantly struggle with this is just straight up, forgetting to eat. Absolutely it's, and it's not on purpose, it's not, it's not intentional, it's not anything that we're trying to quote unquote do it's?
Speaker 1:just usually because we're so involved in one thing that to stop and eat is just not even on our radar you know, until our bodies are screaming at it, screaming at ourselves that we're so hungry and then we're like crazy hungry. We don't want to cook anything because, like we don't have time, right, we're starving now, or you're so hungry that then nothing tastes good.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's. Which is the other thing. You're like looking in your pantry, looking in your fridge, looking in your freezer and you're like this all is terrible. Yes, I never really grew up really on like freezer meals per se, but one of the things I have discovered is I'll get a few like random freezer meals and I have tried not to just buy 10 of them.
Speaker 2:I try and get a variety that I like, like boxed ones Like uh yeah like individual things, because sometimes, especially with working remote, like sometimes I feel like I have all the time in the world to make whatever I want for lunch, and sometimes I don't, and so being able to just like eat something random that I know is going to work for me is better than you know. Unfortunately. Chase coming home at like four or five o'clock and I'm raging and he's like what is wrong with you? And I'm like, well, I've only had, you know, breakfast in a granola bar. And he's like, ah, no, kristen, like why did you do this to yourself?
Speaker 2:And then, of course, like I lack all energy, I'm not happy, I'm not as productive, and it's. It's kind of like you, you shoot yourself in the foot and then you're hobbling around here Like I don't know what else to do because I've already been shot in the foot and I still also need to feed myself, yeah, and so that's one that I've tried to be a little bit better about, but I mean even just making sure. I mean he's aware of it, obviously, but he'll check in with me sometimes and make sure that you know I am aware of what I'm doing, and he'll be like you're good, right?
Speaker 1:I'm like oh, yeah, I'm fine, but does he ever text you from work and be like hey, do we eat lunch today?
Speaker 2:No, he doesn't. We don't really text during the day. He's chase is God bless this is a slight, slight change of topic, but like he's very ultra professional and he just doesn't text during the day, yeah, he is like when he is on work mode, that is all he is doing and it's kind of alarming to me sometimes because he'll be like, I mean not even that like he. Just he's very much like the compartmentalized, like you know, he has like home so good at that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, home, chase, work, chase, fun, chase. Those three different things are very different and like they don't really share boxes. So like if I do get a text during the day, it's like maybe one or two texts, and that's very rare. So if I do, I'm like, oh whoo, it's fun.
Speaker 1:So one thing I found that actually helped me. This is kind of random, but is having kids like oh yes, little people who need food and will let you know that they need food. Also, husbands who like you know they need food.
Speaker 1:That has been kind of helpful in yeah, just I know that if I don't feed them they're going to be little monsters, because the hanger is real and so that, although I will say the days that Corey is working from home he goes into work a couple times a week and the days that he's home we are on better schedules than the days that he's gone, because interesting, because I know that he's going to want food and he not that he scares me more than the kids, but like he's more of a trigger, you know, with the kids I can be like okay, let's wait.
Speaker 1:Just, you know I'm in the middle of something, whereas he comes upstairs he has generally more of like a structured schedule, because he'll be like well, I have a meeting at one, so I have to eat before one, you know, and so then it's kind of more of a whereas sometimes the kids and I, we all three get distracted and then it's one o'clock and we're thinking, oh, maybe we should eat. But in general having kids has helped me. That's interesting. Before kids I was more like you, probably where I didn't I eat a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've always had roommates and then so like roommate dinners or just you know, we'd all just be in the kitchen eating together or doing whatever, and that was always fine slash. I was so busy from eight in the morning till eight or 10 o'clock at night because I was, I had a completely overpacked schedule in college and I think that's how I survived. But so then it was like, well, I have to eat at this time because otherwise I'm not going to have time to eat. Yes, versus now in my adult life, my schedule's not as structured. Yes, but yeah, having Chase, it's funny, having Chase really does help.
Speaker 2:And when he's gone I say I go feral, because I just the idea of it's kind of three different things. One, I don't, I'm not forced to eat at a certain time, just like you said. Two, I don't do dishes. We've talked about this, but I don't do dishes and so, like even last night when he was picking up all the dishes, I don't do any dishes, I don't clean up anything. Really I'm jealous. Oh, it's the best. And so I, if I'm alone and he's gone, I didn't have to do the dishes and I'm like this is horrible, you should call me I. Well, I do. I generally go over to your house when he's gone or I'm.
Speaker 1:No, you should call me to help you do your dishes.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that would also work. Have you body double? Good, call back to that. No, but it's, it's so, it's so interesting. And my friends are like why, why do you call it that? I'm like because I just I do. And so he, he's taking a trip here, coming up, and I'm trying to be very specific about what I'm doing and I think I'm going to try and give myself a little bit more of a schedule slash. Maybe be like hey, rachel, I'm coming over for dinner on these things, yeah, yeah, so it's, it's.
Speaker 2:It's always interesting to like learn about those things and I had a comment. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is it going to be? I can't remember, I don't know. Anyway, moving on. No, worries.
Speaker 2:So the wonderful, wonderful web MD has notes on ADHD and food.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So web MDs might be a fast. You know it's, it's a good one. High book Andrea.
Speaker 2:You. Yeah, you're a little bit of one, that's. That's thankfully, not something I have. I I've skirted that one thing, but it's really fun, it's I. I have so many other things that I struggle with that I don't need to add that one to my list.
Speaker 2:But when I'm MD, I had some really good notes about ADHD and food. So they did note about how you can get distracted, forget to eat things like that. So a few different things that they suggested is making sure that you're focusing on protein when you are eating, so that way, even if you do forget to eat, you've theoretically had more protein either before or after. So that way, some things that were noted were beans, cheese, eggs hint, hint you and other. And then they also listed some other good notes of protein. And then also just making sure that you're doing it prior to medication if you are on ADHD medication, because obviously that can harm your appetite, yeah, but also apparently it when you're eating a higher protein diet, it helps your medication work better. That's interesting, which I didn't really understand, but it makes sense If you think about it. Your, because your, your body, has more fuel. Therefore you can focus, yeah, and so I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker 1:Well, every morning we we always eat eggs for breakfast in the morning, Unless we are out of eggs, and then we eat oatmeal, which is very sugar because it's got like maple syrup and brown sugar, you know, like it's not as great.
Speaker 1:But if I eat eggs for breakfast, usually it's scrambled eggs with some cheese in it, because cheese is life. Yes, if I do that, I can be good At least until lunch sometimes past lunch, you know and I don't get the crash. We talked about this the other day. It's like my husband. He used to eat cereal for breakfast, like a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and then by 9.45, he was so hungry and he was crashing and he would have to have a snack.
Speaker 1:Well, once I forced him to switch to eggs in the morning for breakfast he is good, yes, and he can last all the way until lunch and doesn't have any of the crashing or any of the craving or anything like that.
Speaker 2:They did know. So it's funny that you brought up oatmeal, because I'm I'm driving this episode a little bit, but the fact that you brought up oatmeal, because they do know that oatmeal and other good complex carbs are helpful, though, for us. Yeah, and that's a good fuel for us, because sometimes our sugars can be a little willowonky, and so they noted that. You know, having a good complex carb is in there. And then, of course, gosh bless the Omega, omega three fatty acids. So fish, walnuts, nuts, olive oil, making a salmon, tuna all those good things are also helpful.
Speaker 1:This is a super a so box of mine, but like fat, has been really demonized in our culture. Yes, and it shouldn't be.
Speaker 2:No, it's actually sugar.
Speaker 1:That's the the bad one, and I am very much like fat and protein is what helps keep you full and helps keep you like if you eat. If you eat a bunch of sugar, your blood sugar is going to spike and then it's going to crash.
Speaker 1:Yep, whereas if you eat protein, and fat, as like the main part and then, like those complex carbs that don't spike your blood sugar, you're going to be more level throughout the day than you know. The four Oreos that I ate before I came over here I mean yeah, I, I obviously weren't talking about all these things. We're not good at it. You had four Oreos and I had.
Speaker 2:You know some. You know whatever power bar like it's not. We're not perfect, they're just notes of things that you know when we you know it's the whole thing of striving to be better, not striving to be perfect.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think some of this, like when we have done it or we've been on what's the word? When we've been doing well with this, we've noticed that it helps. Yes, yes, and so it's a lot of. This is just like putting words to things that maybe maybe you listeners have already have noticed, but didn't ever put words to it, and you're thinking, oh, actually, now, when I think back, that makes sense and I have noticed that I just haven't been able to like put it into a thought that or like connect the dots.
Speaker 2:Yes, Absolutely Well, even one of the things that I do. I know some people are like this, some people aren't. I personally am very I mean, obviously I have to be very on top of all of my medications and things like that. But the other thing that I'm generally pretty on top of is also just my vitamins, and if I do not take my vitamins, I am like a weird person. I feel like crap and I take just like B12, vitamin D and you know normal things like fiber, because apparently you know when you're an adult, you have to take fiber so you don't die. But it's just like if I don't take those things and I only take my medication, I feel like a piece of crap. It's horrible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like oh my gosh, vitamin D is a huge one, especially we live in Northern Iowa where there's no sun in the winter. It's horrible. I a couple years ago I had a new doctor and this was before I was ever diagnosed with ADHD and I obviously I had like low energy levels, which was part of this.
Speaker 1:But she tested my vitamin D levels and they were like ultra low. Oh no, Ultra low. So I do take a vitamin D supplement also and I haven't had them tested this year, but last year when they were tested they were like even in the winter they were still normal and it was weird because she even tested them like kind of at the end of summer when in theory they should have been.
Speaker 1:But you know like I like to sit inside on the couch and read books, so now I read books outside in the sun, you do, you do, and I started to garden, and you did.
Speaker 2:Anyway, you started like five gardens We'll, we'll get into a hyper fixation, yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so vitamin D is important. Actually, it's like super important for all cellular functions. Yes, it's. If you need a rabbit hole to go down, go read about vitamin D and how important it is for, like, your entire body to function and then go lay out in the sun like a yeah Lizard.
Speaker 2:Like a lizard. I am okay Generally. I feel like about my quote unquote natural vitamin D of being outside in the sun because I have to walk the dogs and so I'm generally outside, also because, again, I work from home, so I thank God I have to force myself to go outside, but I still even am, I don't care Like I probably take. I think it's like you're, you take one a day or two a day or something like that, and I'm always like I'm going to take the higher end of whatever I'm doing because I don't care. I'm going to do whatever I need to do to be, just so you know.
Speaker 1:Kristin's not a doctor, though, so don't no. Follow the higher end of things is maybe not always the best advice.
Speaker 2:No, it's fine. It's, it's fine. Please, please read the proper descriptions of bottles of things and tell your doctors what you're. Talk to your doctor, my doctor, knows everything that I'm taking. Like I've gone into my my chart and I can see all my like supplements and stuff. It's fine. Rachel's eyes, y'all it was so funny there. That was great. No, it's, it's interesting and it's Again.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things that, like Rachel said, if you can put it into words, of why you maybe feel better sometimes and you don't other times. It might be because of these things. Or I even remember when I was a tutor in college and even these things of making sure you have good protein, make sure you're having good fatty acids, things like that, when I would tell students, hey, make sure, before you go into tests or you're studying, or things like that, make sure you're properly feeding your body, because you know, god bless, no, I was not a healthy college student whatsoever, but especially during finals and things like that, I would try and always make sure I was on top of it as much as possible because I didn't want to feel like a piece of crap during my finals.
Speaker 1:You know, something I've discovered recently Is those salad kits that they have at the grocery store. I love salad. I actually genuinely enjoy eating salads. My bestie, lindsay she's like hates salads and has to force herself. I don't know why. I just like salads, but I absolutely hate making them. I told you just the other day there was a funny meme on Instagram that was like my toxic trait is that I only like salads when someone else prepares them and they cost like $18.
Speaker 1:$16. Yes, it's so true, but those salad kits are really helpful because they taste good and they just have everything right there, however they come. I wish they would make half size baggies, because then you always have like half a bag left, because my husband doesn't always necessarily eat them with me. It would be nice if they had like single serving salad kits. Maybe they do, and I just haven't found that.
Speaker 2:They do at Aldi. Fun fact. Oh well, I need to go to Aldi then. Yeah, you can go to Aldi with me sometime. But no, it's great it's, and finding those little things are always the best. I've found that I do better with salads, particularly if I just have my lettuce pre-done or if I'm cooking the rest of the meal I'll be like, hey, Chase, go prep the salad, so that way, which isn't like hard to do, but I'm generally, you know, tornadoing around the kitchen. That I don't. I'm not focused on a salad, I'm focused on everything else. You watched me make dinner last night.
Speaker 1:I tornado around, I do too, so Spastic is the word I like to use for myself.
Speaker 2:Spastic, I don't know if I don't know. Also, while you did say that you don't feel like you're a good cook, as someone who has eaten your food, I feel like you are a decent cook. I feel like you're a little hard on yourself. So I feel like and maybe this is an ADHD thing, maybe it's that we're harder on ourselves Like once we do finally get the energy to cook, that then, when it doesn't taste exactly the way that we want it to, we're like extra let down.
Speaker 1:I think that's a big part of it right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I don't know what it is about finding recipes, especially online but even other places. Like you, follow the recipe and one I feel like it never takes the amount of time it takes. It always takes like two times longer to cook than it says it should, or it doesn't taste good. And then you went to all this work and it's so disheartening because it's horrible. You know the trick.
Speaker 2:What? You don't ever follow the recipe. You follow the base of the recipe and then you have to go off script.
Speaker 1:That requires cooking skills that I don't have, and just like intuition that you build. And so my bestie, Katie from college. She has that kind of intuition about cooking and I do not Like I don't know what spices go with what and what makes it taste good. I've never learned that. And so I can't not go by recipes, so the only thing I can do is just add more garlic, add more onions, add more salt.
Speaker 2:That's all I got, and cheese and cheese, always cheese, I generally so the I mean, yes, all of those things. I always like to think too about the oil and the butter, or like the fat content, to make sure that that's even. And then the other thing that a lot of recipes leave out or forget, I don't know why, is the acid con context. I think that if you watch Top Chef if you've ever, have you ever watched Top Chef? No, but I should Okay, you should watch Top Chef because one, it's just a really fun cooking show, but two, they, the way that they explain things really helps.
Speaker 2:I've heard that I think the development of things, because there was one time I remember I I always talk about Anna, but I called Anna because I had made a soup one time and I love making Hi Anna, hi Anna. And then there was one soup I made and it was oh, it was a chicken and wild rice and it was. It should have been perfect. And I called her and I was like it doesn't taste right. She's three hours away from me, she cannot taste the soup. And she was like going through the list of everything, and she's like did you add any acid? And I was like no, and she was like do you have any acid? And I was like of course I do.
Speaker 2:Like vinegar yeah, just vinegar. And so I added like one or two tablespoons of red red wine vinegar. Phenomenal soup, amazing 10 out of 10. Yeah, Just completely changes everything so interesting.
Speaker 1:I America's Test Kitchen.
Speaker 2:I wanted to watch them too, because they have this like a gigantic cookbook.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've seen it and they and what they do is they like, go through and they test all these different ways to make things. So they try to find one, the most efficient way to cook it and then the way that makes it come out the best right, and so I've watched a few episodes. But we don't have cable, so it's hard to find.
Speaker 2:Other thing, if you are very into following recipes as well, is reading the comments Like from other people.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah so, because sometimes people will be like, oh hey, I doubled this, or hey, I left this out, or hey, I added this, and then it can help make notes that you don't even have to think about, and then you don't even have to use your brain power for that, it's just somebody else.
Speaker 1:Super secret addition for mac and cheese Kraft mac and cheese classic right, yes delicious. The best way to enhance it is to add a dollop of sour cream. It makes it so amazing, like unreal and a little bit of garlic powder and a little bit of paprika. Yum, it's awesome. That's amazing. Just a fun little tidbit.
Speaker 2:I haven't bought Kraft mac and cheese because we get goodles I don't know if I've talked about this before is because it's a higher protein mac and cheese, because then I can at least apply a protein mac and cheese, we just eat hot dogs with it so honestly that's like one of the other non word.
Speaker 1:That's like processed.
Speaker 2:Well, but you can still get like the higher quality, like kosher hot dogs and all those kinds of things still hot dogs and mac and cheese like the best. Oh, it was a staple as it when I was a kid and college.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, we need to college all the time. Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:For sure. Well, do you have an ADHD moment of the week, Rachel?
Speaker 1:I remembered it while we were talking and now I can't remember it. Let me go back there. What are we talking about this time?
Speaker 2:It's the fact that you're rereading your book series that you made me read.
Speaker 1:No, but I changed it in the middle. I was going to say what it was. Oh, it was something else that came to mind. Oh, man, what was that? This is an ADHD moment. I know, I know this is my ADHD moment. Is that it came into my brain and I couldn't say it because you were talking and it flew the roof? Is that the phrase? I don't even know. It just went out in my brain, man, what was it? I don't know, I don't know what it was.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'll do the one that I already had written down which was that I have been rereading a book series because then the last book comes out on Tuesday. This is Sunday that we're recording, but it comes out on Tuesday. So there was a funny meme on the internet that said how do you find the time to read? And the response was I don't find the time to read. You just have to be able to dodge your responsibilities. And I feel like that is a very good description of my last week, as I've been not doing anything except for plowing through these books, because there were only two, but still they're so good. The book series. By the way, this is not a book podcast, but it's Defy the Night by Bridget Kemmerer, I believe is her last name. Defy the Night, defend the Dawn. The new one is Destroy the Day. Oh, my goodness, you're so hyped. It better be good.
Speaker 1:I was so hyped for the American Royals, the fourth book I know. And it was kind of a letdown.
Speaker 2:So like. I'm nervous and excited and I really hope that the third one is good. That's valid. That's valid.
Speaker 1:So I guess my ADHD moment of the week apart from the one that I can't remember was that I have been doing nothing but reading, yes, Ignoring everything.
Speaker 2:That's where I find that audiobooks can be helpful, because I can still do things when I'm listening to them. But I even then like, yeah, no, I still will completely ignore all responsibilities, exactly. So it ties into the whole food thing. But I really like these like yogurt, like brekkie, breakfast things, and I have, I think, three or four upstairs and I'm starting to get the ick with them and so I'm like freak frick frick, frick frack about that.
Speaker 1:I'm like I don't know, let's save on that one.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and so I'm just going to. I'm trying to figure out. I was thinking about, oh, like, what if I put them into a protein shake? Or what if I eat it as a snack instead of for breakfast or something like that, because I don't want to be wasteful, but Chase doesn't like those, so I can't pawn it off on him, so. But there's also only three, so I'm also going to make note to not purchase anymore. Yeah, to be mindful of it. So that was kind of my ADHD moment of the week.
Speaker 1:I really wish I could remember that one. It was really I know, I know.
Speaker 2:And then things that have made our life easier. Yesterday I spent five hours making homemade pasta with my two other friends. It was so good to share. It was I shared. Yeah, I shared. It was good, it was awesome, it was amazing. We did. We did plain pasta, we did rosemary pasta, truffle pasta and spinach pasta.
Speaker 1:Okay. So now the question, though, is you spent like five hours cooking this pasta. Does it actually save you all that much time versus just like going to the store and buying pasta?
Speaker 2:So I wouldn't think about it as much of like making my life easier. But I want to eat it versus sometimes I feel like and you had fun.
Speaker 2:And yeah, and it was, it was something sociable and it tastes way better. So it just is. So it's so good. And then there will be other times when we make things and it's not as big of a deal. But I mean also for the pasta that we made. Like I'm going to get I had, we had all the pasta. Last night I'm going to get a lasagna and then probably at least four or five other meals out of the other ones.
Speaker 1:If not more, I better be invited for the lasagna. Yeah, I'll invite you for the lasagna.
Speaker 2:It's going to be so good, but I mean between that and also just like the cost is lower, and again the taste is just 10 out of 10.
Speaker 1:It was really good. It was very good and texture was really good too. I feel like the texture was so airy yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's great, so that was really fun and it again. Just sometimes I don't get out of my house, or when I do get out of my house, I feel like I'm then unproductive, and it was a nice like both productive and happy, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, mine ties into food also, because I do not do a very good job of drinking water throughout the day, and so months and months ago, I ended up down the internet rabbit hole of like hydration and electrolytes and all this stuff and I found this brand called LMNT, but I think they're pronounced element Mm hmm, and I was like that's like their whole thing is we need more salt, not less salt, mm. Hmm, you know, a lot of people say, well, salt gives you high blood pressure, and all this stuff.
Speaker 2:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know, but we're not, we're not medical experts.
Speaker 1:We're not doctors and I haven't been down that specific rabbit hole about like the blood pressure and salt, but anyway, so they have these powders, you know that you put into your water and I wanted to try them. And then, like a month or two ago, my chiropractor friend shout out Jake. He just randomly was like, hey, have you ever heard of these? And I was like, oh my gosh, I've been wanting to try them. And he's like, well, I'm a wholesaler now and all I'm trying to like find people because they have a minimum amount every time he orders, and so he's like.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to see who like might be interested and oh my goodness, they are so good, mm. Hmm, kristen doesn't like them.
Speaker 2:I, so the watermelon one was not my favorite. That's what I'm drinking right now. I'm very happy that you are enjoying it. It is amazing. I am a firm believer of we do not yuck other people's yums, but it was not my favorite.
Speaker 2:The lime one, I will say, kind of reminded me I know that you're not a drinker and I'm not as big of a drinker as I used to be when young Kristen made poor life decisions but it tasted kind of like a lime margarita, like the salt and the liveness of it, and of course my brain was like, wow, this would be really good to kill him. But. But no, I did not do that. But no, that was, that was always really, that's always really fun.
Speaker 2:And they are, they're good. I think I think it's important to also just like try things, because I am one of those people that I'm like well, what if you try something and you don't like it?
Speaker 1:But then maybe two years later you do, and I think that's an important part of life to taste change and that's something I've been trying to teach my kids is like you have to keep trying things A lot of times it takes like seven exposures to something before you even decide to keep eating it right Like now that you just love it, but it's like, oh, this isn't bad, I'm going to keep eating it, right and so.
Speaker 2:But I think, depending on how you grew up and what you are exposed to, growing up can change so many things, depending on where you grew up and what the normal things were to eat. Being in the Midwest, we don't really have an abundance of fresh seafood, unless you're getting actual fishing shenanigans happening, and so sometimes when Chase wins, and even then that's not the best fishing.
Speaker 2:And so Chase would be like well, I don't really like seafood. And it was like well, that's cause you're not eating good seafood, but you know, say there was a place in Omaha.
Speaker 1:I do not even know what it was called, but it was like some of the best fish that I've ever had in my life. The other time was in Barcelona.
Speaker 2:Anyway fish is good if it's good, yes, if it is good, and so I think that that's always really fun. And then it's again also just like how people prepare it, how who prepared it, what is it with, like all that kind of stuff. Because we'll see if Cindy is still listening to this, my lovely mother-in-law Hi Cindy, she, it was kind of funny, like when Chase and I were first dating. She'd be like Chase would be like oh, I had this for dinner when not first dating, but you know, in our relationship. And she'd be like but you don't like that and Chase is like I do now Like it. Just, it was so funny to me that she would say that and cause he didn't used to like certain things, but you know, but think about everything else in our life.
Speaker 1:you know the things that we liked as kids and we didn't like as kids have completely changed once you are a teenager, then once you're an adult, and even throughout adulthood, like 10 years ago. I was still an adult. But my tastes are so different now, not just with food, but with everything, you know For sure.
Speaker 2:For sure. And then I have God bless. So Eminem has been on my mind lately. The rapper cause I love Eminem and it was Not Eminem the candy. Eminems are like met to me as a candy. Maybe that's a controversial opinion, but they're met to me as a candy. Unless they're peanut butter Eminems. They're kind of boring. I don't like, I'm not gonna. If I want something sweet and that's what's available, I'll probably eat it. Or if it's in like a blizzard, sure, let's go, yes, let's go, but anyways, no Eminem the rapper.
Speaker 2:And so I was listening to an Eminem rap station on Spotify and I was like, okay, let's see if there's gonna be any new things that come up. And a new song, of course, came up and I liked it and I immediately added it to my favorite list. But it was called Fight Back by Nefx, don't know who. That is Just like with all of my songs on par. It is not an appropriate song for tiny ears to hear, or if you don't want an explicit song, don't listen to it. But it's Fight Back by Nefx and probably not saying it right N-E-F-F-E-X, and it was really great. I was vibing to it, I favorited it and it's gonna be on repeat. It's an early on repeat, so I'm calling it now.
Speaker 1:It sounds like an early hyper fixation.
Speaker 2:Yes, we're in early stages of this song being a hyper fixation. It just had like a solid beat, solid lyrics, and I was like, yes, let's go.
Speaker 1:So mine, this one's kind of a silly one. I had sort of a silly one last week too. My kids and actually I love this song. It's called Big Rock Candy Mountain, but it's a kids version. Okay, just fair warning, there's an adult version. That's not okay, it's not an adult version, but it's like there are different lyrics. Okay, this is like a kids version. It's by Pat Green. It's on the album Deep in the Heart, which is like a bunch of Texas artists I was gonna say Deep in the Heart of Texas.
Speaker 2:That song is on the album.
Speaker 1:yes, it's a fun album. Actually, it's kind of like a lot of folksy. Anyway, big Rock Candy Mountain it's so cute because it has like. One of the lyrics is on the Big Rock Candy Mountain there's a giant rodeo where the Broncos all jump really high and they fall down really slow and it's just like fun kids stuff and so it's so cute. The kids love it. One of the lines is like where the princess rules and the brother drools.
Speaker 1:They're just like it's so cute. If you have little kids, it's so fun to play the juxtapositions of our songs are always my favorite. I know. It's always my favorite Hashtag mom life. Yeah, no, it's either Eric Church or kids songs. Yeah, that's fair, that's fair.
Speaker 2:So no, that's great. I'm so happy. Let us know about your hyperfixation meals or hyperfixation foods. Yes, and have a great day. Love you guys. Love you guys. Love you Rachel. Love you Kristen. Love you too. See you guys. Follow us on Instagram, facebook and TikTok. At Beyond Distracted. Write to us at beyonddistracted at geniemailcom. If you enjoyed us, please submit a review on Spotify, apple Podcast or wherever you listen. Thank you for your support. Produced by Rachel Smith and Kristen Everett. Please talk to your doctor or primary care physician about any medical questions or concerns.
