How Fasting Improves The ADHD Brain Significantly

[00:00:00]This is what fasting really does to ADHD brain and how it can benefit you. So, when we think about the brain itself and when it comes to ADHD, there's several components that are happening chemically to the ADHD brain. The first thing that I think that's really beneficial, it comes down to the fuel source that the brain uses when we're in a fasted state and this is typically going to be when we're about 20 plus hours in fasting.

[00:00:25]And so, the fuel source that it will use and it will switch because the main fuel source that the ADHD brain will use when we're not in a fasted state is using glucose. The thing with glucose is throughout the day, you know, it can be good focus and energy, but then it can go up and down, up and down. So, it's not as reliable as a fuel source, but it can give us those moments of a lot of focus and energy. But the thing is, the fuel source I'm talking about is using fat as fuel.

[00:00:56]But not necessarily fat, it's actually the breakdown of fat and that is the ketone bodies. So, if you have done anything about fasting, you probably heard about ketosis, is that when fat cells are broken down, we then break it down to ketones. Now, when we're using that as a fuel source, we're switching that to the brain. This is where it benefits the ADHD brain greatly, is it causes more consistent focus and energy throughout the day. It's one of my favorite things that I use for my own ADHD to managing it throughout the day because of this very thing, because I can be more dependable. And I find that I just am more consistent with my focus when I'm in a fasted state. Now, the other really beneficial thing about ketones, when we're actually starting to use that more as a fuel source, it helps lower inflammation. So, why is that beneficial? Because the ADHD brain is constantly inflamed because of the poor diets and choices that we've used over our life and it causes inflammation, which causes brain fog, focus issues, it causes to have us be burnt out. So, when we can have fuel source of ketones that help in lower inflammation because of the breakdown of ketones and we're consistently doing it that helps in the long run. Now, if you are wanting to know which kind of fasting styles that you need to to benefit your brain health, just download my free brain fasting guide description below that goes over what kind of fasting styles to implement to benefit your brain the most. A really big reason I like fasting when it comes to ADHD is some new research that have come out that has shown that there's a very particular thing known as BDNF, which is known as brain derived neurotrophic factors increase substantially in a fasted state, especially when we're reaching about that 24-plus hour mark in a fasted state. Now, why is BDNF so beneficial, especially when it comes to ADHD brain?

[00:02:39]Because BDNF helps with neuroplasticity, which helps protect neurons, it helps with growth of neurons, and also brain cells. Think of it as like fertilizer.

[00:02:50]Or Miracle-Gro. In fact, that's what they call it. It's like Miracle-Gro for your brain. And be able to producing and protecting the brain, which then helps with increasing with memory, learning, and focus. So, if we do this on a regular basis, I'm not saying just doing just fasting one time. I encourage a lot of the patients I work with to do fasting at least like once a week, and sometimes even twice a week. That's what I do because of how beneficial it is for helping managing my own ADHD and how it benefits my patients in managing their ADHD. There's been a recent study that came out about fasting that they did amongst animals and how it benefited basically dopamine specifically. And what they found when they did this analysis, when they put them in a fasted state, and typically it was about 30-plus hours, when they put them in a fasted state for that long, they found an interesting thing is that they found that there was an increase in the sensitivity of particular dopamine receptors. Now, why is this so beneficial? Because dopamine receptors are what are receiving the dopamine chemical, so it works effectively, so we're utilizing the dopamine more efficiently. And so, when you're in this fasted state, not only did it increase the sensitivity, but it really helped reset the dopamine process. And so, why would that be beneficial for the ADHD brain? Well, the problem is is usually people with ADHD, they suffer with not necessarily not having no dopamine. We always have dopamine. It's how the dopamine is being utilized, and a lot of times with addictive behaviors, we start having our motivation geared towards the wrong things. So, when we can reset this, it can help us to be more productive and efficient on the things that we want to be more motivated and driven to have a better life outcome.

[00:04:29]Now, a really great thing that fasting has been known, and also won the Nobel Prize, has to deal with autophagy. And why this benefits the ADHD brain significantly is because autophagy, what it means, is self-eating.

[00:04:42]Now, it's self-eating the old dying cells in our system, especially in the brain when there's old dying cells, inflammation going on, oxidative stress, which is really harmful for the ADHD brain. It causes that brain fog and focus issues. So, when autophagy can be used, and it roughly takes about 30 to even to 36 hours before this does turn on, at least from the recent research.

[00:05:05]And what we do know, especially it won the Nobel Prize, is that autophagy increases by 400% in this fasted state.

[00:05:12]So, quite a bit. But the other thing that's really beneficial of why we want this to happen, leads into the next thing. So, whenever we're in this autophagy state, and start to clean the old dying cells, guess what? That leaves room for something that needs to happen, which is regeneration. Because new cells need to be regenerated, but since there was all these old dying cells sitting around and taking up space, when we can remove that and clean that out, then we can create new brain cells, new neurons, new cells even through for our heart cells, muscle tissue, throughout our entire body. But specifically for the ADHD brain, we're regenerating it. And so, it feels like things are new again. Things are refreshed. And we're starting to increasing our memory, our focus, things like this because we're starting to regenerate more frequently when we use something like fasting as a tool. Now, like I said before, if you want to know the specifics on the fasting styles to benefit your brain, then just download my brain fasting guide in the description below, and you'll get all the details on that. Okay, so really beneficial thing also that fasting can do for our ADHD brain is that the gut and the brain are very interconnected.

[00:06:18]In fact, 90 to 95% of our neurotransmitters are made in the gut. So, our brain chemistry. So, it's a big deal to make and sure that our gut is happy and working. And what fasting does is what I call it is the reset button. And so, when we can give our digestive system a break, whether that's 24 hours or 36 hours, it gives our digestive system time to repair, to regenerate cells for it, to start using autophagy to clean out all the old dying cells, even for the digestive system, but it also helps replenish our gut microbiome. When we can replenish that, that can help increase the production of more neurotransmitters. And when that happens, then we're able to start seeing all the benefits, but even more importantly, even reducing inflammation in the gut is going to cause reduction of inflammation in the brain as well.

[00:07:10]Now, if you're really struggling trying to figure out how can I effectively start eliminating these different ADHD symptoms? Because this is one tool, and it's a very powerful tool. But you should watch this video next where I talk about how to eliminate your ADHD symptoms with this three-step process that I use with all my patients. So, watch this video next.