Simply Ben Glenn | The Simple ADHD Expert

Listen to your body. This is huge. It’s your very own body, and unless the mind transfer that’s so popular in sci-fi B-movies becomes a reality, it’ll be the only body you’ll ever have. Pay close attention to what you’re eating and then record how you feel afterward. Keep a running journal in a notebook or blog. As time goes by, you’ll see the trends and learn from them.

Read those food labels. With two kids at home, I do a lot of grocery shopping. I spend hours reading food labels. While we still don’t exactly know what causes ADHD, it is a well-documented fact that elimination of food additives and refined sugars from the diet of an ADDer definitely has a positive impact on ADHD symptoms (for more info about this check out the Feingold Association). I try my best to buy food that’s clean and free of any weird, funky chemicals.

I’ve also learned over the years of trying to watch my weight that just because something says ‘Light’ or ‘Low-Fat’ doesn’t automatically mean it’s good for you. A lot of low-fat stuff is super high in carbs and sugar and as far as my body goes, both of those are killer. Believe it or not, eating the fatier, low-carb versions actually has a better effect on me.

Of course ideally, I’d love to be able to buy 100% organic food, but where I live (Indianapolis), the variety of organic produce is limited, plus its super expensive. I’m a practical guy and try not to be too compulsive about all this, so I do the best I can; if I can get organic, I do, if not, I try to buy the least processed items I can find.

Strategize your shopping. Here’s a rule of thumb for the grocery store: Shop around the perimeter of the store. That’s where fresh foods like the meats, produce, and fresh baked goods (with more whole grains) are located. The middle aisles are where the processed foods live.  (for years, sometimes).

Don’t fear your caffeine. Because the chemicals inside the brain of a person with ADHD work differently than in those of regular folk, caffeine can have both a stimulating and a sedative effect depending on time of day. In the morning when I drink coffee it has a tendency to pick me up and help me get focused (due to it stimulant effect) and in the evening it has more of a calming effect, actually helping me to wind down and get ready for bed. Might not work for everyone, but definitely works for me. (I’m going to do a separate blog on the subject of Caffeine and ADHD soon.)

Look to the diabetic diet. Several of my relatives have diabetes, and since sugar is an enemy of the ADDer, I’ve used some of their guidelines to help me make better dietary choices. So look for diabetic-approved foods.

Load up with protein in the morning. Instead of sugary cereals and confections, make sure you/your kids get protein – eggs, bacon, sausage, or a protein shake/bar. Protein provides  longer-lasting energy than fast-burning carbs. This is especially important for kids taking meds. They lose their appetites because of the meds, so they need the sustained energy that proteins can give.

I hope these suggestions can help on the road to optimizing your diet for your ADHD. Food is a subject close to my heart, so expect to see more posts about this subject.

To close, here’s a recipe for a simple, delicious smoothie that’s low on sugar and high in protein.

Chocolate-Banana Smoothie (similar to a Starbucks Vivanno)

½ banana (go easy because bananas can be sugary)

8oz 2% organic milk

2-4 packets of Splenda (sugar substitutes are controversial, but my body just responds better to Splenda than sugar)

½ cup ice

1 tbsp cocoa

2 heaping scoops of vanilla protein whey powder

Blend all ingredients. It might take a couple of tries to find your desired sweetness. Once you do, you’re set with a quick, tasty protein blast.

Bon Appetit!

Title: McCormick Tribune Center For Early Childhood Education
Location: Chicago, IL
Link out: Click here
Description: Leadership Conference (registration required)
Date: 2009-05-16

What an awesome event this was! I’m about to run out and hop on a plane for a trip to NYC, but I did want to let you all know how much I enjoyed being a part of your event! I looooooove speaking to educators – it’s fun and gratifying on so many levels. Thank you all for attending and for wanting to be your absolute best. Paula, Donna – you guys are the best! Thanks for making it come togeter. And Lila, that was one of the most moving and memorable intros that I’ve ever gotten – WOW!

Here’s a little clip of our time together; remember: Teachers can make a huge difference in their students’ lives!

God bless you guys!

Educator Conference 09 from Ben Glenn, The Simple ADHD Xpert on Vimeo.

In the arcade were big machines that played games. The very same games that you can now play on your pocket-sized iPod or phone. One such popular game was pinball – you’ve probably seen it. The game is all about keeping a metal ball, the pinball, from rolling into a hole. It can get pretty fast-paced, as there are lots of bumpers and gadgets that make the ball shoot all over the board.

The ADD mind is a lot like a pinball. It’s impulsive, changing directions at lightning-fast speeds and jumping from A to D, skipping over B and C.

My friend and travel partner Larry sometimes has a hard time following my train of thought. Watching me jump from A to D without knowing how to keep up can be extremely frustrating to Larry, a non-ADDer. This can be bad for our friendship and business partnership.

I don’t want my pinball mind to add strain to my relationships, so I try to keep the following in mind and encourage you to do the same:

1. Recognize that that’s how your brain works: There’s no shame in it, and there’s no ON/OFF switch. And because there’s no shame in it, it’s okay to tell people that your brain moves quicker than your mouth can keep up with. A lot quicker. Ask for patience and understanding, but also be okay with being asked to slow down and explain.
2. Learn to keep track of your train of thought: This requires a lot of practice, but it’s well worth the effort! ADDers tend to let the carriage run wild without any control of the reins, to borrow from the Western movie genre, and to take a lesson from Westerns, those carriages are often headed straight toward cliffs – not a good direction to go in. Deliberately track your thoughts to understand how you got from A to D. Why? I’ve found that slowing down and retracing my steps has actually enhanced my creativity because I don’t miss a single turn that my brain takes as it searches for solutions to the questions before me.
3. Think before you speak: Lots of ADDers think/process out loud, and that can be confusing for other people. Listening to what goes through the ADD mind is an experience in chaos – we might start at the North pole and not five minutes later conclude that the South pole is actually where we prefer to be. I try to wait until I have the complete thought before airing it to friends or even an audience of thousands, but if I do catch myself in the middle of a hectic rant, I again try to reassure the person I’m talking to that I’m just processing and to give me a moment to collect my thoughts.

Keep the above in mind and it might help you save your family and friends some major frustration. And that, will help to get us all to a happy place, like the legendary video arcade, together.

Title: W. Carrollton Middle & High Schools
Location: W. Carrollton, OH
Description: Assemblies (Private events)
Date: 2009-05-14

Larry and I drove up to Dayton, the night before, in the middle of a pretty bad thunderstorm with 70 mile per hour winds whipping our car from side to side. That was fun! (not really) I had a really hard time falling asleep at the hotel because the wind and rain made it sound like some dude was driving his souped up John Deere tractor outside my window. It would have been a good time to have some earplugs or something.

I was at W. Carrollton 2 years ago and my painting from that event was still hanging up in the high school cafeteria – cool! I guess I have the high school students to thank for my return visit – thanks for requesting me guys!

It was great to meet the superintendent of the school district, Rusty Clifford! Now here’s a guy who truly has a passion for students, teachers and for providing a positive environment for learning AND teaching.

A special thanks to Connie for making sure that everything was ready for the events; Haley, keep movin’ forward – wishing you a speedy recovery!

Guys, school break is just around the corner – finish strong, okay? and remember: Keep moving forward!

ps. Check out this video of Larry leading a clap-a-thon with the Elementary school kids. Who knew that clapping could be so tricky?

W. Carroltton School District Assembly from Ben Glenn, The Simple ADHD Xpert on Vimeo.

Title: Kankakee County Teen Conference.
Location: Olivet Nazarene University
Description: Teen Conference (Private Event)
Date: 2009-05-12

Life has been hectic to say the least! To get out to the Kankakee County Teen Conference, I got up at 4:30am. Technically I could have slept till 5am, but for some reason my 2 year old thinks it’s fun to get up at 4:30am and play the ‘let’s wake daddy by repeatedly slapping his face in the dark’ game. Kids!

Thankfully, Larry was driving so I was able to sleep the entire 2.5 hour drive.

The conference went great! I kicked everything off with a keynote to the 900 8th and 9th graders who were actually, amazingly awake! After the keynote, the group broke up into a bunch of worskhops and I also did 2 of those. It was nice to have smaller groups to speak to as we could do Q&A and make it more interractive.

I really enjoyed meeting everyone and want to do a special shout out to Shelby and her mom, Karen, fellow ADDers! Shelby’s a writer, putting her wild, ADD imagination to good use. Send me a copy of your book when it’s published, ok?

A big thank you, to our sponsor, Linda! I’m glad that the frame building exercise doubled as laughter therapy for you guys – you did an excellent job by the way!

Last, but not least, I ran into my good friend Steve Troglio, who was one of the other workshop speakers at the conference. Steve and I have known each other for about a  decade, our path crossing at various events. Steve has a phenomenal program for youth – if you’re looking for a great presenter for your next teen event, look Steve up. Tell him I sent you!. Check out his website: CLICK HERE!

After the last workshop, Larry and I packed everything up and headed right back home! Long day, but well worth it!

Title: Kaneland School District
Location: Maple Park, IL
Description: 1p Assembly (Private Event)
6:30p Parent Event (Open to the public)
Date: 2009-04-06

It was great to be back at Kaneland High School yesterday! In the afternoon, I spoke to a large group of 5th and 6th graders who will all be transitioning to a new building next school year. It will be quite a change for most of them, as they leave their small, old schools behind and merge with a bunch of other middle schoolers in the district in a large, new facility. I can see how that could be both exciting and intimidating.  I love speaking to this age group – they have just the right kind of ADHD energy!

The evening presentation was phenomenal! The school had 114 people pre-register to attend, but we ended up with almost 300 people as students dragged their parents to see the presentation. Thanks guys! Appreciate you braving the nasty weather to come out and show me some love!

As always, every event is an opportunity to meet some incredible people who are making a difference in the lives of students and the community. I was really impressed with the kinds of things that Fran Eggleston, the principal at Kaneland McDole Elementary School and also the head of their Special Ed., Programming is doing with their students. One of them is something that I touch on briefly in my book, but it’s the concept of giving kids with Learning Disabilities, even younger kids, an opportunity to have a say in how they can learn better. I think it’s really important to allow some degree of control in a situation where a person may feel like they have no say whatsoever – I wish somebody had asked me what I thought back when I was diagnosed! So, go Fran!

A huge thank you to Christi, the Super Secretary, and your husband for putting together such stellar frames for me. Textbook! And also to Sara Mumm for all your help!

Thanks for having me back, Kaneland. Hope to see you all again in the not too distant future!

Peace!

Title: Chicago School for Agricultural Sciences
Location: Chicago, IL
Link out: Click here
Description: Assembly (private event)
Date: 2009-05-05

I got up at 5am this morning to drive up to do a couple of assemblies at Chicago School for Agricultural Sciences – probably one of the most unique high schools I’ve ever been to!

This is no regular school, but an actual farm! A 70 acre farm to be precise – the school’s campus is the largest farm in the Chicagoland area – how wild is that!? I got to tour the school and had the pleasure of meeting Lucy the pig, the school’s mascot. I was also completely fascinated by the tanks of “home-grown” tilapia – kinda wished I brought my fishing pole – it could have been a good fishing day for me!

The school is super competitive to get into and it really felt like the students took pride in being there. I met some awesome people today: Maggie, Mike, the dude that wants to be, not just any vet, but an International Vet and a few more whose names I just can’t remember!! I’m really, really bad with names, but  I’m great with faces. I might not remember your name, but I’ll know I’ve met you somewhere – does that count?

Lucille, our sponsor, was great to work with and I wanted to thank her for all her hard work in making these events possible.

I hope you guys have a great rest of the year and finish it out strong.

Now I’m off to do some fishing on my mom’s pond in Dixon, IL.

Over and out.

Title: Vincennes Lincoln High School
Location: Vincennes, IN
Description: Assembly (Private Event)
Date: 2009-05-04

Today was definitely one of those days when my own motto of  “keep moving forward” was put to a good test! First, our GPS lady took Larry and I to a location that WAS supposed to be Vincennes Lincoln High School, but was in fact, in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully we were not running late, so we circled around a couple of times and then decided to ask a jogger for directions. I think we scared him. lol He gave us a pretty weird look. I’m guessing that there aren’t too many high schools  in Vincennes.

When we finally found our way to the school, we encountered some unforeseen set-up difficulties that sent us running to the local Walmart. I was getting tense, wondering if we’d have to start the assembly late. (I really, really don’t like to be late!) Good thing that Walmart was not even 5 minutes down the road so I was still able to set up in time to face a VERY energetic crowd. You guys were wired! I kept thinking, “Is today Friday? The day before summer vacation? This group is AMPED!” Turns out it was none of those things; apparently you all were just really happy to be out of class for an hour. Hopefully it was an hour well spent.

I enjoyed meeting all of you and especially Blake, Jonetta, the Senior girls who were our greeters and the art teacher with all those sisters – hope they enjoy the book! A big thanks to Mr. Parsley for bringing me in – hopefully he’ll have me back in a few years.

love, peace and hair grease!

Maybe. Let me think about it and get back to you later.

It’s a phrase that every person with ADHD should memorize, but it’s one that we struggle with. Perhaps we struggle because we tend to be impulsive, people pleasers. It also doesn’t help that we wrestle with the concept of time and how long it takes to do one thing vs another.

The ADHD mind moves fast, and it expects life to keep up. We try to physically match the pace with no success. It’s like windsurfing behind a Ferrari. Which sounds really, really cool, but could hurt really, really bad.
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It’s even worse when someone asks us a favor. We tend to overpromise and overextend ourselves, but the only thing we deliver is disappointment. Reputations get tarnished, and relationships get frustrated.

Before responding to requests and invites, remember to take time before you respond. There’s nothing wrong with giving a “Lemme think about it and get back to you.” It’s the best thing for all involved. Weigh out the situation realistically instead of the usual enthusiastic, high-energy, ADHD-style YES!, which makes people think that it will get done quickly, but that’s not the case at all.

Jim Rohn, the world’s most renowned business philosopher, brilliantly puts it this way:

Whenever you say yes to something, you say no to something else.

So don’t be ashamed to say ‘maybe’. Your friends will understand and they’ll wait for you. Especially if they wanna be your steady.