Caitlin Kindred: 0:27

actually have food in my teeth. I feel like I have food in my teeth, oh I don't think so this is an audio show like hi, everyone, we're so glad that you're here.

Caitlin Kindred: 0:43

Welcome to how to be a grown-up.

Caitlin Kindred: 0:44

This is the show for moms who take their adhd meds and then forget to eat until four but then completely destroy the entire pantry, and then have to eat until four but then completely destroy the entire pantry and then have food in their teeth, like I do right now. That voice you hear is Arielle Amanti. She's the author of Roots and Ink and she's a warm chocolate chip cookie with a side of brilliant ideas.

Ariella Monti: 1:07

I love chocolate chip cookies.

Caitlin Kindred: 1:09

There really is something in my teeth, I can feel it. Anyway, today we are talking about ADHD and food because, as much as I love chocolate chip cookies, there really is something in my teeth. I can feel it. Anyway, today we are talking about ADHD and food because, as much as I love food, and you love food and we all love food, sometimes it's just too hard to do anything but grab a handful of goldfish and a slice of watermelon and call it good, that's my meal.

Ariella Monti: 1:27

You're eating fruit with the watermelon, tahini and lots of tahini. Watermelon break is key. Yeah, that's a complete meal break there. I completely agree, it's very hydrating.

Caitlin Kindred: 1:38

Variety of flavors Umami. Before we do that, are you following us on social media? You should be, because that's where all the cool kids are wasting their time. You can find the show at CK and GK podcast Ck and gk podcast on all of your favorite social media channels, except for twitter, because that's there's a hard pass on twitter these days. X, whatever it's called, don't care, yeah. And you can find ariela at ariela underscore monty m-o-n-t-i on threads or instagram and on tiktok. So go do that. While you're listening to us talk about adhd and food, let's do this all right.

Ariella Monti: 2:14

so our sources for today are a plethora of places nice, um, including attitude magazine, which we've used self at magazine had a really good article on adhd and the Instagram for the ADHD dietitian, cleveland Clinic and some other more science-y minded and focused websites. So just as a contact warning before we get into it, I want to let our listeners know that we can't really talk about ADHD and food struggles without touching on eating disorders. It's not going to be the bulk of our conversation, but it is going to come up. If you suspect that you have an eating disorder or you want help with disordered eating, please contact a board-cert certified health professional. Neither one of us are those people are that.

Ariella Monti: 3:14

No.

Caitlin Kindred: 3:16

And a therapist would be good to like both. Both in your pocket would be great to have. That's not us.

Ariella Monti: 3:22

Yeah. So if this is not an episode, if, if you, if conversations about eating disorders is a, or disordered eating is a trigger for you, your mental health comes first, so we will not be upset if you just turn everything off and go take care of yourself. With that said, dopamine and food Dopamine is is a wonderful thing and I wish we had more of it, literally.

Caitlin Kindred: 3:56

Ultimately, here's what I learned the other day. I'll find the video and send it to you. It's by a mom who has neuro spicy children and she was saying that she was very concerned about medicating her child. She was learning about what medications would be best for their ADHD journey. And the doctor is like I think people need to stop thinking of medicine for ADHD the way that as like a control, as a hampering.

Caitlin Kindred: 4:23

It's really not what it is Medication ADHD. What's lacking is dopamine, which wakes your brain up. Right. It's not that your brain is overactive or whatever. It's that your brain is dopamine which wakes your brain up, right. It's not that your brain is overactive or whatever. It's that your brain is sleepy so you can't focus on what you need. So it's really really interesting to think of medication as a. That's why caffeine helps, because it wakes your brain up. There's all these things, but dopamine. I hadn't thought of that way and I realized that I just completely interrupted you as you were starting our topic for today, but I thought it was fascinating to think of it as dopamine is a neurotransmitter that wakes your brain up, like. How fascinating is that?

Ariella Monti: 5:04

Oh, anyway, yeah, and medication would be like store-bought dopamine. If you don't make it yourself, store-bought is fine. You don't make it yourself store-bought is fine.

Caitlin Kindred: 5:13

Better living through pharmacology anyway.

Ariella Monti: 5:17

So people with ad, people with adhd they lack appropriate levels or, if you think of it as like a supply of dopamine, and this is, like we said, a neurotransmitter that regulates basic aspects of our existence, so executive function, working memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, and so when we lack the appropriate levels of dopamine, we also lack the ability to exist functionally Finish our sentences.

Ariella Monti: 5:56

Finish our sentences Exactly so we're constantly chasing dopamine, and food is a way we can temporarily increase dopamine. We can kind of, if you think of it as a well, like a well, like a water well where you get water, if you think of it as a well sorry, I'm good, I'm done with this metaphor because it is not working anyway, rewind and go, okay. Anyway. So food is a way we can temporarily increase our dopamine.

Caitlin Kindred: 6:55

And generally when we need more dopamine, we crave carb-rich foods or foods that have some kind of strong sensory experience like crunchy, salty or sour. I have heard of sugar also being because, like, especially processed foods have like high levels of sugar. So I've heard of people with adhd craving having higher sugar cravings than other people too, so that would make sense.

Ariella Monti: 7:06

Yeah exactly so like that, the carb rich. So when they, when they talk about carb rich, they're kind of talking about like they're talking about it in a very like general, like sugar sort of form.

Caitlin Kindred: 7:19

Yes, okay, got it.

Ariella Monti: 7:21

Not just like breads and stuff like, yes, breads, but also, yeah, like anything that is like high in sugar, so I guess, like ice cream would be a good one one. It's got carbs in it because it's got sugar in it. Yeah, um. So, caitlin, yeah, what are some of your dopamine boosting foods?

Caitlin Kindred: 7:43

uh, nerds, gummy clusters, anything sour, I, I love sour skittles. Give me all the red number five. I love hot tamales, she says, as she ingests carcinogens. I really anything sour. But I also I really I love like anything with like a salty, like key lime, or spicy, like an intent, like tahini is like one of those things. That kind of flavor is just really, really good to me. So if there's like tortilla chips with that sort of lime and salt flavor, I will. I'll go for those too.

Ariella Monti: 8:23

Yeah, yeah, I'm the opposite in that. I sweet to salty. Yeah, sour is sour, is very specific, like it's. It's the thing I I eat when I'm on road trips most often. So if I'm in the car, I will, and I'm going to be in the car for a while, regardless if I'm driving or if I'm a passenger. I always want, like sour patch watermelons or something like that. Yes, those are my favorite. Those are my favorite. Otherwise, mine tend to be like Welch's fruit snacks are a big one for me.

Ariella Monti: 9:09

Cookies especially soft baked ones, any kind of bread, pre-diagnosis, pre-adhd diagnosis and appropriate medication. I had phases in college where I was just plowing through boxes of multigrain Cheerios, like yeah, I would just eat bowls and I don't drink milk. So it was just like bowls of dry cereal and slices of Wonder Bread, like straight from the bag.

Caitlin Kindred: 9:40

Yeah, cereal with no milk, like just straight cereal, I know.

Ariella Monti: 9:45

I can do that as like a snack.

Caitlin Kindred: 9:47

I can do that, but I couldn't just like eat it in a bowl. But I have no. You know, what else I really love is crispics, or like corn checks. But that was something that I would often gravitate towards because it was easy. Yeah, yeah.

Ariella Monti: 10:04

Anyway, definitely, definitely, yeah, so there are some common food struggles amongst people with ADHD. What would you say are your biggest food-related ADHD struggles?

Caitlin Kindred: 10:19

Definitely like well, I mean I will hyperfixate and forget to eat, which is a problem, and then I'll end up hangry and I feel my brain start to hurt and my blood sugar crash. So that's one big one. Any kind of preparing of food, so like if I buy grapes from the store I have to wash them, and like pull them off the vine immediately after I get them home, otherwise they will sit in that bag because I don't want to get them out and prepare them. It's not even hard, I just it's too in my mind. It's too much work to do that and then, like.

Caitlin Kindred: 10:59

certainly, just eating healthfully is a big issue for me. I'd rather go for the sugar or what's easy, the prepared protein bar or something like that that I don't have to put together Just because, again, it's the preparation of something is a really big hurdle for me yeah, absolutely.

Ariella Monti: 11:17

And those are the same things that I struggle with, like putting off eating until I'm starving because I'm hyper focused on a thing and I'm always like, oh, just like another five minutes, and then 45 minutes goes by, and then, once I do finally get to eat, I am so overwhelmed by the thought of having to prepare myself something that I just binge eat fruit snacks, yeah, or I throw you know frozen mozzarella sticks in the air fryer and eat those, like because that is like all I can muster up, manage yeah, that's all I have.

Ariella Monti: 12:01

It's all I can muster to do yeah, yeah, um, and like all these episodes and adhd that we've been doing there, we've been focusing on like certain hallmarks of ADHD and the same impairments that we have with like creativity show up in our challenges with food. So hyper focus is a big one, focused on what we're doing, that we don't notice our, our body's hunger cues, um, and this is where medication can. All this is one of the downsides of medication would be the appetite suppressant part of it.

Ariella Monti: 12:42

So now we're not hungry because of our medication if we're on it, but then we also. Maybe once we do start finally feeling hungry, we don't notice it until like we're ready to set the house on fire because we're starving or cry like one or the other.

Caitlin Kindred: 13:02

That's my usual go-to is the crying Like.

Ariella Monti: 13:05

I don't understand why I'm not okay and like put a snack in front of me and I'm like, I'm so much better now okay and like put a snack in front of me and I'm like I'm so much better now, exactly, exactly, oh, dear, okay, um, and then just the the trouble from, of transitioning from what we're doing to eating something, so like just the ability to go from one task to another that transition time and you know this hyper focus and these issues with hyper focus can lead to just completely skipping meals or binge eating, or both skipping a meal and then binge eating and then nutrient deficiencies that are related to that.

Ariella Monti: 13:52

So if you are skipping a meal and then binging, you know, chips just to get something into your body and then like forgetting to eat again, caitlin, because now you're not hungry, and you get stuck like doing a thing, because now you're not hungry and you get stuck like doing a thing.

Caitlin Kindred: 14:17

And now, like you know where are your vitamins, and like you can only subsist on chips for so long you don't have them.

Ariella Monti: 14:35

This can kind of look different for everybody, but it's the constant seeking of stimulation that food gives us.

Ariella Monti: 14:38

So that's where we were kind of talking about, like the sensory experience of food. So the crunchy, the salty, the sour, all of that sensory experience can give us a little boost of dopamine, but it's the not slowing down to kind of assess how our mind and our body is feeling. So think about it like you've had a big dinner and you're already super full, but somebody puts down a plate of the like most perfect chocolate chip cookies like you've ever seen like the otis spunkmeyers that are all warm oh see, I don't think those are the best one well, but there was whatever, whatever those ones were in high school, where they would like heat them up for you and then you could.

Caitlin Kindred: 15:26

Maybe this is just ours. Those are what I'm talking about. Those weren't otis spunkmeyer? Those are were something else.

Ariella Monti: 15:31

So my school district that I went to, they think they used to like make their cookies like from scratch and like bulk, but like make their cookies from scratch and they were literally the greatest cookies I've ever had in my life.

Caitlin Kindred: 15:46

I think about those regularly, yeah, yeah.

Ariella Monti: 16:05

Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. Paying attention to your body telling you hey, if you put another cookie inside of me I will vomit, so you just keep it's the eating, kind of without thought you know Well, and you're fixated on the flavor.

Caitlin Kindred: 16:28

Like the flavor is what's giving you the happy feeling. Or like the texture, whatever it is, that's what's giving you the happy feeling. Or like the texture, whatever it is, that's what's giving you the happy. And so that's what you're seeking out. But you're not.

Ariella Monti: 16:38

But it's so strong that you're also unable to process your stomach, telling you, please, lordy, no more like yeah, exactly, exactly, okay, all right um, and so that can lead to binge eating and it can also lead to feeling out of control around food, like if you know that you do that it can really start to wear on your own mental health and your anxiety. So now you might start feeling like anxious around food because you feel impulsive around it.

Caitlin Kindred: 17:16

That also makes me think of like the shame like everyone else stops at one cookie but I need to have four, and like how embarrassing is that.

Ariella Monti: 17:26

Like that's where. That's another one that I Okay, all right, exactly, executive dysfunction. So this is the hallmark. This is the big one. Yeah, this is the big one. Yeah, this is the big one. So trouble organizing tasks, regulating our emotions, setting and sticking to schedules. We also we struggle with multi-step task, like tasks like food prep or even following a recipe like how many?

Caitlin Kindred: 17:54

recipes have we you know just, or like, started without having all the ingredients. I do that a lot.

Ariella Monti: 18:02

Yeah, that was that's probably my biggest issue around it or like yeah anyway, yep yep you know how many times I've like made I've started making macaroni and cheese like boxed macaroni and cheese, got like the water boiling the pasta in and I find that I don't have like butter, yeah, or I don't have milk, and like, all right, I guess, I guess we're gonna just wing it here, you know, and then then the food doesn't have that same like now. It's disappointing, and it doesn't have that same like dopamine.

Caitlin Kindred: 18:42

That's what I was gonna say. Like now and I I have been there and the food doesn't taste as good. The other thing is I'm very thankful that we live very close to a grocery store, like across the street basically across a busy street, but still across the street because I will start to get really down on myself when I forget an ingredient and my sweet husband will be like do you need me to run across the street?

Ariella Monti: 19:06

Do you need me to go get?

Caitlin Kindred: 19:07

this right now. No, you don't have to Like crying and he's like okay, I'll be right back and 10 minutes later I have what I need Like bless him, yep.

Ariella Monti: 19:18

Yes, yep, it happens all the time. The big one that I would do, and can continue to do, is forgetting to take meat out of the freezer.

Caitlin Kindred: 19:31

All the time, all the time, every time, or forgetting to turn on the crock pot. That's the other one.

Ariella Monti: 19:41

Or starting the crock pot too late. Yes, not taking prep time into it. You're like I've got time but you forgot to like add the the hour of prep time, of like cutting stuff and all of that.

Caitlin Kindred: 19:57

like yeah, yeah that all the yep, that is time management all of that yeah yeah, right, right.

Ariella Monti: 20:05

So this leads to science experiments in the fridge of all the produce that you bought just to die in your refrigerator. So much, so many, so many. It's a little bit better now that we have chickens, so like we can throw them stuff before it, you know.

Ariella Monti: 20:27

So, like we can throw them stuff before it, you know. Overwhelm while grocery shopping and getting lots and lots of takeout which you know is a symptom of your adhd impacting your food making decisions, um, and then the emotional dysregulation with it that can perpetuate kind of other cycles. So like skipping, skipping meals because it's all too much, but then just binge eating after that or think about how when you're, when you're hangry, like it's made the hanger that I've.

Caitlin Kindred: 21:21

when I compare, like my husband's hanger to my hanger or my son's hanger, they're very, very different. He's not an ADHD person and my son and I are. And that emotional dysregulation I feel like it takes even longer to come down from one, because we already feel it more intensely anyway, but then you add to it that we haven't eaten or we haven't wanted to eat, and then the medication wears off and now we're starving and there's so much more that goes into that other thing. That's really interesting. You know, what else I just thought about too, like that's related to kind of all of this, is.

Caitlin Kindred: 21:58

I was thinking about the hyper fixation piece. Have you I'm sure you've done this have you ever hyper fixated on a particular food, like, like on a type of? And then you eat it and you eat it, and you eat it and it's the only thing you want, and you eat it every day for like months and then, all of a sudden, you're like sick of it, like yes, that that to me, like when your fallback food, like when the food you've been relying on, stops being what you want, there's, there is a piece of that that is coming in. That's not related to like any one of these things you've talked about so far, but I feel like they're all kind of it does sort of fit into each one of those categories somehow, yeah, anyway, definitely Like.

Ariella Monti: 22:40

Yeah, that's how it was for a lot of foods for me and the it, the, the frustration and the anxiety that you can feel when that back, that backup food and that safe food is no longer a safe food and then you need something to replace it, and it's just like this psych, it's just this like period of time where you're just sitting there wondering what you're going to eat, right, because the thing that you had for lunch every single day for months, like is no longer appealing.

Caitlin Kindred: 23:21

Right, and I would think that that is a kind of disordered type of eating, honestly, like just this heavy reliance on this one type of food. It's like the one thing you can control in your life is this you know, your little cup of grapes or your little cup of almonds or whatever it is that you have every single day and you just can't function without it. And then when all of a sudden you can't stand the sight or the smell or the texture or something ruins it and then, yeah, it just doesn't feel healthy to fixate on a food like that necessarily.

Ariella Monti: 23:56

Yeah, yeah, and it's definitely tied. I agree that it's likely tied to probably the hyper fixation part of it, but anxiety Possibly, even yeah, and the anxiety that comes with with ADHD as well.

Caitlin Kindred: 24:15

Anyway, that it seems like a dysfunction, it seems like a disordered eating to me. It just made me think of it, but please continue, continue.

Ariella Monti: 24:26

Skipping meals Speaking of disordered eating people with ADHD, so let me backtrack a little bit doesn't cause eating disorders. There are overlapping symptoms that suggest that ADHD contributes to eating disorders. Oh, interesting, yeah. So research shows that people with ADHD are nearly four times as likely as those without the condition to develop an eating disorder. So one does not cause the other, but they are correlated. There is a strong correlation and the overlap is there that would make the likelihood of one with the other stronger.

Caitlin Kindred: 25:31

That's fascinating and I would wonder, like I wonder, what the research would indicate about people who are diagnosed with ADHD versus the ones who aren't, and what the? Difference looks like, because to me, a lot of of eating disorders they're not specific to women, they're not unique to women. We know men suffer from eating disorders as well. However, you do hear about them more commonly, with women who are under diagnosed with adhd. So that I didn't. That would be fascinating to find out for me yeah, I did not.

Ariella Monti: 26:11

I didn't come across anything like that when I was researching, but I wasn't specifically looking for it, so it's entirely possible that it's there. I think there is a lot more emerging science between, like, adhd and the like, the connection to like literally everything. Um, yeah, and I think this connection between eating disordered or disordered eating and adhd because there is such a strong correlation. If we can get people in office who like to pay for science, maybe we'll see more science. That would be great. But anyway, um, specifically like, specific examples of what I I did find is that, say, for people with anorexia, emotional dysregulation can fuel the negative emotions and self-talk that leading to believing that people won't love you unless you're perfect and look perfect. So it's the emotional dysregulation part of ADHD that can exacerbate or fuel the negative emotions that all the people who have anorexia are already experiencing. Interesting, and then kind of yeah, kind of on the flip side of that, impulsivity is strongly connected to binge eating disorder yeah, I mean that's.

Caitlin Kindred: 27:46

That's all you have to say about that one.

Ariella Monti: 27:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, additionally, adhd can contribute to struggles with managing chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which we know we do. Have research that shows us that people with ADHD are more likely to have these two types of chronic illnesses, like. I have type 2 diabetes and I'm pretty sure that you know skipping lunch and binge eating mozzarella sticks and fruit snacks is not helping my blood sugar.

Caitlin Kindred: 28:20

So I mean fair Also, though, like it's just that's a it's a lot to manage all at once, right, and that just makes the executive dysfunction worse because you're just it's so much to manage all at the same time. In addition to your regular executive dysfunction, now you also have to think about what you eat in a specific kind of way, Like it's just a lot Right.

Ariella Monti: 28:43

Yeah, and I think I started noticing. I started noticing more of a change in the way practitioners deal with ADHD and chronic illness kind of in the last couple of years, because there are a lot of, you know, general practitioners that just are not well versed enough in ADHD and they'll be like diet and exercise and it's like okay, cool, but I have all of these issues kind of standing in my way from making diet and exercise accessible to the way that our medical professionals wish it would be. So if you are experiencing chronic illnesses or an eating disorder that is exacerbated by ADHD, my recommendation is to reach out to clinicians who are well-versed in ADHD and its effects on diet, who are well-versed in ADHD and its effects on diet, and, very important, to look for specialists who are board certified and have advanced degrees in whatever they specialize in. Because when it comes to ADHD and it comes to nutrition, there are a lot of people out there who don't have any of that specialized education and it can just be really, really bad.

Ariella Monti: 30:16

In the US, I'm pretty sure it's broadly across the US that a registered dietitian is a board-certified medical specialist. Sometimes states have different kind of terminology for different titles, but I'm pretty sure that in the US, a registered dietitian is a board-certified specialist throughout the country. A nutritionist, on the other hand, is kind of an. It has a lot of. It's a very ambiguous title. So a nutritionist might be a board certified specialist in something, or they might just be an MLM hun who took a weekend training in Tampa or something and now can call themselves a nutritionist.

Caitlin Kindred: 31:08

I was going to put a word of caution out there. I'm sure you would agree that the social media nutritionist is not, or even dietitian, until you have a way to verify their certification. Getting ideas from them is one thing, but please take those ideas to someone who is reputable and is licensed and certified, and do not take all of your advice from Instagram or TikTok or anything like that. There was some trend that I heard the lemon water trend. Have you heard of this? It's going around on TikTok. It's like people putting lemon in their water. Now, there's nothing wrong with lemon water, but like having it be the only thing you're drinking all the time Lemon is highly acidic.

Caitlin Kindred: 31:53

It is eroding people's teeth at a rapid rate, and then you have this push to eliminate fluoride from drinking water. But also people are using fluoride free toothpaste, which is not good for you because fluoride strengthens your teeth. So now you have this epidemic of people literally eroding their teeth away with lemon water because they're like I've never felt so good. It's because you're drinking water. It's because you're drinking water. It's not because you're drinking lemon water. It's because you are putting water into your body. Drinking lemon water it's because you are putting water into your body. So just don't take your ADHD food advice only from the internet. Look at reputable websites like Attitude Mag, psychology Today. These are great sources to get information about this, and then when you need additional help which you very well may please seek out someone who is certified and reputable. At the very least, talk to your primary care physician first and get sources from them. They can at least guide you in the right direction or give you a referral or something like that.

Caitlin Kindred: 33:04

Okay.

Ariella Monti: 33:04

Yeah, absolutely.

Caitlin Kindred: 33:07

Let's take a break. Next week, we're going to talk about all the ways to kind of manage this, tips and tricks to get yourself back on track if food is something that you struggle with as an ADHD person. For now, though, we'll take a quick break. We'll be right back. Hey y'all. Pov you find a diary exposing forbidden magic, and the hot museum caretaker's life depends on you burning it. Roots Ink. The debut novel by Ariella Monti is the fantasy romance for rebels. Use promo code CKANDGK to get 20% off your copy at AriellaMonticom. Again, that's all caps C-K-A-N-D-G-K for 20% off on AriellaMontecom. Get your copy for 20% off today. Stinking lemon water. What is wrong with people? Don't do that to yourself.

Ariella Monti: 34:09

Because those people are probably selling special lemon water or special water bottles for the lemon water and they're just trying to make, you know, more money, Like you're drinking water with like electrolytes or something in it, just have like a half a cup of Gatorade and call it good, don't do that to yourself.

Caitlin Kindred: 34:29

Anyway, okay, we are back. We are back now and let's talk about what we are currently hyper fixated on.

Ariella Monti: 34:42

Give me, I am currently hyper fixated on the book that I am reading. It's ritual income by bl brown um, who is a friend of mine. She's a fellow author in the north carolina area, uh, and I have been staying up way too late reading it, so I am tired, like I'm not enough sleep.

Caitlin Kindred: 35:09

What is the book?

Ariella Monti: 35:10

about. It is a urban fantasy romance, okay, witchy urban fantasy romance for people who enjoy, I would say, paranormal romance with witches and cryptids and vampires and overarching bureaucratic overseen by like what does it remind me of it? It sort of reminds me of supernatural, okay, but if there was some kind of like bureaucratic government that sort of controlled all of the creepy crawlies and vampires and witches and stuff that kind of just existed in like in the united states that, like sam and dean winchester, would like go and kill, um, it's giving Volturi from Twilight a little bit, but the bureaucratic piece is what you just reminded me of, like the.

Caitlin Kindred: 36:14

You know what I'm talking about.

Ariella Monti: 36:15

You know the Volturi did you read Twilight.

Caitlin Kindred: 36:17

I did.

Ariella Monti: 36:18

I read the first one and I hated it oh, incorrect, incorrect.

Caitlin Kindred: 36:24

Um, I loved it, do you? But also the way you just like listed off all these mythical creatures. There's that episode of parks and rec where they read twilight and it becomes like a whole thing and donna's like, oh, I'm into everything with beasties, zombies, vampires. She talks about how she had a minute with robert pattinson he'd forget all about. She talks about how she had a minute with Robert Pattinson and he'd forget all about Kristen, whatever that was the vibe you just gave.

Caitlin Kindred: 36:50

If you don't know what I'm talking about. Go look up the episode. It's in like season three, I think, but it's the one with Will. Oh God, what is his name? His name's not Will. Anyway, it doesn't matter, it's the guy who plays Kelly the Parks and Rec guy who's into Twilight.

Ariella Monti: 37:13

I can't remember he was on SNL, oh my God.

Caitlin Kindred: 37:15

He played the last man on. Earth. Oh my God, this is going to drive me nuts. I'm going to look this up right now because I can't handle it. Last man on Earth, the last man on earth, who was it? Will Forte. It was Will. I was right it was Will Forte. He plays the guy who is the yeah, yeah Anyway.

Ariella Monti: 37:36

Oh, now I remember, okay, I remember this episode now. Yeah, yeah, okay, it's all coming back, beasties, zombies, it's all coming back, beasties, zombies, it's all coming back.

Caitlin Kindred: 37:43

And then, yeah, you have Tom like obsessed with it. Yeah, it's just really funny. Anyway, yeah, that's what you were giving.

Ariella Monti: 37:48

It's yeah, it's a very, it's a very good, it's a very good book, All right.

Caitlin Kindred: 37:53

And it's a series. So I'm thankful that, so you get to have more.

Ariella Monti: 38:00

Yeah, you. This is. The downsides of being an author is that most of your friends are authors and you read their books and they suck you in with their good books.

Caitlin Kindred: 38:15

I don't think that's a bad thing to be sucked in by a book, because my current hyper fixation is catching up on laundry, so I'd rather be into what you do.

Ariella Monti: 38:26

It's bad when you don't have time and money, and then you end up staying up on laundry, so I'd rather be into what you're doing.

Caitlin Kindred: 38:29

It's bad when you don't have time and money. Oh yes, and then you end up staying up all day and you want to buy the books.

Ariella Monti: 38:31

I get it.

Caitlin Kindred: 38:31

I got you.

Ariella Monti: 38:32

I see what you're saying, Right right, right, but I should also be catching up on laundry, because it has been sitting in the corner of my bedroom for a very long time now I.

Caitlin Kindred: 38:44

I feel like I can't stop doing it. Not that I have it's, it's not that I need to do it. It's, you know, it's not like oh, there's laundry and I need to get it done. It's not like that. It's like what can I pick up off the floor, what? What blanket needs to be washed? And I just start, I'm just picking it up and throwing it in it. It's like I, you know, I don't know what it is, but I've just been like I need to, I need to do it. I need I need to do it because it's satisfying a dopamine hit or something. To fold it all or put it all like have it done. I don't know what it is, but it's something and it's just.

Ariella Monti: 39:19

It's really it's really getting to me. I feel like I need that. Can you like pass a little bit of that to me?

Caitlin Kindred: 39:25

I need there's so much that I would give away if I could. If you needed a little extra, I have. There's a lot of extra things on my body that I'd be willing to give away for fixation. Number of times I told my friends who are part of the IBTZ if they need a little, something extra, I will happily donate to them. If you know. You know, yep, okay, did you get anything done? The book.

Ariella Monti: 39:55

I finally finished my novella Yay. And sent it to my beta readers.

Caitlin Kindred: 40:02

Oh yeah, and I saw the first chapter of the one you sent out in, of what you sent out in your email newsletter too.

Ariella Monti: 40:10

Yeah, yeah, that was awesome yeah, yeah, I'm so excited I have been trying to get this, this thing, revised, and it has been on the back burner for one reason or another. Some of it was like traveling, some of it was just it being summer and the kid not being in camp. Yeah, um, but I finally, I finally got it done and sent it to my beta readers, and so now it's their problem.

Caitlin Kindred: 40:37

Um, it'll be yours, I can ignore it yeah, it'll be my problem in a month.

Ariella Monti: 40:43

And then I sent, then I sent it to my editor and it's her problem. Yep, yeah, so I'm glad I finally got that done. Yay, that's exciting. It was stressing me out, yeah, so.

Caitlin Kindred: 40:56

Well, again my task is catching up on laundry. That's all I've gotten done. I'm just kidding, I'm just knocking it out Like just finishing it up. Get putting things away Like bolt. You know, I we the way that we do laundry in our houses. We have a basket on top of the dryer for each one of us and all the clothes get put into that basket at least, and the grownups have to go take their baskets and put them away at their own. If you want to, if you want to live out of your basket, that's fine, because as long as it's not taking up space in the dryer, I don't care. Like do what you. You know what I mean, do what you want with it, but I'm those the basket for some people in this house, not me. One other person is powering like the t-shirts are like leaning because I've just been knocking it out. Man, just getting as much of it done as I can. So that's me getting things done. Only that thing that there you go.

Ariella Monti: 41:55

But you know what I, when I do finally get like my laundry put away and stuff, like it is so much easier and so much less stressful to get like dressed in the morning, when, like you don't have to dig through a laundry basket looking for underwear, like you can just go to the spot where your underwear belongs and just grab a pair.

Caitlin Kindred: 42:16

Yeah, uh, yeah, oh well, and my laundry room. You've, you've been to my house so you know like I have three very large windows in the main, the front hallway of my house, and I have to walk past them to get to the laundry room, and the number of times that I have run past those windows not completely covered up is an infinity. So I just having my clothes, my laundry, put away is so satisfying it does all the good. That's a dopamine hit for sure, definitely. Yeah, yeah, all right, I agree. Well, I'm jealous. Here you can have, here, take some of my laundry energy. Yeah, yeah, there you go, all right.

Caitlin Kindred: 43:00

Well, let's, let's wrap this. And again, like I said, if you're not subscribed to us on your favorite podcast app, you should do that now, because next week we're talking about all the ways to manage those food and ADHD issues that go hand in hand. So, some tips and tricks to help you not be hangry and to manage those impulsivity and other executive dysfunction issues. So, as Jenny would would say, make good choices, have only one handful of gummy nerd clusters, not two or three or seven. And uh, caitlin and love, you mean it. Bye, bye.