“Junk food as a reward” is something every expert I’ve ever heard talk about it says is a terrible idea, and I don’t think this is unique to ADHD (just probably exacerbated by it). More generally, “Food as a reward” undermines healthy eating.
That brushes up against “well then when should I eat junk food? never?”, and that’s something I can’t tell you. The most balanced mindset might be to treat it like many treat alcohol – both poison to your body – and eat something junky occasionally when you’re out with friends or just want to relax one night.
But tying it into “I earned this” is detrimental psychologically, even if it feels natural to gate junk food behind effort so you (in theory, rarely in practice) don’t overconsume. Imagine if you gave yourself a shot of whiskey every time you finished x amount of work.
“Junk food as a reward” is something every expert I’ve ever heard talk about it says is a terrible idea, and I don’t think this is unique to ADHD (just probably exacerbated by it). More generally, “Food as a reward” undermines healthy eating.
That brushes up against “well then when should I eat junk food? never?”, and that’s something I can’t tell you. The most balanced mindset might be to treat it like many treat alcohol – both poison to your body – and eat something junky occasionally when you’re out with friends or just want to relax one night.
But tying it into “I earned this” is detrimental psychologically, even if it feels natural to gate junk food behind effort so you (in theory, rarely in practice) don’t overconsume. Imagine if you gave yourself a shot of whiskey every time you finished x amount of work.
A line of cocaine for every completed task!
sigh
Who let Elon in here?
Shouldn’t the cocaine come before the task so you can focus tho?
First task is to prepare a nice line.
Or: How a dealer becomes a customer