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Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas

@drmiguelmateas

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Nourishing your body, brain & nervous system 🌱
Clinical Neuroscientist
Curiosity • Capacity • Kindness
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I’m a neuroscientist and DJing gives my brain one seriously good workout 💅🏾🎧🧠

DJing itself hasn’t been studied nearly as extensively as playing a musical instrument, so I’m not going to claim that spending a few hours behind the decks will magically “boost your brain”. But think about what’s happening up there while you mix.

🧠 Your auditory cortex is separating competing streams of sound.
🎧 Your prefrontal cortex is helping you juggle attention and working memory.
🧠 Your cerebellum is involved in predicting rhythm and fine-tuning timing, while auditory and motor networks work together as you turn what you hear into precisely timed movements.
🎧Meanwhile, you’re learning tracks, remembering what works together, anticipating phrases, making rapid decisions and constantly detecting and correcting tiny errors.

That combination brings together auditory processing, executive function, temporal prediction, memory and sensorimotor learning. Many of these same broad systems are recruited when we learn and play musical instruments.

And there’s another reason I love it, everyone’s favourite buzzword: neuroplasticity. Learning a genuinely new and challenging skill gives the brain repeated opportunities to adapt, refine its networks and become more efficient at what you’re asking it to do.

I started DJing a long time ago and I gave it up because of various different reasons… also thinking, I’m 53, I should “grow up”… But sod it. I absolutely love music and wanted to go back to developing my skills with some new learning. The tech has evolved a lot too, and it’s a lot of fun to do some mashups in my garden with Finn as my audience 🥰🤣🐶 Plus there’s the fact that my brain gets a pretty decent workout while I’m doing it, so I’ll take that!

Anyone has any experiences of how music makes their nervous system feel more attuned? I’d love to hear 😍

With love & rhythm,

Dr Miguel 💛🎶 by @drmiguelmateas

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2 months ago

I don’t read self help books anymore so when I tell you I LOVE THESE you need to get on the train with me ;)

NEW RELEASE!! Overcoming the Wall of Awful: @adhdessentials + @alexhughescapell
The ADHD Users Manual: @brain.curiosities
Mundane Magic: @m0dizzl3
ADHD Body and Mind: @drmiguelmateas
The Eat to Focus Cookbook: @explore_healing_food & @thenutrimindlab
Nutrivore: @drsarahballantyne

Special mention to @drjolenebrighten for her new ADHD, women, and hormones book that you can preorder now!! I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but when I do I already know I’m going to RAVE about it ✨

I’m also SO excited for the book PlayDHD 2.0 to come out 👀 @mattraekelboom @playdhd

I also haven’t read @adhd.nutritionist book yet, but I love her work so much and fully recommend it without even reading it honestly

👉👉Comment “COOKBOOK” to get your hardcover or ebook copy 🩷

All were #gifted to me (which I’m so so grateful for) but they didn’t pay me to post so literally again I just loveeee these!

I don’t read self help books anymore so when I tell you I LOVE THESE you need to get on the train with me ;)

NEW RELEASE!! Overcoming the Wall of Awful: @adhdessentials + @alexhughescapell
The ADHD Users Manual: @brain.curiosities
Mundane Magic: @m0dizzl3
ADHD Body and Mind: @drmiguelmateas
The Eat to Focus Cookbook: @explore_healing_food & @thenutrimindlab
Nutrivore: @drsarahballantyne

Special mention to @drjolenebrighten for her new ADHD, women, and hormones book that you can preorder now!! I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but when I do I already know I’m going to RAVE about it ✨

I’m also SO excited for the book PlayDHD 2.0 to come out 👀 @mattraekelboom @playdhd

I also haven’t read @adhd.nutritionist book yet, but I love her work so much and fully recommend it without even reading it honestly

👉👉Comment “COOKBOOK” to get your hardcover or ebook copy 🩷

All were #gifted to me (which I’m so so grateful for) but they didn’t pay me to post so literally again I just loveeee these!

NEW RELEASE!! Overcoming the Wall of Awful: @adhdessentials + @alexhughescapell

The ADHD Users Manual: @brain.curiosities

Comment “cookbook” for the link to get you by @drmiguelmateas

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a month ago

Today I made my first egg-free tortilla.

I soaked mung dal overnight, blended it into something that behaves remarkably like egg, cooked a ridiculous quantity of vegetables and then went through the slightly nerve-racking business of flipping the whole thing over. Anyone who has ever made a Spanish tortilla will understand that particular moment 🤣😵‍💫 It worked. More than worked, actually. I loved it 😍

Alongside it I made soya bean pâté, chia and buckwheat crackers, some little baked chana dal bites, stuffed peppers, 2 salads, and we sat outside and ate the lot in the sunshine.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I found myself thinking again about something that has been occupying my mind recently… that nourishment is (much) bigger than food.

I’ve spent most of my professional life thinking about what food does inside us. Nutrients, microbes, metabolism, the gut-brain axis, the nervous system. All of that still fascinates me. But nourishment (not just “nutrition”) also has something to do with whether the way I live feels connected to what matters to me.

After a long time progressively eating fewer animal products, I’ve decided to return to a fully plant-based diet and, as far as reasonably possible, to veganism more broadly, as I did in my 20s. The reason feels very simple to me. I don’t want my life to contribute unnecessarily to the suffering of another living being.

I’m not interested in purity, and I certainly don’t want to turn food into another moral test for anyone else. We all eat within different bodies, circumstances, cultures, resources and capacities. What feels possible and right for me does not have to become somebody else’s rule.

For me, right now, this feels like alignment. And perhaps that is another form of nourishment, feeding your brain and body while also making room at the table for your values, for purpose and kindness…

Today that looked like a slightly wonky homemade tortilla, a table full of plants, good food in the sunshine with people and animals I love. I was filled with the rather lovely feeling that what I was eating made sense to me on more than one level.
And I want more of that.

With love,

Dr Miguel 💛 by @drmiguelmateas

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a month ago

Si te pasa esto quizá tengas TDAH by @drmiguelmateas

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2 months ago

Fascinating 🧠

Guest: @drmiguelmateas by @drmiguelmateas

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2 months ago

ADHD Body and Mind is number 1 in the Disability category on Amazon today 🍍🍍🍍

It has been in the top 10 in this category since it came out in April, and this is the third time it has reached number 1. It has also found its way into the charts for Public Health & Preventative Medicine, General Medical Guides and Attention Deficit Disorders, which feels rather wonderful and a bit surreal.

I’m an independent author working with a specialist publisher, @jkpbooks, whose books have been giving space to lived experience, professional expertise and underrepresented voices for many years, such as those of queer and neurodivergent people like me.

There is no big PR machine behind this book. No massive marketing budget or glossy four-page spreads. Just me, my laptop, a lot of science, and several mildly chaotic ADHD side quests 😂

So when the book keeps finding readers like this, I’d like to think it means you are recognising yourselves in it, sharing it, recommending it, and helping it reach the people who may need it. That is the bit that moves me most.

🟢 So thank you, truly 🟢

If you’ve read it and it meant something to you, I’d be so grateful for a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews really do help people decide whether a book might be for them.

And if you haven’t read it yet, I’d love you to have a look. It’s a book for ADHDers who want science without shame, practical tools without pressure, and a more compassionate way to understand their brain, body and nervous system.

🍓 Thank you again. I am full of love today. 🍓

And a huge thank you to Sean Townsend, Charlotte Chisholm, the brilliant mind behind JKP’s socials, and everyone at @jkpbooks for caring about this book with me.

Dr Miguel 💛 by @drmiguelmateas

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3 months ago

What if, instead of immediately judging or trying to change an ADHD behaviour, we first got curious about why it’s happening?

This really stayed with me from my conversation with Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas on this week’s ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Podcast.

So many of us have spent years judging and criticising ourselves for things that make much more sense once we understand our brains, bodies and nervous systems.

Why am I feeling more irritable today?
Why does everything suddenly feel harder to manage?
Why haven’t I noticed that I’m hungry?
Why can I become so absorbed in something that eating completely falls off my radar?

Miguel describes understanding as the “keystone”.

Because awareness isn’t about identifying another part of ourselves that needs fixing.

It’s about having more information.

Perhaps you’ve been hyperfocused and haven’t noticed your body’s hunger cues.

Perhaps medication has changed your appetite.

Perhaps sensory needs are influencing what feels manageable to eat.

Perhaps your brain simply needs more external support around remembering meals.

Getting curious and understanding the why gives us an opportunity to respond to ourselves differently.

Instead of “Why can’t I just get this right?”, we can ask:

“What is my brain or body communicating, and what support might help me here?”

That’s where awareness can become genuinely useful — not as another demand to change ourselves, but as a way of understanding our needs, noticing our patterns and finding ways of working with our brains rather than continually fighting against them.

🎧 We explore this and so much more in my new conversation with Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas on The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Podcast.

Comment PODCAST and I’ll send you the episode link.

#adhdadult #adhdandfood #adhdinwomen by @drmiguelmateas

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a day ago

If you’ve ever wondered, “Why can’t I just eat normally?” — felt embarrassed by your safe foods, guilty for forgetting to eat, or frustrated by recipes, you’re not failing.

Your brain may simply be seeking safety, ease and predictability.

This week on The ADHD Women’s Wellbeing Podcast, I’m welcoming back Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas to talk about ADHD, nutrition, gut-brain health and the nervous system — without turning food into another thing we have to get “right”.

Miguel admits he’s terrible at following recipes because he always wants to change the quantities or add something different.

So, naturally, we decided we need an ADHD cookery school 😂

We talk about safe foods, emotional regulation, the gut-brain axis and why ADHD is about far more than dopamine.

Miguel’s approach is refreshingly compassionate: keep your safe foods, add rather than subtract, and build gently from what feels safe.

Sometimes nervous-system support can be simple: a hot bath, familiar food, creativity and softness.

🎧 The latest episode is out now on all podcast platforms.

Comment PODCAST and I’ll send you the link.

And the big question is are you a baker or a cook - or simply neither! And do you have foods that feel safe and you go back to time and time again?

#adhdandfood #adhdwomen #audhdsupport by @drmiguelmateas

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3 days ago

📣 WE’VE BEEN LISTENING… & NEUROBLOOM IS GOING LIVE!

🧠🌸 NeuroBloom sold out several weeks ago and, since then, we have had a long waiting list and so many messages from people who were disappointed they couldn’t join us in person.

🙋🏻‍♀️We heard you — and we didn’t want you to miss out.

👩🏻‍💻So we’ve decided to make the leap into LIVE STREAMING NEUROBLOOM 2026.

🫶🏼You can now join us live from wherever you are and be part of the day as it happens.

🎟️There are two ticket options available:

1. LIVE STREAM ACCESS Join us live on the day and watch the NeuroBloom programme as it unfolds.

2. LIVE + 7-DAY REPLAY ACCESS Watch live and enjoy access to the recording for up to 7 days afterwards, so you can catch up on anything you miss or revisit your favourite sessions.

🧠🌸 NeuroBloom is a charity fundraising event, and your support genuinely counts. All proceeds go directly back into Nutritious Minds Trust Charity, helping us continue our work supporting neurodivergent children, young people and families.

👀Behind the scenes, we have also been quietly working incredibly hard on an exciting rebrand and restructure of Nutritious Minds Trust Charity — and we’ll be revealing and sharing much more about this with you on the day.

📹Livestream tickets are available now on Eventbrite:
 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neurobloom-2026-bridging-research-lived-experience-real-world-impact-tickets-1981288756004

❤️We can’t wait to welcome you — in person or online in just 15 days!

#NeuroBloom2026 #neurodivergence #ADHD #nutritiousmindstrustcharity nutritiousmindstrustcharity taken in The Ministry by @drmiguelmateas

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4 days ago

Something came up while I was recording a podcast with Dr Emma Offord in London today that I couldn’t stop thinking about on my way home. So I decided to share it with a cheeky carousel.

We were talking about being diagnosed as neurodivergent later in life, and I realised that one of the unexpected gifts of understanding myself better has been how much less I edit myself.

I don’t mean that I’ve suddenly become a different person. Quite the opposite. I think I’m allowing more of the person who was always there to be seen. That’s the core difference 💛

Most of us learn, as we move through life, which versions of ourselves seem to work in different rooms. Some bits get a good response, while get us the typical labels I’m sure you’re familiar with: too much, too excitable, too intense, too strange, too enthusiastic, too sensitive. We notice and adapt, sometimes so gradually that we don’t even realise we’re doing it. In fact, looking back, I can see how much energy I spent trying to read the room and make sure I fitted into it.

Getting to know my ADHD and autism later in life has given me a different way of understanding many of those parts of myself. Things I once thought needed toning down make considerably more sense to me now.

And, perhaps because I’m in my fifties and some of the people-pleasing circuitry has finally started losing its funding, I give rather less of a 💩💩 about whether every part of me fits every room.

I’m still learning when adaptation is useful and when I’m making myself smaller simply because I learnt a long time ago that standing out could feel unsafe. But I’m editing less things like my enthusiasm, my silliness my intensity or my curiosity. And definitely I am not editing my facial expressions! 🤣😵‍💫

It’s taken me a LONG time to be same person, with less editing. And I rather like him (most days, anyway! 😭)

With love,

Dr Miguel 🧠💛🌱

PS please follow @divergentlives and her fabulous podcast @thisvoiceisminepodcast 🧠 by @drmiguelmateas

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14 days ago

A very special unboxing today 😍

My friend Daniel O’Shaughnessy’s new book, The Queer Guide to Nutrition and Lifestyle, has finally arrived 🏳️‍🌈📚

I’ve known Daniel for years, both as a friend and as a fellow nutrition professional, so there is something REALLY lovely about holding his book in my hands and seeing his knowledge, experience and perspective given the space they deserve.

There’s also the fact that, at a time when visibility, equality and representation are increasingly being questioned, politicised and weaponised against us, books like this matter. Queer people deserve to see ourselves reflected in conversations about health and wellbeing, not as a special population tucked away at the end of a chapter (if represented at all!), but as whole people whose bodies, relationships, identities and lived experiences belong in the conversation from the beginning.

I also wanted to thank Jessica Kingsley Books for producing these beautiful removable Safety Covers for readers who may not feel safe having the book they are reading visible at home or out in the world. I must confess there is something bittersweet about their existence. I wish nobody needed one. But while safety and acceptance remain unevenly distributed, giving people control over when, where and with whom they disclose something about themselves matters.

🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️Visibility matters. So does having the choice to decide when it feels safe to be visible 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 Nutrition has never existed separately from culture, identity, community or the conditions in which we live. Daniel understands that, and he has created something beautifully thoughtful, neuroinclusive and genuinely needed.

I’m enormously proud of you, Daniel. And very happy to add this one to my bookshelf, wearing its rather beautiful new jacket 💛

The Queer Guide to Nutrition and Lifestyle by Daniel O’Shaughnessy, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers is out on 21st Sept in the UK and North America.

Safety Cover artwork by Two-Spirit artist Vaquero Azul 💙

With love and pride,

Dr Miguel 💛🌱 by @drmiguelmateas

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14 days ago

Where great ADHD coaches are created.🧡

The ADHD community doesn’t need more coaches. It needs better ones.

Online, it looks like there’s an ADHD coach on every corner. In the trenches, we hear a different story. Frustrated, disappointed, sometimes heartbreaking stories from people whose coach ticked a box that said “works with ADHDers” but didn’t understand the masking, the burnout, the shame spiral, the hyperfocus. That’s coaching with half the picture.

Some of you reading this are coaches already. Some of you have never coached a single session, you just know you’re good with people and feel pulled towards this work. Both belong here. Because our training works the way we coach: turn what you’re good at into what you’re great at, by leaning into your strengths and strengthening them

Nov 4th 2026 - Jan 15th 2027

9 weeks | Live Online Sessions & Recorded
Live sessions: Wednesdays & Fridays at 12:00 GMT

👉🏻INTERESTED IN BECOMING AN ADHD COACH? COMMENT COACH below 👇🏻 taken in London, United Kingdom by @drmiguelmateas

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16 days ago