For what it's worth, I took up running, changed my diet, and found that both of those in combination did effectively nothing to address my ADHD symptoms. I'm a lot healthier now than I was before I discovered I loved running, but to this day I use medication because it's the only thing I've tried that makes a meaningful difference.
Running and diet improvements did great things for my ADHD, but it's not consistent. I'd fall into slumps due to ADHD-fuelled depression, I think. The stimulants do a great job warding that off and keeping me consistent with exercise. Consistent exercise tends to keep me consistent with diet.
If anyone argued that stimulants are bad for my health, I could only point out that without them, my health suffers acutely through sheer neglect and it's a downward spiral.
