Eating healthy and shift work

jd83

Hi,

For the past couple of years I have been working 12 hour shift work which can be days and nights. I would class my diet as terrible. I not even going to post it up as from reading through threads here I already now its bad. So after following the very helpful (Thanks!!) advice in the stickies, i have tried to come up with a plan of action to eat healthier. My aim is to do eat 6 times a day ( 3 main meals and 3 snacks) and to eat more wholesome food and more fruit and veg.

However while I can manage to do this on my days off and on day shifts. I dont know what to do about night shifts. Id start at 7pm through to 7am and normally have 2 shifts in a row. Should I not eat during the day then have my meals at night. Id normally only sleep around 5 hours during the day when im on a night shift.


Thanks for your help

andrewg82

changing your diet and cutting out fats and sugars would make a big difference! good luck

HHtraining

Key tips for shift work.

Eat protein with every meal
Eat lots of good fats.
Keep the carbs low.

On night shifts, have dinner by 22:30 at the latest. If possible don't eat after dinner on night shift just plenty of water and some tea/coffee (intermittent fasting). This has helped me a lot in the last couple of years as I've been working shifts for 16 years. Make sure you still have your allocated calories for each day.

Also, as important as your nutrition, sleep as much as you can, though not at work

jd83

Thanks for your replies. Yes i know my first step which ive already started is to cut out all the crap ive been eating. So far im not having a problem staying away from junk food.

So dont eat anything after 22:30 and just eat 5-6 times throughout the day and then nothing from 22:30 - 7:00 in work. I was thinking of doing this. However I know id would be starving, but i take it after a few shifts i would get used to it. Sleep is a tough one. I have tried everything but after a night shift i only sleep around 4 hours. Like id be home by 8 and in bed and no problem falling a sleep but i will be awake by 12 or 1 without fail.

HHtraining

Awake by 12 or 1? The dreaded wee stop, lol. Try getting up for an hour or reading and try getting another couple of hours sleep.

Mellor

HHtraining wrote: »

On night shifts, have dinner by 22:30 at the latest. If possible don't eat after dinner on night shift just plenty of water and some tea/coffee (intermittent fasting).

What's that based on? The whole eating late at night makes you fat is a myth. Your body needs food.

jd83 wrote: »

However while I can manage to do this on my days off and on day shifts. I dont know what to do about night shifts. Id start at 7pm through to 7am and normally have 2 shifts in a row. Should I not eat during the day then have my meals at night. Id normally only sleep around 5 hours during the day when im on a night shift.

I find the best way to eat well is to plan meals. Bring lunch/dinner to work etc. Plan out 3 meals and 3 snacks for the day and meets your calorie/protein requirements.
For your night shift days, have food prepared and eat when ever suits you. Get out of the idea of breakfast, lunch and dinner. They are all just meals, nothing wrong with steak in the AM.

I imagine a lot of the bad stuff in your diet comes from being starving at work or after work and just grabbing something handy.

jd83

Mellor wrote: »

What's that based on? The whole eating late at night makes you fat is a myth. Your body needs food.


I find the best way to eat well is to plan meals. Bring lunch/dinner to work etc. Plan out 3 meals and 3 snacks for the day and meets your calorie/protein requirements.
For your night shift days, have food prepared and eat when ever suits you. Get out of the idea of breakfast, lunch and dinner. They are all just meals, nothing wrong with steak in the AM.

I imagine a lot of the bad stuff in your diet comes from being starving at work or after work and just grabbing something handy.

Yes pretty much eating crap at night. But also the fact that I am awake in the day that i start my night shift. So I end up eating what I normally would during a day and the as im up all night I end up eating at night too. So in essence eating twice as much as I normally would.

I have used the stickies planned out 6 meals - 3 main meals and 3 snacks it just a matter of when to eat them. I dont want to be starving all the time as it might tempt me to eat crap and also I need to alert for my job.

Im on a night shift this week so going to try my hardest to get more sleep and stop eating during the day and more at night. Thanks for the reply!

El_Dangeroso

Mellor wrote: »

What's that based on? The whole eating late at night makes you fat is a myth. Your body needs food.

It's a myth, within reason.

There are several mouse studies showing eating in the middle of the night can increase appetite and cause overeating.

I lost most of my weight by working swing shifts but I tried never to eat between the hours of 11pm and 5am if I could at all help it (It helped that I was never really hungry around those times).

In the OPs case I'd agree with the advice to eat dinner at 10:30pm and then nothing until 5am. This helps with getting the body used to sleeping nights on day shifts too.

Mellor

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

It's a myth, within reason.

There are several mouse studies showing eating in the middle of the night can increase appetite and cause overeating.

I lost most of my weight by working swing shifts but I tried never to eat between the hours of 11pm and 5am if I could at all help it (It helped that I was never really hungry around those times).

In the OPs case I'd agree with the advice to eat dinner at 10:30pm and then nothing until 5am. This helps with getting the body used to sleeping nights on day shifts too.

but in those cases it's overrating that causes weight gain. If he prepares his meals beforehand and sticks to only eating them timing won't matter.

El_Dangeroso

Mellor wrote: »

but in those cases it's overrating that causes weight gain. If he prepares his meals beforehand and sticks to only eating them timing won't matter.

You can only resist your appetite for so long, if it were me I'd want to give myself the best chance of success, why make things more difficult than they need to be, mean that in both directions!