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hello my name is Kelsey Butler I'm a
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registered dietician um and today we are
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talking about meal timing for night
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shift workers so basically we're diving
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into how to build out your meals getting
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a good routine so that you can make sure
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you're eating your best feeling your
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best having the most energy as you can
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especially when you're working those
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long night shifts so here's our top
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three tips to start with the first is
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skipping meals is not the answer you
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have to nourish your body I know that
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sometimes when your schedule's different
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or you know you're up through the night
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you say well I shouldn't be eating
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because it's night time um that's not
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the case you should be eating enough
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throughout the day no matter what your
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waking hours are second here is meal and
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snack timing so our goal is to try to
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eat every 2 to four hours and I know
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that might sound like a lot especially
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if you're not used to um eating within
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that time range but we'll dive into why
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you should be doing that and how to uh
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effectively get that good routine in and
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lastly it's stick to routine our bodies
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love routines I know that if you're
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working on your sleep schedule um you
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might notice that hey it works better
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when I Rise and um go to sleep at the
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same times most days this is the same we
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want to try to eat our meals at about
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the same time each day so that we can
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get into a good routine for our bodies
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so first is the science of digestion and
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this is why we want to dive into that 2
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to four hour range um
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I when we're looking at our plates we
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break down food within a two to four
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hour range so if you're looking at our
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plates we're going to have carbs protein
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and fats on them those are going to be
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the macronutrients if You' ever heard of
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those um if you were uh if you watched
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our plate Builder video you'll see that
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we've got these components on our plate
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so um when we're looking at our plates
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with these macronutrients we are going
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to digest our carbs within 15 to 60
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minutes which isn't very long but our
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bodies digest them really quickly with
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protein those digest within one to two
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hours so we break those down a little
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bit slower than the carb and then we
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have fats on our plates so these are
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like oils avocado nuts things like that
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um these break down within 2 to four
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hours so when you combine all of those
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on a balanced plate it's normal to get
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hungry again within 2 to four hours or
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so after your last meal or snack because
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that's when we are done digesting our
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last meal and it's time for for a new
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one um and it's okay to be hungry it's
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good that we're hungry that means we're
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using our energy and we're ready for the
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next meal or
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snack the second thing to think about
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here is that bonfire so I know you just
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I just mentioned you know being hungry
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is a good thing um and that's something
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we want to think about here so ideally
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we want to fuel the fire of our
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metabolisms I like to look at it as a
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bonfire um so we want that fire to burn
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as big and brightly as possible so if
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we're thinking about it those feelings
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of hunger or not not eating enough means
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our fire is burning out that means we
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don't have enough fuel in that fire to
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keep going to keep that energy going on
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the other side of things if we're
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feeling super over full or if we've had
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too much our metabolism is working very
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hard to work through all that fuel if
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you ever put too many logs on a fire you
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can see that the fire's kind of really
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trying to poke through and eat through
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all of those logs um but it can take
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some time for it to actually get through
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so it can burn brightly again so that's
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why we want to go for balance balance is
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key here we want to find that middle
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ground so that we're not undereating
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we're not overeating and that's where
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that routine comes in of eating
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consistently throughout the day um so
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that we are fueling that fire well uh
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again that helps with our blood sugar
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balance as well because if you're
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thinking about that 2 to four hour range
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when we have you know finished a meal
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we're getting hungry again um that means
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from a blood sugar perspective our blood
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sugar is going down um we want to see
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soft we Peaks throughout the day I'm
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sorry soft waves and and uh kind of this
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motion throughout the day so that we're
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not seeing those big Peaks and pits so
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if you're eating consistently throughout
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the day you will see that you know up
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with the blood sugar back down after a
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meal back up back down after a meal
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instead of not eating not eating not
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eating big meal big drop not eating not
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eating big meal big drop we want to try
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to see those soft waves so that that
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we're getting that good blood sugar
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balance and we're supporting our
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metabolism so here's an example of meal
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timing throughout your shift so I know
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we talked about again that two to four
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hour I'm going to keep on honing that in
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um and to get that going you want to
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look at your regular work hours and try
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to create a plan to eat within that time
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so if you can try to get three meals and
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two to three snacks in per day again I
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know that might sound like a lot if
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you're not used to it you can definitely
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work up to that um try to eat every two
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to four hours with before and after work
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meals um and a meal and snack breaks
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during your shift one thing I want to
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stress here is just because it's night
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time doesn't mean you shouldn't eat and
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try to prioritize your well-being here I
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know that sometimes it's tough if you're
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working a night shift or um especially
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if you're in like health care or if
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you're working a job that keeps you
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really busy um it can be tough to get
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those times in but it's really important
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you advocate for your needs here even
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just five minutes is enough time to get
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a snack in maybe even a quick lunch
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middle middle of the night lunch if you
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can um just so that you can get that
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break in there um I always say if there
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are people on your team that can take a
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cigarette break you can take a snack
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Break um I I really think it's important
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to try to advocate for those five
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minutes every you know maybe it's every
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3 to four hours that you're getting a 5
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minute break just to quickly have a
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snack here so here's an example for a
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10:00 p.m. to a 6:00 a.m. shift maybe
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you wake up at 8:00 p.m. before your um
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your shift here you have a 9:00 p.m.
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meal before you get going uh maybe at
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your shift you have a 12:00 a.m. snack a
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2: a.m. meal a 5 a.m. snack you go home
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at 6:00 a.m. and you have a meal right
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before you go back to sleep so this is a
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good example of that it's every 2 to 4
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hours that we're seeing those um eating
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times again it doesn't have to perfectly
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look like this your routine could be a
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little bit different but it just allows
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you to stay on top of your meals
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throughout the night um so that you're
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staying well nourished and getting
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enough
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energy um another thing to think about
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here is building that routine it doesn't
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have to be perfect every day but try
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your best to keep that regular meal and
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snack time each day again getting that
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good routine will help you to stay on
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track and get your body used to having
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meals at that time um you might have two
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different schedules I know this is the
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this is the case for a lot of people you
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might have a night shift schedule and a
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day daytime schedule where on your off
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days when you're awake during the day
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that's okay you can still stay within
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that 2 to four hour range just change
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adjust towards your waking time so if
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you're thinking okay I wake up at
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whatever time you're waking up within
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that first maybe two hours that you're
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awake start your first meal and then
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from there every 2 to four hours try to
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get a meal or a snack
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in that is all I have on meal timing um
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please check out the other videos we
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have for you um just working on other
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parts of nutrition how to make sure
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you're fueling yourself well and getting
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all that balance in there thank you for
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watching