Night shifters....when should I eat?

[Bigjenlock4]

Some advice please.

I work 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. , three nights a week...a typical schedule for a R.N. I am trying to figure what would be best....trying not to eat while I am at work throughout the night and keep a normal person day eating schedule (though that would mean skipping lunch). Or, just eat while at work at my "lunch" as though it were my regular lunch. I have been doing the latter... But when I am off work, I eat during the day like a normal person.

Should I stick to a "day" eating schedule? Problem here is that I don't want to come home from work and eat in the morning before I go to bed. Ideally I could take a "breakfast" to work and eat around 5 a.m. However, I work in the Intensive Care Unit...and there is no telling how crazy my night will be...and mornings tend to be busy anyway (even on a night when when my patients are stable) as the end of my shift gets closer. Chances are I might actually get to eat that late maybe once a week.

Right now I usually eat my "breakfast" around 6 p.m., and eat lunch between 2-3 a.m. I might get in a handful of nuts or some raw veggies/jerky or hardboiled egg later... But rarely.

Any advice? Other than switching to the day shift? I know that working nights messes with our bodies enough, just don't want to sabotage it any more!

[GFChris]

Take a look at this article http://nomnompaleo.com/post/55156756199/surviving-the-night-shift

Also if you Google night shift Whole30 you'll get lots of past discussion on this topic in this forum. I find it easiest to search the forum via Google.

[Tom Denham]

You need to eat every 4-6 hours whenever you are awake. I appreciate that hospital work means you can't take time for yourself on a rigid schedule, but I think you should have food available and eat when you get a chance during the night. In my work, I occasionally need to work 18 hours at a stretch. I definitely need to eat 4-5 meals across those periods to maintain peak performance and I am very comfortable eating just 3 meals per day during a normal shift. 

[Bigjenlock4]

Thanks for weighing in. I will keep doing what I have been doing then!