eating around night shift hours

[Kmlynne]

One of my biggest challenges when "dieting" is that I work 12 hour night shifts (anywhere from 4-6 each week).  When I begin a stretch of nights, I am usually up for the 24 hours, therefore, I am eating upwards of 5 meals that "day".  When I finish the stretch, I sleep during the day, get up for a couple of hours and usually get one meal in, and then I am back to bed for the night which results in one meal in a 24 hour period.  

Even though I get off work at 730 am, I find that I am unable to eat much past 5am or I end up with an upset stomach (no matter how light the meal is).  

I know that for the week, the meals average out, but I am not sure how this will work with whole30.  Has anyone else had this issue?  What have you done to resolve it?

[AmyS]

You gottagottagotta look up nomnompaleo.com.  She is a night shift pharmacist and on her website (which has amazing recipes) she details so many things about how she eats, sleeps, exercises, etc. on night shift.  Really great stuff.

[Tom Denham]

Michelle Tam's approach: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/55156756199/surviving-the-night-shift

 

I am afraid that the schedule you are keeping is mean as hell to your hormones - the day you are awake 24 hours and the day you only eat once in 24 hours means your cortisol is going way off course. Doing a Whole30 will almost certainly help, but your schedule is tough.

[AndromedaRN]

I'm in the same boat, and since you said you work 12 hour nights I assume you are also a healthcare worker. I did a search to find as much information as possible before posting my own question or concerns. I've always known that a night shift schedule messes with our bodies natural circadian rhythm and is not a truly healthy life choice, but it's been my life style for a while and will continue to be for at least 3 months. I try to stick with an up by night/sleep by day schedule even on my days off, to keep some form of normalcy. I'm mainly worried about my bodies cortisol level/cycle because of this. I'm frustrated and wonder if there is even hope for returning my bodies hormone levels to normal.  I'm just completing Day 7, and my ability to sleep longer than two to three hours without waking has disappeared since I began my Whole30. 

 

As far as my eating on longer days/shorter days (because I do make subtle adjustments if I have a couple days off in a row), I'm sticking with not going longer than 5-6 hours (I was fortunate and my Hungry Monster disappeared on Day 3) without eating, and if that five hours comes around and I realize I will have to go to bed in 3 hours, I do a small meal using the least amount on the requirements list, as well as making sure my protein and carbs are easily digestible. Like they say in the book, this is our individual experiment and I'm sure I will learn a lot about MY body and it's needs over the next few months.

 

Amy and the "Frequently Grumpy" mod (that makes me smile), I am definitely off to check out the nomnompaleo site!!!

[littleg]

I just got hired to a night shift position.  I'm really worried about how its going to go since I've been on the 7A-3/7P schedule for years.  My very natural bed time is 8 PM.  I'm up by 5 most mornings with no alarm so this is going to be quite a shock.  I'd love to hear more details about how the two of you make this work so maybe I'll have a bit of a plan to follow when I start in a few months!

 

If you don't mind... would you also mind sharing any non-food tips you've got for making this type of schedule work.  I think I'll have the choice between 3-12s and a 2-12s,2-8s shift.  So any experiences with those shifts/switching back and forth and how you do it... anything really  Feel free to PM me too!  Thanks.

[Kmlynne]

If you don't mind... would you also mind sharing any non-food tips you've got for making this type of schedule work.  I think I'll have the choice between 3-12s and a 2-12s,2-8s shift.  So any experiences with those shifts/switching back and forth and how you do it... anything really  Feel free to PM me too!  Thanks.

 

I have been doing night shift for about 18 years now.  What works best for you depends on your life outside of work.

 

When I had small children and only part time day care, I found I could only work 2 shifts in a row.  I would get home, take them to day care, go back home and sleep for about four hours and then go pick them up, return home to make dinner for the family then go back to work.  Very tiring.  Once they started going to school it got a little easier (let me tell you I was the only mom on the block cheering the school bus for my baby to go to kindergarten!)

 

Now that my kids are teenagers and they stay with their dad when I work night shifts, it is easier for me to work all my shift in a row.  When I am working, I don't make appointments, or deal with anything other than feeding me and the dogs and sleeping when I am off work.

 

I have only ever work 12 hour shifts.  I think I did a couple month stint of working 2 twelve and 2 eights.  working 4 shifts a week was too much for me at the time.  (its funny I am saying that when I am doing 4-6 shifts a week now - I suppose its all about what you have to do when you are off work).  See if you can try a few different routines over the next months and see what works best for you.

 

Good luck!