Night Shift Eating Habits

beckymcrn · Jan 13, 2004

When I worked the night shift my kids were inschool so I would get them off to school and then go to be until the got home.

I would get dinner ready and eat with my family. So I would not snack in the evening part of the shift (7p-7a). I had a snack around midnight and ate my lunch at 3am. I would not eat again until I got home then I would have a bowl of cereal or bagel before I went to bed. Thus was the cycle of my life for 4 years

before I moved to the day world.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Jan 13, 2004

Agree with Becky's eating plan. If you do get hungry and feel that you must eat, try fruit. Drink plenty of water too. Peanut butter is a good energy snack at night.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jan 13, 2004

I've worked nights for 12 years. I have almost always followed a 3 meal a day schedule. I will try to sleep from about 8 or 9 in the morning till 4pm. Eat a supper type meal before going to work (around 5pm). Take lunch at work between MN and 1am. Eat a breakfast type meal before going to bed in the morning. Of course I don't have small children (teenage semi-self-sufficient step-kids) and no one would ever call my weight ideal. So I will say I'm not an example to follow other than I don't feel like I'm eating all the time, just the normal number of times.

BayMae10 · Jan 13, 2004

I have no excuse i ate bad and ate all the time.....the night shift was the snake shift....the only thing i had going for me was that i work out all the time.........big health nut! good luck there is no easy way to eat on the night shift just do what you feel....i mean eat when you need to just try popcorn (empty calories) and stuff like that not ice cream and pudding....LOL

i now work 3-3 much better:D

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2004

I wake up around 4 to 5 and have a nice big "breakfast" before going to work at 7pm. By breakfast, meaning I cook supper. I also pack a lunch of another meal lately which has been lean meat and two veggies. I eat supper around 1:00am if time allows. In between I eat an apple or grapefruit. Then I have a fruit bowl of fresh berries, mango, cataloup, etc around 5:00AM. Then I eat yet again when I get home around 8:00am. Usually it's carbs (which promotes sleep) like oatmeal (the large slow cooked kind, not the instant which is high glycemic) or Allbran cereal, or if I'm really hungry then some eggs or a peanut butter sandwich.

Then I sleep all day. I sleep all day whether I work or not the next night.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jan 13, 2004

Peanut butter sandwich at work.

Eat breakfast before going to bed.

A lunch-type of meal before going to work.

Shotzie · Jan 13, 2004

I worked 12 hr nights 7p-7a for years.

On the day of my night shift I would eat breakfast late, about 10:30am, nap in the afternoon and eat a meal with my husband before I went to work (usually dinner type stuff) - then start my night shift at 7p.

I'd take a lunch with me to eat there, (sandwich or salad or soup plus healthy munchies) and always have something to eat in the car on the way home. Then I would NOT eat anything before going to sleep---I was always so tired I hit the bed and went right to sleep.

When I'd wake up I'd do the dinner thing and lunch with good snacks at work again. I usually woked 3-4 days in a row.

I ate this way because I worked with a bunch of great nurses who were all at least 50lbs overweight and 20 years older than me. I looked at how they lived their lives and what they ate and while I wanted to become the quality of nurse that they were I did not want to end up looking like them.

And it worked. Years later, I now have a totally different job and my weight is not ideal but within a reasonable range.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2004

I could not eat at all when working nights. I could not eat during the day on night shift. Totally upset my appetite and I lost alot of weight which I could not afford to lose.

renerian

bedpan · Jan 13, 2004

I think I found all that weight you lost renerian, if you want it back I would be more than happy to give it back to you

My eating habits would make any Nutrition Instructor cringe - Thinking I could be the poster child for what not to do to eat healthy

I work nights on Friday and Saturday now that school has started back (Worked mainly nights during the holiday break with a few days thrown in there) and generally stop by the hospital cafeteria before heading home in the morning - a couple of poached eggs and a biscuit and gravy usually (Even hospital food tastes pretty good over eating my own cooking)

This is pretty much the same as I did before the holiday break ended

Sad to say but I generally grab a burger and fries at whichever fast-food place on the way catches my attention before I go in and mostly have a Coke for a "meal" midway through the shift and coffee and another Coke for "snacks" during the shift

School during the day isn't much better - a Coke for breakfast, lunch at the school cafeteria and whatever I bought at the grocery store the last time I remembered to go is what's for dinner (And whatever it is you can bet it is cheap and quick to fix - taste is sometimes there but not as important as the first two criteria)

Clinical days are a bit better - I generally get to eat at the hospital cafeteria two meals on those days

Pathetic huh?

BarbPick · Jan 13, 2004

But I stay completely awake during my 7p to 7a night shifts that I work twice a week. I eat something on my drive to work if it is finger food, or sit down and eat at 6 pm. I am 15 minutes max away from the hospital. I have coffee and water (lots of water, I buy 2 bottles from the machine) The water seems to help, why I have no clue. I get very hungry at 3 - 3:30 am . I am on a McDonald's "california" (like Arnold says) cobb salad kick for the last month. It has 3 carbs max and really tastes good in the middle of the night.

I switch to no caffeine after I eat and fall asleep about 9 am. Here is a link about night shift nursing.

Barbara

*****http://www.enw.org/NightShift.htm******

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jan 13, 2004

When I worked nights, I really had to plan so as not to be at the mercy of whatever was in the vending machine (our cafe wasn't open on Friday and Saturday nights - when I was often there.) You only have to eat one nasty sandwich out of a machine to vow not to be caught in that predicament again. The temptation to order pizza with the rest of the gang is overwhelming at times.

I like things you can eat in short spurts. Fruit, yogurt, cereal bars: nothing that takes any prep and can be scarfed if necessary if you suddenly have someone climbing over the side rails. Some protein is necessary to carry you through the noc. PB sandwich, hard boiled egg, cheese, whatever (also has a bit fo fat to satisfy you - can't completely deprive yourself.)

Make a plan to KNOW what you are putting into your body at night instead of being stuck with whatever meat by-product and leftover limp veggie the cafe is offering.

As far as eating schedule, I preferred not to eat before I went to bed (doesn't mean I never did it, but I personally slept better when I didn't have to digest at the same time.)

Water water water.

Ideal eating for me was 3 pm or so when I got up (breakfast food) then 9 or 10 pm (dinner) then 3 am or so (whatever I had packed.) 3 am is about the time I would have to uncross my eyes, and that meal seemed to carry me through.

It's also way cheaper to pack your own stuff.