Plant-Based Training for Shift Workers

Speaker 1 0:00

The next thing I have learned about shift work is that you can't perform at your best if you are living at your worst . So if you have had three hours sleep , no food and you're irritable , you cannot perform at the standard that is expected of you .

Speaker 2 0:24

Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be . Welcome to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified nutritionist , veteran law enforcement officer and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers using evidence-based methods to not only survive the rigors of shift work but thrive . My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show . Welcome to a healthy shift podcast Plant-based community .

Speaker 2 1:03

Today I've got you . I know you're putting your hands up in the air and you're saying about time , and I agree with you . It is absolutely about time that I started addressing your needs in the shift working community as well . So today I have located Eric Lum . Now , eric Lum has been doing shift work for what is almost 13 years as a 24-7 shift working critical care nurse . On top of that , erica is a mum to a nine-year-old , as well as a wife , and to top it all off , over the top of all of that , she trains for and competes as a triathlete and does the whole lot entirely plant-based . And so today I've got Erica on the show to share with us everything plant-based and training and shift work the whole lot . So , without much further ado , let's get on with the show . Welcome to the show , erica . How are you today ?

Speaker 1 2:10

I'm good . Thanks , Rog , how are you oh ?

Speaker 2 2:12

I'm absolutely fantastic . I'm very , very excited to have you on this podcast today , because I feel that our plant-based community is very , very left behind and not really cared after . I know you're in that group , so you will be very , very aware of who's plant-based , who's not , who does what and how and how the best way to go about it is . But I've got a lot of followers as well that are vegan , vegetarian or let's just call them plant-based Really do need to have special considerations around that , and you've got such a great story that I'm really , really looking forward to having a 24-7 shift worker that is plant-based on . That can help all of our plant-based people . And also , you never , ever know you might get someone from the light side to the dark side over there as well by listening to what you've got to say here today . So thank you very much again for coming on to the show .

Speaker 1 3:10

Absolute pleasure .

Speaker 2 3:11

Wonderful . Now , erica , tell us a bit about yourself . Introduce yourself , who you are and where you've come from , and tell us a bit about yourself prior to your own plant-based journey .

Speaker 1 3:22

So I am Erica . As you've said , I have been an emergency nurse , so a critical care nurse , for the better part of 13 years , say , and I sort of discovered my plant-based decision-making process . At the same time I was doing my bachelor degree , actually , so my first year of uni and when you start to enter that higher learning sphere and you're learning how to read journal articles , gather evidence and do all those things , I sort of incorporated that with my nursing and wanted to know more about how I could help the planet , help myself at the same time , and it all sort of happened . So I've been plant-based since 2012 .

Speaker 2 4:11

All right . So you are a living and breathing , real-life angel on earth because you are a nurse and people that listen to this podcast well and truly know what my thoughts are around the nursing that nurses are such selfless people sacrificing their own health for the health of others who probably could look after themselves a bit better in some cases . But you really are sacrificing your own health for the health of others and as a community , we really do thank you for that , because it's been a really , really tough last three years as well for the nursing community , hasn't it ?

Speaker 1 4:48

It certainly has . And you know , roger , I was in Melbourne at the time . You're from Melbourne , so I think that we all know particularly how hard it was for our frontline workers at that time . So that was actually why I ended up doing the first Ultraman event too , actually was to represent the hardship of the frontline workers . And you know , I think we are all angels in our own way .

Speaker 2 5:10

I totally agree . Absolutely no argument from me at all , erica , and I didn't realise that you're in Melbourne , but congratulations on escaping this jail and getting out and being able to live your best life up there in the fair city of Brisbane , but the state of Queensland , which I've been backwards and forwards to and thoroughly

Transitioning to a Plant-Based Diet

Speaker 2 5:27

enjoy . Now , when you first started your shift work , you know so you're currently a 24 seven shift worker , and how long have you actually done that ? You've done that for 13 years at the moment . Is that correct ? Yes , yeah , perfect , okay .

Speaker 2 5:39

So when you started shift work , you came out of uni and you , you know we do , we live our best life , don't we Like uni life ? Obviously , you know you get out on the gas and you have a fantastic time at night , but then you get to sleep in the next day and you recover and ever . The world becomes a wonderful place . You can pretty much do anything that you like , can't you ? But then when we get into shift work , it's more structured . You are forced to stay out late . It's not by choice . You are forced to do this shift , that shift , swing shift , everything else that goes with it . When you first started shift work , were you prepared for it ?

Speaker 1 6:13

No , not in the in the slightest , I . So when we start our degrees , we do what they call clinical placement blocks . So you study that subject and then you'll go out and work on the wards for a number of weeks to then finalize your hours to be safe to graduate . So even when you're doing your clinical placements , you'd only ever be doing like morning shifts or evening shifts . You'd very rarely be doing night shifts , and when I studied you didn't , and it was still just five days a week , Monday to Friday . So you still had your two , your two days off in between . It wasn't that 24 seven rotating roster that we speak of . So in terms of preparation , no . But I think that one of the beautiful things about the nursing structure is when you finish studying , you do what they call a graduate program . So you spend your first 12 months rotating around different areas to see what you like , but you have the support of educators during that first year of practice . So you have a little bit of support , but then never there for night duties or anything like that .

Speaker 2 7:21

Yeah , so you are starting your shift work , just doing day shift and afternoon shifts , monday to Friday , and having the weekends off . I'm going to just call you out there . I'm not even sure that we can call that shift work .

Speaker 1 7:33

Well exactly so . The clinical placement blocks weren't that rotating roster . So then , when you enter the real world , you're just like what's going on ? Yeah , what's happening , and your body's doing exactly the same thing isn't it ?

Speaker 2 7:47

Your body is going . What on earth is happening ? So tell me , erica , what actually impacted you the most once you actually started shift work so you can call it warts and all . As a female that's gone into nursing and you're working 24 seven shift work what were the impacts that that was actually having on you ?

Speaker 1 8:07

The impacts that that had on me . I never utilized my days off in a good way because I always had that excuse to be like , well , I've just done a late early or I've just done this , I need to just sleep in , you know 11am , wake up , waste the day away and then you're back at work . So how have I actually fulfilled myself and lived my best life by just using the excuse of the shift works exhausting me on my days off ? I think for the first two years I really struggled with that and I really struggled with and I mentioned this on my Instagram the other day the late early turnaround . It was very traditional for nurses to be you're on the 10pm finish and you're back for a 7am start . What's with that ?

Speaker 1 9:01

The anxiety of being like , yeah , am I going to sleep through my morning alarm by accident ? I don't want to be late for work . And then you just the cogs are clicking in your brain all night and the sleep quality was just so poor .

Speaker 2 9:14

Yeah , and research is very clear and shows that forward rotation is actually okay , whereas you and when I say forward rotation I mean you go from a day shift , then an afternoon shift and then a night shift and then days off . But the research is also very strong in relation to people that do an afternoon or even a night , and then an afternoon and then a day . It severely impacts on acycate rhythm . Acicate rhythm can be advanced , but it can't be rewound . It really really struggles with that . So that's why people really have the most problem with it , and we do tend to . When we have no education around it , we do think well , we use shift workers as the excuse , don't we ? Oh , I'm a shift worker , so I'm crawling out of bed at 11 o'clock and I'm going to crawl to the couch and I'm going to sit there and watch TV and I'm going to take the day off and relax . So tell me then what actually came first for you training as a triathlete or a plant based diet ?

Speaker 1 11:06

So I'm going to elaborate in an interesting way and I really hope this doesn't confuse your listeners . The triathlete side of me came last . The plant based came just before that or around the same time . My veganism and my shift work happened at the same time before that , so I do tend to refer to myself as two different styles of like how I used to eat , because being vegan doesn't mean you're healthy .

Speaker 2 11:45

No .

Speaker 1 11:46

Yeah , so I embraced mostly the veganism in my first year of uni for ethical reasons more than to help my body reasons . So my , you know , poor sleep , poor food choices , all of that that came with the first few years of shift work was still intertwined with my veganism , if that makes sense .

Speaker 2 12:08

Yeah , it does . Now , we generally don't have to wait to find out if someone's vegan , because they will tell you . They're going to tell you that they were a vegan . That's my favorite joke . Yeah , it's like someone that tells you that they're an intermittent faster . You don't have to wait for them either .

Speaker 1 12:23

They just tell you Now what are the reasons why Don't worry , a crossfitter will tell you they're a crossfitter as well , they will too , bra , yeah , so anyway , yeah , so we have that as well .

Speaker 2 12:33

But what I wanted to say was you and I've had a conversation prior to this as well and you don't actually like using the word veganism . You prefer plant based and I actually like that . So what we're doing here , we're going to today , refer to what you do as a plant based diet . All right , very important . So you're not a person who eats meat at all , correct ?

Speaker 1 12:57

No Right , I haven't eaten meat for over 12 years .

Speaker 2 13:01

Okay , fantastic , right . So when we people that are listening , when we refer to plant based , we're referring to literally a plant based diet where there's no meat eating at all , which would be a vegan diet , pretty much . But we're not going to use the V word because I , erica , doesn't really like it and I must admit , I'm much the same as you are in relation to that . So we just going to go down the plant based , because even with omnivores or the general population that I would coach or refer to , I would say that the plant based diet is the most important diet for everybody . Everybody should be on a plant based diet full stop , but we prefer to have lean proteins added to it as well . We need to do that so everybody can be on a plant based diet , and I think that's really , really important .

Speaker 2 13:53

Okay Now . So when you first started your plant based diet or you went to , you know you I'm going to be a vegan . You know I'm coming out of uni and I'm going to be a vegan and start veganism Right , and we do have some real issues around that . But when you did that , how hard was it for you to go right , and you're not going to eat anymore and I'm going to start a plant based diet to cover what you need to actually cover as your nutritional requirements , because it is something that you really you have to think about it . Like I can just eat a plant based diet and add lean proteins , that I'm covered . But you can't really do that , or you would now , but you have to learn .

Speaker 1 14:32

You would now and you have to learn so when we talk about a whole food , plant based diet that is supported by science in ways of our longevity , reduces our risk of cardiovascular disease , reduces our risk of diabetes . When I went vegan , it was purely for animal welfare concerns , reducing my impact of my carbon footprint and the environmental side of things . My thoughts about my own body came last to be completely transparent with you . So when I went vegan , it's an elimination diet . You just take everything out .

Speaker 2 15:13

Yep .

Speaker 1 15:13

But we don't focus on replacement because the body still needs what it needs . So when I talk about then being a whole food , plant based , I'm now replacing those things that I eliminated and I think that a lot of people that choose to just go I'm not having animal products . I'm taking out this because it's you know I don't want to affect . I'm taking all the animal products out without being informed of the macros that you need , how to sufficiently replace proteins . It just ends up being this perpetual cycle of sugary things . I'm still eating processed foods , whether it's real meat or fake meat . I'm still having refined sugars . I hope I'm making sense , but when you're vegan , you're eliminating that animal content , but you're not necessarily knowledgeable enough unless you go looking for it to replace what you're taking away .

Speaker 2 16:15

Yeah , totally agree with that , and I think this is the biggest thing that I see , with people that are telling you I'm vegan , while you see them scoffing down a donut and you just think , look , I don't get me wrong here , eric , I'm not demonizing a donut either . They're delicious , like everybody loves a good donut .

Speaker 1 16:31

I love a donut .

Speaker 2 16:32

Yeah , but what I'm saying is you're eliminating the meat out of your diet , but you've got to perfectly understand how to cover all the not only macronutrients but the micronutrients as well , which is super important because just purely by being a meat eater , we do actually cover certain things , and I will get to that as we progress through this . So you've been able to cover that over time . You've learned All right , and I think that's really really good . So now this is going to be very biased from you , but I'm quite comfortable to ask this question as well and I think , in your opinion , what are the benefits of a plant based diet for an athlete ? Because you're an athlete as well . Actually , let's just back back one . You then started to train as a triathlete .

Speaker 1 17:26

Yes , I did , and you'll love this . My athleticism stand grew from needing to decompress from my shift work .

Speaker 2 17:38

Yeah , I do love that . I can almost guarantee that I could guess as well that the more plant based you went , the better you actually felt .

Speaker 2 17:49

And because , of your mental health was better because your gut microbiota was in a very , very healthy place . So , therefore , you were in a position where , oh , I've got all this energy . Now I'm not getting bogged down by all the other rubbish that I'm meeting and things like that which caused me problems . So you got more and more . So I think one thing that people misunderstand , when it comes to shift work as well , is you can break into that cycle and actually start feeling better , and then it perpetuates , doesn't it ? So you've probably gone from being someone who built your gut microbiota , started feeling really well on a plant based diet , I'll guarantee . You went for a run round the block and you're now a triathlete , you know , and it's run to that .

Speaker 1 18:34

Yeah . So when I did the vegan right and I and it was my first couple of years shift working I was like , well , it's better for the environment to not own a car . And if , if me , I had this moment , like me as one single person , what are the small changes I can make to reduce my environmental impact ? That's basically where I'll stand from . So I brought a commuter bike and I started by commuting to work instead , also for my mental health . So when I would leave my shifts , I'm like I'm riding my bike home . This is my time to reflect , decompress , so I can sleep good . So that was how that happened . And then I ran , and then I did more and more , and then it just some . You know , someone said to me at work oh I've done triathlon , why don't you just come along ? And then hooked .

Speaker 2 19:25

Okay , so I think that's how that got perpetuates . And now you , you compete as a triathlete , is that correct , mm ? Hmm , yep , fantastic , as a 24 seven shift worker and I'm going to throw this in because you haven't actually said this yet but you're actually a mum as well , aren't you ?

Speaker 1 19:44

I am . So , yes , I I have a stepdaughter that is full time in my care . So I have the same responsibilities as any parent . Yep , so I have a nine year old little girl at home .

Speaker 2 19:59

So there's , here's Erica and the husband and the daughter in our shift working environment . You're a critical care nurse and you train for and compete in triathlons with a plant based diet . I'm just going to let that sink into the listeners for a second , because that is huge in itself , because you know it's hard work being a nurse full stop . It's hard work being a mum with the responsibility of running a household full stop . It's really hard to actually train for a triathlon , and not only train for it but then to compete for it as well and be prepped and ready to go with all of that . So that makes it really , really interesting . So , in your opinion , what's the benefits of a plant based diet for an athlete ?

Speaker 1 20:44

So a lot of the evidence now shows that plant based diets reduce inflammation in the body because of all the antioxidants that we eat . So , number one recovery like if I'm not in this constant state of inflammation , I will recover faster Yep , so I think that's beneficial for athletes . Number two I know that there's a big argument about this , but I really believe this to be true that the heme iron in animal products affects your arteries , so they are inflamed . So if you're in this stage where you're eating like lots of heme iron that comes from animal protein sources and your arteries are inflamed , it affects your cardiovascular system . So as an endurance athlete , I want to do everything I can to nurture my cardiovascular system , particularly for really long events . So I think that that's another one . And I think that for athletes , you want the protein for recovery

Protein Sources in a Plant-Based Diet

Speaker 1 21:56

I understand that as well for muscle repair , muscle growth , and you can obtain what you need to on a plant based diet enough protein that you need . If you're smart enough with your training load , you can incorporate it into your meals .

Speaker 1 22:10

So I think that it helps with recovery . It helps my cardiovascular system . It also helps with , like , insulin resistance , because I'm not having a lot of refined sugars and things like that . So when I have my nutrition , my sports nutrition , my body's really receptive to it , which means it really helps me . For example , my liquid nutrition that I use when I'm racing , my body handles that quite well because I don't eat so many refined sugars and stuff in my normal diet that when I do have the quick hit carbs and things when I'm racing , my body's responsive . I'm not conditioned to it , if that makes sense . So I think that helps the everyday athlete and I can't speak for everyone , rog , and I'm not a professional athlete in any means , I'm recreational and I'm not a nutritionist . But I have recovered from every injury I've ever had faster than people assumed that I have , and I don't know if that's because my body just on the plant-based diet can . I'm not inflamed constantly . So I think that it has helped me recover from injury a lot faster .

Speaker 2 23:27

Yeah , well , I think the bottom line is I think , if I come at it from a nutritionist perspective as well , I think a lot of people in today's society are actually plugging really poor quality , highly processed foods with a lot of sugar into their diet , which is it's going to have an impact full stop , whereas you could argue he mined very important for people and we could debate about it . We could debate that for ages , but it's very important . But the thing is the protein is the key and if you match quality of protein for quality of protein , plant-based to milk-based , it's equal and that's an argument that is done to death . It just means that you have to have , you have to consider a lot more in your foods to make sure that you're covering the all 20 amino acids for it . So there's not a lot of complete proteins in a plant-based diet , but you've got to put everything together to make a complete protein .

Speaker 1 24:25

And I don't want to go into the science of all that because I think it gets really complicated for just the little person it does , and I like to think of it when I'm so , when I'm eating a meal . I think that a lot of plant-based people assume that a grain is a protein and it's not . It's a carb and it's fiber . So I think that that's where a lot of plant-based people drop off . Because you need to have on your plate . I want my colorful stuff to reduce my inflammation , so I want all my veggies . I need all Eat the rainbow that you know , so I want all the antioxidants , I want the fiber , but you still need to have a primary protein source , like an amideeda wood . So for me , that's mostly like I think we were speaking the other day about something called TVP .

Speaker 2 25:13

Yeah .

Speaker 1 25:13

Textured vegetable protein , so something like that , or a tempeh or a tofu . You can choose to replace that where you would put chicken or fish with a plant-based protein source , and then on the side , have your good complex carbs like your quinoa , your buckwheats , your legumes , and I think that people use them as a primary source of protein yeah , rather than like a secondary or as a carb , and I think that that's really helped . My diet is by looking at legumes and grains in that category instead of as a protein source .

Speaker 2 25:56

So you don't use chickpeas as a protein .

Speaker 1 25:58

No .

Speaker 2 25:59

That's what I'm like and you know so , and I think that that's the sort of thing that we're talking about there . You know , I think as a meat and three veg person that eats meat and three veg for argument's say , you're considering what carbs you're going to have with your three carbs . You're going to have potatoes , carrots and broccoli done , and you need to choose a meat source as well . So you're going to have a chicken or a fish , or you're going to have a piece of steak or whatever , but you would be putting a tempeh , you'd be putting a tofu or something like that as your protein source , so that you're getting your whole sources of proteins out of that as well .

Speaker 2 26:36

And people have got to understand in a very , very big way as well that it's the one thing that we have to make sure that we've got is a sufficient intake of protein into our body every single day , because if we don't have that , then we're going to have massive problems , because it's the building blocks of the body , full stop .

Speaker 2 26:54

Like we eat protein , it breaks down into all those building blocks and it goes off and it actually builds into all the different proteins required throughout the body , whether it's building muscle , whether it's repairing hair , skin , nails , whatever it is . It's super important for us to all have and that's the problem where we do Can you give us what is some really good forms of proteins , because people are going to have no problems putting veggies with anything right . They all can get veggies . You know . Walk into the shop , potatoes and sweet potatoes , and you can have broccoli and tomatoes or whatever . So that's some really really good sources of plant-based proteins that people can include into their diet to make sure that they're getting a really good , a good , solid hit of protein out of it .

Speaker 1 27:44

So I will start by answering your question with foods and then I'll skip into a powder , because I do supplement with protein powder . But in terms of hot foods , my favourite is the journey of the soybean .

Speaker 2 27:59

Yeah .

Speaker 1 28:02

So edamame is how our soybean starts and as we start to squish it down and turn it into other things you can eat whatever you want of . That journey is still a good protein source . So edamame would then , when you start to process it but it's not fully broken down , turns into something called tempeh , which is very protein dense , and then when you break that down again it turns into tofu . So anything on that journey of the soybean , great . But so one 450-gram packet of tofu that you buy for the supermarket for like $2 . So one serving of that because it should be three serves a block . One serving of that is about 20 grams .

Speaker 2 28:47

Of protein , correct , and that's a complete protein . For people to understand , soy is a complete protein because it contains all 20 amino acids and it has the nine essentials , so for a plant-based diet and we all learn from it . But the journey of the soybean is great because it is a complete protein and it's broken into all different things that it can be used for . But it is a complete protein , so you don't have to mix anything with it to make it a complete protein , which is important .

Speaker 1 29:20

Yep . And if you continue that journey along , you've got your firm tofu and then you have something called silken tofu after that , which is the real squishy , mushy ones . So you can turn that into cakes , you can turn that into yogurt . It's so versatile . But along the soybean journey , have as much of it as you want . I'm an advocate for soy and I know that there's been a lot of debunking around soy for men .

Speaker 2 29:48

Oh , there has . And just to be clear for anybody listening , if you're male and it talks about soy and it's estrogen and it's , that's just debunked . It's just rubbish and it's just not necessary , you can have your soy , guys , if you're listening , you can have your soy . It's not a problem at all . It's just scaremongering by our non-plant-based community . That's all it is .

Speaker 1 30:09

Absolutely so , yeah , tofu . And then you can . There's this other product called textured vegetable protein , otherwise known as TVP , and that is also soy , but it's completely dehydrated . So you can buy that from the supermarket like a massive bag of it , like half a kilo , for I think it's $5 . And that turns into a mince . So when you add water to it it rehydrates it and that's very high in pure protein as well . So in our house my daughter loves it . She'll put it in like a chilli corn cane when we have tacos . We use it as a mince replacement when we make spaghetti bolognese . It's very versatile and it's low in sodium , so it's good for something that's dehydrated . That's my soy main sources of protein there and I think between all of those things you can have so many different dishes . You've got variety all the time and I mainly like to use those . I know that for people who are first changing the , the Fake meats and stuff are a good go-to , but just be mindful that they are like preserved , highly flavored .

Speaker 2 31:29

We'll get to those . We're gonna talk about those . We're gonna talk about those because I've got a question around , literally just that .

Speaker 1 31:37

Yeah , so I you know to be whole food , plant based . My favorite is the soybean . In whichever way , shape it , form it comes , just enjoy it . Edamame , tempe tofu , firm tofu , silken tofu or TVP , you've got an array .

Speaker 2 31:55

I have to confess , I don't know enough about plant based diet and I had no idea , and I'll tell you this , this one my face looks like it does . I didn't realize . I didn't realize that soy Tempe came from soy . I did not realize that . I mean , I saw a recipe the other day with silken tofu and I thought , oh , that's interesting , I wonder what that is . I should have come to Erica and asked Erica , but I must admit we have incorporated a Monday night , meet free Monday and I gotta tell you I Personally believe this is my personal opinion and I'll push it on , and this is not me saying you need to go vegan to anybody else , but I personally believe that everybody should have a meet free night at least once a week .

Speaker 2 32:36

Now I know you have seven , but I think we should have at least one , and I'll tell you why . It actually teaches you how to cook . It teaches you really well how to cook because you actually learn and I'm just gonna say this you can turn shit into sugar when you're a plant-based person and you can make it like really , really tasty , because you learn how to blend herbs , how to do things , and there's some great recipe sites and some fantastic Instagram , so I'm gonna ask you about these later . But there are some great sites and I love that . My partner , melissa and I , we love to sit down for our Monday whoever's cooking and pick out our plant-based and Just do it , and we've learned to blend so many awesome spices into so many great foods and I think that's really just fantastic and I imagine absolutely .

Speaker 2 33:28

I think we have a lot of people and I know with a lot of clients as well , I think people when I look at clients that are vegan or vegetarian it seems to be and I'm sure you see this a lot yourself it just seems to be how many different ways can you cook tofu ? Because that's generally how it ends up being for a lot of Plant-based , doesn't it ?

Speaker 1 33:46

that's pretty much me . Yeah , that's pretty much how I live , because I just I can't do . If we're gonna go plant-based for our overall health and well-being , if I'm trying to nurture my insulin resistance , if I'm trying to reduce my inflammation , if I'm trying to Be the best version of myself with my cardiovascular health , how do these fake meats help me ?

Speaker 2 34:11

Yeah , well , they can't because they're manufactured , and I always find it really funny , erica , that people can't have meat but they've got to have a fake me . And then you can't have sausages , but you'll have a fake sausage , or you'll have fake chicken or fake fish . Like , why not just have what you can have , instead of having to make it Psychologically make you think that you're doing something ? In particular ? I hope you're enjoying the show . If you are , please don't forget to rate and review once you've finished . This helps the shows reach enormously . And have you got my free e-book the best way to eat on night shift ? Well , this is a comprehensive guide to the overnight fast , why we should fast and how to best go about it . I've even included a few recipes to help you . I've put a link to the e-book in the show notes .

Speaker 2 35:05

And Are you really struggling with shift work and feel like you're just crawling from one shift to the next ? Well , I've got you . If you would like to work with me , I can coach you to thrive , not just survive , while undertaking the rigors of 24 seven shift work . I also conduct in-house live health and well-being seminars when I will come to your workplace and deliver evidence-based information To help your well-being team to reduce unplanned leave and increase productivity in your workplace . I've put the links in the show notes to everything mentioned . You can find me at a healthy shift comm or on Instagram at a A underscore healthy underscore shift . Now let's get back to the show . Just to go back , I think people would obviously feel better . I mean , you probably don't remember what you felt like before you went plant-based . I think people would really severely benefit from a plant-based diet . Do you agree with that , like with your athlete , or not ?

Speaker 1 36:11

a lot of people would benefit from a plant-based diet 100% and you know I have to put an extra spanner in your works that I actually have celiac disease .

Speaker 2 36:24

I didn't realize that . There you go .

Speaker 1 36:26

Yeah . So for me when I traveled overseas , you know , my Priority was my

Mistakes in Following a Plant-Based Diet

Speaker 1 36:33

autoimmune disease , yep . So if I had to have a little bit of dairy or something else , just to cope , so I wasn't like severely unwell .

Speaker 2 36:42

Yep .

Speaker 1 36:43

I did that , but that's only ever been twice in my life and that was when I was in like Southeast Asia and a few other places where I couldn't access completely plant-based foods . But in those moments where I did have to have either a little bit of I think I had a goats milk Chai on a train randomly in Northern India and I had , I think I had some type of fish when I was in Vietnam and my body just did not even know what to do with itself . I was really tired . I was so bloated , yeah , because my gut microbiome was just like what have you done ?

Speaker 2 37:19

Yeah , but I think , in fairness to that as well , it's like people who cut gluten out of their diet when they're not a celiac and then when they do have a bit of gluten , it can really severely impact on them as well . And I think if it's something that we're having all the time and then we suddenly , you know , my warning to people listening to this as well is , if you're not Gluten intolerant like if you haven't been tested as a celiac Do not avoid gluten in your diet , because you are setting yourself up for massive problems if you do have a smaller amount of gluten in something , because your body's just not used to it as well . So I think , yeah , that's , that's an interesting one as well . So I'm gonna ask you this question because I know this is gonna be a long answer and you're going to have great fun in answering this one . A lot of fun . What's the biggest mistakes that you see ? People who call themselves plant-based making .

Speaker 1 38:12

I see people going for high fat , dense energy food because they're so fatigued . Yeah , cause they're not eating to sustain their body for the energy that they need . A lot of it is , like I said , a lot of refined sugars in and high salt . So you're High sugar , high salt , high fats and Not the best fat choices either . So I'm a sucker for peanut butter . Anyone who knows me knows this very well .

Speaker 1 38:45

But I think a lot of it is like so if you're a plant-based and you're like , oh , I'm gonna make a pizza at home , let's just use the the pizza as the example . We're gonna buy the fake meat to make it like a meat lovers . We're gonna put the high refined vegan cheese on it , which is usually made from , like coconut , and sugar All over the pizza . Yes , it's delicious . You're giving yourself that version of what it would be . But again , regardless of whether you're plant-based or not , is that the right thing for my body ? And a lot of the fake foods is the biggest mistake . I think that's how I'm going to answer this question . That's not real food . It's making you think it's something that you've eliminated . So it comes back to that argument of the vegan who still eats quite unhealthily , will just eliminate and then just try and get the vegan version of whatever they still want to enjoy , which doesn't make it healthy .

Speaker 2 39:47

No .

Speaker 1 39:47

So it's about replacing the foods that you've eliminated . Well , I think , is the biggest mistake that people make , and when you don't replace them well , that's where you'll get behind .

Speaker 2 39:58

I agree with that and I think this is where it comes down to . People have got to really really learn how to look at a nutrition label around those things . Like you know , it's okay for me to go to grilled for argument's sake with a friend and order the plant based burger there and think that I'm all plant based , but those burgers have got just ridiculous amounts of calories in them and massive problems , you know , and the buns , that things just adds more calories , Not the calorie tracking . But this is where people go plant based and they're putting on weight and they think , god , I'm vegan , I shouldn't be putting on weight at all .

Speaker 1 40:35

Like exactly that , rog , and it's the same . Like you know , I think , because there's such an array of options now , which I'm not mad at . I love that there's options , because back in the heyday there was none . Like you're speaking to an OG celiac where corn cakes were my bread . So , like I get , I kind of like that the supermarket aisle has given me more choice because of the intolerant people , so I thank them very much . But , like it's one of those things where , like , regardless of being plant based or not , it's still your choice . It's an informed choice and you can choose to be knowledgeable and informed in nutrition if you want to . But am I still going to make that choice to put something in my body that I know is not good for me , that I know is not going to make me feel good ?

Speaker 2 41:20

Yeah , it's an interesting one because you keep coming back to this as well . You're obviously all about your body feeling good , and I think that's something that's really , really important with the plant based diet as well , and I think people don't know what good feels like until they feel good . And even then they don't know what good feels like until they take it to the next level , like for argument sake , you went plant based and you go plant based , you're doing shift work and you're feeling flat , and I've got a question about that as a nurse too , and I want to address this one . I want to put your right on the spot with this . So , and the thing is , you don't know what good feels like until you start feeling good , and then you start feeling better and better and better , and I'll guarantee that when you're out there going for a run and you're at the 5k mark and your body's running like a goddamn machine and you're in the flow , I bet you feel amazing .

Speaker 1 42:11

I absolutely do . Yeah , I feel amazing .

Speaker 2 42:13

Yeah , absolutely , I feel amazing and it's a real happy place for you and it takes all the pressure of the shift work . This is going to be my question to you , because you're a nurse . What do you do to resist the foods that are brought in by the patient's family that goes oh , nurse Erica , you've done an amazing job with little Johnny , thank you . He's a packet of Tim Thames and here's the . Or Karen brings her brownies in and they're all sitting at the nurse's station and you're tired and it's night shift . How do you resist those ? What do you do ? What do you tell yourself ?

Speaker 1 42:47

So I am going to . I love that you use the patient's family as an example , because more often than not , it's actually the hospital executives bringing pizza . Oh , yeah , to say thank you for all of your overtime .

Speaker 2 43:01

Yeah , yeah , I get that .

Speaker 1 43:03

You walk into the tea room . Tea rooms are a funny place . The tea room is a funny place . I love and hate the tea room . I love the tea room from an angle of when I bring in my food and then someone else goes . Oh my God , that looks delicious .

Speaker 2 43:21

Yeah .

Speaker 1 43:22

What ? What is that , can we ? And I'm like , oh , I'll tell you how to make it so easy and you're promoting that type of thing or that . Oh gee , erica , that smells good . I'm like , oh , it's just . You know , a tofu chickpea curry , like amazing . But when there's the temptation in the tea room , when everyone's going for the pizza and things like that , I usually say no , thank you . But the piece that was allocated to me that I would have otherwise eaten is up for grabs and if you don't want it , leave it .

Speaker 2 43:55

Yeah , it's an interesting one because it's a real problem that I know a lot of the nurses have . They're working hard and they're constantly on their feet , they're running around , they may be on a swing shift , they're tired , the glucose , the body's craving it , and then someone brings in their chocolate slice , or the Tim Tams come out , or the Lollies are there or whatever , and I think you know it's very , very difficult environment . It's a very , very difficult environment . In particular , nurses really really do suffer from this .

Speaker 1 44:23

So the temptation is real .

Speaker 2 44:26

Yep .

Speaker 1 44:27

And I'm just going to put out there a concept that I sort of thought about . Maybe three years ago was sort of before the pandemic , because I had a few interesting tea room experiences and I'm not here to , you know , say anything bad about anyone at all . This is just my lived experience that when you are that person in the tea room as well and you bring out your lunch and you're choosing not to give in to that temptation . I know that we talk about body positivity and things like that , but I do just want to say that fit shaming is a real thing .

Speaker 2 45:03

Oh God yeah .

Speaker 1 45:04

And so sometimes I would feel a bit awkward and I'd be like oh , I'm just going to eat my lunch outside Yep Because I'm not conforming to

Plant-Based Diet for Shift Workers

Speaker 1 45:11

chocolate binge . Oh so , and so has brought in a massive cake . Let's all sit and chat , and then you go in and it's like , oh , don't even ask her to have some .

Speaker 2 45:20

No , no , it's terrible .

Speaker 1 45:22

She's not going to be good for us . She won't have the cake and I'm like it's not like that at all .

Speaker 2 45:26

Don't justify it . It's simply I'm eating according to my goals . It's that simple is my response , and I think that people need to just learn to either ignore that you know like , oh , erica , won't have that , look at it . Like you know , have a look at it . That's jealousy . And the other thing is it is jealousy that you're organized , that you've brought your food in , that you look the way that you look . You know you want to run and you want to feel good running and swimming and you know , and biking and doing all of that .

Speaker 2 45:55

And I think the best response to anybody listening to this at the moment that gets fit shamed or food shamed in their mess room , the response to that is you know , are you dieting , erica ? No , no , I'm just eating according to my goals , and I think that's just a great response . You're reading to your own goals . So tell me , you've got to the meal prepping . What are your you know meal prepping for 24 , seven shift workers , a plant based . What are your staple go tos ? What would you always have in your pantry that you can literally , if you're on a swing shift , you can literally just throw them together and off you go ?

Speaker 1 46:30

My staples in my pantry . So I usually have one of those really big silver cake bowls , right , but I will make some type of either legume or grain based massive big salad so I like to go with . I love my rice cooker , so my my favorite utensils well , accessories in my kitchen are my rice cooker , my air fryer and my ninja bullet . They're my three favorite things .

Speaker 1 47:00

And so I will have like a I'll either do a buckwheat salad I really like , whether it's buckwheat , quinoa or rice That'll go in my rice cooker and then I make a salad with it . But I'll do sweet potato in it as well and , like grated carrot , make it colorful . I cut up almonds , I put almonds through it and then I will put some other form of bean in there Cannellini beans are my favorite edamame beans and it's dense , it's colorful , it's yummy and that will last quite a long time in the fridge , so that lasts a number of days .

Speaker 2 47:38

So you can just take some spoonfuls out of that , like whatever , and put them into a container and just knock yourself out and go with that . Yeah , yep , just portion it up .

Speaker 1 47:46

So I love the Monday , tuesday , wednesday , thursday , just whatever days you're doing like shift one , shift two , shift three , like make it all at once . My next favorite thing is I love to either do like tofu triangles , like tofu nuggets , I call it . So you wrap the tofu up in a tea towel or paper towel and put like a heavy weight on it for maybe 20 minutes . You want to get some of the moisture out of it and then you just stick it in the air fryer for 12 minutes .

Speaker 1 48:14

And just do it like that so yeah , that's it , or you can marinate them . So if I know it's a really big training week , I do like to marinate my little tofu's in like turmeric and a bit of paprika .

Speaker 2 48:26

Inflammation , et cetera . If you're going to have a tofu triangles and you're going to make your tofu nuggets and you're going to put them with your salad that you've got as a side Because we know this is where , once again , we come back to it's all well and good to have our grain salad there , but we've got to be able to add a full , complete protein sauce to that as well . And that's where your tofu triangles how many grams of tofu triangles would you have to make up a meal for yourself ? So it's for a lunch or a dinner at shift .

Speaker 1 48:55

So I try to portion up that the tofu would be 30 .

Speaker 2 49:00

And how many grams in weight would that be of tofu Air fried ? I'll put you on the spot here , haven't I ?

Speaker 1 49:06

I'm just doing maths in my head , yeah , yeah . So if you're doing it's about half a block , so it's about 200 .

Speaker 2 49:13

200 grams , right . So if we just said roughly 200 grams of tofu squashed up into triangles , put it in with that multi-grain salad and away we go and we're all good for a meal at work .

Speaker 1 49:24

The beans in the salad . So when you add the extra beans , so a small tin that you can get from the supermarket at Enamame or Canolini beans will be about eight grams .

Speaker 1 49:34

Okay , and then and the fibre and the fibre . Yes , she our friend . On top of that , and sometimes , if I know it's going to be like a morning shift , I do like the overnight protein wheat mix thing and that ends up being 60 something grams a serve Usually 60 grams of protein 60 grams of protein and if you think about it , actually that's where I saw the thing the other day you sent me .

Speaker 2 49:59

That's where you use your silky tofu , don't you ? Yeah , spot on , that's where I saw it . I knew I'd seen it somewhere . Okay , so we can do this . We can get our protein , no problems , because someone like yourself which is a slip of a thing anyway , you're only 120 grams of protein over a day is good . Solid protein Like that's a good amount of protein . Mind you , you're an athlete , so you want to be making sure that you're getting a lot of protein into your diet as well for recovery and to make sure that you're repairing muscle , et cetera .

Speaker 1 50:29

That's really good . So I try and do the 1.6 to 2 .

Speaker 2 50:32

Do you Yep 2 grams ?

Speaker 1 50:34

per kilo .

Speaker 2 50:35

Yep . Now for people at home listening , that's about 1.6 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight . That is what research tells us will preserve lean muscle . And you know , I mean we can go down , probably down to about 1.4 , but any less than that and your muscles will start to just break down to recover themselves , and that's what they do . So we want to make sure that we're getting 1.6 to 2 grams so that we are getting that muscle protein synthesis . That's going to actually make sure that we're preparing the muscle , building muscle , because there's no point in training and running and doing things if the muscle's breaking down , it's going to , it's just destroying you . So there's one thing . So that's really good . So you've got your staple go-tos there and I imagine it's easier to have cancer corn and cancer beans and cancer of everything in a cupboard and you can just throw it all together when you know what you're doing .

Speaker 1 51:28

Oh my gosh , Yep , absolutely so my daughter actually . One of her favorite dishes from me is my like winter veg lentil soup . Yeah , yeah , she loves that and like we use like two full tins of lentils .

Speaker 2 51:45

Yeah .

Speaker 1 51:45

Like we're not shy with it because you have to be . Yeah , that's right . You can't eat like constricted if you choose to do this diet , I guess that's my other form of advice . Your plates are going to be big . It has to be yes .

Speaker 2 51:58

And I want to say this to people will say , oh yeah , but that's a lot of food . There's a lot of calories in that . Yeah , really , if you're doing the volume with all your fiber and you're getting all your fiber and plants in , are you going to rather have that ? Or are you going to go off and do yourself a plant-based burger and some fries and put that with a muffin and consume about 1600 calories when you could have had a really good plant-based meal ? And this is what I say to my shift workers all the way through with everything Stop worrying about the calories that are in food , as in whole grain food , whole foods , stop worrying about the calories in it because , in fairness , as a rule I mean this is a big statement , but you can't really over-consume whole foods .

Speaker 2 52:42

Your body won't let you do it . Your body won't let you over-consume whole foods . But if you're going to shove the muffin in and next to it and you're going to have the doughnut and you're going to have I've demonized the doughnut again and you're going to have the chocolate and you're going to have all of the chips and things like that going , oh , on plant-based , on plant-based , yeah , good on you , but that's where your calories are coming from , because if your body literally just can't eat too much , it won't eat too much . It won't eat too much if you're on a plant-based diet , if you're in touch with your hunger and society signals Fantastic .

Speaker 1 53:13

Yep , and if you have that initial protein plus the grains , plus the colors for your antioxidants , I'm telling you you will be satiated .

Speaker 2 53:22

Yeah , absolutely .

Speaker 1 53:23

Anything else that comes outside of that is cravings . And look , I have them too . I'm a normal human being . I'm not like Wonder Woman about it , Like I love a doughnut . Hey , remind me to talk to you about doughnuts later , because they actually got me through Ultraman . We had my crew and I had this thing called Erica's doughnut , which was literally it was like a corn cake with peanut butter and jam and another corn cake .

Speaker 2 53:49

Yeah , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 53:50

And now in our house it's like oh , I think I feel like a doughnut . Erica's doughnut and that's what it is . It's just fats . Yes .

Speaker 2 53:56

Love it . Erica , do you have any cool sites that you use as your plant-based diet and I'll just make a note of them ? Or if you could tell me it's just some cool sites that you'd like to go to that our plant-based people could actually learn from , whether they're Instagram's websites .

Speaker 1 54:11

Yeah , I highly advise that . Anyone who's going plant-based needs to read a book called the Proof Is In the Plants by Simon Hill . He has a podcast called the Proof and the Instagram handle is the same . That will change your whole perspective on whole food , plant-based diets and your health and the environment and there's recipes in there and I think he's actually just released a new . That's the one .

Speaker 2 54:43

I've got the book . That that I've got the book . I knew I had it here somewhere . Yes , yeah .

Speaker 1 54:51

I think just for the plant-based , he has this wonderful way where he will do the reading of the science for you , and he presents it in such a beautiful , user-friendly way that even the most novice plant-based person can understand the concepts that he provides . I think it's written beautifully and it's evidence-based , which we love .

Speaker 2 55:14

Yeah , we wanna know that , so it's always good to get the knowledge around that sort of thing . So that's the book where you would start . Have you got any fantastic ? Little instas or .

Speaker 1 55:24

Yeah , I'm just gonna have a quick look for you now . There's another athlete that I follow who basically is in the bodybuilding .

Speaker 2 55:34

Oh , the vegan bodybuilder .

Speaker 1 55:35

Oh so Fritz Hortsman .

Speaker 2 55:37

Right .

Speaker 1 55:38

So it's F-R-I-T-Z . Yep . Underscore Horstman .

Speaker 2 55:48

H-O-R-S-T-M-A-N . Okay .

Speaker 1 55:49

His website's called vegancoachingcom and he is the guy who and he confesses it on his site every day he's like I was vegan did the whole eliminate thing and I was like , oh , I resonate with you , but he was still skinny fat as people refer to it , because we know that the vegans can't build and he wanted to build . So he's a huge advocate for the TVP cheap recipes this is what you can do with Tempe . He's very keen on those type of whole food , like protein sources .

Speaker 2 56:21

Love it . Yeah , that's good .

Speaker 1 56:22

His food ideas are really good .

Speaker 2 56:24

Okay , I'll link to . The proof is in the plants in the show notes and I'll also link to . I'll get you to email them through to me as well . I've got Fritz Horsman and Vegan Coaching and we'll go from there . First question and we're nearly at the end is what have you learned that's changed your shift working life forever , erica ?

Speaker 1 56:39

what was a real light bulb moment for you that changed your shift working life forever , other than finding me , of course , Other than finding you , I have this little thing where I there's five things that I've learned over time about my shift work , and I think that number one is to incorporate exercise . You just have to , because exercise decompresses your mind from the trauma of your job and , let's face it , a lot of shift workers are in emergency response . We need to decompress from work and exercise does that , and I think that exercise allows you to go into reflective practice .

Speaker 1 57:21

Yeah , I agree , so I know that that's something that we use around uni like oh , reflective practice . You must learn how to reflect , keep your reflective journal . So , rather than just thinking that is something that you say , when you actually make it something that you do , it changes your quality of life as a shift worker .

Speaker 2 57:41

So reflective practice .

Speaker 1 57:43

Yeah , incorporating exercise . So , like I said to you the other day , even swimming , that's my meditation space . The next thing I have learned about shift work is that you can't perform at your best

Shift Work's Impact and Importance

Speaker 1 57:57

if you are living at your worst .

Speaker 2 57:59

Yeah , that's right .

Speaker 1 58:01

So if you have had three hours sleep , no food and you're irritable , you cannot perform at the standard that is expected of you .

Speaker 2 58:10

Yeah , you can't get on an airplane without hearing that you've got to put your own oxygen mask on before you put it on anybody else . So why would you ? And I think one of the biggest problems that people make , without doubt , and I think our nurses get flogged , and so do our emergency services , no doubt about it at all . So people that come home after working night shift and then sit around waiting or get their kids organized for school and then jump in the car with the kids and take the kids to school while they're in that state , like for goodness sake it's negligent .

Speaker 2 58:41

It's totally negligent because your body at that point in time is doing absolutely everything it can to force you to go to sleep , and you will micro-nap one day and you'll do yourself an injury or your children .

Speaker 1 58:54

I did that very early in my career . I did what they used to call the evening night double shift , so that ended up being like a spontaneous stay at the end of your evening for a night duty because we're short staffed . So it ends up being like an 18 and a half hour shift , right , but I wasn't prepared for so . My normal night shift routine couldn't do it .

Speaker 1 59:16

I was already at work and I fell asleep at the traffic lights and it wasn't till someone beat me that the light turned orange again and I realized that I'd micro-slept through our entire green cycle of lights .

Speaker 2 59:28

That's right .

Speaker 1 59:29

I was completely stationary .

Speaker 2 59:30

And you don't realize , and people don't realize that they've actually done that and that's their bodies doing it , all right . So what's the next point ? The next point that changed your shift working life ?

Speaker 1 59:40

My shift working life . So the next one and I love this because I'm a medical person but early intervention is better than delayed treatment . When you have that mental shift that this is valid to you and not just the people that you're looking after , like your patients , you thrive .

Speaker 2 1:00:01

Yeah , I agree with that , I totally agree with that , and that's why I try and push that with the coaching as well . Get help early and set yourself up , because if you don't make time for your health now , you're going to have to make time for illness later . And you are , and there's no doubt about that , and I did a post on this last night . It's going to catch up with you . And it is going to catch up with you If you don't take control because it's not going away and you don't want to then walk away from shift work and go . Oh God , it'll all fix itself now , because it just won't . That's the problem .

Speaker 1 1:00:31

Set yourself up for it . Don't damage your body from not nurturing yourself during shift . Work is hard to reverse .

Speaker 2 1:00:38

Yeah , yeah , I agree .

Speaker 1 1:00:38

It's like any other chronic disease , and we know that shift work increases our mortality rate .

Speaker 2 1:00:44

Yep , that's right .

Speaker 1 1:00:45

And I've got two more for you . So the next one is time management to schedule your training around your shift work creates discipline .

Speaker 2 1:00:54

Yeah , I agree with that too and I'm coaching very strongly with this . Now , Get the whiteboard out , write your shifts , do this schedule in your training schedule , in your non-negotiables , what needs to happen ? Because a lot of people don't do this and they get to the end of a couple of days off and they've achieved absolutely nothing .

Speaker 1 1:01:11

Yep , you've just existed . You've not lived .

Speaker 2 1:01:13

No , that's right , Yep .

Speaker 1 1:01:15

So management like that is just you have to . And the last one is you know , and this goes back to our tea room conversation I guess you can't save everyone .

Speaker 2 1:01:26

Yeah , that's true .

Speaker 1 1:01:27

You can't save everyone , but you have no idea how many people you impact just by being the best version of yourself .

Speaker 2 1:01:36

Yeah , very good . Yeah , I like that . Yeah , you can't save everyone . Just turn up and be your best self , because you don't realize the impact that you're having on others . I love that , okay , so just through what it looks like for you , just go slowly through . I mean , it's obviously it's rotating shifts . Are you on a permanent roster , or are you on a permanent roster ? Okay , that makes it easier , doesn't it , to schedule .

Speaker 1 1:02:00

It does . So basically what happens in our house is that I get my roster and around my shifts . My husband does his job when he's able to . If anyone doesn't know my husband , he jumps out of planes for a living .

Speaker 2 1:02:16

Silly man . I can't understand why people jump out of perfectly good aeroplanes . I sit on them hoping I don't fall out of the sky , and he's jumping out of them . Silly man , anyone .

Speaker 1 1:02:26

So we get my roster to start with and then we have a look at it . Tom then puts his work around it on our monthly calendar , which is our whiteboard one , and then we look at my daughter's extracurricular activities , and that goes on as well . Once I know my roster , I have a fitness app that I know that a lot of people in the try and running space will know , what it's called Training Peaks , and it sort of is a , and as a coach I use it now too . It tracks like your fitness and your fatigue and all that stuff , but it's like a big calendar . So once I know my shifts , I enter the shifts into Training Peaks and then my coach writes my training program around all of the information about my shift work , my husband , my daughter that I've dumped into this app . So every week I should be able to go well , this is this , this and this training session is appropriate for me . So it's all scheduled like that and all I have to do is just do what it says .

Speaker 2 1:03:28

How important is it to have a coach that understands shift work ?

Speaker 1 1:03:34

100% .

Speaker 2 1:03:35

Yes .

Speaker 1 1:03:36

And I need to . I think that even if you're in the fitness space or the PT space , I highly recommend getting a coach that actually understands physically the toll that shift work creates . So if I've put in their night duty , night duty , night duty like three in a row , say , my coach should know that the night shift that's in the middle I'll be buggered because I've been awake all day , probably the day before .

Speaker 2 1:04:03

Yeah , yeah . And it's for a coach to go no , but you've got to put a 10 , you've got to do a 10k run . You've got to do a 10k run that day , because that's ridiculous .

Speaker 1 1:04:12

Exactly right and because a fitness coach will go like but your event is in four weeks time and this is a key session , so you have to do it on this day .

Speaker 2 1:04:21

Yeah .

Speaker 1 1:04:22

So you go that angle , you'll fail .

Speaker 2 1:04:24

I get a lot of clients come to me as a coach because they can do a program , but because I've got empathy for shift work . Having done it for 39 years , I've got empathy for shift work . I know the feeling . I know what that feels like . I know you do too . The people that you're coaching , Erica . You have the empathy .

Speaker 2 1:04:42

You would never coach someone to go and do a five or a 10k run in between two night shifts . You know you would . You would work out something that they could do , but not that , because you know that you're going to get the best out of them at a later time . So I think the importance of having a shift working coach . So if you're a runner or you want to do triathlons or something like that and you're a shift worker , give Erica a yell because she gets it , she understands , and nothing , nothing can replace having someone that's done 14 years of shift work and walked in your shoes to understand . When you say this is how I feel , that they can help you , a renter , and they're not going to say to you oh no , you should do this , you should do that , but what they do , they will start you doing small things until it perpetuates into something that's quite , quite major . So your key there is scheduling . Just got to schedule it all into what you got to do and then it just you just run with it .

Speaker 1 1:05:39

If I don't do it , that's on me .

Speaker 2 1:05:42

Oh yeah , that's right .

Speaker 1 1:05:43

I'm 100% accountable because everything else has worked in my favor to make me successful . So if I haven't done it like that's on me , then Well , you're accountable to yourself .

Speaker 2 1:05:53

There's no one to blame . Yeah , you let yourself down . Yeah , okay , erica , where can people find you ?

Speaker 1 1:05:58

Oh , so they can find me on Instagram . So my Instagram page is TRI . So try underscore plants because obviously I'm a triathlete . But hey , you should try to eat some plants .

Speaker 2 1:06:11

Yeah , I'll put that in the show notes . You've also got your own podcast too .

Speaker 1 1:06:15

Yes , I do so . My podcast is under my coaching name endurance training leaders , so my podcast is called the ETL podcast , and that is just at ETL podcast on Instagram , so you can find me there as well .

Speaker 2 1:06:29

That's fantastic . I thank you so much for your time today . I really , really do appreciate you coming on and sharing your plant-based journey with us . Now I have a closing question that I ask all of my guests for . I've just won billions of dollars and I can buy and build and do anything anywhere in the world . So , because you've been so gracious and kind and come onto the podcast for me today , if I bought you a holiday house anywhere in the world but you've got to live in it for six months , all right , you can take your husband , you can take your daughter with you as well . No doubt I would do that . Where do you want me to buy it or build it ?

Speaker 1 1:07:03

That's a great question . I'd have to say that I would have to stay local . If you could buy me a place on the oceanfront in Harvey Bay , I'd be eternally grateful .

Speaker 2 1:07:15

Okay , we'll do that , and you'll just have to send the plans through for your dream home , because no doubt you'll want a 50-meter lap pool in that as well , so you can just jump in and do your own swimming .

Speaker 1 1:07:24

Oh , the ocean's right there , right .

Speaker 2 1:07:26

Oh , that's right , Don't worry about it . So all you want is a shark net ? Yeah , that'd be nice .

Speaker 1 1:07:33

Just a private spot in the sea , We'll be totally fine yeah just a private little spot .

Speaker 2 1:07:36

Yeah , not you and the fishes . We don't like fishes . Okay then , Erica , thank you so much for your time . I do sincerely appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your knowledge around a plant-based diet and trifling , and as a 24-7 nurse .

Speaker 1 1:07:50

Absolute pleasure , thank you .

Speaker 2 1:07:52

And well , there you go . That's Erica Lum , and isn't she just absolutely incredible A triathlete , fully and completely plant-based , a wife and a mother and a 24-7 shift-working nurse Incredible journey . If you've got any further questions or anything like that that you would like to ask me around plant-based , feel free . If there's anybody that you would like to hear on the podcast also , don't hesitate to actually send me a message and I'll reach out to them and see if they're prepared to come on to the podcast . Please don't send me Simon Hill . I have reached out and I haven't heard back at all , but you never know , one day he might be able to come on and give us a hand , right ? So I just want to say thank you for joining me on this insightful journey .

Speaker 2 1:08:40

I hope you found today's episode helpful . It is a really interesting topic , but don't forget to hit , follow and please share this with your fellow shift workers . Keep your questions coming and remember you've got the power to be a true shift work champion . And , as always , remember to be patient and kind to yourself as you navigate the challenges of shift work and prioritize your mental health and well-being . And , as always , I really want to thank you for tuning in to a healthy shift and keep moving forward 1% and one step at a time , and make yourself a healthy shift . Thank you for listening . If you enjoyed this episode , be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released . It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on . If you want to know more about me or work with me , you can go to ahealthyshiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one .