Combatting Decision Fatigue With Meal Planning

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3 times 6 plus 6 .

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What on earth are you talking about , rog ? In today's episode , I'm going to discuss with you how we , as shift workers , can combat decision fatigue when it comes to meal prepping . 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 .

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Welcome back to a healthy shift podcast , where I uncover evidence-based strategies to help shift workers thrive not just survive , while coping with the rigors of shift work . I'm your host , roger Sutherland . I'm a veteran shift worker of almost four decades myself , and now an evidence-based nutritionist , and I'm thrilled to be personally welcoming you to this episode of the show , and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening . Today , I'm going to bring you a topic that's a common problem for so many shift workers Three times six plus six Cryptic roge but I'll break it down as I do on this platform , and I'm going to arm you with another piece of gold to help you , the shift worker .

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Today we're exploring a powerful technique that can transform your energy levels meal planning to conquer decision fatigue . Now you might wonder what , but let's just understand what decision fatigue is first , alright . So this is my first point today , imagine facing a demanding night shift or a long stretch of irregular hours and then having to make countless food choices throughout the day , and that's where decision fatigue sneaks in , the mental exhaustion that comes with making numerous decisions . As shift workers , we have a lot on our plate already , and our energy must be conserved for the tasks that truly matter . Enter meal planning . Oh my god , meal planning has got to be the worst decision that we have to make

Meal Planning for Shift Workers Benefits

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Unless you're a veteran meal sorry , unless you are a veteran meal prepper and totally have a handle on it and you know what you can actually do , that Then I would highly suggest that you just start small . So let's just go into what the benefits of meal planning . Three times six plus six . Let me help you here . Open your phone and open the notes on your phone and then write down breakfast and underneath that , write down six breakfasts that you know that you can knock together easily and that you really enjoy , and then , underneath that , write down lunch , and write down six lunches that you know that you can put together super easily and you really enjoy . Then write down dinner and do the same , and then , underneath that , write snacks , and write down six snacks that you know are readily available , that you enjoy , that you can actually have . And there you have it . You have three times six plus six Six breakfasts , six lunch , six dinner and six snacks . So what's the benefit of this ? Well , the day you sit down and you actually write this , you lose it and you're actually thinking , and you're right to think . And the good thing about them being in notes in your phone is you can chop and change these as often as you wish to change them . So why would you consider just jotting down six breakfasts , six lunches and six dinners and six snacks ? So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to break that down .

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Number one streamline choices . If you plan these meals in advance , you eliminate the constant dilemma of what should I eat ? Have you ever texted your family at home and said what do you want for dinner ? And they said I don't know . And then what you've done is you've wandered around the supermarket looking for it I don't know , or they come back to you with I really don't care . So you then start wandering up and down the aisles looking for I don't care , because that's generally what they come back with . This leaves you with more mental bandwidth for your work and your personal life . So if you write them down and plan them out in advance , you've actually got them written down . It also provides you with nutritional excellence .

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As an evidence based nutritionist , I totally understand and know the importance of a well balanced diet , obviously . But meal planning lets you design the meals that align with you , with what you want , as to what you enjoy eating . Don't worry about getting all this tracking and oh , I can only have this and that , and it's only got to . Let's start off by just getting some nutritionist , nutritional variety into your diet . To start off with the colors of the rainbow , the vegetables , the fruits . Getting all of these things in makes a massive difference . Meal planning lets you design those meals . When you plan it , you're planning what you know you enjoy . You're planning what you know that you like , what you know that you can throw together very simply and this will actually boost your overall health and well being Enjoy and satisfying your food .

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We , as shift workers , we know the value of time . It just seems to crawl away from us very quickly . Or in today's day and age , at the moment we are so tied up at work that there's no time outside of work at all . If you've got your meals already planned , then you can actually save precious minutes during your breaks , ensuring that you have enough time for relaxation or even maybe a quick pay on that , because you've got your food with you and prepped and ready to go . Also , writing them down reduces or even eliminates us making impulse decisions .

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Now , late night cravings are impulse snacking , not when you've got your meals planned , because you're less likely to succumb to unhealthy choices . When you've got nutrition options ready to go . When you can plan out your nutrition , you actually make sure that you are high protein , volumous with vegetables or whatever , salads or just anything that's volumous that you can get into your diet and that will reduce that snacking or the cravings that people and I say the cravings quote unquote it's literally because you haven't eaten enough protein and volumous food . It also makes your grocery shopping easy . By planning ahead , you can create your shopping list . You know the shops . No more wandering around the oils in the days , going I don't know what to have , looking at one tin after the other or up and down the oils . You know exactly what you need . You look on the list , bang in , you go out , you come , done . That's it simple . You should be able to get in and out of a supermarket and shop for days in less than half an hour . Very , very simple . You're a shift worker . You can go at any time .

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Ok , so now the next thing , point three , is crafting your meal plan . So while you're writing your six down and you're going breakfast , lunch and dinner and your snacks let's get practical , and here's a simple four step plan to help you to get started . First of all , variety is key because we don't want boring food because we won't eat it , because as soon as our colleague or partner or whoever stops at the local fast food to get that , you will buckle and want that , and that's not what we want . So variety is key . List down a mix of your favorite foods from different food groups and this ensures that you're actually getting a really good , well-balanced and well-rounded diet . And prepare yourself for success On your days off .

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Prepare some of the components of your meals in advance , chop your veggies , cook your proteins and store them so that you can literally just grab the bits and pieces out of the fridge . And remember what I talk about with your three day plan of actually doing your meal prep . Your rest day is literally just for the day that you actually cook or put it together . The day before that is the day you shop , and the day before that is the day you think about it and write it down . And you don't have to think about it because you've got your six , six , six and six and you can actually just look at it , go into the supermarket , grab what you need , shop for it and then just leave it there and the next day you can prepare it . So that's another way of going about making sure that you're getting it right .

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Portion control as a coach , I emphasize portion sizes for people to make sure that you're checking in with yourself . Don't go over the top . Check in what do I think I'll need . What will I need for this ? Use containers to portion out your meals and snacks , and that will help you to avoid overeating during busy shifts and will also have you with food ready to go through . If you haven't got a break and then suddenly you get a five or a 10-minute break , you've actually got time , or got time because you've got your food there with you and ready to eat and stay adaptable , because life as a shift worker can be incredibly unpredictable .

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Have some backup meal options or freezer-friendly choices for those days where your plans change . My muscle chef meals or pre-prep meals , I don't know . In your own countries or places , wherever you're listening , you will be able to search for your pre-prep meals that are done high protein you want . Have a few of those in the freezer and ready to go In case , just in case . Have your frozen veggies , your tin veggies . Have things that you can actually put together . A cook chalk in the fridge can be great to actually pull it apart and put it with a pre-prep salad and you're done . It's easy , all right .

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Now the next thing is to overcome our challenges . Now let's address this common hurdle . Where do I start Now ? It might feel overwhelming at first , but remember I'm here to support and encourage you every step of the way . I coach clients with this , so what I suggest people do and this is how I help clients is to literally start with a single week of meal planning and notice the positive impact that it actually has on your energy levels . Even you can break it down even more .

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Just identify which meal is gonna be your most challenging meal each day of the coming rotation . This is where the whiteboard comes in . You look at the whiteboard . You look at it , you go these are the shifts . Oh , my God , this dinner is gonna be extremely difficult this day because if I get over time and I'm gonna be late , plan and prepare that dinner . Have that dinner . Don't worry about your breakfast and lunch . Start with that dinner and then look at the next day oh , I don't know what to do for breakfast that day . Plan the breakfast and do the breakfast that day with your overnight weekbigs or your overnight oats or whatever . Think about that . Just break it down into one meal .

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Identify what your most challenging meal is each day Is it a home meal or is it a work meal ? And just address that to start off with , because I can promise you that will gain momentum for you and you'll get better and better and more efficient at it . You could even break it down into oh , I'm doing day shifts , so this is what I normally eat or have on day shifts , or I'm doing afternoons shifts , and this is what I normally have on afternoons shifts , or I'm on night shifts , and this is what I normally eat around night shifts . Just make it easy on yourself . That's the best way to go about it , because decision fatigue is real in shift workers . It's well researched . We are under high pressure , high stress , making critical life and death decisions at times , numerous times , during our shift . So the reason that we write these things down for ourselves is to avoid that decision fatigue , so that we don't have to make decisions outside . We can just open our phone , we can just look , get prep , eat done , and we will benefit from it .

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All right , so that concludes this episode . You can see the advantages of writing down your meals , which are to combat your decision fatigue . And remember , as you would adopt this strategy , you won't be just surviving , you'll be actually thriving and you really will . It'll make a big difference . All right , so thank you for joining me .

Supporting Shift Workers for Optimal Health

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If you found today's episode helpful , please don't forget hit follow so that you'll know to find if I drop any special episodes or when the episodes actually drop . And please , I beg you , let your fellow shift workers know about the podcast and the tips that you're getting from here and my social media , and don't forget to visit my website , ahealthyshiftcom , and also you can go to my Instagram , which is at a underscore healthy , underscore shift . This is really , really important for the reach of the show to bring you and every shift worker solid , evidence based strategies so that they can thrive and not just survive while coping with the rigors of shift work . And also keep those questions coming . If there's something that you want me to address , please make sure that you let me know and I can actually address it in this form . And remember you've got the power to be a true shift work champion . You can do this and , as always , please remember to be patient and kind to yourself as you navigate the challenges of shift work and prioritize your mental health and your wellbeing .

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I also want to thank you for tuning into a healthy shift and keep moving forward , 1% at a time , 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 .