Speaker 1: 1:41

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 rigours of shift work, but thrive. My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and wellbeing so they have more energy to do the things they love. Enjoy today's show. Hello everybody, and welcome back to A Healthy Shift.

Speaker 1: 2:21

I'm your host, roger Sutherland, and I know so many of you are working hard. You're trying to keep your families together, pay off that mortgage otherwise you wouldn't be doing the shift work, would you and just get through these crazy shifts. You are constantly on the go and often feeling like there's absolutely no time for you Living on caffeine, running on empty, and the last thing that you have time for is figuring out what to eat. So let's get into this one Now. We've talked before about the glycemic index, or GI, and today I just want to go a little deeper into it, why it's not only important to your energy, but it's also really important for your waistline and your sanity, and I'm here to help you with it. Now, as a shift worker, our body clocks are already out of whack completely. If you're not careful Now, your body is more insulin resistant at night. Now what this means is that your cells aren't as good as taking up the sugar from your blood when you eat high GI foods, and high GI foods are foods like that sugary snack or that white bread sandwich. You know, chips, chocolate, lollies, I know you get it all, but what it does is it actually sends your blood sugar skyrocketing and your body struggles to deal with it, and what this means is your body can lead to your body storing more in the excess energy as fat, and for many, that's fat gain, particularly for our shift working community around the stomach area. Now this also means that it spikes our blood sugar and we crash, and this is where cravings come in, because we're not eating foods that are stabilizing our blood sugar. It's spiking and it's crashing, and this is where my theory comes in and what I've seen in coaching hundreds of women and shift workers.

Speaker 1: 4:21

For a shift worker, it's vital to go down the low GI path from about 3 pm onwards. Now, this doesn't matter whether you're working day shift, whether you're working afternoon shift or whether you're on night shift. Why? Because your body follows a natural diurnal circadian rhythm, and it is from 3 pm onwards that our body's natural insulin sensitivity starts to decline, and this is naturally occurring in our circadian rhythm. Now, if we were to switch to low GI foods at this time, we aren't fighting against our body. We're actually giving it stable fuel that it needs to function properly, and this helps you to avoid fat gain. Trust me, it does.

Speaker 1: 5:09

And this leads me to another huge benefit those cravings and that feeling of fullness. None of this snacking. And then, all of a sudden, you're looking for more. You will feel fuller for longer. High GI foods will burn fast. So an hour after you eat that donut or those chips or chocolate, you're hungry again and you're craving another quick sugar fix. Now, this is a never-ending cycle for us as a shift worker, but when you start to incorporate lower GI foods, foods that are rich in fiber and protein, they are digested a lot more slowly. Now, what this means is that you will feel fuller and you'll be satisfied for much longer, and literally it is a game changer for reducing those constant peaks and troughs and cravings that we get that can lead you straight through the mess room and straight into the vending machines. This is the problem. Now I just want to say this as well I'm not telling you you've got to go into your cupboard and throw everything out because this is the diet of the century. I've been doing this for a long time, so I can tell you that just slowly incorporating and learning what is low GI, how it makes you feel, is definitely the way to make it stick.

Speaker 1: 6:32

Now, one of the biggest problems with people with dieting is it's all or nothing. It's always all or nothing, and then what happens is it ends up becoming nothing. So what we want to do is we want to actually incorporate these low GI foods slowly, find certain things that fit us, find certain things that work really well, and start incorporating those and then start layering them on. All right, this is the best way to go about it. So what I suggest is you just make one simple swap. Maybe it's swapping your white bread out for a whole grain bread at one of those meals. Or maybe you switch your sugary cereal for a bowl of oats. Once you've got that down, add another. Maybe you make your afternoon snack a handful of nuts instead of a biscuit Enormously beneficial.

Speaker 1: 7:22

So what I'm telling you is small changes, one at a time, can slowly and eventually build you into a low GI lifestyle that you personally will be able to maintain, because it's not overwhelming. You're starting to incorporate them and then what you can do is it's just not for a week, but it's for your life and it's the way to move forward. Now these changes will make you feel better. You'll have more energy and literally you will stop that constant battle with cravings and weight gain. You will reduce weight on a lower GI diet purely because you are consuming less food, because you're less hungry and you are fuller for longer and your blood sugar is more stable. So did I hear you just ask what's low GI? You wouldn't believe it, but I've actually got a low GI lifestyle guidebook which is free free. All you got to do is go into the show notes and click the link in the show notes for the low GI lifestyle guidebook and it will take you to a page where you can actually download the book for free, and it's got all the low GI foods in it, why I recommend that we go low GI and you can start to incorporate these foods into your lifestyle for your health. I will guarantee to you you will feel so much better and I mean so much better on a low GI lifestyle.

Speaker 1: 8:54

This is only a short one. I just wanted to get that one out there. So I want to say go and get the book. The link is in the show notes or, if you can't find it, what you do is you just message Rog on Instagram or you send us an email through the website and say, hey, can you just send me the link for the low GI lifestyle book and we'll be happy to send it to you straight away. No problems, no questions asked. Here you go. I've created this because I want to change the face of the shift working world and having people swap from these high GI foods that are causing crashes and weight gain to a low GI lifestyle from about three o'clock in the afternoon onwards.

Speaker 1: 9:36

Go to it, start incorporating them slowly. Get the book, look at and learn. Learn what they are, learn the best ones, the way to go about it, and then you can just keep on layering on top until you start to incorporate and learn how much better you feel on lower GI foods as a shift worker, keeping your blood sugar stable, particularly when you go into that period of time where you're working, you need food but you are insulin resistant. All right, there you go.

Speaker 1: 10:08

So thanks so much for tuning into this episode. It's an important episode. I'm keeping them short and snappy for you so that you have good snippets of information to help you. Remember you can get much more practical tips and a list of the low GI foods in the book. Download it. I've put a link for you in the show notes. Until next time, stay healthy and keep thriving. 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.