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. And welcome back to another episode of a healthy shift podcast. I am your tour guide, Roger Sutherland. I'm a veteran shift worker of 40 years working in the police here in Melbourne, in Australia. Now, I'm challenging you, and I really want to be able to support you and help you. And I want to give you an analogy that I think will actually help you. So I want you to think about this when you're running a computer and the computer's been running and it's been on for quite some period of time. And what actually happens is the memory gets completely chalked up, it gets full, and the computer starts to really slow down, and we have problems with it, and then applications won't open, and then things don't work, and we have all sorts of problems with it. We can't get it going. So what do we do? So what we do is we turn it off and then we turn it back on again. And I'm challenging you to reset yourself and do the same. I'm not asking you to turn yourself off. Let's not go there. All right. That's not the best thing to do. Certainly not productive for you as the shift worker. But one thing that I do want to talk about today is everything that you've tried. I want to talk about how hard you've tried with everything that you've done. And here we are. Because what you're doing, and majority of the shift workers that are listening to this, is you're all listening and trying to pick up little tips and little pieces of advice along the way to help you to thrive in your shift working life. And I'm here for it because I'm here to actually help you to thrive in your shift working life, because I honestly believe that you can. I know night shift is incredibly difficult for a lot of us, and we really do struggle with it. But there are ways to go about it optimally. And one of the biggest problems that we do have in today's day and age is well, it's it's a time-honored problem, to be perfectly honest with you, is we've never been educated on how to go about doing shift work. We've never had it stripped down and educated that this is the roster and this is how we go it. You've never been taught what to eat and when to eat it. You've never been taught how to fit in exercise. You've never been taught the best way to sleep or get up. And I'm about to change all of that. This is for every shift worker and any shift worker because I challenge that majority of you have never been taught on how to go about doing shift work. One of the biggest problems that we have as shift workers, and trust me, I know I'm not someone who's just researched it. I'm not someone who's read about it, and I'm not someone who's just studied it and decided that I'm going to come out and start helping shift workers. I want you to keep this in mind and keep this foremost in mind for yourself. I actually did shift work for 40 years, 24-7, right up until the very end. There wasn't an eight to four job in there at any stage. I never worked an 8-4 Monday to Friday, other than in the early days when I was playing detective. And even then, you know, if you're a detective and you're listening to this, it's not 8-4 Monday to Friday on any week. So let's look at this. We need to learn how to go about it. We need to arrest that weight gain. We need to get healthier. We need to be more alert. And how can we go about it? Because we as shift workers, we're too busy. And the one thing that we all do really suffer from because we're at work all the time, frontline health, emergency services in all of our jobs, and we're making decisions all the time. And we can rapidly make all of those decisions. Click, click, click, bang, things come up and away we go and we just react to them. We problem solve. Here's a problem, let's solve it. And we do. And we do it really well. But when we walk out of work, we find ourselves in the supermarket, we haven't got the faintest idea how we got there or what it is that we need in there. Because we can't. And that's called decision fatigue. Your brain only gets so many thought processes every single day. And you've used them up at work. So when you walk out of work and you're driving your car home, this is why you can't remember going through the last set of lights. Oh my God, was it red? This is where you can't remember which way you came home because you've literally just done it on autopilot. And decision fatigue is a thing. It's an absolute thing. And then you get you pick up your phone and you message your husband or your wife or your partner or whatever, and you say, What do you want for dinner? You're at the supermarket, and they say, I don't know. And you hunt the supermarket high and low, and you cannot find I don't know anywhere. It's true, isn't it? We honestly are just exhausted when we get out of work, and it's a massive problem. One thing that you don't need, and this is where I've made a mistake on socials and with things that I've done, and even in coaching in certain areas, you, the shift worker, do not need more. You actually need less. When you go to a coach or you go to a um a PT, and a PT writes programs and writes diets for you and gives you meal plans and things like that. How long do they last? Oh, Jenny at the office doing keto. Keto must work, but you only do it for a while because you can't stick with it. It might work for Jenny. And we all know that girl, that Karen at the office, that has absolutely got it all together. She's full of life. Damn Karen. She knows everything. She's up and about, she's happy, she's smiling, she sleeps really well, she's always got her meals prepped, she does great. And she's got two kids. And you think, how the hell are you doing it? Karen, what are you doing? And what Karen's doing is she started with very simple habits and she started to build on top of them. They are there, they are in your workplace. Start looking around. You will see, and I want you to keep this foremost in your mind. They are doing exactly the same job, working exactly the same roster as you are. And they're all there. And this is something that I want you to keep in mind. Now, I'll tell you one thing that you don't need as a shift worker. You don't need another diet. Shock horror. You don't. I can tell you, you do not need another diet. You don't need macro tracking. You don't need to be weighing yourself. Because weighing literally only gives you a snapshot of your relationship with gravity for a split second in time. For as long as you're standing on those scales, it is going to give you your relationship with gravity for that period of time. But what it's not going to do is tell a whole story around what you've been doing. Ladies, where you're at in your cycle. Guys, whether you've trained, whether you've trained legs, whether you the thing is, our weight fluctuates over hours, let alone over weeks and months. So you could get on the scale one week, you could have a fantastic week of in your diet, you think you're in a calorie deficit, you're doing really well. And the next time you jump on the scales is the following Sunday, and your weight's gone up by two kilos. How many times? Happens all the time. And that's the mistake that you make because it's giving you your relationship with gravity for that split second in time. No one is looking at you going, oh look, there goes a 65 kilo. Oh, look, there goes a 66 kilo. Oh, she's put on weight. No one's doing that. I can promise you they're not because they have no idea. Only you do, and it's all in your head. Now you don't need more, you need less. What you need is to get simple habits and routines in place. Now macro tracking, weighing, measuring yourself, doing before and after picks. Before and after pictures are actually, I mean, take photos of yourself if you want along the way, but you'll know just by the photos that you're taking with your family, with your partner, whether you're in a you know looking healthier or not. But what does health look like? Does health look like carrying plastic containers into a gym or carrying plastic containers into a restaurant and eating out of that? That's not healthy. Freaking out won't go out because you can't track your meals when you go to a restaurant. That's not healthy. Having to meal prep all the time. How do you go about that? Where do you start with it? Now, this isn't where your weight gain actually comes from. By doing that, macro tracking, weighing, measuring, before and after picks, meal prepping, and doing that for eight weeks and dropping five kilos and happy days celebrating. But stuff me if in another few weeks it hasn't all come back on again. And why is that? This is called yo-yo dieting, and it's worse for you than anything else. Now, research shows that the majority of people that diet without any education around it, what they actually do is they they drop weight, and then within five years they've regained it and more. And how many of you listening to this now have done a diet drop weight and then put it twice as much back on in half the amount of time? And this is when you understand that. Now, what you need is what I educate. What you need is circadian alignment. But I'm a shift worker, Roger. I know you're a shift worker, and I was a shift worker as well for a long time. But I want you to remember you still need to align your circadian rhythm as much as you can. And if you listen to any of these podcasts, I've educated you on how to go about it. You need routine, you need habits that you stick with and they are ingrained in your head every single day to the stage where they become life. That's what you need. Circle alignment, routine, habits. And this is where I bring you to my 21-day challenge, which I'm starting on the 1st of February. I know what you need, but I also know what you don't need. You don't need more problems and more issues. You don't need another diet, and you don't need macro tracking and before and after pitches and things like that. You don't need a kitchen bench full of meal preps. All you need is to learn the optimal way to align your circadian rhythm. You need routine and you need habits, and I'm here to help you with it. And that's why I am absolutely thrilled to announce starting on the 1st of February, which at the time of recording this is less than 10 days away. The 1st of February, I'm starting a 21-day challenge. Now, this is not a challenge like you've done before, unless you've done my one that I did in February last year. This is very different. This is literally just habit-based. You will have a sheet and you will literally just work through your habits, and we will build on those habits every week for three weeks. You will be part of a community, a private Facebook group of people who are actually all doing the same thing. Sharing tips, sharing hints, sharing your wins, seeking help for your losses and where you're actually struggling from people who are all doing the same thing. This is not about here's your meal plan, go away and do your meal plan, because you won't stick with it. Let's be realistic with yourself. People come to me and say, I want a meal plan. The meal plan doesn't work. I will give you a meal plan that will last. If I was to write you a meal plan, I'd write it for a week because you're not going to go beyond that first week. You know that. Oh, I don't feel like this tonight. I'm just going to have something else. It's a waste of time, then, isn't it? But what you will do is when you get your simple habits and routines right and you start to align your circadian rhythm with the proper education around it, and the right amount of supplementation with what you do as well. Now, I don't have skinny in the game with that, but I'll certainly advise. But the thing is, that's what you need. Because when you do that, that's where the weight loss comes from. When you actually align with your circadian rhythm, when you start feeling better, when you start getting rid of that brain fog, you start getting more motivated, you start to lighten up in your head and your demeanor and the way you are, and you stop feeling like garbage every single day. And when that happens, you start to move more. And when you start to move more, your energy balance changes. Now, in the challenge, you will be part of a Facebook group. Easy. Everyone's got Facebook, open it up, bang, there it is. You'll get a weekly email which will have your activity sheet in it to complete. Simple habits. You can hang it on the fridge, you can tick it off. End of story. Everyone loves a checklist to work through. When you've got to do tasks at home, you write yourself a list and you tick them off. So what about we tick some habits off and we lay a foundation in the first week? And then once we've done the first week, we add a few more and we lay a foundation in the second week. And then we lay a foundation in the third week. I can promise you it is so easy. Everything is so simple. And the feedback that I get from clients when clients start with me is how incredibly easy everything is with maximum amount of difference, and they've never felt better. Now, in the private Facebook group, you will have access to me daily. You can post your question, I'll answer it. Others will answer it, others will support you, I will support you. You'll have a weekly video which will talk about the habits and the optimal way to go about doing them and why they're beneficial and how they help you. There will be resources like a checklist sheet to help you to achieve what we set out to achieve, which is more energy away from work. If I gave you the gift of more energy away from work when you're not there, how better would you feel? And as an added bonus for this challenge, I'm giving you access to the shift workers collective for the month while you're doing the challenge. Now you might say, What does this mean? Well, this is now a private community, which is a Facebook page as well. In this Facebook group, I have a live weekly QA session. I run a live monthly webinar, which is shift work specific. And while you're doing this challenge, on I think it's the 2nd of February, 3rd of February, this this February month, the there will be a February webinar, and you'll have access to that and the recording. But I will give you a hint as well. You will also have access to all the previous recordings to watch as well, if that interests you. There's all sorts of stuff in there. The women and shift work is in there, supplementation webinar is in there, creatine is in there, talking all about these things, how important it is. Now the recordings are available and they're there all the time. The weekly QA, the monthly webinar. There are resources to support your shift working life, a community of like-minded people, all on the same journey, all working around the world that are shift workers helping each other. I've also got a full library of female health webinars by my friend and colleague, Chloe Stevens. Now, she's doing her PhD in women's health at the moment, and you'd have to consider her a subject matter expert in this area. And she's put a whole heap of videos together that I've got access to in the Shift Workers Collective. Now we're starting on the 1st of February. And do you know what else that means? I'm encouraging you to give Febfast a go at the same time. FebFast, alcohol free for 21 days. Now, I know you're all going to go, oh, I can't do this then. This is not a non-negotiable. All right. You can still do the challenge without going alcohol free. But I do highly encourage you to give it a go. Try alcohol free. Just try it for three weeks. You may never go back because you will feel so good. Your sleep will improve. Weight gain will be arrested. Coupled with everything else that we're doing with the habits, you will feel so much better. Brain fog will go. Your energy levels will increase. Everything will increase. You'll feel so much better. As I said, it's not a non-negotiable. You don't have to do it, but I do highly encourage it. FebFast. We're starting February the 1st. 21 days. You've only got to go three weeks, honestly. Give it a go. Give it a crack. And what I'm thrilled to announce about this challenge, this 21-day challenge that I'm running as well, the reset, is Manta have put up two sleep masks for me. And what they're going to do is we're offering them as prizes. Now, one of them is going to be for the most engaged member in the community, in the Facebook group. Whoever's the most engaged, posting pictures of yourself out walking, your meal, what you've come up with, posting a recipe, talking to others, supporting others, whatever. We will be watching and we will see. Whoever's the most engaged will win the mantle sleep mask. Remember, this is not about who lost the most amount of weight or who looks better. It's nothing to do with that. This is literally about the most engaged, the most supportive. That's what I'm looking for. And the second mask, just for being part of the challenge, that's your entry into the raffle. And every single person will be in the raffle. And we will be drawing that on February the 28th. And that will be a live draw into the group, into the Facebook group. Now there's a link to this to the landing page with all the information in it in the show notes. Highly encourage go down and click it and have a look at it and sign up. And you're going to ask me. And before you ask me, I'm going to tell you how much does it cost, Rog? Well, the challenge is actually free. But you have to be a member of the Shift Workers Collective, which is going to cost you, you ready?$20 for one month.$20 for one month. And out of that$20 for the one month, you have access to all of the women's health videos, all of the past webinars that I've actually run, the QAs, and you'll have access to not only the challenge community, but also to the shift workers collective community, all for a lobster. 20 bucks. That's all I'm asking for. And you sign up, and it's a one month subscription into the Shift Workers Collective. And at the end of the challenge, If you don't find the Shift Workers Collective beneficial for you, you can cancel your subscription, walk away, and we will still be friends. Or I will offer you a special deal to stay there and I'll give you a price for 12 months. It'll make your eyes roll. You will be horrified at just how cheap this is for the value that you actually get out of it for 12 months as a member of the Challenge and Shift Workers Collective for that one month. You can't not do this. Guys, I'm telling you, this is going to be the best thing ever for you. This is a reset. This is your opportunity to learn from me the absolute best way to go about it to start with. Because what you're doing now is not working, and you need support and help with it. And I will show you how because you've never done anything like this before. We will encourage you, we will support you, we will give you the habits and routines that you need to truly thrive in your shift working life. So go down into the show notes. Down the bottom there, go into the show notes, and there's a link there to the 21-day shift workers reset challenge and febfast. Give it a go. You have absolutely nothing to lose. Thank you for listening. I hope I see you in the challenge. I'm really looking forward to running this and I want to see you thriving. I'll talk to you on the next one. 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 ahealthyshift.com. I'll catch you on the next one.