If your New Year’s Resolution is to change your shift work diet, then now is certainly as good a time as any.

Because if you’re like me, then you’ve probably spent much of the festive season eating way too much food and doing very little exercise, all at the same time.

In fact as I ate that last bite of Christmas trifle, raspberry jelly and creamy vanilla ice cream, you could almost here the sigh of relief amongst the members of our household.

Firstly because we were finally able to create some much needed space in the refrigerator, and secondly because we could now return to a much healthier and more regular eating plan.

Now don’t get me wrong.

As a shift worker, my diet over the years has certainly been far from perfect. But if you’ve noticed that your pants have slowly become much tighter and that you’re struggling to do up the buttons in your jacket or vest, then 2011 might be the year for you to change.

You see whenever you overeat, it disrupts your sleeping patterns. Basically the more you eat, the more sleep you require which is not good news if you’re a sleep deprived shift worker.

So the next time you go to bed on a stomach full of rich Christmas goodies (and dare I say delicious), just remember that you’re more likely to experience difficulty falling and staying asleep, because your body has no idea how to break down this type of food.

So as we say goodbye to Christmas and turn the corner towards 2011, I would like you to get out your notebook and start writing down those New Year Resolutions.

And if one of those resolutions is to lose weight – then congratulations for making that decision and taking the first step.

Of course it’s important to point out that if you’re serious about wanting to shed those unwanted kilograms, then you’re going to have to start doing things differently than what you’ve been doing over the past year.

Quite simply, if you want things to change, then you are going to have to do something different than what you’ve done before.

But it all starts my making a decision. Making that New Year’s Resolution commitment that your shift work diet can and will improve for the better in 2011. After all, nothing is as important as your good health.

Happy New Year!

If you’re a shift worker rostered to work Christmas this year, then don’t despair – because it’s not all bad.

Now don’t get me wrong, having to work on this festive day can certainly put a dampener on the holiday season.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You see Christmas is all about spending time with your friends and family, but don’t forget those you work with are somebody else’s friends and family too.

It’s a time when differences of opinion should be left at home, and to make the most of a work day that is usually much quieter than the norm.

And let’s face it – you really don’t want to spend the day feeling miserable.

So put on your Santa hat, bring in the Christmas goodies and be grateful for everyone and everything in your life right now.

If you focus on these things and just go into work and have as much fun as you can – your shift will go surprisingly fast and you’ll be home in next to no time.

And on that note, I would like to wish every shift worker around the world a wonderful Christmas and may 2011 bring you lots of love, laughter and happiness.

To your good health,

Kind regards,

Audra Starkey
[The Healthy Shift Worker]