I don’t need to tell you that there are many struggles when it comes to working shift work. In fact there are so many struggles that I even decided to write a book about it.

But let’s talk about how to curb those bad eating habits.

Shift workers are notorious for eating badly. We tend to come up with every excuse under the sun to justify our junk food and caffeine addiction.

So what can you do to change this?

By simply making the decision to change - and sticking to it!

It never ceases to amaze me how we often neglect our bodies by filling them up with toxic, unhealthy food. Yet at the same time we would never fill our cars up with toxic, contaminated fuel.

There is absolutely no difference between our body and our car.

Actually let me rephrase that. There is a difference. A BIG difference.

Your car will give you warning signs when it is not feeling well like stalling, breaking down or failing to start. But your body is different. The warning signs will come, but not straight away because our bodies are incredibly resilient. They will tolerate a lot of junk food, alcohol and excessive rich food for quite awhile before eventually sending you those warning signals. For example shortness of breath, high cholesterol, weight gain, sleepless nights – to name just a few.

So if you’re serious about wanting to curb those bad eating habits you have to recognise that the more junk food you eat – the more your body will crave this food.

You have to break the junk food cycle because once you begin to eat more nutrient dense, high quality food it will begin to crave more of this food – and then reject the junk food.

Breaking the ‘Bad Eating Cycle’ is the KEY to curbing those bad eating habits.

So when contemplating your next shift work struggle, focus on eating healthy, nutritious food as opposed to processed, fatty and sugary foods.

As world renowned medico of Nutritional Medicine Dr Greg Emerson would say:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Or quite simply – take 100% responsibility for the food that you put in your mouth and those very bad eating habits. At the end of the day, the only person that can do this is you.

Now if you’ve been working shift work and struggling to lose weight for quite some time – then I’m not surprised. Because weight loss and weight gain can certainly become the bane of our existence.

Shift workers are prone to eating all of the wrong foods at all different times of the day because quite simply, we become too tired to take care of ourselves properly.

So if you’re struggling to lose weight, would you like to learn about a little secret weight loss tip for shift workers?

Well I’m going to tell you anyway and it’s called … Firing Your Diet!

So if you are on some kind of diet – whether it’s the cabbage soup diet, the lemon juice diet, the purple diet, the low-carb diet – whatever it is, just fire it!

Because you are never going to achieve a healthy weight (and be happy) – by constantly dieting.

Whenever you just mention the word diet, it brings up messages of having to “deprive yourself” of something. And to overcome this feeling of deprivation, the only way to fix this is to “cheat”.

And this of course makes it even worse.

Ultimately fad diets don’t work because they focus on a number on a scale. Remember it’s not about the number on the scale – it’s about being healthy. There is no magical number.

And whenever you’re on a fad diet – the weight loss that you do achieve is only temporary. In fact, studies have shown that two-thirds of the weight that was lost through some kind of diet, is actually regained within 1 year.

So just remember, there is no quick fix to losing weight. It’s about changing your eating habits for life - not just for a day, a week or a month – for life.

Adopt the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy foods 80% of the time, and enjoy your life (and food) – by eating the foods that you love, the other 20% of the time.

So despite what you may think – you can work shift work AND lose weight all at the same time. It’s about knowing the little secret weight loss tip which quite simply is called – Firing Your Diet! As soon as you do this you will not only feel an enormous sense of relief – but your journey to becoming a healthy and happier shift worker will begin from that moment onwards.