Living on processed food every day is the fastest way to accelerate your shift work fatigue when you work irregular hours.

Consuming foods provided by Mother Nature on the other hand, is the fastest way to boost your energy and help fight off that overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.

When my husband and I “discovered” this concept some years ago (our household was made up of 2 very exhausted shift workers at the time) – our life took on a completely different direction.

This 180 degree shift in our eating habits inspired us to establish our very own organic vegetable garden full of Green Super Foods, along with preparing daily vegetable juices.

In fact as I type this article, the kitchen bench is over flowing with green spinach and lettuce – harvested straight from the vege patch this morning.

So why green? What has turning green got to do with overcoming shift work fatigue?

Well it’s actually quite simple.

You see when you consume dark green leafy vegetables – particularly in the form of a juice, it’s very easy for the body to absorb which means it’s able to reap the benefits much more quickly.

Green vegetables also contain chlorophyll which is Mother Nature’s most effective energy booster giving you instant, long-lasting energy.

They’re also high in alkaline which helps the body to work more efficiently – as opposed to most processed foods being quite acidic.

Quite simply, an efficient body means more energy for you!

Think about it? Have you ever seen a burger grow from a tree or a vine?

If it’s not designed by Mother Nature, chances are it’s not good for you. In fact it could actually be quite detrimental to your health. Goodness knows what’s in half the fast food that we see in food outlets around the world today.

So the next time you’re feeling tired, exhausted and sluggish – think green. Besides having a good night’s sleep it’s certainly the next best thing for helping overcome shift work fatigue.

And I’m not talking about consuming a whole packet of green M&M’s!

A disruptive lifestyle can often lead shift workers on a constant cycle of eating all of the wrong foods at all of the wrong times of the day.

But if you can’t change the hours that you work – what sort of foods are really healthy for shift workers to eat?

Would you believe food that contains few ingredients?

Confused? Well let me explain.

Thanks to the Weight Loss Industry we’ve become so obsessed about reading the Nutritional Facts on food labels that we’ve forgotten to look closer at the other part of the label – the list of ingredients.

Let’s take a look at the example above.

This label breaks down how much fat, cholesterol, sodium (salt), carbohydrate and sugar is inside the product which is great – but do you recognise any of the ingredients?!

Not really familiar are they.

The sad thing is that we’re so engrossed in reading the nutrition labels on food today; we don’t really look at the actual food content.

In fact so many people will even select their food off a supermarket shelf based on the vitamin and mineral content even if the food does not resemble real food. Protein bars, breakfast cereals, margarine and diet foods are a prime example. These foods may look good in the nutrient content, but when you look at the actual ingredients, you find that there are a bunch of numbers, hydrogenated vegetables oils and a lot of other non-real food items.

So if you’re searching for the healthiest food for shift workers then just keep things simple. Choose food that is as close to how Mother Nature designed it.

I very rarely check the ingredients on food that I buy because I hardly ever eat food that has an ingredient list on it! For example, a piece of fruit doesn’t come with a food label. What you see is what you get – there are no hidden ingredients.

So stop worrying about how many grams of this and that is contained in something – spend more time focussing on what it actually is that you’re eating.

For shift workers who rely heavily on packaged and processed food for “sustenance” – eating this type of food on a long-term basis is certainly not good for your health.

So the next time you head off to the supermarket to do your grocery shopping – spend more time in the fruit and vegetable aisle as opposed to those which contain lots of boxes, jars and packets of food.

At the end of the day nothing can replace a real piece of fruit or vegetable – anything else is a cheap imitation and always will be!