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!

Many people today are searching for that fast, instant way to lose weight despite having to work shift work. In fact most of us would like to lose 5 kilograms by the end of the week – without having to do all of the hard work in between.

But is it really possible to achieve instant weight loss when you work shift work? Or more importantly, is it really a good idea?

Well even though it may be something that you aspire too – it’s not realistic.

Let’s say you’ve gained 20 kilograms over the past few years. Then you’re certainly not going to lose those 20 kilograms (or even 5 kilograms) in a matter of days – and nor should you want to.

Despite what is promised on the front cover of the latest women’s magazines that flood the shelves of newsagents around the world – the celebrity weight loss stories that you read are just not true. It’s talented and incredibly savvy publishers that are luring you in with their fancy magazine headlines -

- “Lose 8 Kilo’s In Just 4 Days” or

- “How ‘Celebrity X’ Went From A Size 16 to 10 In Just 1 Week!”

Unfortunately the media portrays these people as having achieved instant weight loss results in a very short period of time, when in reality they’ve been busting their butts over a lot longer period and have had a bit of ‘air brushing’ help thanks to the editor.

So the trick to achieving weight loss despite having to work crazy and irregular hours is actually much easier than you think.

Aim to lose just ONE kilogram at a time because one kilogram will turn into two; two kilograms will turn into three; and so on.

It’s all about progress not perfection.

Life is not a race – it’s a marathon, and it’s the baby steps that will help you to lose the shift work weight – and lose it for good.