Shift Work Diet: Why Your New Year's Resolution Should Be To Change It In 2011.

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!

The Little Secret Weight Loss Tip That Could Change Your Life Forever!

Have you ever gone on a diet to lose weight but you ended up cheating a little bit – or perhaps even a lot? Now I want you to be brutally honest with me here … because I’m feeling pretty confident that you would be guilty of this, at some point in time.

Now when you committed this little “misdemeanour” – did you throw in the towel and quit, feeling miserable that you failed yet again on another one of your diets?

Well join the millions of other people around the world.

Because realistically – what’s a good diet without a bit of cheating?

And just to make you feel a little bit better – MOST people cheat whenever they start any new diet or eating program. Why? Because whenever you go on any new ‘diet’ – psychologically you think that you’re going to have to deprive yourself of food that you’ve grown to know and love.

Essentially you feel like you’re going to have to miss out on something. And to be honest, most people don’t have the willpower to beat temptation.

But the good news is that if you actually incorporate a little bit of “cheating” into your diet plan, it will actually enhance your chances of staying on the diet long term.

Now I can hear you say – “But won’t cheating defeat the purpose of going on a diet?”

Actually no – because being deprived of any of your favourite foods is certainly not an enjoyable experience, and who wants to do something that they don’t enjoy?

I don’t know about you, but if you were to tell me that I was never going to be able to eat another chocolate bar again or even a bowl of my favourite ice cream – then I would have to say – “you can keep your diet … I’m going to eat whatever I like!”

So what’s my little secret weight loss tip?

It’s called cheating in moderation.

Because if you can learn how to cheat in moderation, then you’re more likely to enjoy being on your diet as you can essentially ‘have your cake and eat it too’.

Now when I mean “in moderation” – I mean feeling totally guilt free about having something naughty to eat every now and then. For example, you could make Sundays the day that you allow yourself some dessert after dinner. (After all … dessert is meant to be a treat anyway, not a daily part of our routine).

So just remember, a diet made up entirely of healthy whole foods will certainly enhance your chances of leading a long and healthy life.

But a diet with mostly healthy foods plus a few splurges every now and then – will help ensure you lead a fairly long, healthy and happy life.

And one that includes chocolate chip cookies as well!