How to Actually Intermittent Fast (for the Nightshifter) Part 2
Intermittent fasting has been shown to provide a host of health benefits, many of which are particularly helpful for night shift workers.
Limiting food intake to a specific window of time will increase your metabolic rate and contribute to weight loss, support your cell regeneration, promote heart health, and boost your mood. If you’re struggling with the challenges that come from non-traditional shift work, like sleep and mood disorders, excess weight gain, and anxiety, intermittent fasting can help.
The Challenges of Intermittent Fasting for Nightshifters
Unlike people who work during the day who likely go to bed a couple hours after 8 p.m., night shift workers typically start working between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight. If they stop eating at 8 p.m. to keep up with the 16/8 method, they will be awake for most of the fasting window and asleep for a good portion of their eating window.
Similarly, the 5:2 method is hard for night shift workers to adopt. It can already be difficult for night shift workers to fight fatigue and stay alert during their shifts, so operating heavy machinery or completing work that requires a lot of focus on fewer than 500 calories is not ideal.
These factors can make it difficult for night shift workers to participate in intermittent fasting and gain the health benefits these eating schedules have to offer.
However, this does not mean that people who work nights have to miss out on the perks of intermittent fasting. They simply have to make a few adjustments to the traditional eating schedules.
Intermittent Fasting for the Nightshifter
If you want to take advantage of intermittent fasting while working the night shift, here are a few steps you can take:
Adjust the 16/8 Eating Window
Instead of skipping breakfast and not eating anything after dinner time, you can adjust your eating schedule to better suit your needs. Remember, skipping early morning breakfast and late night snacks is not the most essential part of the 16/8 method. All that matters is that you fast for 16 hours during the day and limit your meals to an 8 hour window of time.
Say you work from midnight until 8 a.m., for instance, and you typically wake up for the day around 5 p.m. If you start your eating window around 7 p.m. and end it around 2 a.m. that gives you plenty of time to eat, and leaves you with roughly 5–6 hours of fasting before you go to bed, which will make your intermittent fasting a lot easier. Six hours of fasting before bed, eight hours of fasting while you are asleep, and two hours of fasting when you wake up will give you the 16 total hours of fasting that you need for this intermittent fasting method.
By adjusting the time period when you are fasting, you can make the 16/8 intermittent fasting method work for you while working the night shift.
Try the Eat Stop Eat Intermittent Fasting Method
Instead of trying the 5:2 diet, which will mean you have to spend at least one weekday (when you’re likely working) limiting your calorie intake, you could try the Eat Stop Eat intermittent fasting method.
This schedule requires a 24 hour fast once per week. You can choose a day when you do not have to work, like a weekend day, and fast from dinner time the night before until dinner time the following day when you’re not scheduled. This way, you do not have to struggle to stay awake and focused while you’re trying to make it through your shift.
For instance, if you typically work Monday through Friday, you could start your fast after dinner time on Friday so that your fasting doesn’t affect your shift work. If you work on Thursdays-Tuesdays, you could start your fast on Tuesday after dinner. This way, if you need to take it easy on your fasting day, you can do so without worrying about being too tired or hungry to take care of work.
With this intermittent fasting schedule, you can still lose weight and support your physical health without adjusting how you eat on work days.
Adopt the Warrior Diet Intermittent Fasting Method
With this diet, participants typically eat small amounts of raw fruits and vegetables during the day and then one larger meal at night. This allows them to basically fast during the day and eat the majority of their calories during a small 2–4 hour window.
When working nights, you can try the Warrior Diet by eating small portions of fruits and vegetables when you wake up during the day and eating a large meal an hour or two before your shift begins.
If you’re worried about feeling hungry, try eating fruits and vegetables that are high in protein:
- Edamame
- Chickpeas
- Guava
- Avocado
- Kiwi
- Bananas
- Spinach
- Mushrooms
- Broccoli
These fruits and veggies will make you feel fuller longer, even when you only eat a small portion.
The Warrior Diet intermittent fasting eating schedule will help you lose weight and prevent you from indulging in unhealthy vending machine snacks during your shift or fast food meals when your shift is done. It will also allow you to step up your fruit and vegetable intake, which will provide you with the vitamins and antioxidants your body needs to stay healthy.
Just because you work the night shift does not mean that intermittent fasting is not right for you. You can still gain all of the health benefits that are so crucial for night shift workers by tailoring these eating schedules to suit your lifestyle or trying less common intermittent fasting methods.
Night Shift Nutrition is a community focused on living your best life, while working nights. We do this by sharing our experiences and science based educations. The point is to not only survive working nights but to thrive! If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of you can apply to join our facebook group or subscribe to our email list.
