Nurses, and other healthcare professionals are busy. While they are focused on keeping their patients healthy, sometimes they forget to do the important things to keep themselves healthy!
Here are some quick tips to help nurses make better choices while on the job.
Healthy carbs and proteins = Energy!
Most cafeterias aren’t overloaded with healthy options, and the options they do have can be heavy and actually make you more tired on a long shift. Try to being some bags of trail mix, protein bars or nuts to snack on. Beware though, some protein bars are just candy bars in disguise! Read the labels.
Good ole’ fashioned home cookin’!
Go ahead… Give it a whirl. If you don’t know how or think you are the type of person who could burn a milkshake, go online and get some easy recipes. Chances are, anything you make at home will be healthier than what you will get from a cafeteria or prepared food section of your store. At the very least, you will know exactly what went into it. While you’re cooking your delicious meal–cook some more for the next day or so. Wrap it up, throw in some fruit, and voila! A great, healthy meal to eat the next day.
Healthy Delivery!
There is more to delivery these days than “Pizza, Pizza!” Many restaurants deliver and there are plenty of healthy options. There are also new services like Sprig and Eat Purely that will deliver healthy, organic meals to you quickly!
Go ahead, Enjoy a treat!
You can’t give up everything, and why should you? Sometimes, you just need a delicious treat. Try to plan when you’re going to have one so you can also plan to eat healthy food before and after.
Don’t forget!
“The problem, of course, with waiting until the shift ends is that one becomes famished and then overeats,” said Laura Anderson, PhD, director of the University of Buffalo School of Nursing’s PULSE Healthy Weight Research Team. “With my clients who are nurses, I actually recommend that they program their phones or another device to set a pop-up alert every two hours, reminding them to snack.”
