Healthy Eating Habits Recommended For Nurses
Nurses are on the front line in healthcare, looking after multiple patients at once and
working long hours in stressful environments like hospitals, especially during the
pandemic. Under these conditions, they tend to neglect taking care of themselves,
which leads them to experience sleep deprivation, lack of energy, and also to
forget why nutrition for nurses is important.
We understand that nurses are always busy and have a hard time finding a healthy
work-life balance, however, we are sure that by taking back control over their wellbeing
by adopting healthy eating habits and other practices focused on their own benefit, they
will be able to feel much better in order to keep offering the best care and attention to
their patients.
These are our healthy eating guidelines for all nurses to follow, whether they are
registered nurses (RN), registered practical nurses (RPN), or nurse practitioners (NP).
Healthy Eating Habits For Nurses
Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
The first change that most nurses need to make to improve their eating habits is to plan
their meals and shop accordingly. This way they will waste less time figuring out what to
eat or what to pack for lunch, and they can just get cooking right away. This also helps
to consciously stay away from unhealthy foods with ingredients like preservatives, trans
fat, etc. and allows them to focus on eating whole foods.
Breakfast
One of the many benefits of meal planning is deciding what to cook for breakfast days in
advance and having all ingredients at hand. This increases the chances of nurses
actually having breakfast before going to work, instead of just drinking coffee and
running out the door because they are too tired or sleepy to cook anything. Also,
skipping breakfast and not packing lunch is likely to cause nurses to overeat whenever
they have a chance to have lunch and make poor food choices.
Protein is Key
Nurses have one of the hardest jobs in healthcare, so they need all