How to maintain a balanced diet?
updated the 24 June 2015 à 10:28A bus driver tells us about her ordeal trying to maintain her healthy eating habits despite her complicated work schedule.
“ I now t ake three square meals at home.”
Peggy, 39, bus driver
“I have three possible shifts: 6:30am to 1pm, 11:30am to 7pm or 2:30 to 10pm. When I started in 2007, I quickly gained weight. I snacked a lot. I had trouble eating early in the morning so I got myself pastries from a bakery during my break at around 8 or 9am. But because I would still feel hungry, I ate more to keep going, especially sandwiches when in a hurry for lunch. I must have put on 10 pounds in the past two or three years. So I changed my habits. I now take three square meals at home in the day, before or after my services. When I work until early evening, I replace the pastry or snack with fruit to take me to dinner at 10:30pm. For lunch and dinner, I go for vegetables and grilled meats. I avoid starches, fats and products that are too sweet because I have a sedentary job, so I store a lot of fats! I also make time for sports twice a week.”
Review of Marie-Anne Gautier, doctor and nutritional expert:
“It is great to keep three varied and balanced meals per day, but also to include sports. People working after-hours tend to do less sport and smoke more than others. When working until mid-evening, I would recommend having breakfast before 10am, then a full lunch, which makes up 40% of your daily energy intake, a snack (fruit, yogurt, bread) at about 5pm, and finally a light dinner (fish, cooked vegetables, dairy) before midnight.”
The opinion of Nicolas Rouig, dietician:
“When you have schedules that vary from day to day or week to week, our internal clocks are unbalanced. We are less attentive to our sensations; we are less able to recognize hunger and satiety. The body often confuses hunger and fatigue. In order to be able to once again listen to our sensations, reviewing our behaviour is very effective. Do not count the number of calories or the amount of food in grams, but our levels of hunger after each meal, on a scale of 1 to 10. Hunger should ideally be between 3 and 7 or 4 and 6. This forces us to ask ourselves questions about whether or not we are really hungry, and if we are satisfied at the end of the meal, etc.”
Continue reading our report on “Eating well after-hours”:
How to eat healthy with a busy work schedule?
How to listen to your hunger?
Is a good breakfast important?
Fabienne Broucaret
