Changed your physical activities or work? Adjust your diet accordingly.

Nutritional demands vary with multiple factors such as age, sex, physiological conditions, physical activities (PA), etc. Here I would like to focus mainly on the changes in physical activity levels (PALs) (1) along with other conditions. It would be helpful if you adjust your diet as per your new physical activity or work patterns to keep you healthy and happy in the short, mid, and long term (2).

How to start?

Here are some points you can consider as per your activity or work patterns. Get enough food or nutrients as per your requirements and stay normal in nutritional status.

1. Figure out the changes in activities or work (time or duration, frequency, PAL, etc.) for estimating the scopes of adjustment in diet or nutrients (3,4).
2. Start with single or multiple options as per needs (5).
3. Do not try to change your whole diet.
4. Make a plan to make changes gradually and effectively following authentic guidelines (6,7,8,9), etc.

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Based on the changed works or physical activity levels you may need to increase or decrease food or nutrient intakes (10,11). So, assessment is the key step for getting benefits properly by adjusting food or nutrient intake daily. Here are some examples of demands to adjust by foods or nutrients accordingly (12,13,14,15).

Examples:

• If you work more than before try to include energy yielding foods or energy dense foods in your diet (16,17,18).
• If you are dehydrated, for exposed environments, try to have more or frequent water or beverages as available (19).
• If you are stressed, due to excess or critical workload or physical activities, then try to focus on multiple foods or nutrients deals with stress (20,21).
• If you are facing an unstable or a stable situation of regular or irregular shifting of work times, then try to adjust mealtime along with your job or work time for maintaining normal eating habits (22,23).

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*Featured image credit goes to https://www.pexels.com

References:

1. Balancing Food and Activity for Healthy Weight | Healthy Weight | DNPAO | CDC
2. Keep Active & Eat Healthy to Improve Well-being & Feel Great – NIDDK (nih.gov)
3. What Should I Eat? | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
4. Foods That Speed Up Healing (clevelandclinic.org)
5. How fast should you change your diet to lose weight? – Harvard Health
6. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 and Online Materials | Dietary Guidelines for Americans
7. Changing Your Habits for Better Health – NIDDK (nih.gov)
8. Improving Your Eating Habits | Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity | CDC
9. Six simple ways to smarter, healthier eating – Harvard Health
10. The best foods for vitamins and minerals – Harvard Health
11. Focus: Nutrition and Food Science: Importance of Nutrients and Nutrient Metabolism on Human Health – PMC (nih.gov)
12. Food Portions: Choosing Just Enough for You – NIDDK (nih.gov)
13. Nutrition as We Age: Healthy Eating with the Dietary Guidelines – News & Events | health.gov
14. 4 essential nutrients — are you getting enough? – Harvard Health
15. Nutrient Recommendations and Databases (nih.gov)
16. Factors Affecting Energy Expenditure and Requirements – Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy – NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)
17. How Can I Eat More Nutrient-Dense Foods? | American Heart Association
18. Calories: Total Macronutrient Intake, Energy Expenditure, and Net Energy Stores – Diet and Health – NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)
19. Water and Healthier Drinks | Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity | CDC
20. Stress and Health | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
21. Nutrition and Stress: A Two-way Street – American Society for Nutrition
22. Daytime meals may reduce health risks of night shift work | National Institutes of Health (NIH)
23. Dietary Patterns under the Influence of Rotational Shift Work Schedules: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis – PMC (nih.gov)

If you are interested to learn more, please visit the following links:

Modifying existing diets or recommending new diets. Which one is more effective? – Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

Increase Diversified Food And Nutrient Intakes By Following Simple Steps | Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

On-demand Or Forced Feeding? | Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

Failed To Have A Balanced Diet Regularly? Let’s Make Some Significant Changes. | Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

Work More Eat More: Let’s Make A Significant Change | Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

Walk More, Eat More! | Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

Weight Management | Learn Nutrition Online (learnutritiononline.com)

Listing of vitamins – Harvard Health

Nutritional Requirements throughout the Life Cycle | Nutrition Guide for Clinicians (pcrm.org)

Nutrient-sensing mechanisms and pathways | Nature

Physical Activity | CDC

How much physical activity do adults need? | Physical Activity | CDC

Nutrition & Physical Activity | health.gov

Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life in Older Adults | The Journals of Gerontology: Series A | Oxford Academic (oup.com)