CRNA Fitness: Nutrition

The Gas Range
By Liz Sanner Davis

Think of the food on your plate as Fuel.  Think of the container it comes in as the Gas-can.  And label the inside of your body as The Tank.  At every meal you must carry the fuel in a gas can and deliver it unpolluted to the tank if you want to have enough gas to live life and to give life in the OR.  When the patient is short on gas, he crumps.  When you are short on gas, you crump.  And when low-grade gas is delivered to the tank ( think  paper bags with famous logos, cardboard boxes with grease-covered bottoms, and paper cups with sippy devices), you and your patient may both wind up driving on empty.  During the month of January, try making this change in your nutrition habits at work.  Bring fresh lunch foods to work prepared in your own kitchen – last night’s leftover salmon is a worthy protein, light yogurt and low-sugar granola, a crisp apple, a ripe avocado big enough to share are all perfect pick-me-ups. Or stack your own turkey sandwich made with whole grain bread, lettuce and tomato.  Avoid saltyfoods from the cafeteria and resist the urge to send out Smiling Samantha for pepperoni pizza with stuffed cheese crust, “double-the-olives.”  Fill your tank with superior grade fuel delivered in a pollutant-free gas-can.  You’ll sustain two lives – yours and the patient’s.

Liz Sanner Davis is owner and trainer at Body Firm Integrated Fitness Solutions, Temple, TX.  Visit Liz online at www.bdyfrm.com and read her humorous and motivational Lizlines or Lizlimericks published daily.