A balanced diet and steady exercise is essential for a long, healthy life. As a security professional, staying in shape and being healthy is crucial to be an effective security guard, and will help maintain your ability to quickly respond to situations as they occur. Exercise alone will not be of much benefit to you if you aren't fueling your body with the right food. For security guards working the graveyard shift, the need for a proper diet is an even higher priority because your body must adjust to a completely different, and unorthodox schedule. Therefore, it is more difficult to get in proper meals, and there is an understandable temptation to rely on smaller snacks and coffee. Foods that are high in sugar and caffeine aren't doing your body any favors, and the international shift towards healthy alternatives should not be ignored. How strong is this move towards a healthy diet? Well, in recent years, the king of junk food himself, the Cookie Monster, has changed his diet by establishing cookies as a "sometimes" food, and switched to healthy foods.

Hopefully you aren't, nor have you ever needed to, take diet advice from the Cookie Monster, so here is a brief, informative video from Nutrition Expert Kathleen Zelman. Kathleen Zelman has been a regular contributor to the National Dairy Council, and is a contributing expert for United Healthcare. She offers her advice for working the night shift while maintaining a healthy diet: