What Doctors Eat During a 24-Hour Call (and Why It’s Usually Junk)

There’s a universal truth every doctor knows but rarely says aloud: during a 24-hour call, your stomach is running the show. Not your brain. Not your carefully planned shift. Definitely not your nutrition handbook. When your cortisol is peaking, your feet are swollen, and it’s 3 a.m. under the flicker of a tired fluorescent light in a call room—the vending machine sandwich will beat the quinoa salad every single time.
Let’s talk about why even the most health-conscious physicians toss all nutritional logic out the window during long shifts—and why the “call diet” is perhaps the least-addressed health hazard in our profession.

Why 24-Hour Call Breaks Even the Healthiest Doctor

You might clock in with a smoothie and good intentions. Maybe you even pack Greek yogurt and almonds. But after 8 hours of no breaks, three emotionally draining cases, and what feels like a full marathon across the ward—you'll find yourself eyeing that vending machine like it's a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The shift isn’t just long—it’s brutal. And the reasons our food choices collapse aren’t shallow. They're systemic and psychological:

• Breaks are unpredictable (if you get one at all)
  
  
• After-hours food options are basically nonexistent
  
  
• Exhaustion leads to cognitive shortcuts
  
  
• Sugar becomes a survival strategy
  
  
• Hospital cafeterias close when you still have 12 hours to go
  
  
• Convenience almost always trumps nutrition
  

What starts as a sensible granola bar often snowballs into two sodas and half a dozen cookies before dawn. And let’s be honest—sometimes that’s the only thing keeping you upright.

The Junk-Food Anatomy of a 24-Hour Shift

Here’s a fairly accurate meal timeline many doctors quietly live through during a full-day call:

6:00 AM – The Hopeful Breakfast
You either packed something ambitious or relied on caffeine. Most likely: black coffee and maybe a banana you forgot in your bag.

1:00 PM – Delayed Lunch (If You’re Lucky)
Cold fries, a melted protein bar, or whatever was left from the OR tray hours ago. If you’re really lucky, someone brought extra takeout.

6:00 PM – The Decision Point
This is critical. The cafeteria is about to shut down. Do you sprint there and face the line? Or gamble with whatever’s left in the breakroom fridge?

12:00 AM – The Midnight Munch
Vending machine it is. Chips, candy, soda, maybe an instant ramen cup. All you wanted was sleep—what you got was salt and sugar.

3:00 AM – Desperation Snack
Someone left donuts. You weren’t going to eat one. You ended up eating two. You hated both of them. But you feel slightly more human now.

7:00 AM – The “Reward” Breakfast
You made it. You’re a shell of your former self. The greasy sandwich that would disgust you under normal conditions is now your celebration meal.

Why Nutrition Falls Apart During Call

There’s No Time to Think
Between triaging patients, writing notes, handling labs, answering pages, and fending off electrolyte crashes—who has the bandwidth to think about nutrient balance?

Emotional Eating Is Real
Call nights are emotionally intense. From delivering bad news to witnessing trauma, food becomes a source of instant comfort and control in an otherwise chaotic environment.

Decision Fatigue Destroys Willpower
You’ve made hundreds of decisions already—clinical ones, ethical ones, urgent ones. When it comes to deciding what to eat, your executive function is spent. Your brain chooses the easiest reward: sugar and fat.

Caffeine and Sugar: Our Quiet Performance Enhancers
Let’s not pretend we’re above this. In hospitals, caffeine is the official sponsor of sanity. Sugar is the backup generator. Together, they’re what keep many doctors vertical and responsive at hour 19.

What Doctors Actually Eat: Real-Life Confessions

Ask around in any hospital lounge and you’ll hear tales that range from tragic to hilarious:

• “Three coffees, two packs of peanut M&Ms, and a leftover muffin from last week's journal club.”
  
  
• “Red Bull and a spoonful of Nutella at 4 a.m. I didn’t even use bread.”
  
  
• “Dinner was a stale vending machine sandwich and Diet Coke. I called it ‘cardiology chic.’”
  
  
• “Honestly? Whatever the nurses were eating. Usually pizza or chips.”
  

It’s not a meal plan. It’s battlefield improvisation.

How It Affects Our Health (But We Act Like It Doesn’t)

Years of sugar-fueled survival and erratic meals have consequences. Doctors are not immune. Here’s what builds up:

• Weight gain or loss depending on stress eating patterns
  
  
• Insulin resistance or borderline prediabetes
  
  
• High LDL and triglycerides from saturated fats
  
  
• Chronic GERD due to irregular eating and acidic coffee
  
  
• IBS-like symptoms triggered by chaotic meal timing and poor food quality
  

And here’s the real kicker—we almost never talk to ourselves about it. We counsel patients on diet all day long, but rarely reflect on our own.

Cultural Acceptance of “Suffering Together”

There’s an unspoken camaraderie in sharing callroom snacks. Midnight pizza feels like team spirit. Declining junk food can weirdly be interpreted as breaking the tribal code.

In fact, trying to eat a healthy, packed meal may make you look like you’re “too soft” for call. It's not just about personal choice anymore—it's cultural.

What Could Actually Help Fix This

This problem isn’t a matter of weak willpower. It’s a systemic failure in the way medical environments support—or fail to support—basic needs like food. Real changes could include:

Better Access to Healthy Options
Hospitals should make an effort to:

• Keep healthy vending machines or fridges stocked around the clock
  
  
• Offer wraps, salads, fruit, and nuts—always
  
  
• Ensure every unit has a clean, functioning microwave
  

Shift-Friendly Meal Prep
Doctors who prepare ahead deserve better than awkward stares. Simple strategies can help:

• Bring protein-packed meals that reheat easily
  
  
• Include boiled eggs, fruit, nuts, and plain yogurt in snack packs
  
  
• Rotate between cold and hot options to fight “food fatigue”
  

Culture Shift Toward Nourishment
Changing the narrative is crucial:

• Let’s normalize taking 10 minutes for a proper meal
  
  
• Let’s agree that fueling ourselves isn’t weakness—it’s clinical preparedness
  
  
• Let’s stop glorifying the burnout badge and embrace real self-care
  

Humor in the Chaos: What We Wish We Ate

In an ideal universe, a doctor’s 24-hour call meal plan would look something like this:

• Breakfast: Overnight oats with almond butter and berries
  
  
• Lunch: Quinoa salad with grilled salmon and avocado
  
  
• Dinner: Stir-fried tofu with vegetables and brown rice
  
  
• Snacks: Greek yogurt, trail mix, apple slices
  
  
• Drinks: Water, green tea, and maybe one coffee
  

In reality, it’s more like:

• Coffee, someone else’s stale chips, questionable orange juice, and—of course—pizza. Always pizza.
  

Doctors Deserve Better Fuel

You wouldn’t let your post-op patient go 18 hours without nourishment. Why is it okay for you?

Being on call is a test of physical and mental endurance. You hydrate, scrub, monitor vitals, and double-check prescriptions. But when it comes to food, many doctors leave themselves at the bottom of the triage list.

No one’s saying to eliminate all indulgences. The donut has its place. The celebratory burger post-code blue? Sure. But your body needs more than sugar to heal, think, and survive 30-hour shifts.

Start small. Bring a better snack. Eat one decent meal during call. Speak up if your hospital lacks basic food access. Advocate for food the same way you advocate for evidence-based medicine—because it's part of the same picture.

You are not just a machine in a coat. You're a human being, and your stomach is calling for backup.