On The Road To Better Eating

Hours of sedentary driving followed by intense bursts of heavy lifting.
Delivery schedules that may require driving through the night.
Isolation and loneliness due to extended time away from home.

Life as a fleet driver – particularly long haul – poses both physical and mental health challenges. It's taxing work that requires nutritional food, but it’s a challenge to maintain a healthy diet on the road. Quick-grab options like meat pies and fries are often the default go-to.

Viva Energy and ScottsRL have teamed up to tackle the issue head-on with the Fuel Your Body campaign.

Emma Stuart, Group HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, and Environment) Manager at Viva Energy – Australia’s exclusive licencee and supplier of Shell fuels and lubricants has been working closely with leading fleet organisations, so she sees the challenges faced by drivers first-hand.

"Because they're on the move and the hours they're doing, it's difficult to prepare and take food with them,” she said.

“Food sources along freight routes may be limited, particularly for long-haul drivers. If you compare the fast food and convenience foods against the range of choices most of us get to make everyday, it’s no wonder eating can be a trap.”

Emma says the stereotypical driver lifestyle is not promoting heart health and good choices.

“Drivers are sitting for long periods of time. They're not getting access to the right foods in a consistent way. This impacts cholesterol, rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. It really ups the health risks for drivers.”

It's not just the personal wellbeing of drivers at play – looking after drivers means a safer transport environment for all.

“Safe driving is a huge consideration because our drivers are driving around tankers full of fuel. There’s nothing more important than them being well rested and physically well to do that task,” Emma said.

“A lot of support through the pandemic has been around mental wellbeing; it’s critical for drivers to have their head in the game in a job that has some risk.”

The focus is also on improving physical health via nutrition. What drivers eat impacts their sleep and energy levels and reduces the risk of health episodes like heart attack or stroke behind the wheel.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related supply chain pressures have added new demands to the existing challenges of fleet driving. Emma said some drivers have left the industry because of these pressures, which in turn puts more pressure on the drivers who remain.

“There's been a real shift – the pandemic has been a wake-up call for drivers for their physical and mental health. The last few years have dramatically changed what is important to people,” said Emma.

“Five years ago, it would have been a real struggle to have this conversation. But the conversation has changed, and so have attitudes. People are more interested in looking after themselves.”

Viva Energy and ScottsRL have partnered on the Fuel Your Body campaign to keep the conversation around healthy eating going.

Emma said the more Viva Energy can do to help promote good choices, the better.

“Fuel Your Body is aligned with our overall wellbeing strategy, which centres around three pillars: physical, emotional and social wellbeing,” she said.

“For physical wellbeing, our current focus is healthy eating and managing fatigue. These are all critical for fleet drivers.”

Emma says ScottsRL was an obvious choice of partner thanks to their industry reputation as being ahead of the game with worker health and wellbeing. It makes good business sense to support drivers to stay fit and well, and ensure their longevity in the organisation.

“At Viva Energy, we’re very much driven by our people, too. So it’s rewarding to run a campaign together where we can really focus on helping people to make safer, healthier choices.”

Fuel Your Body is about inspiring new healthy eating habits by providing cooler bags filled with healthy options to fuel drivers for the long haul. Nutritious foods available at servos and truck stops were chosen so drivers could refill their bags on the road.

“We packed over 1000 cooler bags full of nutritious foods like tins of tuna, microwavable rice cups, protein bars, plain popcorn and water bottles,” said Emma.

“When you walk into servos you do see rows of chips and lollies – but these snack bags highlight that there are healthy choices to be found.”

Fuel Your Body aims to make a lasting impact by inspiring realistic but powerful changes to daily eating habits.

Emma said if it feels like a chore, or deprivation, it won’t stick. Choices must fit into the driver’s lifestyle, rather than set unrealistic expectations.

“From an emotional wellbeing point of view, it’s about people supporting people to make good choices and not to be too hard on themselves. They can get there gradually through changing some of their habits.”

Think of the 80/20 rule – if 80% of the food we eat is healthy and minimally processed, 20% can be a variety of 'special' foods we like as a treat. So yes, we can still have that meat pie now and then!

Ultimately, small changes make a big difference. Cut out the soft drinks and drink eight glasses of water every day, avoid fried food, and choose fresh fruit, veggies and nut snacks.

The key is to understand that food should be used as fuel while driving to maintain energy levels and keep drivers alert. The long-term health benefits are clear – adults who eat a healthy diet live longer and have a lower risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

And what would Emma cut from everyone’s daily diet if she had a choice?

“Soft drinks! I've seen myself how much it can improve physical wellbeing by just cutting out soft drinks. That’s a good place to start. If we inspire drivers to make that kind of change, then Fuel Your Body has been a success.”

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