Rapid Rounds: Protein tips for veterinary professionals

In veterinary medicine, long shifts and demanding workloads make it easy to put nutrition on the back burner. In this “Rapid Rounds” episode of The Resilient Vet: Mind and Body Strategies for Success, cohost Aaron Shaw, OTR/L, CHT, CSCS, shares 5 practical protein tips in 5 minutes, covering how protein supports strength and energy, helps with hunger, and can fit into even the busiest clinic days.

Below is a partial transcript, which has been edited for clarity.

Shaw: If you want more energy during your shift, fewer food cravings during and after work, and the strength to keep going in this profession for decades, consistent quality protein intake is one of the highest return habits that you can build.

Today, I'm going to share five protein tips in five minutes, what we're going to call our rapid rounds. So there's going to be several episodes where we're going to do rapid rounds where we're just going to cut to the chase, and I think we're going to stick with the five tips in five minutes. So you, the listener, can hold us to that.

Let me welcome you to the Resilient Vet Podcast: Mind and Body Strategies for Success. The most important thing you can do right now is to subscribe to our show, where you get practical tips. They're not always five tips in five minutes—we definitely do some deep dives—but we talk about everything from physical and emotional durability, leadership, communication, stress management, and so much more.

My name is Aaron Shaw. I'm one of the hosts here. I am an occupational therapist and strength and conditioning specialist by training. I've been doing this for three decades. My biggest claim to fame is that I married a veterinarian many years ago, and so I've learned a lot about vet med. Right now, I coach and consult vet professionals and teams who really want to be more physically and emotionally durable, and thrive in vet med.

Veterinary medicine is one of the most noble professions there is, but it's also super hard, super challenging. I really get tired of seeing great people in veterinary medicine get burned out, injured, and unfortunately, too many just literally leaving the profession altogether. So I really wanted to do something about it, and I knew that it needed to be a little bit more than just another wellness talk. The people and businesses needed systems, so I created Project VetSpan, and so that's what I do: help leaders, help teams, and part of what I do is spread the word on this podcast with the help of my co-host, Dr Jennifer Edwards.