Make this change to your tea for better health, NHS GP says

 It’s December – a time of year when people commit to drastic lifestyle changes in an attempt to overhaul their health. But this rarely works long-term. Instead, NHS GP Dr Radha Modgil prescribes small, sustainable swaps that can have a significant cumulative impact on how you look, feel and function.

“Take five minutes out of your day to stop and think about tangible, realistic changes you can make to make you feel better,” she advises. “Habits can be changed, our bodies can get used to these things quite quickly, and small changes can make a big difference over time.”

This could start as simply as tweaking your daily cup (or cups) of tea. “Years ago, when I was having a stressful day, I used to put three sugars in my tea,” she says. “I started to think, ‘Why am I doing this?’, then I gradually reduced it. Now, if someone puts sugar in my tea, it tastes horrible.

“The best thing is to get the sugar in your tea down to zero,” she continues. “Weight management is one problem associated with sugary drinks in general. Then there is the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and increasing risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

“It is also not great for your energy levels, because we tend to gravitate towards sugary things when we’re tired. But actually, all this does is give us a sudden spike in our blood sugar followed by a very sharp fall, often leaving us feeling worse than before.”

As an alternative, she recommends black tea and plenty of water to stay hydrated. Diluted squash and cordial, or herbal teas, can be good alternatives if you fancy a splash of flavour.

Below, Dr Modgil details several other beneficial switches you can use in lieu of an unachievable New Year’s resolution. If you can implement just one of them, better health awaits.

Eating

“The main thing we can do to eat healthier is focus on balance, rather than turning to ultra extreme diets,” says Dr Modgil. “One of the simplest steps we can all take is looking at how many fruits and vegetables we are eating each day.”

These do not have to be fresh, she adds. To trim down costs, you can buy them canned, dried or frozen – they will still provide plenty of nutritional value to help the body function better.

“Evidence shows that if we at least eat our five-a-day, we have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers,” Dr Modgil says.

Another thing we can do to improve our diet is cutting down on foods high in salt, saturated fat and sugar. One way to do this, Dr Modgil says, is by managing our stress levels.

“We know, when we’re stressed, tired, upset or things are difficult, we tend to grab food that isn’t especially good for us. If we know this is something that has happened in the past, just noticing our emotional state and trying to take a step back before eating can be really helpful. We don’t often talk about diet in the context of our emotional health, but in my experience that’s often a trigger for not eating as well as we’d like to.”

To encourage healthier snacking, she recommends filling a plastic container with a few fruits and vegetables and taking it with you during the day – this provides a handy alternative to grab bags of crisps and chocolate bars when you grow hungry.

By displacing less nutritious, more energy-dense foods in our diet, this switch can aid weight management and regulation of blood sugar levels.

Dr Modgil also suggests looking at the overall composition of your diet. She points to the NHS Eatwell Guide – below – as a good template for balanced eating.

It recommends filling a little more than a third of your diet with fruits and vegetables, and another third from high-fibre starchy foods such as wholewheat pasta, brown rice and skin-on potatoes. The remainder should consist of lean protein sources and dairy, with two weekly portions (140g) of fish where possible. One of these should be oily, such as mackerel, salmon or sardines.

Foods such as chocolate, cakes, biscuits, sugary soft drinks, butter and ice cream, on the other hand, are “not needed in our diet, so should be eaten less often and in smaller amounts”.