Top 5 small health tweaks

The key to lasting good health are small steps taken consistently everyday. Here are our top 5 healthy habits that make a big difference

Eat soya nuts instead of salted peanuts. As well as being kinder to your waistline, eating a 25g handful of soya nuts (100 calories) instead of 25g of roasted, salted peanuts (159 calories) will also help your heart. The protein in soya nuts — roasted soya beans — has been shown to lower blood cholesterol, and their high-fiber content means they are more filling, keeping your appetite curbed for longer.

Swap gentle walks for more intense swims – we’re told we should exercise moderately for 30 minutes five times a week, but you’ll get just as much benefit doing three 25-minute bouts of more intense exercise such as running, football or swimming.

Take just 20 minutes’ nap in the day to make up for one hour’s lost sleep at night. Sleep expert professor Jim Horne, from Loughborough University, says you need to make up only a third of the snooze time you’ve lost to cancel out the debt and feel alert again. For example, if you need seven hours’ sleep to function well, but have managed only six, that’s 60 minutes you’ve missed and 20 minutes you need to catch up on.

Drink two glasses of water (500ml) before each meal to shift an extra 4lb over three months. Researchers at Virginia Tech University, in the U.S., found that adults who filled their stomach with water ate on average 43 fewer calories in a following test meal. They found this ability of water to curb food intake appears to wear off over time (probably because the stomach adapts to the stretching), so regard it as a short-term trick.

Choosing a wine with a slightly lower alcohol content means you could drink half a small glass (80ml) more daily. Women are allowed up to three units a day safely, which is just 220ml (less than 11⁄2 small glasses) of a 13.5 per cent alcohol wine. Make that a 10 per cent wine and you’ll be allowed 300ml, or two small glasses.