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3 minute read

written by

Rumina Onac

Making Every Mouthful Count

Starting out on the Green Impact for Health (GIFH) toolkit 6 years ago, two seemingly basic criteria jumped out as easy wins: FO01 and FOD05; switching all tea and coffee to Fairtrade, and ridding the fridge of practice-bought dairy milk; replacing it instead with fortified plant-milk.

How naïve I was. In a semi-rural Yorkshire practice, my colleagues were (and remain) absolutely wedded to their Yorkshire tea*. And, on opening the fridge, a huge tumbleweed continues to roll past my Oatly carton (other brands are available). 6 years on, still nobody else is drinking it but me.

We’re stuck with the ongoing political hot-potato of food messaging, availability, and pricing; with many healthy meat and dairy alternatives (which are recognised as useful transition foods, as well as being lower in saturated fat) more expensive, or inaccessible. They’re usually not temptingly-positioned at checkouts, or used as product placement items in films and TV (though Emmerdale is leading the way on this!), compared with their fast-food counterparts.

So how do we make progress, when it feels like society is being steered towards less healthy choices?

As GPs, we can use our trusted role to influence not only patients, but colleagues; especially juniors. Do you ever watch cookery programmes with your registrar as a basis for tutorial discussion? Try Man Versus Food, Nigella Bites, Hairy Bikers Go North, and The Great British Bake Off – all brilliant at sparking conversations about ingredients, farming, diets, whole-foods, cooking on a budget, and more.

In terms of the toolkit, don’t be put off by my initial blip. Actually, we have successfully celebrated Fairtrade Fortnight every year since then – and it’s coming round again next month – follow our social media feeds for updates! The staff in my team have been brilliant at making lots of other positive changes, and I truly believe having these healthier, more ethical items in the kitchen helps to normalise them, and maybe one day they’ll have a little taste!

Over the coming months, our new Toolkit Lead Dr Fran Cundill will be updating the GIFH website, and our team of volunteers review criteria annually to ensure the guidance and evidence links are relevant and current, so that users have the best possible experience. Remember, we are all about making things easy, rewarding progress, and supporting positive change for better healthcare that doesn’t cost the Earth – both figuratively and literally.

If you’re interested in making forays into food, to improve your knowledge and confidence in advising patients, there are lots of allied organisations striving to improve that key area of wellbeing and health creation. They do this in a variety of ways, including patient-facing resources, educational events, and much-needed political lobbying:

Who knew that a simple 2-point-er on the toolkit would lead to such a rabbit hole?!

*Fortunately, Yorkshire Tea is at least Rainforest Alliance certified. My sleep is restored…