What is Happiness Anyway?

A conversation we're having at getfit.com right now is about happiness and what it means to be "happy".

Our sister site TheWellnessShop.co.uk addresses what it is to feel down in the dumps with our programme Beating the Blues. But we thought that it could be a good idea to take some time to think about what happiness is from a personal perspective, and like everything we do, a scientific perspective.

The best scientific description of what it means to be happy is the PERMA theory from the area of postive psychology. This week we'll be tweeting about these and giving little thought on how you can start seeing the positives in your life (even if things aren't going so well).


Because like the saying goes "you are what you eat”,

We think it's not too far from the truth that "you are what you think"

At least that if you focus on the negative, it's much more likely that you'll be a negative person. So to give the opposite a go for this week, we'd encourage you to focus on the positive or see the good aspects of whatever happens. Missing the train can sometimes mean that the next one is less crowded...


Positive emotion: This is the "feeling good" aspect of being happy


Engagement (being in the flow): This is the "absorbed and challenged" aspect of happiness


Relationship (and social connections): We are social beings after all, so feeling supported and loved is a vital aspect of happiness


Meaning (and purpose): Happy people tend to have something that gives their lives meaning - This can appear as religion for some, family for others. But I guess it could be thought of as that thing that gets you going and inspired...


Accomplishments *(and winning): It doesn't need to be winning at the expense of someone losing. Accomplishing a difficult task or finishing an adult learning course gives a sense of growth and development. It could be as simple as getting through a difficult day without giving in to negativity


Just remember that you can have all of these things but your outlook on them is just as important.
Some people call this optimism...



A Happy dog's Diary

8:00 am - Dog food! My favourite thing!

9:30 am - A car ride! My favourite thing!

9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favourite thing!

10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favourite thing!

12:00 pm - Lunch! My favourite thing!

1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favourite thing!

3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favourite thing!

5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favourite thing!

7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favourite thing!

8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favourite thing!

11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing!

Thinking about summer Swimsuits

Oh boy, here comes the summer. At GetFit.com we love the sun, but aren’t too keen on the swimsuit stress that is on the Horizon.

Like everything in the health coach program, we believe that planning is so important if you want to achieve a goal either for your health or wellbeing. So this week we are thinking about the small steps that you can put in place to hit the pool, beach, park or sundeck without that niggling feeling that it would be better if there was a little less of you to be exposing…..

Basically we’ve whipped around the office and come to the conclusion that there are three ways to address this stress.

Method 1: Avoid any event that might include swimming or people who are likely to whip of their clothes and sun worship…… We’ve decided while this sounds good, it then cuts out all the places and people we like in the summer

GetFit.com rating: 1/10

Method 2: Accentuate the good, boost your confidence and think positive……

We like this method, as what goes on inside will show on the outside. No matter how your look, if you’re worried and feeling shy, your face will be wrinkled and your posture will be slumped over. This does not help with your outward appearance; you’ll also be less relaxed and “emotionally turned in”.

Ask yourself what do I like most about my physical appearance, and what will help me accentuate it? For example if your eyes are a feature you like, then sunglasses might not be the way to feel your best, however a fashionable hat with matching outfit might be the perfect way to stand out and feel comfortable.

GetFit.com rating: 7/10

Method 3: Accept what you can and can’t change, then work on what is reasonable……

Some people (myself included) are just not suited to skimpy… frankly revealing swimsuits. But regardless of size or shape some things can always be improved.

Aim 1 - Posture Perfect: With a great posture, you look taller, more confident and friendlier.

Aim 2 – Proportion: if top and bottom are more balanced, then differences between body parts will be less extreme. So (maybe counter-intuitively) toning on chest, shoulders and arms may be a really important part of balancing when the lower areas of the body are a concern

Aim 3 – Belly and Back: Closely related to posture, it’s not just how you hold your self, but how your body holds you. There are some specific exercises for the natural belt of muscle that holds everything in – read our tweets for some of these!

Aim 4 – General fitness: Having a healthy sheen rather than a panting sweaty mess can really increase your confidence about your body in general. This will reduce the stress when it comes to the “swimsuit event”…

GetFit.com rating: 8/10

In practice a combination of method 2 and 3 has got the GetFit.com Summer Seal of approval. So watch out for this week’s tweets around how to put method 2 and 3 into practice for BOTH GENDERS!

To help you get started now, before the pressure starts mounting we’re offering 50% off membership at getfit.com This includes a full health and wellbeing report, and programs to tackle fitness, healthy eating, a good night’s sleep, and challenging that thoughts that can kill your confidence… just enter the code “SUMMER” at the checkout.

The sunshine vitamin – Vitamin D

We are lucky enough to live in a country that has a lot of wealth and resources. Most of us will not struggle to meet the basic requirements of living and have diets that, even if they can be a little excessive sometime, meet most of our body’s nutrient requirements. However there is still one nutrient deficiency that is widespread in most developed countries – That nutrient is vitamin D.

This is not a completely new story; the Victorians battled epidemics of rickets which caused bone growth to be stunted and the characteristic “bow-legged” deformity that affected them from the remainder of their life (if not treated). These are extreme symptoms but they illustrate the power of vitamin D.

In modern times, in industrialized countries, serious deficiency in children has been eradicated, but a shocking 25% of the UK population does not have adequate stores of vitamin D in their body (during winter months). The problem is worst in the most vulnerable in our community – pregnant, elderly and young children, but this is still an important issue for most people.

So what are the effects? – the best reasons to top up this summer.

Bones: Vitamin D is the main gatekeeper for calcium in your body. Too little and your body starts stripping your bones of calcium. This is the cause of osteoporosis and osteopenia (bone pain and weakness that can effect even adults!)

Brain: Vitamin D has effects on the brain. There is growing research into vitamin D and mental health through the lifespan from Schizophrenia to depression.

Cancer and diseases: Low vitamin D levels linked to Cancer, Heart disease, diabetes and general immune health.

95% of the vitamin D in your body is due to the sun, while vitamin D is present in foods (oily fish, eggs, and fortified cereals) these are not an important as what you do in the next few months.

The rule of thumb for vitamin D and sun

-      The season needs to start with an S (that’s spring and summer)

In countries that are at a higher latitude (that’s close to the north of south pole), the angle of the sun during winter means that the UV rays that your body uses to make vitamin D is filtered out. So the warmer summer months are the only time you can create and store your own vitamin D

-      You should have a short shadow

The middle of the day, when the sun is above you the UVB rays will be at their strongest. At this time, your body will create a good amount of vitamin D with just 15 minutes exposure to 5% of your body.

The lesson here is, you don’t have to sunbath, you don’t have to burn and you don’t need to be an outdoors-sort-of-person to get enough vitamin D. So when your outdoors for a long time sunscreen and hats are a great ideal to protect against damage to your skin, but 15 minutes outside at lunch will do a lot to top up your vitamin D ready for the long winter, which is really a famine in terms of this key vitamin.

Is sugar the enemy?

You’d be surprised at how much we’re asked this question at www.getfit.com – Particularly at this time of year, with Easter eggs galore and the number of Buy-one-get-one-free deals you see at the checkouts of retail stores.  

Like everything at getfit.com we suggest moderation in everything, but that’s not to say the occasional blow out will not happen in our team – in  our office Easter egg hunt! But for most of us, most of the time, the question does remain – sugar, how much is too much, what type and when, is all sugar the devil…?

This week we are tweeting some of the worst and the best things about sugar and some little known facts that we hope will give you pause for thought before you decide to never touch the sweet stuff again!

 Sugar - how much is too much?

From a scientific perspective too much sugar is more than 10% of your total intake of energy. (for an average woman that is 48 grams (or 8 teaspoons) and for an average man that is 64 grams (or 10½ teaspoons).

Good carbs, bad carbs – can you explain?

It’s easy to polarize things as either “good or bad” and this can be helpful when trying to make changes to your eating patterns. At getfit.com we prefer to use rules of thumb, which allow you to make your own decisions with some helpful guidance. With carbohydrates here are the ones we use.

If it’s bread-like brown is better

So breads, pasta, cereals, rice and the like, the best choice is always whole meal or “brown”

If it’s sweet look to Mother Nature

Never demonize a food that comes straight from Mother Nature. Fresh fruit is the best choice, as you get further away from “as nature intended” the choices get worse.

Does sugar get turned straight into fat?

Despite the picture that most magazines and holistic experts can paint, sugar does not get “sent straight to your hips”. But this is not to say that it doesn’t have an effect on your weight. Your body doesn’t like to turn sugar into fat – it’s actually quite an involved “metabolic job”. Your liver and fat cells are capable of turning sugar into fat, but only in some extreme circumstances (for example when you many more calories than needed AND eat no fat and no protein). In practice your body likes to store sugars in your liver and muscles ready for use during aerobic activity (like walking or sports).

But here is the important part – Sugar increases insulin, which gives your fat cells the message “time to soak up and store some fat”. If you eat high sugar foods that also contain fat (hello chocolate!) then your body will be ready to store the fat in that food. So the sugar doesn’t get turned into fat, but it makes the fat in your food much more likely to be stored (and in the places you don’t want them!).

Overcoming Cravings

Cravings! Cravings, Not John Cravings…… just have a bit of dust!  ?

While this famous line from Little Britain is just a bit of fun, it might have been onto something…

This week getfit.com is talking all about CRAVING!

Cravings can be good (crave for a good work out) bad (crave for chocolate cake for breakfast) or just plain ugly (craving ‘hair of the dog’)!

Three things all cravings have in common!

No matter what it is you crave, all cravings have three things in common

-      Thinking about it doesn’t make it go away

-      Doing it will not get rid of the craving permanently

-      Cravings are triggered by something, working out what helps – a lot!

Let’s take the example of craving for an alcoholic drink:

A craving ‘to have a drink’ is a strong desire for attaining the state induced by drinking. It’s usually a mixture of physical and emotional arousal, thoughts and memories. If someone is actively planning to reduce or stop drinking alcohol, it is inevitable that some level of craving will occur.

Typical situations that may trigger craving will include:

Your environment - the sight of a pub, people having fun drinking, billboards advertising alcohol, a cold pint of beer and a particular time of the day (typically the evening).

Your memories and thoughts – at times you may find yourself thinking of how good you felt when you drank a few glasses of wine on a lovely summer’s day. You may also have thoughts such as “a nice cold drink would really be good” or “how can you go out at night without having a drink?”

Your feelings - experiencing unpleasant thoughts, emotions or feelings; being bored or stressed can also lead to craving. At these times you may typically think: “I need a drink right now! When all this is over I will stop again”.

Wanting to feel better - you may experience craving when you wish to enhance a positive experience. For example you may have learned to link drinking with meeting friends and think that drinking will ‘lubricate’ social situations, making them more spontaneous and pleasant.

This week our tweets will be on the tips and tricks that anyone can use when trying to deal with craving, like all of our blogs and tweets, these are drawn from the extensive library of healthy living advice that is drawn on when creating an individual healthy living plan.

For more information and to see an example report visit www.getfit.com