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At its essence, exercise is a solo endeavor: You move your body and it responds.

But when it comes to deciding whether or not to workout, how hard you will exercise and even how you feel after—that depends a lot on the people around you.

Exercising in a group, it turns out, has a powerful effect. When you’re deciding on when and where to do your daily sweat-and-strengthen, consider the following.

If you exercise in a group:

You’re more likely to show up: People who work out with others are more likely to show up, especially if they feel they are part of a community—perhaps they identify as being part of a class or studio or even know the names of their classmates. “People sign up to change their body,” says Susan Moran, senior vice president of Power Pilates, an APOGEE Wellness company. “But they make friends and receive energy from the community.

You feel better afterward: More endorphins? Researchers aren’t sure. But after rowers worked out in a group, they could withstand more pain than rowers who did the same routine on their own. (Researchers use pain threshold as a way of measuring endorphins; they actually squeezed the rowers’ arms really hard!).

You might even exercise more intensely. “When you’re alone there’s no one pushing you to the physical edge and that’s when change happens,” says Susan. In a class, you can get caught up in the group energy. “In our classes, we create a collective rhythm and a sense of community,” says Susan.

Your health will benefit: When you are socially connected to others, your body responds, says Woodson Merrell, M.D., APOGEE’s integrative health advisor, Participating in a social group—whether it’s a church or a fitness studio—has been shown to improve the function of your immune cells and boost production of cytokines (signaling molecules of your immune system) and other important hormones. “When you have a positive supportive community,” writes Dr. Merrell,” the good vibes, so to speak, resonate in your body.”

Find a group exercise class in White Plains and Bedford Hills.

Now is the time to include fresh, natural foods in every meal: Grocery stores and farmers’ markets are overflowing with corn, peaches, peppers, summer squash and tomatoes at their peak of flavor and freshness. These and other natural foods contain the micronutrients your body needs to fight disease and create energy.

Researchers are constantly discovering new ways that whole foods work with your body. Here’s research showing how white button mushrooms enhance the activity of the body’s immune system. And another study reveals the unique way that cranberries sweep bacteria from the urinary tract. Doctors at three community health centers in Massachusetts believe so strongly in the transformative power of natural foods that they’re distributing $1-a-day coupons to be redeemed at local farmer’s markets—one newspaper dubbed the fruits and veggies “farm-e-ceuticals.” Apogee’s integrative health advisor, Woodson Merrell, M.D., agrees: “I don’t care how good food scientists are at their job, it is not possible to design a processed food with the complex antioxidant capabilities of a plant,” he writes.

Inspired to make the best choice for your plate today? It’s hard not to be! The APOGEE Cafe always has natural, whole foods choices to choose from. Or, stock your own: Put your zip code in this web page to find a farmer’s market or farmstand close to you.

Related links:
Kale and Swiss Chard: Easy, Tasty and Nutritious
Seasonal Eating: Spaghetti Squash
Almonds: Health by the Handful

by Woodson Merrell, M.D.
APOGEE’s Integrative Health Advisor

A new study shows that cancer cells migrate and thrive in the presence of stress hormones. Studies such as this reinforce what I tell my patients: Actively working to transform your reaction to stress is the single most important step you can make to take back your vital energy and improve your health.

Notice that I wrote “transform your reaction” and not “cut stress from your life.” It’s often hard to change the fabric of our lives. But you can turn down your reactions to life’s events and turn on a calmer way of being. Once you are calm, you can become aware and better choose how to respond to situations, further transforming your reaction to stress. Your health will benefit in many ways.

Our body has two nervous systems: fight or flight and calming. The hormones produced by your sympathetic nervous system during a stressful or fight or flight response are cortisol and adrenaline. Your body releases these when you react to something you perceive as stressful—whether it’s a traffic jam, a sick child, or a deadline at work.

Ideally, after the excitement, our fight or flight system turns off and the calming parasympathetic part of the nervous system takes over. But researchers are finding that today many people have high levels of cortisol all day; they’re constantly perceiving their environment as stressful. The result is chronic health problems, including high blood pressure, poor digestion, heart disease and general fatigue.

You can turn on your calming system and decrease the amount of stress hormones in your blood in one easy step: Focus on your breath. Just perform this simple in-and-out breath break anywhere and anytime: in a parking lot or on a train or bus, in your office, at home.  Studies of this technique show that it results in slower pulse, lower blood pressure, relaxed intestinal muscles and lower cortisol, adrenaline and blood carbon dioxide levels.

Breath Break

• Sit up straight, close your eyes.
 Breathe in through your nose to the count of four, focusing on the sensation of the air moving through your nostrils.
• Breathe out for a count of four, feeling the air as it leaves your nose. 
Pause for a beat at the end of your exhale before you breathe in again.
• Continue for two minutes.

If an idea starts spinning through your brain during this breath break, just say to yourself, “breathing,” and gently bring your focus back to your breath. The idea is not to engage in thoughts—just to focus on your breath.

Ideally, you should take a breath break every two hours throughout the day. It’s an especially helpful exercise to do upon waking in the morning—just sit at the edge of your bed first thing in the morning, for 15 minutes if possible. Or, if you wake in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, focus on your breath, gently moving aside intruding thoughts of your daytime life.

You can move this stress-reduction break toward traditional meditation by introducing a word such as “calm,” “peace,” “om”—or any other sound or word that works for you. As long as you focus on the word and not the thoughts that come unwittingly to mind, you are helping to turn on the calming systems in your body.

There are many types of meditation, including mindfulness meditation, during which you focus on thinking kind thoughts about objects or people in your life. There are also many resources where you can learn meditation techniques, including books, CD’s and downloads. But the simple breath-break skill that I’ve described here is a good place to start.

You will find, as millions have before you, that breath breaks and meditation are useful skills that can transform your response to stress and improve your health throughout your life.

by Woodson Merrell, M.D.
APOGEE’s Integrative Health Advisor

Environmental toxins can affect the way our bodies work. One recent study revealed a link between thyroid dysfunction and the chemicals used to coat non-stick pans and other manufactured goods. Toxins can enter your body in food and water—even in the air you breathe. The Centers for Disease Control found 148 man-made chemicals in the average American blood sample.

So, the question becomes, how do we de-tox, or rid our bodies of these chemicals? Colonics, enemas, and other drastic measures don’t help your body process or eliminate toxins. Instead, use lifestyle changes and foods to support your body’s natural ability to neutralize and remove chemicals.

Reduce your toxic load. Obviously, if you smoke, quit, and reduce your exposure to second-hand smoke and other air pollutants. But also eat foods with the USDA organic label as much as possible to avoid ingesting pesticides. If organic isn’t an option, choose natural over processed foods, which can contain synthetic stabilizers, colors and preservatives. Chemicals in cosmetics, soaps, detergents can also increase the toxic load on your body. Consider switching to natural products.

Support your body’s natural detox process: Fruits and vegetables contain compounds that help turn toxins into free radicals (Phase I detox) and then neutralize those destructive molecules (Phase II detox). Many of these are foods you may already eat—try to include them every day to help your body’s detox systems. Especially powerful are vegetables in the Brassica family, including broccoli and kale, and the Allium family, including onions, garlic, and leeks. Fruits such as citrus and red grapes and berries contain enzymes that help with Phase II detox. Also helpful are fresh herbs, incuding parsley, oregano and rosemary and spices, especially ginger and tumeric. Green tea helps with both Phase I and Phase II detox.

Create a healthy gut: A healthy stomach and intestine act like a barrier to keep chemicals from food out of your body. The keys are probiotics, fiber and clean water. Naturally fermented food such as yogurt contain probiotics in the form of healthy bacteria—be sure the label indicates living bacteria. Unprocessed fruits, vegetables and whole grains will give you the fiber you need so toxins are excreted. And drinking eight to 12 ounces ounces of clean water every three hours helps all of the body’s cleansing processes.

Sweat: Sweating has also been shown to help the body remove toxins, which to a limited amount it can through the sweat and oil glands. Saunas are great for this, but so is sweating from a good old-fashioned aerobic work-out.

There’s a lot more to say about detox, but knowing these basics can make you aware of how you can help your body with a natural on-going process of cleansing itself.

by Woodson Merrell, M.D.
APOGEE Integrative Health Advisor

Just last month a new study revealed a link between drinking green tea and a lower incidence of depression in elderly people. Researchers haven’t identified which natural compound in green tea might be responsible and it’s a preliminary study, but there’s already much we do know about green tea. It’s one of the “power foods” I recommend in the 21-day program for optimal energy in my book Power Up (previously titled The Source) because of how it acts on your body and brain to calm, protect, and detoxify. Here are the details.

Calm: You’ll get a gentle lift from green tea because it has less caffeine than coffee (10-30 milligrams vs. 100-150). But green tea also contains natural compounds that are calming, specifically the amino acid theanine. This compound raises the amount of neurotransmitters in the brain that create good feelings and blocks the receptors for other chemicals that excite the nervous system. In studies, theanine has also been shown to support the immune system and calm the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in a lower heart rate.

Protect: All plants contain antioxidants that prevent damage to cells from free radicals, damaging molecules produced by a variety of sources—from exercise to environmental toxins. Green tea is one of the best sources of catechins, some of nature’s most potent antioxidants. Not only do antioxidants help prevent damage—protecting everything from your arteries to your DNA—but catechins may also help keep your metabolism working at a high level, potentially releasing more energy from fat.

Detoxify: Your body works hard to rid itself of toxins and you’ll have more energy if you help—that’s why detox is a one of the six steps I recommend to boost vitality. Green tea is especially useful as detoxifier: it not only helps break down toxins, a process known as Phase I detox, but green tea is unique in that it also helps transform the toxins so they can be excreted, a process known as Phase II detox.

Green tea retains its bright color and nutritious value because it’s not aged or fermented, as oolong and other teas are. Choose bagged or loose leaves that create a green brew when steeped, not brown—the tea’s color is an indicator of quality. If you want a beverage with virtually no caffeine, splash hot water over soak the leaves in hot water, let it sit for just one minute, then discard the water—most all the caffeine will go with it. Now add more water and steep the tea as you normally would: the theanine and catechins are there, along with the flavor and pleasure of holding, inhaling and drinking a hot beverage.