Quick Links

If you’re considering setting a goal for this New Year (and there’s still plenty of time!), take the advice of APOGEE life coach Persephone Zill and create a resolution that’s built to succeed.

What else makes a goal work?
You also need to gather the right tools, including classes, equipment or the right foods in your fridge; visualize success, taking time each day to picture yourself overcoming obstacles and enjoying the benefits of reaching your goal; and plan rewards for progress–a massage, new clothes, short trip or time with friends, for example.

What’s a good timeframe for my resolution?
It takes 21 days on average to change a habit. Set your finish line at least three weeks in the future so your resolution results in lasting change.

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.