Dr. Howard Murad is an interesting man to talk to. Not only is he a great dermatologist but he’s also deep into researching not just about skincare– though he has phenomenal skincare products (really.. I tried some. They are awesome!)
Murad Spa Entrance
Recently I was able to attend an event at the Murad Spa to talk about Inclusive Health and take some tests and find out how I was doing health-wise. (hmmm ran out the door without breakfast, was stressed because of traffic….. not so great i think)
This man doesn’t stop thinking and digging deep into how you can be healthy- not just your skin or how to prevent wriinkles or prevent breakouts but what is it about the entire body that will allow it to function well and achieve that first and then deal with the smaller issues rather than the resverse order– which almost never occurs. Most doctors treat an ankle, your skin, headaches, high blood pressure, but who treats the entire body? These days doctors and medicine is so skewed into micro-segments that it’s hard to get an overall picture of how healthy you are — until now, courtesy of Dr. Murad.
His idea and ideal of “Inclusive Health” starts at the cellular level and works outward from there. It involves “cellular water” and that actually does affect your entire body. Think of a balloon. If it’s filled with air, it’s great and it floats and it functions. Poke holes in that balloon and it leaks and doesn’t float or function. That’s the notion behind cellular water. Fix the cellular water retention and get those cells healthy and the body will start bouncing back.
The Science of Cellular Water
The world’s most comprehensive approach to understanding health and aging, the Science of Cellular Water looks at the ability of cell membranes to hold water within a cell as the fundamental marker of youthful good health. Because skin can only be beautiful if it is healthy at the cellular level, Murad’s dietary supplements and topicals are formulated to optimize cell health. Murad’s supplements create a nutrient rich environment within the body so that all building blocks the body needs to create strong cells are readily available. Murad’s topicals support and enhance the skin’s barrier function to protect cells from environmental damage and dehydration while encouraging healthy cell turn-over so that surface layers have a higher population of stronger younger cells. With internal and external support from Murad, skin is as healthy as it can be and looks its most youthful.
Fix the body so that the cells are in optimum health and many things in the entire body will start functioning better. If things are still not functioning properly, then your physician and you can work on those specific things. The broader point is about changing up your diet and food intake a bit. It’s not hard; it’s not about deprivation. It’s not about eating just fish and blueberries all the time.
Before you start radically changing the diet– and there is a trick to this, there were a few tests that I had to take and it was not long but it was thoughtful and actually relaxing……. (even now thinking about the actual tests my body is “relaxing” and sinking into that endorphin rush of relaxation- something that I desperately need to do.
After the test was finished, I went back to Dr. Murad where we talked about the things I did lke about my body and what I wanted to improve and then we talked about my Inclusive Health Number.
This test of the cellular water gives you a number. Mine wasn’t horrible, (68) but it wasn’t great either. Part of it is diet related (more about that in a minute) but a lot of it was stress-related. No surprise there for me.
What I learned was that the stress I was feeling was having a serious effect on my cellular water. I could learn to control that — through exercise, meditation, getting some “me time” (oh that’s where I don’t typically put my priority. How about you? What do you do for you that doesn’t necessarily involve eating chocolate or drinking alcohol? What’s your “good for you” de-stressors?) i started calling my bff’s more often, I started going to the movies more and I started hanging with my friends because it relaxes me in a way I can’t seem to achieve when the office is beckoning. I also am going to reduce the work load- -particularly this summer by cutting back to 2 posts a day while I work on 2 books + a social media primer for clients.
What Dr. Murad talked about in great depth — almost an hour was the notion of the pitcher of health diet
As you can see this is a PITCHER– not a picture – -and it’s all about food. .What’s interesting is that Murad suggests the notion makes sense is that as that cell (or balloon analogy relates) deflates, the skin and the body age more quickly. Change up a few things– like stress reduction, proper topical treatment and internal supplements and the right foods and you can make a lot of changes– in your overall health, your ability to be more functional, as well as the way you look. .
What the “pitcher of health” represents is to depend less on liquid water– because you excrete that along wtih any nutrients derived from food or supplements on a daily (and very frequent) basis. Instead of drinking your water– he suggests you “eat your water”. Eating your water means looking a variety of fruits, vegetables and other types of foods that are essential building blocks of nutrients and water that you can consume and thus retain those nutrients– and the water and actually look and feel better.
Think this sounds crazy? I walked out of that office — having snacked on fruit almost the entire time– and was convinced on trying it. I had some of Dr. Murad’s supplements and I was determined to reduce my stress level and wanted to drop a few pounds (less than 5) and also get the skin to look better. I was feeling pretty punky.
I went shopping and started changing what I was buying at the market, focusing on eggs, whole grain breads, fruits, veggies, nuts like walnuts , almonds and other things like goji berries as well as fish and other things in that pitcher. Note the levels and what you eat most of is at the bottom of the pitcher. Doesn’t mean you can’t have chocolate cake or a cocktail like I did the other night, but by changing up what I consumed as snacks and meals changed the way I felt, looked and functioned as a person as well as specific organs. I started t sleep better, I dropped 5 pouinds in 2 weeks– thank you almonds, walnuts, goji berries and fruit!! I found that I wasn’t hungry because I was eating foods that were really satisfying my body in a way I hadn’t achieved with a bag of cheetos or a box of chocolate. Not that I had a bad diet before, I was not a huge junk food junkie but I was not reaching for food that gave me what my body needed as often as I should have. Now I do and I find that I am not always hungry for dinner or eat about half of what I ate before. I noticed that my skin looked better too– and my exercise regimen wasn’t nearly so hard to deal with.
There was and is more to this post but this is long enough. I could go on for another 2 paragraphs about food/diet and the pitcher of health. But I would tell you to check out the page about cellular water. Look at what you are doing and change some of the things in your diet. His new book will be a MUST READ on my list and I will review it here. I have 2 other books of his to read too.
I have never been so impressed with a philosophy of living- diet, health, mental practice — that I actually put it into practice and saw results almost immediately. This is what happened with me when I started following the Inclusive Health and starting following his Pitcher of Heatlh.
Suggestion for you– if you want to feel less fatiguedl; lose a couple pounds, have your skin perk up– try it. Let me know what you think.
Skincare review comes next.. maybe towards the end of the week. I am addicted to Murad. It’s a company with a serious philosophy that makes sense, that’s do-able and won’t cost you a fortune. I am clearing out my old supplements and going to replenish with the Murad supplements because they are more complete and synergistic than the blend I was taking. I am convinced. You could be too.
Thank you to Dr. Murad, his team and staff-members I met. I was so comfortable there that it felt like home (maybe better than home).
Stevie , LA-Story.com
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