Soak Your Cells, Clear Your Mind

Increase your water intake and practice "emotional self-care" to live a longer, healthier life

WE'RE ALL TRYING TO FIND that "magic" remedy that erases wrinkles and slows down the aging process. The good news is that the answer to looking and feeling younger is much simpler than scary surgeries or dangerous pharmaceuticals.

Howard Murad, M.D., founder of Murad Skincare Inc., divulges his anti-aging answer in
The Water Secret: The Cellular Breakthrough to Look and Feel 10 Years Younger (Wiley, 2010). His approach was developed with more than three decades of research, which shows that the secret to maintaining a youthful glow and overall health may be as simple as cellular hydration. In simpler terms: Stay youthful by drinking more water-and eating more raw fruits and vegetables.

Make the Connection

"The overall philosophy of The Water Secret is a new way of looking at overall health, which I call inclusive health," Dr. Murad says. "Every cell in your body is connected and if we can improve cellular health, we can make dramatic changes in our lives and our looks, and even slow the aging process," he says.

Here's Dr. Murad's three-pronged approach to help you gain energy, lose weight and improve your skin.

Eat Your Water

You may be thinking, "I already guzzle water, and the only difference is I have to run to the bathroom more often." Dr. Murad says The Water Secret is about more than downing eight glasses of water each day. You need to "eat" your water.

"The best source of hydration is the water built into the structure of the foods we eat, especially raw fruits and vegetables," he says. The water in these fresh foods doesn't get flushed through like drinking water does; the water is released
more slowly. Therefore, Dr. Murad suggests eating more fresh foods, such as watermelon or cucumbers. His book includes a 10-day meal plan and easy-to-follow recipes, which show you how to begin to regularly incorporate these water-rich
foods.

Cleanse, Moisturize and Treat

As Dr. Murad says, "Skincare is healthcare. Your skin is connected to every part of your body, and as your body's largest organ, it's a mirror to your inner health." Regardless of your skin type, a daily regimen is one important piece to the entire inclusive health puzzle.

Your skincare routine needs to be quick and simple but should incorporate the following steps: cleanse, treat with anti-aging products, moisturize and protect with sunscreen. Dr. Murad pinpoints some powerhouse ingredients you should look for in your skincare products, such as mushrooms, licorice and pomegranate extract, among others.

Disconnect

The third component to inclusive health is emotional self-care, which might be the most difficult component to put into action. Dr. Murad says that despite whatever product or supplements he suggests, you must also learn to manage your stress and emotions. He says a new stress, "cultural" stress, is infiltrating our lives like never before.

"From the advent of the digital revolution in the 1980s, to increased population and affluence … many of life's stressors have taken a more prominent and invasive position in our daily lives," he says.

Discovering how to manage this stress can help you age better and feel better, and it may be as simple as slowing down and disconnecting. By giving yourself permission to turn off the phone, schedule a massage or sleep in, you can begin to see positive effects from the inside out.

-By Julie Wlodychak