Beyond Organic Skin Care: Health Tips From Our CEO, Kelly Graham
We are excited to be able to showcase a recent appearance our CEO, Kelly Graham, made on The Dr. Jason Show, MEDS. Dr. Littleton, known by many as America’s Energy Doctor, invited Kelly to talk about how she as a high-functioning CEO exercises, eats, drinks, and sleeps with such a busy schedule! Below you will find the meat and potatoes of the MEDS episode.
Our CEOs Journey To Health And Wellness
Kelly Graham: “My journey to health and wellness started about eleven years ago. After my youngest daughter was born, I had a lot of health issues that doctors really couldn’t figure out what was wrong. And it ended up being a huge hormonal imbalance, which can happen. It can cause anxiety, depression, and headaches. And for me, it started a really hard road with migraine headaches. So I went to doctor after doctor, and neurologists, and tried lots of different medications...and a lot of brain medications that really dope you out, making you not want to get out of bed. And running a company, having two kids, I just couldn’t do it.”
Dr. Littleton: “You wanted a natural solution. You have a busy life. One of the things I always talk about to my patients, clients, and social media family is that if you have a busy life, you have to connect your health goals to your overall goals, to your career goals — to the goals that you have so that you stay motivated as far as your healthy living routines. And how has your career and your business made you want to be more healthy?”
Kelly: “Well, first of all, the business that I’m in, and being in organic skin care, you are around people who are really into health and wellness. And a lot of the people that I’ve really connected with really have a cool story. A lot of the people that have chosen this lifestyle have either had Hashimoto’s (disease), they’ve had major skin problems, gut problems — and they’ve all had a story where they’ve all had to go this route in order to change their lives and make a difference. And so it’s been motivating to me to be around these type of people; you learn things, you learn things you can take home that you can cook for your family or just add to your routine. That’s been a really fun part of having this company is that I travel around and meet amazing people that have great stories that through your MEDS prescription — through moving through eating through diet through sleep, that they’ve changed the way they feel.”
Movement
Dr. Littleton: “Wow. So let’s just start out with how you move. How do you exercise?”
Kelly: “Luckily for me, moving for me has been pretty easy. Since I’ve been in high school, I’ve always been really active. I play tennis, I played it all the way through college. So that part has been pretty easy for me to keep going. But we change as we get married and have kids and we work, so we have to make it work around our family. So for me, the discipline is if I don’t work out in the morning, it doesn’t get done.”
Diet
Dr. Littleton: “Oh I see. When you do that, how does it affect how you eat?”
Kelly: “The discipline of getting up and working out — you feel great when you are done. But also, when you go into the kitchen to make your breakfast, you’re totally aware. You want to feel good for the whole day, so I want to fuel my body with what makes me feel good. And that’s through trial and error, finding what works and what doesn’t. And for me, I’ve kind of perfected a system that works and it really has changed the way that I feel. The most important thing is energy. You know with our schedule — when my alarm goes off at six, and you hit the ground running. If you don’t fuel your body with the right foods and with what you are drinking...it sets the tone for the day.”
Kelly goes onto say: “Morning is super pivotal with what you eat. I can’t stress enough, I have a very disciplined routine. I do a plant-based protein shake every single morning. And it’s interesting, people say “There’s no way you can do that every single day.” On the contrary; the body craves it. My husband and I just came back from vacation. And the house that we rented didn’t have a blender. So I had all my stuff to make my protein shakes every day with no way to blend it, and by the end of the week my body was craving that good food that I was feeding it every day. So the body does adjust. I do that, and in the protein shake I put a tablespoon of MTC oil for good brain function, along with collagen powder, unflavored, so you do not taste it. And we know how great collagen powder is for the skin, for your joints. And then I do a scoop of adaptogens for cortisol levels, for stress, for a high-functioning life. And I feel like a champ!”
Hydration
Dr. Littleton: “That’s amazing. I love your diet routine and your movement routine. So when we talk about the ‘D’ as far as drinking and hydration, you drink a lot of water. Tell me about that.”
Kelly: “I do. Again, small changes. Keep your eye on the ball and be disciplined. I haven’t always been this way but I drink about a gallon of water a day. And just some tidbits on how you can help yourself get to that goal: know how many ounces your water bottle it contains. And then take that and say, “Alright, I need to fill that up six times. That way, you know as you are going through the course of the day, instead of not having a plan, and you’re just drinking a water bottle here and there but you don’t really know — but when you get up, if you know that your goal is to drink five of this, or seven of this, and it equals a gallon. And you’re done! You’ve done it! It’s all about discipline and having that structure, and it’s easy to do!”
Dr. Littleton: “Oh I love it. Water is so important; 75 percent of Americans are dehydrated. When you travel, having a good hydration routine because when you are in an airplane the humidity is one to two percent, approximately, and you can really get dehydrated. That’s one of the reasons people feel so tired when it comes to jet lag, so having a good hydration routine makes a difference.”
Sleep
“Now, the ‘S’ part stands for sleep. I want to know when you wake up and when you go to bed. Tell us about your sleep routine.”
Kelly: “Six O’Clock, our alarm goes off every morning. And kids will do that for you. They set the pace for us. They have to get ready for school and they are out the door by 7:15. So we are up at six, and we go all day. But sleeping is probably my biggest downfall because after we put the kids to bed and after we wash the dishes after dinner, I tend to want to get on social media or get on the computer; it’s quiet. It’s your thinking time, but all the sudden you look up and it’s 11:15! And my husband is great because he’s really good at going to bed early. And he tells me, “You can’t get your sleep back on the front end. You have to learn to control when to go to bed at night because you have to wake up at six no matter what.” It keeps you regimented.”
“By the mid part of the week, if I’m rolling like that, I know exactly why I feel the way I do. It’s because of sleep. So what I started is, by 10pm, it’s muted — no more. And again, it’s training yourself. It’s easy to get into that pattern where you get into bed and you look at things and you scroll. But like my husband says, it’s nonsense. It’s something that can wait until tomorrow. We just have to train ourselves.”
Dr. Littleton: “These four things that we’ve talked about — move, eat, drink, sleep — and having a routine, just make a world of difference to helping you become more efficient in life, get ahead in life, and feel healthy in your body.”