Today we are joined by Dave Catudal to find out why Humantra’s products might just be the
supplements you need to add to your diet, to better your body and mind.
At the age of 37, Catudal has had a successful career within the health and fitness industry as a personal trainer, nutrition coach, celebrity health coach, and most recently becoming a certified functional diagnostic nutritionist. As the co-founder of Humantra, with Huda Beauty Investments, Catudal has used his own personal battles to educate himself on health and wellbeing, to carefully create a variety of supplement products, in a bid to help people take ownership of their health. Dave in his words, is on a ‘mission to help create the next generation of healthy humans.’
In this digital age, the health industry has become more overwhelming than ever before, as we are overloaded with contradictory information about what is good for us and what isn’t. It can be difficult to make those decisions on how to have a healthy diet and lifestyle, and which supplements and vitamins can help. Humantra’s aim is to help simplify these complexities and offer a way to help people create a solid foundation with supplements addressing these 4 key pillars of health: hydration, gut health, brain health and sleep.
Humantra’s first product – ‘Hydration Hack’ is a plant-based, sugar free electrolyte and antioxidant drink mix with all 6 essential electrolytes, hydrating you 4 times more effectively than water alone. Award-winning performance coach and health consultant Phil Anothony M took to Instagram to review the product as, ‘a new hydration drink that’s backed by science and driven by data.’ Let’s find out more…
How did your Humantra Journey Begin?
That’s a big question but I love it. And really, that’s the point or the mission behind Humantra. It is like an extension of my journey, which came from a pretty hard place, health wise. But it’s been able to help inspire my creation in healthy living in holistic education.
My family was hit pretty hard with cancer; my brother had Leukemia when he was very young and got over it at age nine. He’s a superstar celebrity trainer and now, he’s published a bunch of health books, which is a great success story. But after he was cured, my father, who was literally the healthiest man in the world, never drank, never smoked, took his lunch hours to work out and run; he was diagnosed with terminal cancer when he was only 45, and died in less than a year. It was really crazy times, because he was so healthy, it was just such a shock. I was 17 when he died.
I then got obsessed with nutrition, like, I became absolutely obsessed with health and natural healing and starting to incorporate the power of the mind. I really understood that our emotions were what drives our wellness. Long story short, I got cancer when I was 23. But thankfully, because I had already studied so much about nutrition and the power of healing, I knew that I could heal myself. I had a surgery and then was able to heal from cancer without chemo and radiation, which is a huge, I guess you can say, accomplishment.
To heal, I had to boost my system and fortify my immune system. I had to learn all about herbal medicine and about upgrading our immune system through nature. It led me to the journey of developing supplements that help people.
And finally to where we are today with Humantra. What I really got to realise is through everything, regardless if you’re an athlete, or if you’re working in an office 15 hours a day, the same barrier to your performance is the same thing: hydration. So if you’re not hydrated, your entire system is suffering.
How have you stayed so motivated throughout your personal journey through to Humantra?
It really comes down to the purpose right? I think when this happens to someone – and I’m definitely not the only one who has been through these dramatic, traumatic or significant occurrences in their life – it really makes your life’s purpose unshakably clear. You just know what to do. So I don’t think motivation was ever an issue, I felt like I was made to teach people how to protect themselves from illness.
My mission is to educate and to empower people to make the decisions that worked for me and my client testimonials. Because of what I’ve learned, because I’ve what I’ve experienced, I feel like it’s my responsibility to pay this forward. And, that’s just the most motivating thing; watching people change their life for the better because of the information you’ve given them based on the experience you’ve had.
What has been your biggest takeaway from all the travelling and exploring of different cultures that has helped create your brand?
What I’ve really learned through all of this, is that our emotions drive everything, that our attitude is what makes us sick, or for lack of a better word, bulletproof. I’ve met people who are 102,103, even 105 years old, that did not necessarily live the healthiest nutrition plan. But their mindset was so great! They they just loved life, they didn’t hold on to negativity, they really celebrated the small things in life.
That’s what gave me perspective as a nutritionist to not be too strict on nutrition, but to really focus more on the mindset. So from all my traveling, cultural and nutritional studies, if I’ve really learned anything, it’s that we have to nurture and nourish our mindset and our attitude, as much as we do our physical body. They’re so interconnected, that if we focus too much on calories, proteins, fats and nutrition, we actually miss the point, and we end up stressing ourselves out more. So what I’ve really learned is that it’s all in the mind.
Regardless if you’re an athlete, or if you’re working in an office 15 hours a day, the same barrier to your performance is the same thing: hydration.”
Dave Catudal
Who need Humantra and why?
Everybody needs a mantra; everybody needs to hydrate. So as a nutritionist, one of the things that I look at is blood reports. I’m constantly looking at lab reports and have found that even people who are drinking three litres of water a day aren’t necessarily healthy. They’re not smoking, they’re not drinking, but they’re still dehydrated.
It’s a shock to a lot of people because they say, “well, what am I doing wrong, I’m drinking three liters a day, I’m eating a balanced diet, and I’m still dehydrated, like what is going on.” And the reason why is because the water these days, if you’re living in a big city, which 90% of the population is, the water is filtered and purified, which means there’s no minerals and electrolytes in the water.
So what we want to teach people is to start with the basics. Let’s build up your foundation, and that foundation starts with hydration. We’ve really simplified the supplement journey so you don’t spend money taking proteins, collagens, and the vitamins that still leave you dehydrated.
We are coming out with only one product first. And that’s why everybody needs it. It’s really tackling the biggest issue that people have. If you have a headache, it’s probably dehydration. If you have brain fog, it’s probably dehydration. You know, if you’re feeling lethargic during the day, it’s probably dehydration. So by tackling that you alleviate a lot of issues that people are suffering from.
Following on, the dying question that everyone wants answer to: what’s the correct amount of water you should drink a day?
That’s the million dollar question. If you were drinking water from a spring, from the Alps, in Italy, or in Switzerland, or Germany, or France, or wherever, you would only need to drink about a litre and a half of water a day if you’re just having a normal activity.
But if you’re pushing your limits in the gym, if you’re sweating for an hour in the gym, you’re losing almost a litre of water, you’re losing almost a litre of water overnight from all your metabolic processes. That’s two litres already. And if you’re not replenishing it through high water foods, like fruits and vegetables – a lot of people are just eating processed foods – which there’s no water, then you need to drink at least three litres.
So my short answer is you really should focus on three litres of water a day. But then the next question is, if that three litres of water is purified and lacking electrolytes? You’re still going to be deficient. So that’s where Hydration Hack comes in three litres, plus our product is more than enough.
Tells us more about this Hydration Hack product – does it really hydrate you 4 times more?
It’s hard to quantify hydration, but why we arrived four times, is because you take the average bottle of water and look at the average mineral content in that bottled water, you would need four bottles of standard water to give you the same amount of minerals and electrolytes as one package of Hydration Hack.
If we were to give someone one litre of pure water, versus 500 millilitres of water with our Hydration Hack, we hydrate them two-four times more efficiently than water alone.
Why is Humantra different to any other supplement brand?
What my mission is with Humantra, and what I believe really is our USP, is that we’re a supplement brand, with the foundation of us being health educators. That’s what Humantra is here to do; we’re here to educate, we’re here to guide. We do sell supplements, of course, but they are in alignment with the education that we’re providing. We don’t feed customers what’s currently marketing and selling in the health sector like some brands might.
From Humantra’s point of view, we’re really looking at it from a different perspective. We’re saying, what do humans need right now? What is going to make them healthier? And so that’s what drives us. I like to think of us as we’re education first and product second.
What benefits should we be seeing after taking Humantra’s Hydration Hack?
The exciting part about the Hydration Hack is that you feel better right away. And again, in full transparency, we almost can’t take credit for that as a product because that’s just how it feels to be hydrated. Not many people know what it feels like to be optimally hydrated and our product finally allows people to feel that so the benefits start right away. We want to make hydration easy and it so happens to be that Hydration Hack is also delicious.
A lot of people are writing to us and saying “I can’t believe it but since starting the hydration hack, my headache is completely gone.” Or, “Since starting the hydration hack, I’m able to focus a lot better.” Of course it is the hydration hack, but what they’re really experiencing is just being properly hydrated. And so that’s the aha moment that we really wanted people to experience.
We’re helping them solve their problem with a great product, and now they’re able to incorporate optimal hydration as part of the things that they’re focusing on to be a healthier person.
What flavours does Hydration Hack currently come in?
Our first two flavours are Himalayan Lime because we have Himalayan salt in it. That’s one of the key ingredients to electrolytes and sodium. The next flavour that we have is Berry Pomegranate; it’s a beautiful red as we actually use freeze dried beet root powder to colour our Berry Pomegranate and it’s just high in antioxidants. It tastes so good, it’s refreshing it doesn’t have any aftertaste, like a lot of these other supplements have because they use artificial sweeteners.
What is one message you would like to send to our readers?
Take responsibility for your health! We are a society that likes to look for shortcuts or outsource our health. Nobody knows your body better than you. Be a more educated consumer, do your research, don’t just see an influencer doing something and say “Oh, that must work for me.” Try to find out the reason behind it.
Words by Lucy Rosenberg
Header Image: Humantra Hydration Hack
