futureproof
A WillPowders Coffee? What’s in it For Mum and Dad? Introduce Your Parents to a Simple Biohack for Longevity
Are you Generation Sandwich - wedged between raising kids, keeping your own plates spinning and managing parents? Mum and Dad, hey? Love ‘em, obvs - but when they think they’re doing themselves a favour tucking into a breakfast of blood sugar spiking orange juice, carb heavy muesli and fat-free skimmed milk, and then having a good sit down, it makes you wince, right?
While you're not expecting your dad to be Bryan Johnson, or even Bryan Johnson’s dad, for that matter, with your nicely established WillPowders Way, you can spot from space the easy hacks that Mum and Pop could benefit from. But, can you convince them? Hmmm …
Take a breath
Generationally, your parents have been conditioned to believe a cooked breakfast is a heart attack on a plate and low-fat yoghurt is self-care. But, collagen? Yeah, they’re not quite sure what that is ... And MCT? They’ll probably think it’s a street drug and give you The Talk.
Now’s the time to step in with your WillPowders knowledge and be their re-education. And, heads up, studies exploring the effects of older adulthood on health often study groups that include people from the age of 50 … yikes!
If it’s time for a prevention is better than cure talk with parents, your favourite auntie, or whoever makes up the elders of the tribe, WillPowders has the perfect starting point. Grab their best china and rustle ‘em up a WillPowders Tea or WillPowders Coffee. Nothing like a ten minute natter over a cuppa to share the newest longevity wisdoms, right?
You know how it goes: tea or coffee, about a dessert spoon of Keto Creamer, about a teaspoon of Collagen, stevia (if they take it sweet). Stir or Whizz (you go!). Serve. Psst! If you think Keto Creamer’s a stretch (gentle habit stacking so as not to panic their nervous systems, and all that) then just pop a tasteless and odourless teaspoon of our bovine collagen peptides in there. Start somewhere. But do make a start.
But why’s a WillPowders tea or coffee relevant?
Be solution-focussed. Maybe to them, a WillPowders coffee is new-fangled, but now is the time to convince them investing in longevity isn’t just for whipper snappers! It’s never too late. And that’s the point, as Davinia discusses in FUTUREPROOF, preventing ageing as a disease, rather than having to treat the symptoms of the diseases of old age. The diseases of old age tend to start to cluster together and form other comorbidities, as happens with metabolic syndrome which can lead to cardiovascular disease. Yes, mother, turns out fat is not the enemy but sugar could be!
Bovine Collagen: an easy and foundational nutritional hack
The benefits of Bovine Collagen are well-documented, 'especially for ageing people’.
It helps:
- Maintain skin hydration - ageing can cause dehydrated skin, especially in the legs, which can cause itchiness and reduce quality of life
- Build and maintain stronger bones - collagen is the scaffold on which bone mineralises
- Prevent sarcopenia, the fancy word for low muscle mass and low muscle function seen as our parents age: ‘collagen supplements are effective to improve the symptoms of sarcopenia’.
- Increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, guarding against osteoporosis - that’s brittle bones to your mum
- Reduce pain caused by osteoarthritis - if your parents complain you’re treating them as if they have one foot in the grave, tell them everyone over the age of 20 displays some evidence of osteoarthritis in their spine
- Lubricate joints and build connective tissue - curb the joint complaints;
- Support hormone balance - before your dad mentions feeling more perky (please, God, no), that’s not just sex hormones, it’s the happy ones too and the ones that regulate blood sugar and metabolism. They rely on the amino acids available in collagen peptides for their production.
Regenerate from the inside out to change the ageing game
There’s more amino acid building blocks with which to regenerate and repair in collagen peptides than your parents’ beloved broccoli! Eating five a day is fine, but not at the expense of animal proteins which are superior for their bioavailability. They can put that floret on their plate for sure, but maybe also add a spoonful of collagen to your casserole, Mum!
Since WillPowders collagen is Bovine Collagen, it supports Type I and Type III collagen, found in vital organs, as well as hollow organs where elasticity is needed, such as the gut. You don’t get that with marine collagen! So, if your mum is heading off to Holland and Barrett because Marge next door has recommended marine collagen, you need to stop her in her tracks.
Cognitive function, MCT and the ageing brain
You already know that MCT Oil is an efficient way to feed the brain with ketones. But its importance increases as we age as older people are more likely to experience insulin resistance naturally. This resistance is exacerbated by the disastrous Fuel with Carbs advice successive governments still rely on that your parents have trusted for years.
If your parents stick to carb-rich public health messaging and look at you with a quizzical eyebrow when you mention C8 MCTs, tell them, ‘ketone bodies are an alternative energy substrate to glucose and may be neuroprotective, especially in the elderly brain where glucose utilization deteriorates’. That’ll do the job of making you sound like the authority and reminding them you’re no longer a five year old in pigtails! It’s just a fancy way of saying MCT Oil or MCT Keto Creamer will feed the brain ketones at a time in life when the brain increasingly doesn’t use glucose as efficiently.
If Keto Creamer in their coffee’s the only habit they stack, they’re still on a winner.
After the cuppa, take a walk and go to the gym: mobility’s everything
We sit down more and for longer as we get older. The days of being Runaround Sue and The Wanderer can be less appealing after a while. Plenty people spend their working lives fantasising about a long sit down in retirement. But a sedentary lifestyle can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: use it or lose it. Tell your parents plenty of walking is non-negotiable.
If your parents aren’t actively maintaining muscle, then they are parents heading towards loss of muscle and muscle function down the line. Losing muscle is a major contributor to not being strong enough to prevent a fall. If our parents don’t have the muscle strength and function to catch themselves when they stumble, they can end up in a heap. The stark reality is that, with age, falls are a symptom arising from losing muscle strength, changes in vision, side-effects of drugs, a decreased ability to sense the body inwardly.
The ultimate intervention: resistance training
This study found ‘the combination of resistance exercise and collagen peptide supplementation resulted in a significant improvement in muscular strength as well as a significant increase in muscle mass and decrease in fat mass compared to placebo’. The gym’s the place to do resistance training. If your parents are retired, the local gym probably does an off-peak rate. Bonus. After pumping iron, a quick cuppa in the cafe, minus the cake but plus a Bovine Collagen Sachet, could boost their muscle maintenance further. Bob a travel sachet of Keto Creamer in there and they’ll be living the dream, making you proud and causing a sensation by elevenses!
Finding your WillPowders Way has changed you for the better. Maybe the days of your parents looking after you are well and truly in the rear view mirror but, what better way to give back than popping the kettle on and setting them on their very own WillPowders Way?
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