Do you think longevity comes from a pill?
I get asked about supplements more than almost anything else. What should I be taking? What’s the one thing that will slow ageing down? People want a bottle with an answer in it. I understand why. It’s easier to swallow a capsule than to change a habit.
But I’m 67, and if you’d seen me on my allotment back when I had one, knees in the soil on a Saturday morning, you wouldn’t have asked me about supplements. You’d have asked what I was growing. These days I forage whenever I can. When I spot something edible, I pick it. It’s the same instinct.
Here’s what nobody tells you about ageing well: it isn’t dramatic. It’s not a single decision or a miracle ingredient. It’s the small, repeated, slightly boring things. Getting outside. Moving your body without calling it exercise. Eating something that was in the ground yesterday rather than in a factory last month.
When I forage, whether it’s blackberries off a hedge or nettles for tea, I’m not doing it because I read a study. I’m doing it because it keeps me moving, it keeps me outdoors, and it keeps me eating food the way my body actually recognises it. The nutrients matter, yes, but so does the walking, the bending, the sunlight, the not sitting still.
This is the part people miss. They ask me for a supplement stack when what they actually need is a different relationship with food and movement, one that doesn’t feel like punishment, one that fits into an actual life.
I’m not saying throw out your vitamins. I’m saying don’t expect them to do the work that a decent, active, food-connected life is supposed to do.
If you’re looking at your own habits and wondering where to even start, that’s exactly the conversation I have with my clients. It’s not about perfection. It’s about building something that lasts.
Prevention rather than cure.
Milvia Pili
Functional Nutritionist Therapist
