Dhru Purohit Show - 7 Ways I'm Helping My Parents Stay Healthy As They Get Older

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, Maui Nui, iRestore, and Rula. As our parents get older, the roles slowly shift from them taking care of us to us helping take care of them. But how do you do that in a way that feels supportive, not controlling or preachy? And beyond that, how do we help them optimize their health so they can stay strong, independent, and full of life for as long as possible? Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, Dhru sits down with his sisters, Harshal and Kaya, to share the top seven things they’re doing to keep their parents healthy and thriving. Together, they explore the biggest mistakes people make when trying to create change in their parents’ lives and how those missteps can prevent lasting progress. They also dive into the seven strategies that made the most significant difference in their parents’ health journey, including strength training, increasing protein intake, and fostering community and a sense of belonging. Plus, they discuss the importance of mindset shifts, addressing sleep apnea, and building the simple habit of walking after meals. In this episode, Dhru, Harshal, and Kaya dive into: Dhru’s Intro and Background (00:00) Biggest mistakes we make when approaching our parents (2:20) Talking “at” versus “to” our parents (3:30) Leading with empathy and compassion (7:30) Making lifestyle changes fun through community (12:43) Focusing on tiny wins instead of forcing big changes (18:48) Movement and strength training as key components (22:28) Changing environment and exposure (32:58) Building meaningful connections (40:05) Prioritizing protein for metabolic health (47:54) Addressing sleep apnea and hearing loss (56:38) Walking after meals as a core habit (1:04:18) Sauna as an added bonus (1:07:58) Final thoughts (1:11:28) Also mentioned in this episode: Try This: 7 Things I’m Doing To Keep My Parents Healthy As They Get Older Levels Glucose Monitoring This episode is brought to you by Cozy Earth, Maui Nui, iRestore, and Rula. Right now, get 20% off your Cozy Earth sheets and sleepwear. Just head over to cozyearth.com/dhru and use code DHRUP. Right now, Maui Nui Venison is offering my listeners a limited collection of my favorite cuts and products. Just go to mauinuivenison.com/dhru to secure your access now, but hurry, supply is limited! Hair loss is frustrating. Give yourself the gift of hair confidence. For a limited time, my listeners get an exclusive discount on the iRestore Elite using the link irestore.com with code DHRU.  Take the first step toward better mental health today. Head to Rula.com/DHRU to get quality care from someone who cares. Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi everyone, Drew Prode here. Today I have a special behind the scenes episode for you. I have amazing parents. I love them dearly. And today I'm talking about seven things. Me and my sisters are doing to keep my parents healthy as they get older. Anybody who has aging parents and loves their parents knows that feeling that as your parents get older, you want to figure out and encourage them to adopt some of these behaviors that many of you are practicing in your own. life that you know would benefit them. But it's not always easy to say the least. You know, my mom turned 71 this year and my dad turned 76. And I thought a few weeks ago, let me write a newsletter about the things that have made the biggest difference in their life and not just in their physical body, but also in their mindset.

And let me write about it to my audience. And I'm so glad I did because I got so many of you that responded back and said, oh my gosh, this would be an incredible podcast episode. So I invited my sisters on, who I work with, by the way, my older sister Herschel, my younger sister Kaya, and we discuss in detail these seven things that we did to help our parents age well. And we also talk about one of the things that happened after I wrote this news that I had so many friends reach out and say, oh my gosh, can you talk to my parents and convince them to start doing some of these? Well, I'll tell you what, we made a list of four big mistakes that people make that kids.

I'm 43 years old and I'll always be a kid. kid in my parents' eyes, even when I'm 60 years old, but there's mistakes that people make. Kids make when they try to get their parents to adopt healthy behaviors. And it's so important to address those mistakes head on. So we identified for them. So let's jump into today's episode, which is seven things we're doing to keep our parents healthy as they get older. I think you're going to love it.

All right. I'm bringing into the conversation, my dear sisters, my older sister Herschel, my younger sister Kaya, ladies, a pleasure to have you here. I'm excited to jump right into the seven things we're doing to keep our parents healthy as they get older. But first, you can't talk about the subject without acknowledging the big elephant in the room. You know, so many of us have gotten text messages from our friends over the years saying, would you please just talk to my parents? They do not listen to me. We have friends that are on their own health journey. Maybe they're working out more. Maybe they're changing their diet. Maybe they're changing their mindset piece. And then they run up against

this friction with their parents. And they're like, why do my parents not listen to me? I'm just trying to help them be healthier and be happier. And Herschel and Kea, it reminds me of this classic Ram Dass quote that I've shared before on the podcast. And Ram Dass says, a spiritual teacher, he says, you think you're so enlightened, go spend a weekend with your family. Because when you're with your family, all your shit comes up and our family knows how to push our buttons. But especially when it comes to people trying to help their family get healthier, they make a few big mistakes.

And we're going to talk about four of them really quickly. So the first one, and I'd love to get your guys's thoughts on these, the first one that we outlined here is that people talk at their parents instead of talking to them. Imagine you had a friend that wanted to be healthier or that you wanted to support and they have not the healthiest habits. Imagine if you talk to them, the way that you talk to your parents, they would never feel excited about wanting to do that. Kea, do you want to chime on on this first one that we laid out? I really love that. I think I would take it a step further, is that we often see our parents, especially as they get older if your parents are still together

as a unit, but they are separate people. And a huge thing for me personally was understanding my mom's receiving style versus my dad's receiving style. And it's kind of like understanding somebody's a love language. So for example, my dad, he does not love being lectured to. He does not love when people talk at him or tell him, you have to do this, you have to do that. He kind of needs to see it, to believe it. And so a huge part of his lifestyle changes, especially when it came to diet and also exercise, is getting a blood glucose monitor, shout out to levels. That's the one that he used. And seeing how different foods were impacting his blood sugar or how walking impacted his blood sugar. And seeing that data was really the catalyst for him

to make the change. Now, my mom, she kind of gets anxious around numbers and data and testing and all of that, but she loves more authoritative sort of style coaching. So she loves Tony Robbins, who Drew introduced her to a long, long time ago, probably over what, 25 years ago at this point. She loves that style of tough love. She wants somebody to kind of say, look, this is what you need to do and be kind of that motivational, inspirational person. Sure, there's a time to just listen and receive and send her love, but she really responds to more of that tough love energy. And so when it comes to both of them, I kind of know what cap to put on to get them to make change. And I would encourage that to anyone else who's listening, really pay attention to the way that your parents receive and accept

information. You know, we all were kids at some point in time. And we've all been a place, even the people who are listening today, where our parents and our authority figure told us what to do and didn't really treat us as like a friend. And we all know what that feels like. And in reverse, the unfortunate thing is so many of my friends are treating their parents like kids

trying to tell them what to do. And really what I hear you, Kaya, saying is like, what does it look like to step into, first understanding your parents' receiving style, but also stepping into that, friendship because we're much more likely to listen to somebody that we see as a friend rather than somebody that's telling us what to do. A hundred percent. Yes. And it becomes so easy, I think, as our parents, to get older and the roles reverse where we're starting to take care of them

to kind of treat them almost like they're a toddler or a baby, but they're not. They've lived all this life without you. So they kind of know what they're doing in some areas. And what they need at that point is really somebody to be a friend to them and not look down on them. Herschel, I want to bring you in on this next one. You know, this is a big mistake that I see a lot of people making and feel free to chime in with any thoughts that you have, right? Our relationships with our families are so multifaceted, right? And the truth is, regardless of how people feel about their parents, our parents did the

best they could with the knowledge that they had at the time, right? Everybody included. And that means that a lot of parents that are out there, they've made mistakes. Everybody's going to make mistakes on their journey. And the hope is that we can repair some of those and have some compassion and empathy. And when it comes to health and wellness, I see a lot of friends lacking compassion, empathy for the stage of life that their parents are in. They see it as like, this was just so easy for me. I started working out or I started walking more.

I started improving my diet. You know, why don't they just do it? Do you want to chime in at all about this idea of lacking compassion? and empathy for our parents at the stage of life? What comes up for you when you hear that? The air is starting to get crisper and the nights a little longer, which means I'm going to go to bed earlier and there's nothing better than super comfortable sheets and sleepwear, especially when it gets a little cooler outside.

My wife and I, we're huge fans of cozier sheets, loungeware, and sleepwear. And here's something funny. We actually love their stuff so much that we put their sheets in our guest room and we've gotten so many compliments from our friends who stay over. It's official. All the betting in our home is now Cozy Earth. And for those of you that have been fans for a while, know this. Cozy Earth has expanded their lineup with new cotton sheets and their brand new bubble blanket,

which is perfect for cozing up as the weather cools down. Everything Cozy Earth makes is eco-friendly, avoids toxic chemicals, and is designed for comfort. No wonder Oprah has named Cozy Earth her favorite things five times in the past. If your fall routine could use a little more comfort, this, is your sign. Right now, my listeners get 20% off sitewide at cozyearth.com slash drew with the code Drew P. That's cozy earth.com slash drew, D-H-R-U with the code D-H-R-UP. And if you get a post-purch survey, make sure to let them know you heard about cozy earth on this podcast. Hey, community, if you've seen my recent newsletter, you know that there are concerns even for grass-fed and organic

beef because they just aren't safe from plastic contamination. You know, this website plastic lists test hundreds of foods and found plastic in 86% of them, including premium meats. You know, the culprit isn't the cows. It's the supply chain. And it's a much bigger issue where shrink wrapping and disinfectant sprays leach chemicals directly into our food system. And it's a problem. That's why I'm a huge fan of cutting out as many middlemen as possible when it comes to getting high-quality meat, and that's also why I'm a huge fan of Maui New Eat. Their meat comes from wild access deer that roam free on Maui, Hawaii, stress-free, eating naturally, and harvest ethically to restore balance to Hawaii's ecosystem. No massive list of middleman running an industrial

supply chain pumping plastics into your food. Just clean, wild, nutrient-dense venison, aged 14 days for steakhouse-level tenderness and flavor. With nearly 22 grams of protein per 100 calories, its fuel your body will thank you for. And the taste difference is real. Maui Nui is rich, clean, and leaves you feeling energized, not weighed down. And my personal opinion is, once you've tried it, it's going to be really hard to go back to other types of meat that are out there. Now, if you're interested in getting access to some of the cleanest red meat on the planet, the best way to do that is their Ohana Reserve Box subscription. Each box includes three premium aged cuts, ground venison, and jerky sticks, ship Frozen Nation.

wide every four, six, or eight weeks. Supplies are limited because of the nature of their work, and once subscriptions are filled, spots are gone for good. So right now, Maui Nui is offering my listeners a free 12 pack of Venison jerky sticks with your first order of $79 or more. To get access to this, just go to Maui-Nui-Venison.com slash drew to claim yours. That's Maui-N-U-I-N-U-I-V-E-N-I-V-E-N-I-S-O-N-I-N-I-S-O-N-N-E-N-E-V-N-E-V-N-H-R-U for the most flavorful meat in the world. I mean, I think the biggest thing that comes up is that, you know, there are a lot of things that I learned, you know, at a much later age than what my children are learning.

And the same applies for them. They only knew what they knew at the time. And of course, there's been so many changes in, you know, science and medicine and whatnot. So the things that they knew how to do, they did their best with. And now is they're learning more information, it's hard to change after 70 years of living a life. And of course, there's an emotional aspect to this. There's a cultural aspect to this. There's, you know, how do we show each other love?

And that can sometimes come up with, like, dietary choices and daily habits. And of course, for our parents specifically, you know, they were immigrants here. And so part of that mindset was just working really hard and not necessarily taking time to take care of their own bodies. And I think it's really important to honor that, you know, as Kay M mentioned, they've lived a whole life and they did what they knew at the time was best. And so now asking them to do something completely different just requires a little bit of love and compassion to say it may not be as easy for them as it was. was for us to just make this change at a younger age. That was brilliant. 100% agree.

The next big mistake that comes up for me is that when people are trying to help their parents get healthy as they age, they don't make it fun. And they don't focus on the community element of it. I remember really early in my life when I started to make changes in my diet and my lifestyle, including like years ago. It was like back in the year 2000 and I'm 43 right now. I started avoiding toxic cleaning products. I started staying away from things like air fresheners. I was talking about the importance of staying away from ultra processed food and this.

And a lot of that was very new to not just my parents, but our family as a whole. And I think that when you go on this health journey, a lot of people that love you, there can sometimes be this friction that's there because they feel like, I feel like I'm losing you because I'm not having that same connection on the things and especially food being a big one. I feel like I'm not having that same connection or it feels like you feel like you, feel like you're maybe better than me. And I bring this up because when we are all, quote, unquote, high and mighty, because we're all listening to our podcast, we're prioritizing all the longevity things and we start giving advice to our parents, there's so much focus on the advice and not

enough about it being fun. And I feel like a lot of parents, even if they're a little bit resistance in the beginning, they want to be a part of something, no different. kids, they want to be a part of something that's fun. And fun usually means also community. So instead of, I hear from friends all the time that are like, I don't know why. My parents just not doing this thing. And it's like, dude, I wouldn't want to do that thing. You haven't really made it fun and you're not bringing your parents into it. Like, is this something that they actually feel is connected to their health goals? Is it something that they actually want to do? It seems so regimented. And it's like a daily list that you're trying to get them for their morning routine.

instead of making it fun and bringing them into community. Yeah, Drew, when you say that, that actually kind of reminds me, you know, when all of us were kids, you know, it's, it was no different. We didn't like being lecture to. We didn't like being told, you have to do it this way or that way. And, you know, the changes that we made in our life really came when we saw examples of how it impacted our daily life and made it fun, made us want to do that thing and made us feel like, okay, this is going to change and make me feel happier. And I think it's no different for our parents. You know, you can't really lecture them on like you have to do it this way and add another thing on their to do list. You have to show them, you know, by example of like, how does this impact your daily life?

Maybe you're going to feel better. Maybe you're going to be more excited and have more energy to hang out with your friends. Or maybe you're sharing these recipes, you know, that are healthier with your community. So all of these things can help them feel like it's a much more happier and sustainable thing to add to their, lifestyle rather than like another thing they have to do. Okay, I want to get your thoughts on one thing. You know, there's this idea that all motivation has to be positive, but sometimes, not so much with our parents, because there's a lot of trust in that relationship with each

other and there's a lot of trust in each other as like siblings and we really, we really do value each other's opinion. But there have been times where I've had to have a very stern conversation and a very honest conversation with other people, you know, distant family members, parents of friends that are out there who have come to me for advice. And I've had to use negative motivation. And here's what I mean. Sometimes people need the reminder, especially if it's like, oh, well, we're all going to die anyway. So let me just enjoy life. Like, why should I be working out or why should I really be focused on eating healthy? Like, it's just sort of let me just enjoy. And it's just really my solo decision.

It's my life. It's my thing that's there. And I've had to remind. you know, parents or grandparents who are older, like, hey, when your health declines, who has to take care of you, right? And that might sound a little bit morbid or negative to people who are listening, but we do need the reminder that if your family loves you and your kids love you, that also if you are not investing in your health and you're not motivated for your own reasons, understand that if the burden of taking care of you also falls in them, it's a little selfish not to focus on your health, at least in some way that makes sense for you. What do you think about the negative motivation side of this, Kaya? Yeah, it's a good point, Drew. And I think that

if we all lived to our maximum health potential and then one day just drop dead, that would be a different situation. But the truth of the matter is that most elderly people now spend the last 20 to 30 years of their life suffering with some sort of pain, low energy, you know, all kinds of disabilities essentially. And so many elderly people also have one, two, three versions of some chronic disease. So it's not even just that their families are going to have to take care of them. It's also that they're going to be spending so much of their life. Like 20 to 30 years is actually a pretty long time. So much can happen in that chunk of time. To not be feeling well is also a truth that a lot of people have to face. And unfortunately, a lot of people don't

make those changes until they have some sort of event that really shakes them up and that is what is required for them to make the change. But even talking to them and saying, you know, being really real with them. And our brother-in-law, Neil Patel, Dr. Neil Patel, Herschel's husband is really good at this when he says, like, look, if I've heard him kind of talk about the way that he speaks with his patients and say, look, if you keep this up, like a heart attack is on the horizon, potentially a stroke, you know, telling people the reality of the situation is sometimes what is absolutely necessary for them to make that change. Yeah, that's well said. All right, our last big mistake that people make on their journey of trying to support their parents into healthy habits. And we're

going to get into the seven things that made a difference for our parents as siblings. But the last big mistake that people make on the journey of supporting their parents into healthy habits, especially as they age, is they try to get them to do everything at once instead of making gradual changes and focusing on tiny habits. Who wants to say a little something about that? I'll jump right in for this one. I mean, I think I can definitely relate to this. I mean, you know, I'd say probably in the last 10 years, I've made some significant changes

to my health journey. But I think about the fact that I kind of had to do it in pieces. And that's no different for our parents. imagine if I just went from, you know, all of a sudden I need to eat this many grams of protein. I need to take these many supplements. I need to work out this much. All of that would just feel like so much all at once. And it's definitely even more so for our parents who maybe haven't been doing any of these things for, you know, the lifetime that they've had so far.

That's 70 plus years of not doing those things. And all of a sudden you say, wake up and do all these things all at once. It's just too much. It was too much even for me at my age. So I can imagine that it feels extra overwhelming for them. So I think the key thing is to figure out what are some one or two things that they could do and then kind of focus on that. And then you can slowly add in other things after they kind of get a handle on that. So it doesn't feel like it's too much for them.

And give the opportunity for them to feel proud of those tiny changes that they've made because that's a big deal for them. Totally. I agree with that. And one thing that we said in the newsletter, the accompanying newsletter to this post, which we will share in the show notes, is that positive change begets positive change. So starting with one simple thing for our dad, it's walking. He walks probably close to 20,000 steps a day and just seeing that impact that it had on his lowering his blood sugar. For example, when he was wearing the blood glucose monitor,

that kind of motivates him to make other changes. For our mom, she loves to cook and experiment in the kitchen. So starting with nutrition is really beneficial for her. and instead of throwing everything at them at once, find the one thing that they're excited about doing and then see how that change will influence other changes in their life. Well, that's a great place to jump into our first thing that we did. These are all interconnected,

but we tried to prioritize them based on what we felt was some of the biggest wins down to some things that are more bonus stuff or more quote unquote advanced things after we nailed the basics. And one tiny caveat I want to mention, which is you can invest in your own health, do everything right. And then sometimes life happens, right? A disease can come out of nowhere. Obviously, it's less likely if you're living a healthy lifestyle. But we know that things can impact your journey, especially as you age.

So I want to acknowledge that, you know, we're not under some false illusion that these items that we're doing here are going to have our parents live to 100.000. 50 years old or never encounter any form of disease. It's rather the opposite. It's that we're actually doing these things to support and help them feel healthy now. And the bonuses that a lot of these things are based on the evidence that's out there. Many of the things that the experts talk about when I interview them here on this podcast that we know would give them a better shot in increasing their health span and their lifespan. So with that all being said, let's jump into the first.

first one, which piggybacks off of what you were saying, Kea, which is starting off with things that are natural for your parents. And you talked about our dad. You know, our dad grew up pretty active, but he also was an executive at a health company and spending a lot of time sitting in front of, you know, the computer and sitting down in meetings. Yes, he was a former cricket player. Shout out to our dad, Kumar. And now through getting them to move. to California, which has been a huge bonus. We'll talk about that more in a second. He's getting in 15 to 20,000 steps a day, but for our mom, movement is a lot newer of a component for her. And yes, she does like exploring and experimenting in the kitchen with recipes, but I would say this aspect

of movement was a big area that we know that we needed to focus on with our mom. mom. So I'm going to actually pass it over to Herschel, who's going to talk about some of the things that we did with her on increasing her movement and increasing her overall activity. Okay, let's talk about something we all deal with at some point in time. Bad hair days. But what if those bad hair days and even thinning hair could actually be a thing of the past? I'm going to be super real with you right now. Thinning hair is on my mind. It's just a fact of life as many people get older, including myself. And I'm doing my best to prevent hair thinning and support my own. overall hair help. That's exactly what the I Restore Elite is designed for. It's clinically proven

to help regrow hair using 300 lasers and 200 LEDs that deliver red light therapy directly into your scalp. And here's the cool part. It's super easy to use. You can pop it on when you're catching up with your favorite show, reading your favorite book at night, or just even relaxing. It's lightweight, it's hands-free, and it's super comfortable. It's the kind of self-care routine your hair has been waiting for. And by the way, this isn't magic. It's science. The I Restore Elite uses advanced lumetech, red light therapy, and triple wavelength technology to reactivate dormant follicles and give you fuller, healthier hair. In fact, in a four-month double-blind clinical study, nearly all participants saw an increase in hair growth. And here's the

best part. You can try the I Restore Elite completely risk-free. They offer a 12-month money-back guarantee, so if you don't see the results you want, you'll get a full refund. No awkward questions, your money back or results you're happy with. Give yourself the gift of hair confidence. For limited time, my listeners get a huge discount, huge discount on the I Restore Elite when you use the code Drew, D-H-R-U at I-R-R-R-R-T-O-R-T-O-R-C-T-O-R-E. That's the letter I, R-E-S-T-O-R-E, I-R-R-R-U for a huge exclusive discount. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. is super frustrating. You don't have to fight it alone thanks to I Restore. All right, I want to tell you a quick story, but first, you know I'm a huge fan of doing the inner work, especially when it

comes to our relationships. So here's the story. Early in my relationship, my wife and I went to go to a couple's therapist, not because something was wrong, but we wanted to build a strong foundation. Seeing a therapist helped us have real conversations about all the important things, money, intimacy, family, our future, and it made a heck of a difference. But honestly, finally the right therapist back then wasn't always easy. Between searching, scheduling, and figuring out insurance, it was a part-time job looking for one. That's why I'm a huge fan of Rula.

Rula makes high-quality mental health care simple and affordable. They take most major insurance plans, and the average copay is just around $15 a session, sometimes even zero. You can match with a licensed therapist and start as soon as the next. day. Every provider is carefully vetted so you know you're actually getting quality care. Whether you're looking for a couple's therapy, which I'm a huge fan of, individual therapy, I'm also a huge fan of that or medication management. Rula's got you covered. Thousands have already trusted Rula to support their journey toward improve mental health

and overall well-being. So if you want to do the same, head over to rula.com slash true. That's RulA.com slash true to get started today. After you sign up, they'll ask you where you heard about them, please support the show and tell them we sent you. That's rula.com slash dhru and take the first step towards better mental health today. You deserve quality care from someone who cares. Yeah. So I think it's really important to know that, you know, as as Drew mentioned, it took a little bit more effort to get our mom into movement and eventually now she's doing, you know, strength training. And I think kind of where it started was that she started to join my dad on walks with members of our community. And that felt really exciting for her because

she was meeting other people and neighbors and they were, you know, planning activities out of that movement that was there. One of the main things that really we wanted to focus on for her was strength training. And that's because for most of her life, she didn't really have movement. So, you know, even when we saw her sort of walking up the steps, we could tell that maybe the leg strength wasn't quite there and she was holding onto the side of the rails a little bit more and maybe having a difficult time if it was, you know, getting closer to the top of the steps.

So I think one of the first points was that she, we knew, was going to be resisting going to a gym. That felt just very, very scary for her. And she almost imagined that anybody who went to a gym just automatically was already in shape and could lift, you know, all sorts of heavy weights and just felt like that would never, ever be her. And so I had to kind of walk with her and say, okay, you know, this, we're going to kind of take you there. I'll go with you and we'll find someone that can work specifically with someone in your situation, a senior that maybe hasn't had movement in their life, that maybe needs a little bit of work on balance, mobility and building. up a little bit of strength. And I had to go in there with her and we, you know, talk to some of the trainers there and ask specifically about who would be best for her situation. But even that very

first day where she kind of went in for a trial with one of her trainers, she was very scared. And I had to stand, you know, there. And I told her, I'll be there with you. I'll just kind of stand in there while they're training you. And it was a great experience for her because she went in there and realized, okay, they weren't going to automatically make her bench press, you know, the first day. I think that's what she had in her mind is that that's what it was going to look like. They worked on small things. And as she had that first session and we came out of there, you know, she felt very proud that she first of all even walked in and secondly, even did some, you know, light exercises. And I had to really praise her and acknowledge her for, you know, her strength and going in

there. And then it kind of built up from there. And it's like the more sessions that she had, she actually, you know, was more confident in what she was doing. She also developed a great relationship with her trainer, which of course helped and they kind of built community in that sense. But we knew that it had to be someone outside of the family that was going to be helping her with this because when she saw, whether it was Neil, my husband working out with, you know, working out or myself working out, she just felt like I could never do those things. And when we would try to, you know, go through some exercises with her, you know, there's, of course, a bit of, you know, conditioning that comes along with it, which is that she might be able to tell us that like,

no, I don't want to push harder. And then, you know, we might feel obliged to let her go ahead and go light. But with the trainer, that person knows just the right amount to, like, push her and go beyond what she, you know, feels like she can do just a little bit more so that she feels more confident in, you know, maybe building up weight or maybe doing some exercises that help build her mobility. So I'd say finding the right trainer that has experience with seniors, somebody that can push in a safe way and just understands the person's background is the key to doing this. But, you know, again, when they're starting out, it's really important to just kind of hold

a space for them and say, I know this might be scary for you, but I can help you through this. What was the mindset piece that even got our mom in the first place to be open to it? Because years ago, I would have thought, man, I'm not even sure if I can get mom excited about wanting to even attempt to try strength training. What do you guys feel like was the click for her? Was it moving to California and just being around it and seeing Herschel U. strength train and even your kids are working with the trainer occasionally here and there. You know, was it something else?

Like, what happened to it? Was it the fear? I know one time she fell. Was she motivated by fear? Do you guys have any thoughts on that? I think it's a combination of things. I think it's one, her seeing other, you know, the rest of us do strength training. But I would even say that that was, there was still a buildup of fear around that because

I think she thought, well, I'll never, I'll never be able to do those things. But I think one of the key things that's really coming up for her is that she's seeing, seeing a lot of women her age, experiencing things where maybe they're not able to, for example, go on a hike, or maybe they're having a lot of knee pain or even some of the people in the community are having some falls. And we really had to have a talk with her and say, you know, listen, we don't want that to be you. And I know you don't want that to be you. So we have to start making sure that, you know, you build up your strength and keep up your mobility. so that you're still able to do all the things that you love and go out there and play with the grandkids or, you know, hang out with dad or get to go to all the places that you want to go to, including traveling.

And I think that was a key part of what really got her to focus on, you know, adding strength training into her life. You know, that kind of teases up for the second item on our list of these seven things that we've focused on. And some are a little bit more focused on maybe our dad, some might be a little bit more focused. on our mom, you'll see the blend between them. But this is one that played a huge role with both of them. And that's the idea of changing their environment. And there's a lot of layers to this, right? So in the newsletter that we put out there, we shared how we were able to convince our parents to move down to Southern California. And for timing purposes, it actually was the most perfect timing in the world. It happened right before the pandemic started. And just coincidental. And just coincidental.

And they, you know, we spent the last, prior to them moving out here, you know, we lived in the state of Delaware on the East Coast for, you know, 25 plus years. And the winters were brutal. They're cold and their gray skies. And the neighborhood that we lived in, just the community, it wasn't necessarily filled with a ton of active people and no shade on my parents, friends and community out there. But between the weather and just community, it just wasn't a very active area. I've talked a lot about social isolation and loneliness and the loneliness epidemic. And if you've seen any of those stats or you've heard me interview people on this podcast about it, you know that isolation is a major challenge for people as they age, the senior community,

people who are getting older. In America in particular, we just tend to live in this way that a lot of people can get more. isolated. They're no longer in their workforce. Their kids move far away. Their friends pass on. They're limited to, you know, the amount of people that they're interacting with on a daily basis. We were able to convince our parents to move out here. And I want to acknowledge not everybody wants their parents to live right next to them. And not all parents want to live nearby their kids, right? I get it. Our family might be a little bit of a different situation. We'll chat about that more. But even if your parents live further away, there's a huge benefit

to helping them think about how to change their environment. You know, your environment is one of the largest drivers of behavior. We know this through the work of people like BJ Fogg at Stanford University. And if your environment is one that is reinforcing unhealthy habits and isolation, that's only going to continue. So even if your parents don't live nearby you, thinking about how you can support their environment, and that could be as simple as encouraging them to be a part of a local, YMCA, where they're more likely to be meeting people who are now still in their age group and

demographic, but are way more interested in being active through things like pickleball or swimming or whatever it is, even strength training. They have tons of great coaches at different YMCA's that are out there. When your environment promotes dis-ease and bad habits, you get more of that and you get a spiral down. When your environment is different, all of a sudden now, you're not. You your brain is like, this is normal. When our parents moved out to California, and they saw so many more people in my sister's community. Shout out to Herschel and Neil for having them there. Walking and active and doing different things and being nearby my siblings down there and seeing them work out. All of a sudden, you start to think like, this is normal. This is normal so I can attempt it to.

And I could not encourage that more highly. Kea, do you want to add anything on the idea of changing your parents' environment for the folks that are listening? Totally. We know what is the saying, Drew, you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. Is that right? Yep. Yep. I mean, this is true for anyone at any age. I think that we think a lot about, for example, if you have kids or your kids are older, you thought a lot about who they spend time with. This also applies to our parents. And we wanted our parents to be surrounded by people who had a youthful spirit at any age or even to be surrounded by us. And we have noticed that it is so much easier for anyone to make positive, healthy choices

if that is what they are surrounded with. Even for me, if I am in a place where people are eating a particular way, I'm going to be influenced by that. And for our parents living with Herschel and Neil has been such a blessing because they prioritize their health. What they keep in their kitchen is healthy. They have a beautiful gym in their garage. It's sunny outside. There's people who want to walk. And so this is so important for anybody, not just your parents.

It's important for you. It's important for your kids. The people who they spend their time with and the environment that they're in. Yeah. And I think a huge part of that too is that our parents got lucky moving into the neighborhood that Herschel's in and Neil because there was. also other seniors that were their age that were already open to meeting and wanting to connect. And maybe some of them lived with their kids and some of them live nearby their kids and

were playing an active role in their in their kids' lives. And that sort of organically turned into our dad is so great at this. And this is definitely where I get it from. Our dad is so great at just being like, oh, let's all sort of like form like a walking group and let's just do it. You know, they weren't waiting for anybody, but not every parent is sort of as good as sort of creating community. So sometimes that could be just supporting our parents and even seeing if we can find a community that they could be a part of that that's out there. And I feel like there's more and more people that are there.

And it doesn't always have to even be people their own age. You know, a lot of parents that were active previously, they might be down to hang. I have a local pickleball group that meets up every so often here in Santa Monica. there's people of all sorts of ages that are there. The younger people love being with the older people and the older people love being with the younger people because it keeps them young. So taking an audit of your parents' community and environment

and seeing if you could support them into stepping into one, even in a tiny way that encourages a little bit more healthy or active behavior is a huge win. I love the advice, Drew, that you're always quoting. I believe it's from your friend Lewis Howes where he says, go where people grow. I love that because if you are trying to think through, okay, how do I get my parents to meet people

who can help them or encourage healthy habits or positive changes, it's really looking for where do people who want to grow spend time? Pickleball is a great place. Also, racket sports are amazing because they actually have studies that show that racket sports can help you extend your lifespan. You know, there's a combination of the cardio. the hand-eye coordination, the mental energy, the community aspect. So that's a really good one.

Going to, you know, local yoga studio or the health food store. There's so many places that, you know, they might not be within 10 minutes, but maybe they're 15 minutes, 20 minutes away that your parents could start to meet people like that. Yeah, and that actually goes right into number three on our list of seven things we did to support our parents, you know, as they age into their more senior years and supporting healthy habits. Number three was making meaningful connections. And actually, one of the ones that KAU didn't mention, which is the first in this list, which I'd love to hand over to Herschel, is this idea of changing your environment through also connecting with community.

And one of the areas that's not as well talked about is the idea of volunteering. Herschel, can you talk a little bit about that? So the background on that is that, you know, when our parents moved out here, obviously my dad was retired. my mom is retired as well. You know, there's a sense of just being retired and sort of feeling like, okay, what do I do now? What is my purpose? And, you know, some people have ideas on what that would look like. But there's also a huge identity shift that comes after having worked for so many years and now

suddenly having this time and feeling like, am I even valuable in some way or am I making an impact? And volunteering is a huge part of what I feel has been. brought my parents a sense of community. My dad's always sort of been a volunteer in different ways, whether it was a temple or different, you know, activities on the East Coast. But I think coming out here, we needed to get him involved in some different things. And one of the main things that he found was that the San Diego Senior Sheriff's Program has volunteer seniors who basically kind of, you know, sort of do checks on, you know, other elderly people in the area or like kind of check out neighborhoods.

and that was a huge program that I just feel like has brought so much sense of purpose in his life. He gets to meet other people that he wouldn't normally, you know, be exposed to in our neighborhood or and other friends. And they get to talk about sort of their lives together and also help other seniors, which I think really makes him feel proud of helping them. And kind of getting to walk, walking and like kind of patrolling, you know, the shopping centers around this area. So he's getting his steps in that. way and sort of just talking to everybody, but also even things like the food bank. This has been a big one for him as well, especially because he's had an opportunity to kind of take my kids with him and kind of help out in the community. So not only is he, you know, meeting other people

there, but he's going to, you know, getting a chance to share his experiences can kind of connect with the kids as well out there. So I would say that if there's, you know, any opportunities in your area where your parents can kind of be a part of different things and they can find whatever works for them. I know our local library has the opportunity for seniors to volunteer as well, but whatever makes them happy and whatever kind of brings light into their life is really a key part of making them feel like they're still valued regardless of being retired. Parents as they get older, I see this quite often now. The parents that are more aware, they also are very worried about being a burden on their kids and their kids' life. They're like,

I don't want to be a burden and maybe they're not as close to their kids that are there. And I think this is such an important topic because you have to actively, you know, if you care about your parents, right, if you want to help them thrive into their later years, you've got to make sure that they have a sense of belonging and feel like they're included because if they feel like they're a burden, they naturally start to withdraw. And I think there's a great example and some stories you have around this around grandkids. So I'm going to hand it over to Kea to talk a little bit about this. A huge part of our parents moving to Southern California was also for us to have them closer to their grandkids.

And they want to be closer to their grandkids. And I'll never forget a call. One day my dad called me and we were just chatting and he said, you know, the feeling that I get when I see my grandkids and he named all four of them soon to be five. The feeling that I get when I see them when they walk through the door, when they run to my arms, when they hug me, it just makes me so happy. It makes me so joyful. And, you know, kids have a way of doing that. And kids also need their grandparents, if that is possible. I know that it's not always possible.

But there's actually some pretty cool research that I've recently seen that grandkids who get to spend time with their grandparents have just a greater sense of belonging themselves and joy and community. And they get to learn so much from the elders of the community. And I think that has. having my parents help me with my kids. You know, I was so worried in the beginning that I thought they're getting older. They won't be able to keep up with my four-year-old and my one-year-old. But actually, it's very invigorating for them. And it also made me check how I talk about them aging, which I know

is a little bit of a sidebar, but I do want to touch on this because I think it's important. I think the way that we talk to our parents, if we point out, hey, you're getting older or the way that we talk about them to others is very important because that becomes the narrative that they will tell themselves or the stories that they tell themselves. And so I also had to check myself and say, you know what, they're not too old to keep up with the grandkids. Actually, they can keep up with them. They can take them for walks. My mom helps me make their food sometimes. And it's really a lovely thing to just see this multi-generational home come together and see the ways in which my kids are benefited by my parents and the way that my parents are benefited by my kids. It's,

it's really such a beautiful thing. Okay, I love that because also the thing that I've seen is that, you know, anybody who now has kids and then has seen their parents, there's a softening, on average, you know, every family is different. There's a softening that happens with parents when they become grandparents. And now all of a sudden, they're open to new ideas. They're playful in a different way. A lot of families feel. especially immigrant families feel like, wow, I've never seen my parents so loving when I was a kid. You weren't like, you know, so touchy-feely or loving in that way. And that's happened throughout time.

You know, grandkids soften grandparents. But there's this other component. Grandkids, and I was having a conversation with my father-in-law the other day, grandkids are a reminder to parents of why they actually want to be healthy and continue to prioritize health. not just so that they can be around. Obviously, that's the big one, but that they can be an example. Like, how inspiring is it as a grandkid to know that your grandparent, even if you don't fully understand it? You know, okay, your daughter just turned four years old. But you have memories as you continue to get older of your parents being active or your

grandmother going to the gym or working out with the trainer. And so you want to be that example because at the end of the day, every generation wants to put the next generation underneath them into a position to experience something in life that maybe they didn't get a chance to experience for themselves. And part of that is being an example. And so if my parents, you know, didn't necessarily grow up in a home with super active and prioritizing health necessarily parents or grandparents, if they have that opportunity to do that, that is a motivator for them. And you see the kids walking around with those memories and feeling very excited that they have grandparents

that are doing things like that. Now, with that being said, we're going to get into some of the more practical aspects of things that we focused on in our family to help our parents step into a healthier aging process at the age of 71 for my mom, 76 for my dad. And this next one is a practical thing that you've heard so many people talk about on this podcast, but we're going to contextualize

it for our parents, which is prioritizing protein. So let me give a little bit of a backstory. So we all, including our parents and me and my siblings here, Herschel and Kea, we grew up vegetarian. It was a big part of our culture and religion and no shades to any vegetarians that are out there or people that are still vegetarian or vegan. There is a healthy way to eat a vegetarian diet, but we were not necessarily optimized vegetarians. Our diet was primarily filled growing up and a lot of our parents' diet up until maybe 10 years ago, 13 years ago, it was primarily filled with refined and simple carbohydrates, right?

It was a standard sort of Americanized Indian vegetarian diet. Once our parents got educated about how critical protein was for building muscle, And as past guests have talked about, like Dr. Gabriel Lyon, muscle is the organ of longevity. It's so protective in so many aspects. And it acts as also metabolic and glucose sink where it uses up a lot of these things that are floating around in our body like free flowing glucose and puts it to use. Once they started to understand that, they started getting serious about how their protein consumption showed up in their life. And a huge part of that to give even a little bit more of a backstory. is that a lot of it also started with our mom.

I think it was almost now 15 years ago. My parents were visiting me and my sister. We lived in Los Angeles at the time, Kea, and she came and told me one day after we had been all hanging out privately that she said, I want to tell you that I noticed a lump on my breast a couple weeks ago. I went into the doctors and I'm going, back and they're going to be doing a biopsy, but it looks like it's probably like an early

stage cancer. You know, I'm not ready to tell everybody right now, but I'm just telling you because I don't know how to navigate this, but also too, I probably need a little bit of support on this journey. Ultimately, my mom did tell, of course, everybody and my sisters too. And together, we worked and put together a plan and put a team around her. Knock on wood, fast forward. You know, my mom has been cancer free for a long time. It was caught early and she made a lot of changes and got in some Western allopathic interventions very early on. You know, she had to have surgery. Luckily, because it was so early, she didn't have to go down the chemotherapy route.

And it all ended up working out. But a huge part of that team, shout out to Dr. Elizabeth Boehm, who's been a past podcast guest and a friend of ours, she was one of the doctors. She was the main sort of functional medicine doctor, also a cancer survivor herself. And she told my mom that, you know, a big part of this in your journey of becoming cancer-free, hopefully knock on wood that it can happen, but also staying healthy as you age, is we just need to move away from how much of your diet

is centered around these refined and simple carbohydrates. And if you're vegetarian, it's just a lot harder to do. You just have to eat so many more calories to get that level of protein. And that has its own challenges in terms of maintaining healthy weight. So Liz was really the first person to really help my mom understand that,

like, I understand that it's probably a religious thing for you, but if you're open to it, I'd love you to start including some animal protein. And my mom was open at that point in time. All three of her kids had started including in some animal protein in their diet. And we're having great, you know, experiences. And so my mom really took this leap. And I want to applaud her and acknowledge her because the honest truth is like changing your diet at that age is probably harder than changing your religion.

It probably would have been easier to get my mom to convert from being Hindu to some other religion that's out there than it would be to change your diet. but she was motivated and she understood the reason that it was important to prioritizing animal protein. And again, not that people who are listening, I'm sure it's a very small population, but people who are listening whose parents might be vegetarian, that are also South Asian or might have more restrictive diets, it's not that you have to do it. But prioritizing protein was a huge part of getting our parents to overall clean up their diet, not overly rely on refined and simple carbohydrates and improve all sorts of things that they had a higher risk factor for back then, like Alzheimer's or diabetes or, you know, whatever else was there.

So shout out to my mom. That was a huge leap for her. And today, now our parents see a lot more protein that are out there, not beef, because that's not part of the Hindu religion and background. But prioritizing protein has been a huge part of that. So chiming in on that because a huge piece of this too, as parents start to include more protein is that we have to contextualize it and find recipes that are familiar and that feel exciting to them. So Herschel, do you want to chime in on that? You know, our parents come from an Indian background. They're used to these, you know, Indian flavors that are there.

How did you help them contextualize and get more protein in their diet? And what are some examples of recipes that made it easier for them to do this on a regular basis? Yeah. So this is actually one that I feel like I can really relate to them with. You know, there's a huge difference between me and my husband, Neil. Neil can just have, you know, just grilled chicken without any flavoring. And he could put it with a salad or whatever and just eat it. And he gets his protein very easily.

As you just mentioned, you know, we didn't always grow up eating that kind of stuff. So that's a lot harder for me. And so that's something that mom and dad and I have that's similar. And so we need to kind of dress it up a bit because we're not used to having it. And part of that for mom and dad especially included, you know, adding in some of the spices and flavors that they were used to, but then just kind of putting it in a different context and having it, let's say, for example, you know, like a salmon that had like a teak masala, right? So all the spices that they were normally used to having, the flavors that they were used to having kind of brings the comfort. of like everything that they're used to, but adding in the salmon for the protein. Or, you know, we experimented with like different types of like curries that we would normally have that, you know,

in the past would be just vegetarian, but just adding in the chicken into them. And that kind of like, hid the protein in there, made it still flavorful and still brings the comfort of like, I'm not completely changing, you know, something that just feels like home into a whole other dinner or lunch that I just, you know, feel like, okay, I'm just eating for the sake of eating. So we try to experiment with different recipes and bring in different spices. Just the only replacement is that, you know, we change out the protein and so that we can get in the extra, you know, grams that we need per day. And keep the spices that they love and spend a little extra effort and energy to make sure

that it feels exciting and familiar, which, again, anybody can relate to if your parents come from any, you know, particular cultural background in the world where, you know, they like those foods. Those foods feel like home to them, as Herschel mentioned. And we got to just adapt them appropriately so that they don't feel like food is bland and that why should I even try in the first place. Kea, anything else you want to add to that? I just also want to say if there's anyone out there whose parents are plant-based and there's no changing that, that that is totally okay. There is a way to be an optimized vegan or vegetarian.

And Dr. David Ludwig out of Harvard, he's a really brilliant guy, but he has a paper on how the South Asian diet can be detrimental in some ways because it's been very focused on refined and simple carbohydrates and just making the switch from replacing like a lot of the rice or the breads with things like vegetables or beans or lentils or tofu or tempe, just reshifting the plate and the percentages of the things on the plate can be hugely impactful. So taking out the rice and adding more of the lentils and the veggies or taking out the rotas. Or taking out the rotas. or the breads and replacing that with those proteins, even if they're plant-based sources of protein, can be really, really beneficial because this is a, you know, in the South Asian community,

things like heart disease is very, very high because of the amount of insulin resistance and other things that happen in that culture. I'm just speaking about our background, but this can be the case in many different cultures. So it doesn't have to be that they have to start eating meat if they really don't want to. It's just kind of shifting their plate. Well said. All right. Let's get into number five. This is a little bit more technical, but a huge part of aging well and avoiding things like dementia and poor metabolic health. And that is addressing sleep apnea. So in particular, my dad has been a snorer for most of his adult life. And my parents still made it work. Shout out to my mom. And for years, we never really thought snoring was anything other than just like kind of a funny thing. And we always would know that our dad would get a little bit tired in the evening and sometimes even start nodding off a little bit. It wasn't until I got into the world of health and

wellness, functional medicine, and some of the doctors that I got a chance to get to know, especially people like Mark Berhanna, the dentist, who's been a guest from this podcast, we start to understand that snoring is really choking. It's a form of choking that's there. And if you're snoring at night, you're not getting enough oxygen, most likely to your body and especially your brain. And that if you are snoring, you should consider getting a sleep study. Because if there's a major issue, that issue has to be addressed. So when I finally really understood that, I remember bringing up to my dad.

I can't remember exactly what year it was, but it was right before they moved out to California. So it must have been 2016-ish, 2015-ish, somewhere around there. And I said, Dad, you know, I really think you should get a sleep study because I think you have sleep apnea. And you might need a CPAP or some sort of other intervention to help you with that. And my dad was open-minded. But again, anytime you've lived with something you're in time, life, you never really think that something could make such a huge difference. So shout out to my dad to being open-minded. He ended up chatting with his doctor and he ended up getting a sleep study. And they

found out that multiple times at night, he was not breathing or he stopped breathing. And that's obviously dangerous. And your body gas for air. And it's a reflex that your brain has to make sure that it's getting enough oxygen. And then they recommended a CPAP. And then he ended up. And then he ended up starting on his CPAP. Again, I don't remember exactly what year it was. And to say that it was life-changing is truly an understatement. I don't know if Herschel and K.I., you guys have any other anecdotes that were there. But I remember our dad really truly feeling for the first time in such a long time

that he would have a much deeper quality of sleep. And the biggest component, especially when they moved out to California that I noticed, is that he didn't get tired in the evening. wasn't dozing off at random moments, which used to be funny when we were growing up, but is actually a sign that his body is just starved for sleep and is not getting enough high quality sleep and of high quality oxygen that was there. So there's so much data that's out there that if you have sleep apnea, it increases your risk of Alzheimer's and dementia, it increases your risk of diabetes, it increases your risk for heart disease because when your brain and your body cannot

function because of lack of oxygen, everything else starts to go downhill from there. Anything you guys want to add about that with sleep apnea? Yeah, I was I was going to say, I mean, it was it was life changing for dad for sure, but I would also say it was life changing for mom. I mean, she. Well, said. Yeah, you know, she spent so many years with just having him snore and thought that, you know, there wasn't really anything that you could do about this. And I'm sure it impacted her sleep. So definitely everyone slept a lot better once that was addressed. Yeah. And there's another thing that's out there too that also ties into Alzheimer's dementia. We've written about it a bunch on our try this newsletter. And I'll have Kea talk about it a little bit, but that's addressing

hearing loss. Kea, you want to chime in about that? Yeah, it's actually really wild, but studies show that those who need a hearing aid who don't use one actually have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's and dementia. And a big part of why scientists think that is is that when you cannot hear the people around you, you communicate less, you participate in community less. And we know that community is huge for prevention of dementia, Alzheimer's, and other brain-related disorders. So our dad now uses a hearing aid, but I will share one quick anecdote, which I don't think that he'll mind me sharing, is that when you use a hearing aid, you have to actively clean your ears out because you can develop wax over time. And there was a period of time where

my dad could not hear very well at all. And I noticed, because he is a very extroverted person, I noticed that when this was going on, he was participating in conversation way less. And it was actually taking a hit on him just mentally and personally. He just kind of seemed quiet and distant. He wasn't as talkative as he normally is. And I really thought at that moment, Wow, I can see how this can actually lead to somebody developing dementia and Alzheimer's later because they just become more and more withdrawn when they can't hear people. So if you suspect that your parents need a hearing aid, I highly recommend talking to somebody about that, getting them tested, getting them the right hearing aid because it can make such a big impact on their daily community life. That's so well said. And it's scary. You know, for a lot of people that are at that place, where they might be, you know, six years old

and they think of themselves as very young and they are young. The idea, especially if they have early hearing loss, the idea that they need a hearing aid feels like, oh my gosh, like that's such a thing for older people and I'm going to be embarrassed or other stuff. We had a, I had another family member that was in this position who had actually suffered for a long time with hearing loss in one ear due to sort of a loud music event situation that she was in.

And she was so resistant. And when I showed her that the Alzheimer's Society, both here in America and in the UK, says that this is one of the main things that is so correlated to Alzheimer's and dementia and that addressing it often, you know, it's especially if you have insurance, you know, your insurance is going to pay for, you know, a high quality hearing aid, which can be a little bit of expensive. That was the motivating factor. In addition to everything that Kea was saying about withdrawing, the other idea is that when your brain can't hear well, it has to work. work a lot harder. So the thought process is that maybe that's one of the reasons why people who have hearing loss have an increased risk of Alzheimer's and dementia is that their brain has to work on overtime and is expending all this additional energy. But that was the motivating factor for her being like, okay, as much as I feel embarrassed to have this or people seeing this or people

asking me questions about it or going through that process, like I want to minimize that risk. So fine, I'll do it. And she's so happy that she did it. she can hear better. She's more connected to the folks that are around her. And she feels better knowing that at least she's minimized that particular risk. That's there. All right. This is a light one that's there.

Number six, and we're almost done here with number six and number seven on today's podcast where we're talking about the seven things we're doing to keep our parents healthy as they get older. The mindset things, the practical things, everything in between. Number six is a simple one. And it's this idea of getting our parents to go back to our roots, which is walking after meals. Me and my siblings, my two sisters here, Herschel and K. We have distinct memories of growing up, especially when our grandparents would visit and stay with us. We have distinct memories of having dinner with them in particular, because we were all busy at school during the day, coming home, us all having dinner together.

and our grandparents saying, okay, chalo, which basically means let's go. Let's go for a walk together. And we would go and walk around the neighborhood. And, you know, as you get older, you're like, oh, my gosh, this is embarrassing. I'm walking around the neighborhood. My friends are seeing me with like,

not only am I there with like my parents. I'm there with my grandparents and that sort of thing. But man, my grandparents really knew something. And it was kind of baked into our culture, the idea that, hey, after you eat, you go walk for a little bit. And obviously the science is caught up. They didn't know the science back then.

They just knew that they felt better. And it was something that their parents did and their grandparents did. And it was a common part of our tradition. And now that our parents are in year-round great weather, you know, thank you, Southern California. And they're also regularly around grandkids and also their kids too. It's something that we've brought back, which is getting them back into the habit of eating and then taking a little quick walk. A short walk can be like 10 minutes taking a little loop around the neighborhood that Herschel lives in and them seeing the difference.

Even on something like my dad loved to experiment with his glucose monitor, he would eat a little bit, have the same foods that he had the other day that kind of, you know, kept a more prolonged spike in his blood glucose. And he'd eat that same meal and he'd go for a quick walk and he saw his blood sugar stabilize. And he got excited about that idea. And so it even more made him feel like, oh, you know, that old adage is true. Your grandparents were always right with their health advice. Anything else you guys want to add about the idea of walking behind meals? I would also say that seeing how much dad and mom have prioritized walking has been really inspirational for me and my family too, meaning my kids and my husband. And we now, because of them, I would say, make a very active effort to go on family walks every day and even our neighbors comment.

It's so nice to see a family, all four of you and the dogs together walking every day. You don't see that anymore. And I think that goes back to what you were saying, Drew, that this is something that we learned to do with our grandparents from a long time ago. And it's such a nice way to not only support your blood sugar, but to wind down at night, actually watching the sunset. at night can help with your circadian rhythm. Seeing the sunrise in the morning can help with that too. There's just so many benefits. The benefits of walking are just endless and being in nature. So I think that that is something that dad has really championed in our family. Yeah. Well said. I would even add to that that it's also an extra way to kind of get in community time because, you know,

when mom and dad go for a walk after dinner, a lot of their friends know that this is something that they do each day and they sort of, you know, come out of their house looking for a chance to greet them and, and say hello or say, hey, can we join you as well? So, um, the addition of extra community time always a bonus. I love that. And speaking of bonuses, this is number seven using the sauna and why we made this as a bonus, even though there's strong evidence around it. You don't have to go out and get a sauna right away. Or if your parents are part of a YMCA, you know, they typically have like a sauna or your local gym. They might have a sauna that's there. But we found that it was a huge bonus and that our dad in particular really took to it. So if you've heard any of our episodes discussing with

experts on hot and cold therapy like Dr. Susanna Soberg, you know that there's so much data, especially out of the Nordic countries, around how regular sauna use can improve and reduce the risk of all-cause mortality. That means that every single thing that, people die from regular use of sauna seems to improve and reduce that risk of anything you can die from Alzheimer's metabolic diseases like diabetes cancers heart disease etc the backstory is that my sister herschal and my brother-in-law neil dr neil patel they invested in a sauna yes it's definitely a splurge but it's become a shared ritual for recovery and connection as i mentioned my dad is one of the biggest fans about it and when i go to visit them my dad i'll regularly see and sometimes

I'll jump in and Kea will jump in or our brother-in-law Anthony will jump in. We'll take a little sauna break together, 20 minutes at 180 degrees. Our mom uses it sometimes after her training sessions, which has been great, but, you know, being honest, she's still getting used to it a little bit. But Herschel, you were a big driver of this. You and Neil were a big driver of sauna and seeing all the data about it, increasing these heat chalk proteins and being very similar to like some of the effects that you get after exercising. Any anecdotes that you want to add about how the family has been using sauna has taken to it? Yeah, I would definitely say, I mean, obviously, you just mentioned all of the health benefits of it, but I, you know, something that's been really special to me is that, you know,

all of us are leading very, very busy lives. And mom and dad are so busy in their community and they're enjoying what they do. I could be busy with work or the kids. But one special thing is that when you're in the Sana, none of us have our phones there, and it's just an opportunity for us to kind of slow down. And so there are times where I see my dad in the sauna, and maybe I wasn't necessarily planning on, you know, doing this on that day. But I'll take that opportunity as a reminder to kind of slow down and say, let me just go in and have some time with him that's, you know, device free, free of the world and just kind of connect with him. So we get that special opportunity to kind of connect. and I think about that a lot, especially because, you know, our parents, obviously, you know, they're the age that they are. There's going to be a day where I don't get all the blessings of having the opportunity to see them here in this physical world.

And I just really want to soak up whatever time I can have with them and hear about, you know, their life and all the things that they feel like were special to them, all the memories they have, what's important, what are they feeling? what are some things that they're navigating through. And sauna is really an opportunity to do just that. And just say, you know, hey, you're important to me and I want to hear from you. And, you know, just connect in a special way. And of course, the bonuses is that they're getting health benefits and I'm getting health benefits from it as well. Well, audience, that was our list of seven things we're doing to help keep our parents healthy

as they get older. And one thing we didn't talk about that's just worthwhile to just give a little bit of attention to, our family is super close. That didn't happen overnight. And it honestly probably didn't even start with focusing on health.

This has been years of us all investing and putting in the work and doing a lot of the emotional work that has created this deep sense of connection. Some of it is natural and we're the beneficiaries of a lot of the work that our grandparents did to keep us close and instill this idea of what family really looks

like to my dad especially, who then brought it into my mom's life and raised a family together where our siblings have always felt very close. And our older sister Herschel, who's on the line here, took such great care of us as kids. So a lot of this is years and years and years in the making. And the thing that I really want to say is foundationally, me and my siblings truly feel we won the lottery with our parents. And the fact is that our parents maybe just, I don't know, all the different blessings or God's magic that went into it, they were open to a lot of these things. But we also put in the work over the years that could have been, you know, doing things like going to like Eckhart Tolle lectures or going to like Byron Katie or Tony Robbins or doing different workshops together. to have a sense of trust with each other.

So I'm both highlighting that, not to tut our own horn, but to say that we're not expecting that every family can magically fall into this situation. And we also don't want to just put out of front like this just all happened. No, it was years and years and years of work, but it was so worth it.

Because not only do we feel like we won the lottery, but we literally changed our family tree into being a family that's so focused on being there to support each other and have each other live the best life that they could. And also, shout out to my parents because the truth is, you know, I came across this quote the other day. And I think it was Stephen Bartlett from Dyer, the CEO, had shared it in a post. And my wife found it, and she sent it to me. And the quote was from an author named Bo Ren.

And that quote said, my parents were tasked with the job of survival. And I would self-actualization. what a luxury it is to search for purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. So much of all the things that I get a chance to do, my sisters get a chance to do, is because our parents moved to this country as immigrants and busted their butt and we're working sometimes, you know, well into late night, my dad, especially moving here and having a job in finance, traveling a lot, so that they could just provide for their family and sit their family up to a place

that they could have, the opportunities that they didn't get a chance to have from where they grew up. So I want to really acknowledge that my interest in health, personal development, my sister's interest in help, personal development, our ability to take risks and start businesses and do podcasts and other things came from the labor that my parents put in to actually set us up, provide us a great education, and allow us to that. And I think we all feel that and we feel the, not the responsibility of it, We feel the honor of that and we've been really dedicated to paying that back to our parents. So that's a huge part of our motivation of even wanting to go on this journey to continue to support our parents.

Even though there's days where, sure, we get into fights and little arguments just like every other family that's out there. We feel like our parents is not as open to a particular thought or idea or they have old habits that we feel might be getting into the way. It's not always roses, you know, through this journey. but the underlying motivation is that it really is like an acknowledgement of like man our parents work so hard and we feel so lucky that they did what they did and um you know we we owe that back to them so if part of that is we can continue to help them age well that that means so much to all of us Kea herschel do you want to add any additional concluding thoughts on top of that herschell do you want to go first then we'll pop it over to kea yeah i mean it's it's basically what you

you said, Drew, they really did an amazing job of taking care of us. And I feel great privilege in having the opportunity to show them love and care at this point in life and just really see what I could do to help them live out, you know, the rest of their beautiful life in the best way possible. Kaya? You guys both said it so beautifully. This feels like one of the most meaningful things that we will ever do is invest in our parents' health. And so it's such a privilege and an honor to be able to do this with both of you. And I hope that this conversation is inspiring to anyone out there who wants to get their parents to prioritize their health too. Thank you so much for being on this podcast and talking about this newsletter. When we first put it out,

as I mentioned in the intro, we got so many emails back from people with questions, comments, And mostly just a lot of love that we're willing to share this and talk about it. And if you missed this newsletter and you want to check it out, we have the link to it in the show notes. It's from our Try This Newsletter, which, by the way, you can sign up for for free. Every Friday, I work on it with my sisters. Shout out to them. Every Friday, we put out a newsletter where we talk about evidence-based things we're doing to take our life to the next level when it comes to health and things that you can actually try. That's where we call it, Try This.

So thank you for tuning in. Kea Herschel, I'm so honored to not only call you sisters, but also to get a chance to work with you on really fun projects. So thank you for being on the podcast today. Thank you. Thank you.