Elle Macpherson joined naturopath Bianca Wise, nutritionist Zoe Bingley-Pullin and beauty journalist Emily Algar for a conversation about living well for longer—and why the future of longevity may be much simpler than we think.
What does longevity look like?
For some, the word conjures images of expensive clinics, complicated testing, and the latest biohacking technology. For our founder Elle, it's something else entirely.
“Longevity isn't about living a long, miserable life. That is not an option for me.”
Elle believes longevity is about “the life in your years.”
How much energy you have to participate in them. How much joy. Love. Purpose. Curiosity. Connection.
And how the decisions you make today, support the person you'll become tomorrow.
Recently, at an intimate WelleCo event in Melbourne launching The Longevity Elixir, Elle was joined by naturopath and movement teacher Bianca Wise, nutritionist and author Zoe Bingley-Pullin and beauty journalist Emily Algar to explore what living well actually looks like.
Each woman came with different disciplines. Each came from a different generation. And each had different experiences. And yet their advice kept returning to similar foundations.
Longevity Doesn't Always Look Like Longevity
In Bianca Wise’s naturopathy practice, women rarely walk through the door asking “to improve their longevity”. Instead, they say:
- I'm exhausted.
- I need three coffees to get going.
- By 3pm, I'm craving sugar.
- I'm eating the same way, but my body is changing.
- I'm not recovering from exercise like I used to.
What they are describing, Bianca says, are often the everyday concerns sitting underneath the much bigger conversation about ageing well.
“They're using the words of longevity. They just don't know it.”
For Zoe Bingley-Pullin, this is where the distinction between lifespan and healthspan becomes important.
“The goal isn't simply to accumulate more years. It's to extend the number of those years spent feeling healthy, independent and capable.”
And that makes longevity relevant long before we consider ourselves ‘old.’
As Elle added,
“It's not too late, but it's also not too early to really support your body in simple ways.”
Start With The Nervous System
Ask Bianca for her longevity foundations and stress comes first. Then sleep. Then movement. Then community.
Her point wasn't that we need another four-item wellness checklist. It's that these systems continually interact. Stress can disrupt sleep. Poor sleep can affect how we feel and function the following day. Movement can support physical and mental wellbeing. Strong relationships can nourish us in ways no supplement can replicate.
For Bianca, supporting the nervous system therefore becomes foundational. It doesn't necessarily require an expensive intervention either. Her free protocol?
Breath.
A simple physiological sigh—two inhales through the nose followed by a long exhale through the mouth—can offer a moment to interrupt the pace of the day and reconnect with the body.
Move Because You're Alive
Exercise remains one of the most important tools we have for supporting health as we age, with Bianca advocating for both resistance and aerobic movement.
Elle offered another perspective on movement too.
While recently attending an immersion in Utah, she discovered the Freedom Movement Method taught by Jill and Jessica Emich of Shine Living Community.
It was freeform, primal, unscripted, with dancing, shaking, breath and more. And it was a long way from the sculpting workouts that defined Elle's relationship with fitness in her twenties.
“It was an expression of our femininity, it was an expression of ourselves rather than trying to be in the perfect class doing the perfect movement,” Elle said.
“I just fe(lt) so friggin' alive.”
Elle’s movement today is less about what her muscles look like and more about what her body allows her to feel and do. And sometimes the best exercise really can be putting on a song you love and moving because it feels good.
Protect The Beginning And End Of Your Day
For beauty journalist Emily Algar, one of the biggest shifts in her own wellbeing has been decidedly low-tech: It’s less screen time.
Despite living and working online, Emily protects her mornings from her phone and has become more intentional about being present with friends, family, and her husband.
“The way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives,” she reflected.
Elle had come to a similar conclusion. At night, she now tries to put herself “to bed like a child”: screens away, eye mask on, reflecting on what made her smile that day. And in the morning, she resists immediately reaching for her phone. Instead: warm water and lemon, prayer, meditation, time outside and morning light.
“These kinds of practices that take a very short amount of time have such a huge payback,” Elle said.
“And they don't cost anything.”
Eat For The Life You Want To Live
As a nutritionist, Zoe sees every meal as an opportunity.
She spoke to how there are roughly 21 meals in a week. Rather than seeking nutritional perfection, what if we simply looked at each one and asked:
What goodness could I add here?
Another vegetable. More protein. More plants. More variety. More colour. Better-quality ingredients.
For Zoe, supporting longevity through nutrition means understanding the individual rather than handing everybody the same overwhelming protocol.
If someone is exhausted and overwhelmed, giving them another enormous list of things they “should” do may simply set them up to feel as though they've failed again. The better approach can be meeting the body—and the person—where they are.
Consistency Beats Complexity
This became perhaps the clearest point of agreement across the panel. Wellness doesn't have to become a second job. We can assume most of us don’t want that.
Emily spoke about realistic habits. Zoe spoke about making nutrition achievable. Bianca returned to foundations. And Elle described moving away from the idea that doing more must automatically mean doing better.
This philosophy sits behind everything we do at WelleCo.
The Longevity Elixir™ was created after listening to our WelleCommunity and hearing growing questions about how to support their body both in the now, and in the years ahead.
Its targeted combination includes magnesium glycinate, creatine, vitamins D3 and K2, nicotinamide riboside (NR), resveratrol and other carefully selected nutrients designed to complement the foundational support of The Super Elixir™.
It's about thoughtful ingredients, considered combinations, and ultimately, making daily consistency easier.
Community As A Longevity Practice
After discussion around nutrition, movement, and sleep, another theme kept resurfacing between the four women: People.
Bianca pointed to research on the relationship between social connection and long-term wellbeing. Emily spoke about becoming more present in her relationships. And Elle reflected on her own revealing experience that day: arriving at the event having broken several of her own wellness “rules”:
She'd had coffee. She hadn't drunk enough water. She hadn't taken her greens. She hadn't worked out or spent enough time outside. And yet she had spent the day connecting deeply with people, including her team.
“And that fuels me,” she said. “That is just as important.”
This might be something our increasingly quantified approach to wellness can overlook. Not everything nourishing can be measured.
Things like a conversation. Feeling understood. Laughing until your stomach hurts. Being in love. Feeling part of something. A lifelong friendship. A new found one. These things matter more than we might realise..
Four Women. Four Free Protocols.
At the end of the evening, each woman was asked to leave the audience with one simple practice.
Emily chose less screen time and more gratitude.
Bianca chose breath and nervous-system regulation.
Zoe chose adding good nutrition to every meal—and remaining curious.
And Elle?
After an evening discussing supplements, movement, sleep, nutrition and longevity science, her answer came down to one word.
Love.
“Love yourself, love others, love life itself.”
“That's what we're here to do. Nothing more, nothing less.”
We left the evening inspired and engaged, with a new perspective not just on longevity but on making the most of life itself, every day, in the now. Perhaps, as these four women reminded us, it’s as simple as:
Eating well.
Moving well.
Sleeping Well.
Breathing well.
Connecting well.
Staying curious.
Staying consistent.
And loving life - even if it’s one you're working so hard to live longer.
Longevity isn't simply about adding years to your life.
It's about making sure there is plenty of life in your years.
With wellness, you can.