What Is In WowiPop And It's Ingredients

We're going to dive right into all things WowiPop!. But why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself.

Well, hello everyone. I am Jamila Owens-Todd, I am the head of the WowiPop! wellness team here to answer questions, dive into some deep issues, and all things WowiPop!.

All things WowiPop!. Yes, you are. Thank you so much for today, this interview. So why don't you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself.

I am a naturopathic doctor and what that means is I followed a course of study, a four year degree program that really focuses on integrative medicine, alternative health, and finding other modalities and ways to heal yourself outside of a traditional system. Not anything against the traditional medical system, but we know there are plants, there are foods, there are vitamins, there are minerals, there are supplements that really can engage our healing in a very different way from medications. So I wanted to explore that and find ways to bring that information to patients so that they have choices and options in their healing. So just to be clear, I'm not against medications because before this world of naturopathic medicine, I was a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry. So I do understand the ins and outs of why drugs are here, why they can be helpful, why they can save lives, but even more importantly, there are so many other things that we can introduce to balance ourselves and to heal our lives.

Yes, we can. And I'm so excited that you helped us with the WowiPop! blend and creating this drink that we are now bringing to market for everyone who's listening to try and may have tried. And my goal and hope with this interview is just to give a high level overview of WowiPop! and why kava and why the ingredients we chose. And I know you were a vital piece of that process. So let's just dive into some of the ingredients and one being our main one is kava. So can you explain a little bit what kava is to you and in general and why we decided to go with kava in our beverage?

And I have to say this, I mean I know kava has become a little bit more popular. It's one of the first herbs I worked with actually becoming a clinician and specifically using it for anxiety and supporting mood. But what I love about kava and being introduced, it's to me a little bit deeper. It's an honoring of Indigenous medicine. It's found throughout the Southern Pacific Islands. It's been used historically for centuries, and now the rest of us are coming along in the western world with how cool this herb is and how this plant can be very helpful. So I have always valued it for people who just wanted some mood elevation, calming relaxation in the face of anxiety, and it's been significantly helpful in those cases. It has some other benefits to it, but consuming it as a beverage is really how it was consumed when we think of some Indigenous practices throughout, as I mentioned, the Southern Pacific Islands. So I like that even now considering it, we're considering it as a beverage because that's kind of how it was introduced to us.

So cool.

Pretty cool.

I love that. Yeah. There's so many ingredients and we're going to get into the other ingredients you have in WowiPop!, but what do you personally and what you know with your clients and people you work with, what is the benefit of kava? Why is that a great ingredient to consume?

Yeah, the term we use on the science side is anxiolytic, anxiolytic, which means to reduce anxiety. That is really one of the biggest benefits and in tandem with that is it's a stress reducer. We hear about stress all the time and it even has become a component of our lives where it's like stress management, stress prevention, stress is a really important factor for the human existence. We have hormones in our bodies that are ready to support us in a stressed state. I think what's interesting to note, stress isn't always necessarily something negative. Stress is a change, a transition that happens in the body or in the mind, and the body and the mind are working to balance after that transition. So moving to your dream house on an island or getting married or going to school can be considered really awesome things, but they can induce a stress response primarily because they're changing or changes that we are experiencing.

So an herb like kava, it helps in calming the body's reaction physically and mentally to transition or to changes. And that's why it has a really strong stress reduction benefit in combination with that anxiolytic or the anti-anxiety or anxiety reducing. So those are really the big reasons. And the thing about it with kava, because I use, there are a lot of herbs, but kava, you can feel it pretty quickly. You can go down a list of herbs that are calming, but kava has been so helpful in my world with supporting patients with concerns or just nervousness. And so having it in the beverage is a little bit more friendly, it's more social, and you can feel that calming effect pretty immediately. Some people may need a little bit more.

Yeah. Let's dive into that. This is a one-off question on the [inaudible 00:05:57], but I love this question, because I've drank WowiPop! obviously, and I know how I felt. But for people that are listening that haven't tried WowiPop! yet, can you describe what it feels like to drink kava to you? It might feel different for other people, but what does it feel like?

So I'm going to say this, because historically high dosages, which we're not suggesting, but it would create a bit of a hallucinogenic component. But small dosages, which is what we're consuming, even smaller in WowiPop!, but just enough. You only need a small amount for it to be powerful. When I have it, the first thing I want to do is sit down. It's like, it's been a long day. I just want something just to take the edge off. I start sipping it. And it's also the combination of the herbs that are in there. But I know with kava, as soon as I start to sip, it just gives me a...

And we get that with other beverages, but unfortunately with other beverages, we can get a negative side effect where kava, you're getting just that calm, that chill and you can feel it. And especially if you continue sipping. And those effects can last for a good amount of time, an hour, two hours, depending on the person. Everybody is different, but it is something that I feel pretty quickly. Now there are people who may say, I didn't notice anything with this first or second sip. It might take them four or five sips. So just know there's different body chemistry. I personally notice within the first two sips, no cap.

I know that's what I was most surprised by trying it, because I'm like, okay, and this will lead us into our next question, I'm like, I've had some non-alcoholic beverages and I get the concept, but just being honest, I have drank before obviously, and I love to be healthy. So I'm trying to make that transition of, I'm kind of over the hangovers over the alcohol, but I want to go out with my friends and have fun and be upbeat. And I tried WowiPop! for the first time and I was like, oh my gosh. I think one of the ways we described it was drinking half a glass of wine where you're kind of like, oh, good. It's like a body hug and you feel happy, but you don't want to fall asleep. You want to keep going, but I don't know, it's a really unique feeling. And I was like, I like this.

And that's the key thing. It doesn't make me so drowsy where I can't still work or I can't answer my email. I can have a sip of that. I put it in my very pretty wine glass.

I love that.

Small stem wine glass and then sip it.

All about the experience.

Yeah, and I'm not passing out.

Yeah, no, I love that. Okay, cool. Well, thanks for giving that. And that could be different for everyone, that's why I like to ask.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So as far as non-alcoholic drinks go, what do you feel like, why would someone choose WowiPop! over other non-alcoholic drinks?

So I've been on this mission to try a lot of the non-alcoholic brands, the wine replacements, just for many personal reasons, I need to taper down on the wine. I'm a woman of a certain age and wine induces hot flashes for anyone who is not aware of that. And I don't personally like hot flashes. So I've been for the last year looking at different beverages. So I would say WowiPop! is probably, out of all the beverages I tried maybe about the seventh or the eighth and the first three literally made me gag. I think it's trying to add those really complicated flavor profiles that have these great benefits, but making them taste great. And I know that's a challenge because a lot of those herbs, believe it or not, have a bitter quality to them. And so the formulation is really significant because you can have the best products and I've seen some really cool marketing and packaging, best herbs ever and then I took a sip and gagged.

So I'm always willing to be a test dummy for these types of things, because I love a good plant-based beverage. But this one immediately, immediately the flavor and there are three flavors, but each one I adored and it just went down smooth. It went down well. The combination works perfectly for me. It just became a easy selection when it came back to which one am I going to get next? I didn't have to keep searching this long search for Hunt for Red October, I felt like trying to find the best red substitute. And so WowiPop! really fit the bill for me, and the taste is, I love it.

That's awesome. And I love that you alluded to that. I think some people when they associate kava, they associate with that bitter kind of grassroots taste and our drinks do not taste like that at all. And that's not me selling it to everyone. It's like genuinely I was like, wow, this is a really good drink that I would have in the morning or whenever because-

Anytime. Absolutely.

Awesome. Okay, so what are the other perks of drinking WowiPop!? Because I know we have this, WowiPop! blend and there's some other ingredients that we'll get into, but what are the other, so stress relief, what else would you say are the top benefits to drinking WowiPop!?

Yeah, so I want to go back to that stress component. We talk about stress reduction, but what we really need to think about with stress is the longstanding effects that long-term stress can have on the body. We know that emotionally, that constant strain, any type of constant emotional strain can turn into a physical imbalance or ailment. And so what's interesting about the stress response, we kind of start there and leave it there, but what happens? How does it affect your muscle health, your mental health, your digestive health, your cardiovascular health? And so having other herbs known as adaptogens, we've heard about adaptogens in the market. There are these different adaptogens that are in combination that are not just dealing with the current stress, but also working a preventative. One of the things about health and medicine and plant-based medicine is that I want to think preventatively.

I don't want to just drink something and take this to stop the stress and stop the anxiety. I want to think about what's happening with my body a month, three months, three years from now, and what can I do to prevent damage, wear and tear? And so the combination of adaptogens in the formula makes it just the overall health tonic. Which is also, again, it's hard to mix those types of things together and then get a good taste. So it's like you could see the great products, the herbs, and you could see the taste is... Here, you have the combination of the two. So that's why I feel good about drinking it, because I know I'm getting the chilled out immediate, but also I know this is helping my adrenal glands, it's helping hormonal regulation, nothing that's over or under. It's just helping me level and be at a more leveled balanced state.

I love that. So true. Yeah, it's a great blend. I'm obsessed. Okay, so that leads to the next question that I want to bridge the gap here for a lot of people, because I think today when you hear non-alcoholic, it's replacing your bedtime drink to make you fall asleep or your drink to go out or I don't know. For me, I love sparkling water and I want something that isn't alcohol, but it's better than sparkling water because I drink that every day. So I'm like, what is my special drink? And WowiPop! has become that for me. But I also think the unique thing about our drink and this blend is that it is something that you can drink before going to play pickleball or out the door as coffee maybe. I'm not saying you need to switch it for coffee. So can you kind of help bridge that framework in our brain of like, oh, this isn't just for going out. This could be something to get out the door with too.

Yeah. If you just walk down the beverage aisle in most grocery stores, a massive list of things. And I say it's the hall of uppers and downers. You have alcohol, it's like the downers which serves their purpose, and then there's all these caffeine, energy, blah, blah, blah, all these stimulant type of drinks. And what you have in WowiPop! is a blend. You have a balanced blend. Because I mean, no judgment, I understand you got to work 12 hours, you need your energy drink in the morning, you got finals or whatever it is you have to do to give you a boost of energy. I understand the purpose, but I always think what's happening longterm with the brain? The uppers and downers, uppers in the morning, downers in the evening, what is it when you have something that can level you, can balance the brain, what we call neurotropic or the nootropics, which is a category of plants that are just soothing to the brain activity.

So if you need simulation, if you need rest, if you need energy, you can get all of that in one. And I'm not saying it's the end all be all, but it is an easy balance to have morning, noon, or night. I don't have to worry about getting sleepy at night and I don't have to worry about having too much energy at night when I do drink it, which is sometimes rare when you think about some of these alternatives to alcohol or these alternatives to energy drinks because they're all trying to create this action of upper or downer when really this beverage is just regulation.

I love that.

Leveling, which is kind of what we all need, because some of us are on 10. You ever meet those people on 10? Hello to all people on 10. And sometimes you want to go not from zero to 100, you want to bring it down. And so that is what I will call leveling. You just need a little, like you said, the hug. I like that. The brain needs a little hug, and that little hug is what is encouraging you to just be balanced. So if I need that promotion of energy to stabilize when I go for working out, this beverage can support that. If I need just that, it really calm, knocking the edge off, I can also get that because of its action with the herbs in it, its action is to regulate.

I love that. When I think about when you're talking, and I'm going off on a tangent here, but there's this, I think it's a book called The Dopamine Effect, but it talks about our society and how we operate in these high highs or low lows, that's unhealthy. It's like we actually need to find a midline. And it's talking about your emotions of you're going to have the good and the bad, but having your balance throughout all of that is the key, and not just riding all the highs or drowning in the lows. And that's what I think about with WowiPop!. Not to make this super emotional, but it's true. Like you said, it's like I need to be regulated. I'm a high energy human and I drink way too much coffee. So I'm always like this every time of the day. And I'm like, sometimes I need to just stabilize. And that's honestly, I think to me, a healthy way to live.

Yeah, and we want something that's sustainable. Those energy drinks give you a very temporary false boost as opposed to something that is going to help regulate your energy balance throughout the day. I think we don't always think sustainable, and I get it, you busy, you got stuff to do, but sometimes it allows me to say, what is it that I need? Not in the moment, but what does the body need? And it's to be able to have that energy when needed and have the calm when necessary.

Yeah, I love that. Okay, and I'm a little confused on this, so this is a great question, but I think with kava there's something called reverse tolerance. I think the more you consume, the more you feel. Can you explain that a little bit?

Yeah. So the reverse tolerance concept really came out of the pharmaceutical world, and to be honest, it was surrounding drugs like methamphetamines, alcohol, opioids, those drugs that are really stimulating on the neurotransmitters of the brain. And so we understand tolerance. If I continue to consume a lot of this substance, it can decrease my body's ability to use this substance. Reverse tolerance is that you actually get a small amount of the substance, and that actually is more than enough. So if you look in the medical science, a lot of that is saying that the liver, which is what's metabolizing all of these wonderful things, can be a little overrun, needs a little support. And so your need for that plant or that medicine has decreased significantly, therefore, you only need tiny amounts of it. And not to get off on the tangent on my end.

No, get off on the tangent.

But oftentimes small amounts are better, less is more. We've heard that concept. So having a little bit over time is actually very regulating. So the reverse tolerance, again, is in the clinical setting, is presented as, oh, something's going on with the liver and the body can no longer take this substance in a framework of speaking on those strong drugs or medications. In the plant world, it's still the same thing, but it's reminding us less is more so that I only need a small amount to really get the benefit and the effect that I need. So if I had, that's what I mentioned, we're not having really high doses of kava. We're having a healthy dose of kava, and that's what's needed in order to encourage that regulation and balance.

Got it. That's so interesting.

Yeah, it's cool what the body will do. If we listen, sometimes the body is smarter than us, but that's another talk.

I think so. We're going to have a whole segment, stay tuned for the WowiPop! wellness team blog and more videos to come. Because I could go off on a tangent on that too. And it's true. You have to listen to your body. It tells you everything you need to know, I'm convinced.

Absolutely.

It's all about listening and it's a process and we give grace. We're learning. That's why we do things like this.

Hopefully we're learning.

So let's talk about the ingredients in WowiPop! real quick. And I think what would be funny is if I say them how I think you're supposed to say them and you correct me on how you pronounce them and what I want you to do, because I'm sure people are thinking the same thing, what I like for you to do is give just a quick blurb about if there's one keyword or a phrase that goes with that ingredient that we could note and keep in our brain as we're drinking, WowiPop! what that would be. Okay. So obviously kava.

Yep.

Is there a word you would use with kava?

Kava, I say calm.

Calm, okay.

Yeah.

Love that. Okay. L-tyrosine?

That's good. Very good. Very, very great.

Is that right?

Tyrosine. I think mental function.

Mental function.

That's two words, sorry.

No, I love it. It could be multiple words, but mental-

Okay, all right.

Okay. I'm reading. I'm looking at our cans as we're doing this. And what we say is centers your focus and let the distractions fade away.

Focus, yes.

Mental, what did you say? Mental...

Functioning. But yes, focus would be... Yes.

Okay. I love that.

Tyrosine, focus. Yeah.

I cannot even say this one. Let me try. And we already talked about these, okay. Damiana.

Perfect. Look at you natural girl. Yes. Damiana, endurance.

Endurance. Okay, love that. And then caffeine. We all know caffeine.

Caffeine, lifting.

Lifting. I love that word. That versus is energizing. It's like lifting. And then ginseng?

Ginseng, that definitely I would say regulation.

Regulation, love that.

Yeah, regulation.

Regulation. What great words. Well, I love these conversations with you, and I really do think it is the perfect blend of, I don't know. I think I've learned a lot from this interview of it is a stabilizing drink, and that's so cool that we have created something that exists like that in the world.

Absolutely, absolutely. I'm glad that there's something I could sip at night.

Yeah, exactly.

I guess I'll put my wine down.

Yeah, I know. It's a process. And that's why we say buzzy, not boozy, because you do get a feeling, but without the hangovers and without whatever hot flashes, wherever face of life we're in, we got WowiPop!.