Allison McCune Davis spent the first chapter of her career in the fast-paced world of television, earning an Emmy in LA before returning to the Midwest to raise five children and eventually launch a thriving business in natural health. Now, she’s on a mission to help women reimagine what’s possible after sixty. In this inspiring conversation, Allison shares the personal health struggles that led her to embrace natural medicine, how she found purpose in midlife, and why she believes Sixty Is a Good Start.
Whether you're nearing sixty or already there, this episode will challenge you to think bigger about vitality, purpose, the second half of life, and what you are doing to…age well.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
We often hear that life begins at 40, but what if 60 is just
the beginning? Welcome to the Aging Well
Podcast where we explore the science stories and strategies
behind living a longer, healthier and more purposeful
life. I am your host, Doctor Jeff
Armstrong, an exercise physiologist for the passion for
making science simple and life better as we age.
(00:21):
My guest is Allison Mccune Davis, a former Emmy winning TV
producer turned traditional and naturopath author and mother of
five who is now helping women rewrite the story of aging.
Her new book, 60 is a Good Startis more than a Wellness plan.
It's an invitation to embrace this season of life with
vitality, purpose, and a powerful sense of what's
(00:43):
possible. This conversation is for anyone
ready to approach aging with intention and make 60 just the
beginning of aging well. The Aging Well podcast
encourages informed decision making and always consult your
physician and scientific literature when making decisions
about your health. Well.
Allison, welcome to the Aging Well podcast.
(01:06):
You had an Emmy writing, Let me repeat that.
You had an Emmy winning career in TV before pivoting to natural
health. Can you come tell us a little
bit about that journey and what drew you to make such a
significant shift in your career?
Sure. Well, I, I studied TV and film
production in college, loved photography before that.
(01:28):
So it was the natural choice. And eventually that was in
Texas, San Antonio, eventually moved to LA because you know, it
was either LA or New York and I like the weather better in LA.
So, so I went there to pursue TVproduction as a producer and
just I spent eight years out there from the mid 80s to the
(01:49):
mid 90s and worked in various capacities.
One of my first and really fun, it was all fun, but one of the
first jobs that was really fun was at a post production house.
I was the assistant to the creative genius behind this
place. They were 200 employees and it
was where it was the largest post production house in LA at
(02:11):
that time. And some of our clients, our key
client or our big clients were Star Trek Next Generation, which
I didn't love then, but then later I did love.
So it's kind of funny. But and Max Headroom, that was
kind of a cult. So I don't know if you remember
that I'm. Old enough to remember that, OK.
(02:31):
And then we did prints videos. So I got to meet all those
people and you know, since I washis assistant, I he would be
like here, go go to the editing room and and tell him this is
what we need to do. So it was it was a lot of fun,
but then produced PBS series andthen I went to ABC and became a
(02:53):
computer graphics producer. And that's where the the L AM E
came from was it was an it was ashow opening to the pre show to
the American Music Awards. So
(03:20):
I was getting sick of the big city.
He, I mean, yes, I love you. I was big into my career.
(03:56):
You know, I was looking at, gosh, all kinds of other really
neat jobs. And but the director of the
community access TV station position came open just right
then. And my sister told me about it.
And so it's like my husband's a lawyer.
He was like, well, I could hang out a shingle.
And so we were, so that's all wedid.
And then, and then we had five kids.
(04:30):
And she she said traditional Chinese medicine doctor.
Well, my father was a surgeon. So yeah, I grew up in a real
(04:53):
medical family. But I always say, you know,
really all of America is that truly?
But maybe I was more, I don't know.
But anyway, I was like, OK, let's do it, You know?
So I go to him, he does all thismuscle testing.
And finally, he says, all right,you need to take these herbs and
you need to be off dairy for a year and maybe you can get back
(05:15):
on, but I don't know, we'll haveto see.
And so I did that. Everything healed, went away,
the problems went away, never came back in all this time.
And it was just my first experience in something natural
that could help heal the body, which the body is designed to
heal. We just kind of have to get out
of the way of it. You know, sometimes we do things
(05:38):
that aren't helping the body heal.
So that was my first experience into natural health.
And and then I got home, I, you know, had my third child at 42
and at 43 my body just kind of crashed, you know, takes a lot
out of you having kids. And I went to a naturopath Dr.
(05:59):
at that time and he was like, your adrenals are shot, your
thyroids messed up, you have toomuch bad bacteria in your gut,
not enough good. So we need to fix all that.
So, you know, we said about fixing all that with natural
substances, herbs and diet and, and so, you know, I just got on
(06:21):
that path of I always like to say, you know, the body is not
deficient in anything synthetic and the substances from the
ground that, you know, God gave us can help us heal.
And that's so fascinating to me.I think so I had this whole
natural health journey. I got my own traditional
(06:42):
naturopath certification and 2018.
But you know, during my 40s, my goal was, Oh my gosh, I've got
to have energy. That was just my motivating push
because I've got these three little kids.
You know, I can't do this job. I, you know, I was like in bed
for a week every six weeks before I went to him and got
things figured out. And, you know, like that just, I
(07:04):
just have to do that. You know, when you're a mom, you
got your little kids, you're pretty highly motivated.
So and also just loving the factthat we could do this without
prescription medicine or over the counter things or whatever.
So that was kind of, you know, I, I mean, that was kind of how
the transition happened. I was also, though, I've always
(07:28):
been so interested in televisionproduction, video production and
that transition into the world of social media and just the
world of it today was pretty easy and and fun.
So that's that's kind of how I got back to Oklahoma and kind of
got into natural health. I also had the fascination of
longevity, you know, just wow, what how do these people make it
(07:53):
to 90 a hundred? They're healthy, you know,
what's the secret? And so I've, you know, studied a
lot on that, too. Just of course, the Blue Zones.
I'm sure your audience knows what those are, but a lot of
other studies too in that area. Yes, you're almost kind of
forced through your own health to make that transition.
(08:13):
How was that transition? How difficult was it
transitioning from going from LAto middle America, raising five
children, homeschooling, and really all this a new career?
I mean it, it was seriously a transition.
I always say when I moved back here, it was reverse culture
shock, you know, because I had grown up here but left at 18,
(08:38):
spent eight years in San Antonio, a big city in Texas,
another eight years in LA. So 16 years of, you know, my
adult formation, adult life was away from here, just back to
visit here and there. And so when we came back, you
know, I, we were both, like I said, we can only come back if
(08:58):
we can travel. Like we gotta be able to travel.
But it was, it was tough. I will say it was tough for five
years. It, it took me that long to, to
embrace it. I, I've embraced it and I like
to travel, but yeah, it, it tooka while to learn to love it.
And, but also, I was 35, my biological time clock was
(09:22):
ticking. You know, it was like it's time
to have kids. I knew I wanted kids someday,
but I, I guess I was just a little later to that than
others, which was fine because Iloved having my career.
And so, you know, then, then I had one and then a second one
and I met a great family that homeschooled and I was just, and
(09:47):
I also went to some interesting conferences actually about the
the bait, the brain of the childfrom zero to three up in
Philadelphia. It's really fascinating
conferences learning about that,which kind of all of that led me
to the homeschooling world. You know, God gave me these
kids. I think I'm supposed to be the
(10:08):
one to teach him about the world, so.
So it sounds like your story kind of shifted in your mid to
late 30s, early 40s. Your book is titled 60 is a Good
Start. What inspired that title and
what does it mean to you? It's got a double meaning.
The 1st is when I turned 60 and also when I turned 50 and 40.
(10:33):
I remember those decade birthdays and the year leading
up to them. For me, just kind of was real
introspective and, you know, asking these questions, what am
I doing with my life? Am I doing what I should be
doing? You know, just really kind of
looking at it. Well, at 40, I was pregnant with
our second. At 50, I was adopting our fifth.
And so I ultimately thought, yeah, I'm doing what I'm
(10:55):
supposed to be doing right now. But 60 year old around and I was
asking the same questions, but it was just different.
It was, you know, my big three are, you know, old, out of the
house. My younger 2 are very
independent and my life's just totally different than what it
was. And so I was very restless.
(11:16):
I'd been teaching women, adult women for the prior decade about
natural health, you know, onlineand in local classes.
And I still love that. But I, I was restless.
I was like, OK, I just need something different.
I need something that is, it wasthat purpose part.
(11:37):
I need something I can sink my teeth into.
And I'm talking like for the next 5 to 10 years, like not,
not just something right now this year, but something more
significant. So I just was restless.
And I have come to find out thatthat is very common for women my
age, probably men too. But you know, just this time in
(11:59):
your life where all of a sudden you, you have some space in your
life in your mind, you know, to think about these things and to
ask these questions and to make it change.
Maybe, maybe it's a slight change, maybe it's a big change.
And so I went on this kind of little 7 month right at my
(12:19):
birthday at that points about 7 month little journey of trying
to figure out what was that thing going to be.
And so I just, I thought I'm going to have to say yes to some
things that just sort of pop up.Like I need to be real aware of
what's popping up in front of meand I'm gonna have to say yes to
a few things, I think to get to the thing that whatever that
(12:39):
thing is. And so I got into some Facebook
groups. I got, I got into a group that
was, it was a Facebook group that I bought a calendar from
this guy. And, and these people all ages,
male and female, they were really living life.
And his whole thing was he wanted you to create a misogi, a
Japanese word for a life changing event every year
(13:02):
because he was, you know, he wants you to make a memory, you
know, do something significant, maybe something hard each year.
So you can be like, yeah, 2021 my misogi was this 20/22 it was
this. And so that was pretty
interesting. So I'm I'm in this group for
like 3 months. I don't know anybody in it and
I'm not really talking I'm just reading people's posts and
(13:24):
stuff. And this girl pops up finally
like 3-4 months into it and she says hey tomorrow I'm going to
start 75 hard. It's a challenge and does anyone
want to do it with me? Well, I had heard of that four
months prior and it was created by this big muscular tattooed
guy and I listened to his podcast about it.
(13:45):
It's like a 45 minute podcast and I thought there's no way I
can do that. You know, it was this 245 minute
exercises a day you had to do one had to be outside in the
elements, you had to drink a gallon of water, this really
clean diet. No, no, you know, can't do
anything bad. No sugar, no alcohol, no
whatever. Or go on a diet and read 10
(14:07):
pages in a book. And so you had to do that every
day for 75 days. If you messed up, you had to
start over. Like there was no, no grace.
No, it was hardcore. And it was really about mental
toughness. And so when I first heard about
it, I was, I thought, no way. I can't, I'm not your target
market. And so, but after being in that
(14:28):
group for four months, and this goes to the point of we are the
five people we hang out with, I love that line.
You know, it's just how are we being influenced?
Like are we around? And it, you know, it can be
people you hang out with, you live with, you know, or some
online group. I mean, just that's an example
of it. You know, all of a sudden I went
(14:50):
and listened to that podcast again and I thought, I think I
can do this. And this could be my misogi.
And I just turned 60, so I was highly motivated.
So I did it and it was great. And I also was in a little
online mastermind kind of it wasall ages, it was women, but all
ages. Just sort of asking again those
(15:11):
those big questions, what am I doing with my life?
What do I want to do? And finally it was July 4th.
I was doing a little 10 minute breathing exercise that I like
to do. And I just came to me, I just
was like, I'm going to write a book.
That's what I think I'm going todo, you know?
And then my brain was like, what, what are you talking
(15:31):
about? It's all been written before,
you know, there's nothing new. But no, I was like, no, I think
I'm, I think I'm going to so that that's what happened.
And 60 is a good start was, oh, I was 60 when I started it.
It really is referring to midlife.
For some people that's 50. For some people, they had kids
(15:52):
earlier than I did and they're an empty nest earlier than I
was. Maybe it's 70, maybe just
whatever. It's just in there somewhere.
That's kind of who I'm talking to.
The principles I will say apply to male or female and any age,
but I'm I am talking to sort of the midlife people.
The second meaning of the book is that it takes at least 60
(16:18):
days to create a new habit. And we know this because Doctor
Caroline Leaf, she's that neuroscientist.
She's written tons of books. She has seen through the
microscope the nerve cells in the brain and you can see on the
dendritic spines the habit formation.
It turns into a little umbrella shaped thing when it when a
(16:39):
habit is formed. It's really interesting.
And so she says it's at least 60days.
It could be as much as eight months.
It depends on the person, on thehabit.
Is it a thought habit? Is it a physical habit?
You know, what is it? And so 60 is a good start.
And, and what this book leads tois the formation of the
(17:01):
longevity habits that all these studies had in common, even
studies on cancer longevity through cancer lifestyle habits.
That's what I'm talking about inthe physical, the mental,
emotional, spiritual, and the world, your purpose and your
relationships. So that's where all those habits
fall into those categories. So those are the two meanings.
(17:21):
That's the long the long explanation.
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(17:43):
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And now back to the podcast. Many women feel invisible and
often even irrelevant after midlife.
What do you say to women who feel like their best years are
(18:04):
behind them when they hit midlife, whether again it's
506070? Yeah, I will just say that is a
myth, and you just have to change your mindset about it
because this, I think, can be the most incredible time of our
lives. I mean, we have space.
We, I mean, you know, I don't know about other people, but for
(18:25):
those decades of racing kids, you know, a lot of times it was
like we're just trying to survive here.
We're just trying to get people fed and clothed and educated,
right, Keep them safe. And you know, it's a lot of
work. And but that this even goes for
somebody. Maybe they don't have kids,
maybe they had a full on career,you know, I'm sure it was a lot
(18:47):
of work, much less the person that's got both going on, right.
So, so those, it's those decadesof, you know, 20s, thirties,
40s, fifties, maybe, you know, those are hardcore decades.
And now you're at this point of not only do you have some time
to think, like I love the line, leave room for the magic, you
know, to just sort of come up inyour mind, but we have the
(19:10):
wisdom of a lifetime. It's a pretty great combination.
There's so many people, and I list a lot in the book of, of
people that have really come into their own and come into
their life's work at this point in the last half, the last third
of their life. Yeah.
You just, it's a mindset shift. It's what it is.
(19:30):
You just have to decide, OK, I'mnot.
In fact, right before 2 weeks before I decided to write the
book, I happen to be in Dallas with my best friend from growing
up. We've known each other since we
were 6 and we were, I was with her and her friends.
And so we're all like 60. This is right then.
And so we're having a drink in abar like 5 ladies and talking
(19:54):
about that fact. And then my friends said, well,
I hear 60 is the gateway to old age.
And I just said no, no, we can't.
We can't look at it like that. I just had a real vehement
response, you know, and so they say, you know, your purpose can
be tied into things that you're passionate about, that things
that make you angry, you know, things that just sort of bring
(20:15):
up an emotional response. So interesting place to look for
if you're looking for what is mynew purpose?
So how can we reframe aging as atime of vitality and growth
rather than decline? Well, I mean, that's why I, you
know, my book is a combination of looking at natural health,
you know, not deep. I mean, because we're talking
(20:38):
about longevity, we're talking about habits, habit formation,
but we have to feel good, right?We've, we've got to make the
effort to feel good. And so the, there's three
pillars in the book that are called, I call body work, brain
work and world work. And under each are the big 5.
And so these are the big 5 areasof, of a habit that I want you
(21:01):
to choose one thing from each ofthese categories to do for 60
days. So there's planner that goes
with it. There's an online program you
can do if you want, or you can do with your friends or
something. I do think accountability is
important under that bodywork part, which is really where I
think that first, you know, the part of feeling good.
(21:23):
We, we have to look at this stuff.
Eat, what are we eating? We have to look at our diet.
You know, right now I'm 64, protein is crucial.
You know, I never paid attentionto it before I but it at this
point in my life, the two biggest things that are crucial
to me right now are getting enough protein.
(21:43):
We're in the middle of a 60 day dare right now.
And I'm one of mine is I have toeat 30 grams of protein before I
eat anything else each day. And so that has been fantastic.
The other part that goes with that for me are is strength
training. So building muscle and it's
never too late. All right, if you think it's too
(22:04):
late, get on Instagram and follow John McDonald.
Her name, her name on there is trained with Joan.
She is now 78. She did not start getting
healthy. She didn't start.
She was overweight, sick on prescription drugs, all kinds of
things at 70. And her daughter, a health
coach, said, mom, we got to get you healthy and we can.
(22:26):
So she just little by little started her strength training
and eating right. And little by little she got off
those medications. She is now so fit and she's so
she's like a grandma. I mean, she's sweet.
And so that's that's a great oneto be inspired by.
But you know, so we have to. And are we drinking enough water
(22:48):
that that's so eat, move your body.
If you're sedentary and you don't ever do that, then we're
just going to start with you putting those tennis shoes on
and walk into the stop sign and back.
I mean, it's, I always like to say baby steps, 60 days at a
time, you know, but sleep, are you sleeping well enough 7 to 9
hours? And there's a million little
(23:09):
strategies you can do to help that area.
And then breathing, deep breathing is a important thing.
So those are the big 5 in body work.
And so, and, and these habits, these longevity lifestyle habits
fall into those things. Drink are we drinking enough
water? Half our body weight and oz at
least then I think there's some statistic I've got.
I keep forgetting to look this up again, but it was, I know it
(23:32):
was over 50% of ER visits are solved with hydration.
You know, people just don't drink enough water.
And I like to think of it in terms of imagining the organs in
our body, the veins and arteries, they need to be supple
and soft and, you know, versus hard, like thinking about
hardening of our, you know, justjust and that that helps me want
(23:57):
to drink my water. Also.
You got to keep it with you all the time.
But but those are the big 5 in body work.
And so I think when someone starts to get on that track of,
you know, being doing the healthy things, then that's
going to lead to a good place feeling better.
And sometimes it's going to takea little while.
(24:18):
You know, it took our bodies maybe a lifetime to get in the
shape they're in. It's going to take a little
time, but that's that's what we're here to do is help people
with consistently building good habits.
So there's the brain work, whichis also, you know, mental,
emotional, spiritual, and you know, there could be issues
(24:38):
there. There could be toxic
relationships, there could be trauma that hadn't been dealt
with that needs to be dealt with.
And so, you know, there's the big 5 there too, that address
all of those. I can go into what those are if
you'd like. OK, so number one is right.
So and you're going to pick whatwhat do you think you should do
(24:59):
for these 60 days? So right would be journaling,
you know, brain download every day.
If you've got a lot of stuff in your brain and you just can't
think straight and sort it out every day, you just going to sit
down and do like 5 or 10 minute,just get it on to paper, hand
write it on to paper. Maybe you're going to journal
about some trauma. You know, that's a good way to
start just to kind of get it outand get it onto paper.
(25:23):
Maybe you need to go to therapy too, but this could be one
process that's really good. Number 2 is read, and that is
some kind of nonfiction, uplifting personal development.
It could be business development, something that is
improving you and you could do an audio book or you can read a
book that's number two certain, you know, 10 pages a day would
(25:45):
be great #3 is clear. So that's a choice of either
like a 15 minute. I'm doing this one right now.
Decluttering session in your house, just like I just, I did
my top drawer here the other day.
I was shocked at how I had, I had tolerated it for about two
years of being a disaster, you know, but it's just, we all have
(26:06):
all those places. And so decluttering because that
can really affect your mental state or toxing.
This goes back to the natural health, getting the chemicals
out of your home that you can get out of your home.
Usually they're in the laundry room, under the kitchen sink and
in the bathroom. So, you know, everything that we
put on our skin is going into our bloodstream and we've just
(26:30):
got to be reading labels. We've got to be choosing
products, what laundry soap, toothpaste, makeup, skin care,
shampoo, all the things. So we got to choose things that
are healthy plant based with no chemicals.
There's a great app, Yucca YUKA.And I will, if I'm looking at
something new, I'll just open that app and type it in.
(26:52):
And I think you can even scan the barcode and see how do they
rate it. And they'll go why they why they
rate it poor, you know, well, it's got this chemical in it and
this what this chemical does. So it's, it's a great little
tool. And then the 4th 1 is meditate,
pray or use affirmations. So going to the spiritual side
(27:13):
things, maybe a 10 minute session on that.
And the fifth one is create. So this is like art making.
My favorite is needlepoint. I've been really into that for
the last four years and I it's my reward at the end of the day,
you know, but they say 45 minutes of some kind of art
making just for the purpose of distressing, like adult coloring
(27:33):
books. You know, that became a big
thing. It lowers cortisol.
So that's pretty cool. And all of these go to de
stressing, which is a big thing.So those are the brain work
options. And then in the world work, the
bodywork and brain work, you're going to choose something and do
it for 60 days because we're building habit in the world
work. You can rotate through these or
(27:54):
you can rotate 2 or all 5 or whatever each week, or you can
do the first one which is calledDream.
There are 60 questions in the book that you would answer one
each day of the 60 day dare. And that is for the person that
doesn't know. They feel restless like I did,
and they don't know. They know they want to do
(28:16):
something different. They're just not sure what it
is. So I really believe these
questions will little by little lead you to that path of where
you should be. So you could do that.
A number 2 is engaged, so that'sjust engaging in relationships.
World work is all about purpose and relationships at this point
in life. You know, loneliness is a big
(28:36):
factor and there are people thatare widows or divorced.
The kids are all gone or just for maybe they're real introvert
to, you know, whatever the reasons that and and the the
studies I've seen lately on on longevity is so interesting.
I've seen multiple ones that arereally keen in on that
particular part, that relationship part as being maybe
(28:59):
the most important of all of thelongevity factors.
You know, that you have people in your life that you can count
on that build you up that you know are just important and you
know, you can call them if whenever you need to or you
know, And so that engage is thatyou're going to make the effort
to ask someone to go to coffee. They call someone, you know,
(29:22):
this is not texting, call someone on the phone, you know,
you're maybe your brother that lives across the country and you
haven't talked to in a year, youknow, just whatever kind of
engagement you can go to dinner with somebody, get with a group
and do something fun, you know. So sometimes that's easy for
some people and it's hard for other people.
So that would be maybe somebody that that's hard for.
(29:45):
They might do that once a week or twice a week.
Third one is gather and that is on the spiritual side of things.
All of these studies says these people were part of some kind of
spiritual community. So that could be church, it
could be a small group, it couldbe a one-on-one, but for the
purpose of discussing spiritual things or learning about spirit.
(30:08):
And then help would be the volunteer, like go volunteer for
something that has LED tons of people to a new purpose, that
part of their life. And then the last one I call
ACT, and that is if you do know your new purpose or your
slightly different purpose, you're going to spend an hour a
day working on it or however many days you determine for the
(30:28):
week. So those are the big 5 in each
of the three categories. Cool.
So very much what we try and promote here on the Aging Well
podcast. So we're on on the same page.
Yes. So coming from a family of MD's,
what was it like embracing a more natural, holistic approach
to health and what were some of the big changes that you made
(30:49):
initially? Well, it was, you know, it was
really funny. Our first child was AC section.
And then I had sort of this 180°turn on what I thought birth
should be. And I remember I that conference
I went to of the babies brains zero to three, the guy that ran
(31:12):
that showed this film, he, he travelled the whole world
studying babies brains zero to three, Africa to, you know, just
all kinds of areas. And he showed this black and
white film. It didn't have any sound.
And it was just, he just did this pan across this tribe out
in the fields. They're kind of in a tree
foresty area. And they're just sitting there,
(31:34):
you know, I don't know, carving something, carving a stick or,
you know, they're just doing random things.
And finally gets over to this lady sitting in a hammock with a
hole in the bottom of it. And she is having a baby and she
has this baby. It doesn't look like it's
stressing her out or anything. She reaches under the hammock,
pulls the baby up to her, gets an ember off the fire, burns off
(31:57):
the cord. Everybody's, nobody's like
jumping around. Yeah, everybody's just like,
this is an everyday occurrence type thing.
And I was just, I was bowled over by that video.
This is after I'd had AC section.
I thought, Oh my gosh, this is the way birth is meant to be.
It's been going on for so many years.
And so I ended up having a home birth after that and, and then
(32:20):
another home birth after that. Well, my, my father was a
surgeon and now we live in the same town as my parents, as my
husband's parents. His mother was an OBGYN.
And we thought on that first home birth, we other we can't
tell them they'll freak out. So so we didn't until the baby
had been born, they thought we were going to do the regular go
(32:43):
to the hospital thing like we had done the last time.
And so there were you know, I mean, I guess at some point they
all just started going well, that's Allison.
She does things a little different, but you know,
there's, there's always kind of a, a pushback on the whole the
world of natural health. I, I think it's getting better,
you know, especially in the lastyear or two, but there's always,
(33:08):
you know, there's just always pushback.
And so it's, it's a bit of a fight sometimes to, to have the
strength to do, you know, you, you, you believe in this thing
and doing things this way, but the world around you doesn't
really and doesn't really necessarily agree.
So you really have to find the people that are your people, you
know, and that's what we kind ofdid here when with teaching
(33:31):
classes. And I remember some people came
to a class one time, they're like, Oh my gosh, I didn't know
you guys existed. I was like, well, we're kind of
the underground, but not really.I mean, we're just, you know,
talking about things we believedin.
But you know, I in my 40s, we started drinking raw milk.
I was in a food Co-op. So we would go, you know, once a
(33:52):
week. One of the moms there was like
probably 30 moms of families andonce a week one of us would
drive out 40 minutes to this farm and you know, in Oklahoma,
you, you have to buy it straightfrom the farmer.
They they don't sell it in AI think they sell it in grocery
stores where you are, don't theyI.
Don't think you can get it in grocery stores yet?
(34:13):
OK, somewhere that you can't, I don't remember where, but
probably only one or two places in the country.
So that was one of the beginningthings.
And then I read some incredible books on how in, you know, 100
years ago, doctors used raw milkfor healing people with ulcers
and all kinds of gut issues. And you got to be, you know,
God, trust your farmer that they're doing things right.
(34:36):
So that, you know, that was a big thing.
We were we would semi trucks monthly with the kind of foods
that Whole Foods would have, butthere was number middleman and
we live in a smaller town, so there's no Whole Foods.
So you know, just trying to eat right and and take supplements.
I mean, gosh, supplements are a great thing and I always are
(34:58):
just like, if you've got some issue, you check that first.
Umm, it that might solve your problem versus having to get on
a medication which is going to have side effects.
They all do. Yeah.
You gotta really look at that. Not saying that they can't be
save somebody from some situation.
I mean, I, you know, I love my dad.
I, he's dead now, but I totally respected what he did.
(35:22):
But for just general health, youknow, it's great for
emergencies, it's great for lifesaving, incredible.
But for just general health, youknow, we really need to look at
what are we eating? What are our habits?
What supplements might we need? And you're not really going to
know all the best details on that, honestly, unless you're
going to a naturopath Dr. or a functional or integrative
(35:44):
medical doctor. They're using those terms now
because they're the ones that are going to give you the test,
the, the saliva test for your hormones, sex hormones, the
urine test for your neuro hormones, dopamine, serotonin
and all that. Those are important to look at.
You know, somebody's depressed. Well, what are those hormones
looking like? It's it's an easy supplement to
(36:05):
fix some of that stuff anyway. So what do you wish more women
knew about natural solutions forthings like hormonal balance,
energy, immunity, and so on? That it would.
I would. I wish they knew how easy it
really is. You know, everybody's just in
this model of thinking they justhave to go to their local MD to
(36:27):
get what they need. And I mean, in medical schools,
they don't teach nutrition. So your doctor does not know
about nutrition. Your hospital is serving you
green beans out of a can and jello.
I mean, isn't that crazy? That blows my mind that they are
not serving like incredible foodwith, you know, no seed oils and
(36:48):
beef tallow and bone broth and you know, all these healing
kinds of things. So unfortunately, you've got to
search these things out. You got to do a little research
or find some people you can trust that do the research And
but it's not that hard. It really isn't to just take a
little ownership and all of thatand and look for, you know, the
(37:11):
solutions. Look, look for natural before
you have to revert to synthetic.Just look.
And we, we do see a lot of tension, I think presently
between or traditional medicine approaches and more naturopathic
care. And just even within both
(37:31):
spectrums of that, that they're,you know, you go on to goo, you
Google, go on YouTube and there's just so much contrary
information in there. How do you go about addressing
that tension between not only just traditional medicine and
naturopathic care, but within those realms as well?
How do you get people to to not just follow some influencer on
(37:55):
YouTube because, you know, they look like they're in shape?
And frankly, I look at most of the longevity so-called experts
on YouTube and I'm like, no. No, I, I agree.
There are, there's so many and it's a big thing right now and
you, you have to just be discerning.
I mean, you know it. I like intuition to me, I think
(38:18):
is a real key skill and something you've got to learn to
know your own intuition and, andagain, be discerning on these
things. Everyone is different.
We are all different. We all have individual needs.
So what this person needs, you don't necessarily need, you need
(38:38):
something else. And the there's multiple ways to
start to figure that out. And like, I'll go back to, you
know, go to a functional medicaldoctor and get the right test to
start out with. Test your neuro hormones, test
your sex hormones. Then the naturopath doctors rely
more on a saliva test than a blood test.
(38:59):
So usually a regular medical doctor is going to do a blood
test, but with the research they've done, they think the
saliva test is more accurate. It's giving them better
information. You know, these functional
medical doctors, they're going to test on a blood test, They're
going to test like 75 to 100 different markers where and when
(39:21):
they get those reports back. There's a range that says, OK,
you're in the normal range or you're in, you're outside the
normal range. Well, a medical doctor is
typically, not all probably, buttypically going to be like, Yep,
you're in the right range, you're fine.
First of all, all labs are different.
Their ranges are going to be different.
(39:43):
But a naturopath, he wants to optimize your health.
He's like, here's here's the normal range.
I want you in here. This is what we're going for.
So what you need a little bit ofthis, we need a little bit of
that. We need to take this out, you
know, whatever it is. So, you know, you just have to
know that you're different. You may want to have some gene
(40:05):
testing, you know, you may want to have some stool testing.
I mean, that's 85% of our healthis our immune system is in our
gut. And so that's going to tell you
how's the bacteria balance the good and the bad.
And you know if that's not right.
Then it's going to be hard for other things to be right.
So that would be a, if you've never done that, I highly
(40:28):
recommend that to really see, you know, where are you but in
the blood test tube. That's going to tell you a lot
of things. Vitamin D is a big one, you know
that people just sort of blow off, but just getting enough
vitamin D can really help things.
Yeah, I think it's interesting that, you know, we don't
understand that normal is based off of the average population,
(40:51):
which means, you know, you're between mean ±1 standard
deviation from the mean, and that mean is a very unhealthy
population. It is.
So like for me, I teach my students and just kind of
occurred to me within the last year or so as I was presenting
data on within the normative data on bench press.
(41:12):
You know what your scores shouldbe at different ages.
And if you're 25 or you're in your 20s, if you can bench your
body weight, you're considered to be in fair condition.
At my age, in my 60s, I'm now 62, if I can bench my body
weight, which I can with some joint pain, but I'm considered
superhuman, and it's like, that's ridiculous.
(41:34):
I'm not that strong, you know? It's just that the expectation
is that our body is going to decline and that's what we're
presented with as we go to a more traditional medical
sources. We or you're just getting older.
Well, that's that's a bullshit answer.
Yes, I'm getting older, but I shouldn't be declining.
(41:55):
And So what kind of transformations have you seen
from the women who go through the program?
How can our listeners join? What can they expect from the
experience? Well, I think if if you want
some accountability, this is this is a great place to do it.
I'll give you the links for how to get there.
It's my website, which is my name, Allison Mccune davis.com.
(42:17):
And you'll see 60 day there up there.
You can click and it takes you right to the community and you
can join if you want. You know, I've had we're we're
actually right this moment. We're beta testing it.
We're going to start another onein about a month.
And it's been really fun to watch, particularly I've loved
watching some of these people that are doing those 60 dream
(42:38):
questions. We, we do a weekly Zoom call for
accountability that, you know, we just get on there.
We talk about, you know, what's working, how's it going, what's
not working, you know, what could help.
And so, you know, just various people are doing different
things. And so like we're on day 50
right now. And so we've been talking about
just how, how it just start, youknow, probably people tend to
(43:02):
quit things around 3 weeks, you know, that's I think New York or
New Year's resolutions and, and things, you know, challenges and
things like that. So the goal is to really try to,
you know, keep going, but it starts to become part of your
life just like, OK, this is my routine when you start getting
(43:22):
into the 30 days, 40 days. And so that's really nice.
I do think that, you know, again, 60 is a good start.
So this is the start. The goal is to keep going.
You know, we'll, we'll probably have little bits of space
between each of the 60 day dares, but also anybody can
(43:43):
start at any time in the community.
So there are people in there that I'm on day 50 today.
There are people in there that are on day 35, you know, just
whatever it is. So we're all doing the same
thing. We're all, you know, going for
the same goal. But yeah, people are.
It could because you're you and you have to adjust your life a
little bit and you have to figure out like for instance,
(44:04):
the other day, one of the thingsI'm doing is the the breathing
exercise. Well, I've mostly done it in the
morning. Sometimes I have forgotten or
just didn't have time or whatever my excuse was.
And so I did it in the afternoon.
And then there's been sometimes that I totally forgot all day
and literally was in bed that night and did it right before I
(44:26):
went to sleep. But I don't like that.
And so I was trying to figure out how could I, you know, when
we were talking about this on the Zoom call, how could I, you
know, have it stack that, which is what I ended up deciding to
do. So in the mornings, I love to
have a slow morning. That's one of my favorite things
in life. And so I drink my coffee.
(44:47):
That's healthy coffee with minerals in it actually.
And I have two cups, but they'relike three quarter, each one's
like 3/4 of a cup with my Frenchpress.
And so I decided that I'm going to have my first cup.
I have to do the breathing before I get my second cup.
So we'll see how that works in terms of, you know, just making
(45:10):
that a solid habit that really happens in the mornings because
it's a great way to start your day.
Kind of you're kind of igniting all of your body systems by
doing that deep breathing Wim Hof.
You know who Wim Hof is? Yeah, his stuff.
I love his app. I've been using it for years.
So did that answer your question?
Yeah. OK.
Right. So we asked this question of all
(45:32):
our guests and you've kind of gave in some of the the answer,
but what are you doing personally to age well?
Well, yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm in the middle of my 60 day.
Dare I? I'm the protein.
The 30 grams of protein is a bigdeal.
I really think it's making a huge difference along with the I
do three Monday, Wednesday, Friday strength training.
(45:54):
And so I feel like, I feel like my muscles are bigger, you know,
and I do believe it's that protein.
I've just always kind of struggled to get enough protein
and never like made it that kindof priority like I am right now.
So that, that's pretty huge. I always do, I sleep that amount
so that I that's normal for me. And then the breathing is pretty
(46:15):
great. You know, I'm just, I mean, my
goal is to have all of these things that are these big 5 in
each of these categories be a part of my life.
And so I'm choosing to do the ones that just aren't quite part
of my life or there may be partsthat I don't feel like I really
need at this point anymore. Like the writing, I mean, the
(46:36):
the brain download. I kind of do that anyway when
I'm just planning my day or planning my week.
But so, so it's just, you know, attacking each of these as, as,
as I can and, you know, getting the exercise, getting the
getting the world work part too,though, I mean, get that
purpose, that purpose part is huge because we want to wake up
(46:58):
excited about the day, excited to what are we going to do?
That's really cool. That's going to, that's going to
delight us. You know, what are the desires
of our heart? You know, God, I think God put
those desires in there, there because we're supposed to do
them. I think some people think, oh, I
should do this and that would beselfish to do that thing.
(47:18):
That's the desire of my heart. Well, probably not.
It's probably there for a reason, you know, and you really
have to explore that. But there's a line I love that's
that says your future is hidden in your daily routine.
And so I think we have to ask ourselves, who, who do I want to
be? What kind of person do I want to
be a year from now or five yearsfrom now or 10?
(47:41):
And what am I doing in my daily routine to get me to that place?
So deciding today what you want to be for tomorrow what what
advice would you give if you went back to your 40 year old
self? What advice would you give that
person about aging and what would it be?
Well, it would probably one thing would be to pay more
attention to the like the exercise piece and that's hard
(48:04):
to do. I mean, I, I had, you know, 3
little kids and then added another two and during my 40s
and, but even still, it was at age 55.
I, I guess I had a mini freak out at 55 versus the full blown
at 60. And at 55, I, for that previous
15 years I had exercised just off and on.
(48:28):
I was not being consistent. And finally I, I read a good
book and it was about, it was written by a 70 year old man.
It's called younger next year. You ever heard of that book?
I haven't really good. It's written by two guys, a
doctor and a 70. The doctor I think was in his
50s and the 70 year old was a lawyer.
(48:48):
He was so funny. But it was all about aging and,
you know, just really good book and it that was what inspired me
at 55. I just said OK and I was
homeschooling. I, it doesn't matter.
I had to take it to this extremein my brain.
It doesn't matter if my kids eatcereal for dinner, don't get
educated and blah, blah, blah. I have got to be healthy or I
(49:12):
won't be here anymore. And so I was like, I am going to
start exercising. I started with two days a week,
like going to this particular gym, you know, paid for it, like
the whole 9 yards. Then I went to three times a
week and ultimately 5 * a week over the course of about two,
two years, you know, to get to that point, maybe 3.
And that and, and my rest of my life revolved around those times
(49:36):
at the gym to just become consistent in exercise and, you
know, sweating and just doing what I needed to do in that
area. Because I just, of course I did
care if they got educated and, you know, ate well, but I just
had to take it to that extreme in my mind to make myself go
there and commit to that. And so, you know, also, so that
(50:00):
would be one thing is just, you know, pay more, pay attention to
that because like put the mask gone in the airplane 1st and
then then put it on your kids. You know, you got to, you've got
to be that person that's fit andthen all of that will just
overflow to the people around you.
But I'd also say don't worry about what anybody else thinks
(50:22):
about anything. You know, you're here to do you
and people are unique, and that's the fun part.
And, you know, just don't worry about one of my things.
I think people worry about that too much.
I'm sure I did. Hopefully I didn't go to the
extreme of just giving your kidscereal for dinner.
Oh, there could have been a timeor two.
(50:42):
Because that's where we kind of set up those bad patterns for
people to have to change when they hit 60s.
That's true. It's true.
It's true. But hopefully we make those
changes, we're making them not only for ourselves, but we're
making them for the family as well.
For. The kids we're seeing the exact.
Right. I want my kids to see me being
fit. Put attention and boy, they have
(51:02):
seen it. They'll tell you, you know,
attention to what are you eating?
Are you reading the labels? Are you exercising purpose too?
I mean, are you, you know, choosing to do what you were
meant to do, what you love, all that?
So you've already mentioned the web page and have you kind of
mentioned that again, but about where the listeners can learn
more about your work, the six join the 60 day chat there, But
(51:25):
more importantly, where can theyfind the book?
Oh, all the places, Amazon, Barnes Noble, wherever you buy
your books. There's the audio book too,
which I read. And then there's the planner
that goes with the book, if you want that.
That's made specifically for the60 day dare.
And I'm on Instagram and Facebook, mostly my full name.
Again, send me a message, be happy to chat.
(51:47):
Anything we missed discussing today?
I don't think so. We didn't.
We had a good talk. Really hope the listeners and
the viewers will kind of check out the book.
Maybe take advantage of, you know, whether they join your
group to do a 60 day dare. Maybe just find a, you know?
Group of friends. Were there four or five friends
that you said you wouldn't have a drink with?
Just have a drink. It's OK.
(52:09):
You know, it'll take you from a couple glasses of wine.
Let's let's come up with a 60 day dare.
But just baby steps is what we've always preached on here.
It's it doesn't take much. It's like 1 little thing that
you can change for 60 days. And maybe it's, you know, drink
one less pop or so. I don't know what they I don't
know what they call it in Oklahoma.
I'm from Pittsburgh. It's pop.
(52:30):
My wife, it's soda. Soda.
I would say it's soda. Texas is coke, but yeah.
I was going to say Coke. Everything's a Coke.
But yeah, if, if, if that's one of your habits, just changing
one of those. I teach my students if you drink
like 20 ounces of sugared pop a day and you stop doing that,
just avoiding one of them a day for 365 days, I think it
(52:53):
accounts to about 16 lbs of bodyfat.
Yeah, I believe it. It's it's huge.
When I remember, I quit drinkingsoda.
Soda, OK, I think it's soda. That was the natural one that
came up. I don't remember when, it was
probably in my late 30s or 40s, something like that, But I
remember it was significant whenI put that.
(53:13):
And these small little things really, really add up.
And I think we've we feel like we have to make these dramatic
changes in our lives and really change is just a series of 60
day challenges. It is.
It is. Everything is just a habit in
our thoughts. Our thoughts too.
They're just habits and we can change them.
OK, there's your final words forour listeners or viewers.
(53:34):
Do you have anything final to say to just kind of?
One other one other little concept that I think super
important and helps for success is to remember the the concept
of environment triggers behavior.
So I think it's real important that we always are setting up
our environments to trigger the behavior that we want.
(53:54):
So if we want to eat better thanin our refrigerator at eye
level, our we should have glass bowls with fruits and
vegetables. You know, it's like that's the
first thing we see. And, you know, set the tennis
shoes out to where you see them,like right when you wake up
there they are. They're not hidden in the closet
or you know, I have a cushion, afloor cushion that I like to sit
(54:19):
on. You know, I sit in the chair
too, but sometimes I like to siton the floor cushion.
Well, that's making you get all the way down, then get all the
way up. You know, that kind of movement
mobility. So just, I have my supplements
in little tiny Baggies for my morning.
My morning ones are right here in my office, right when I walk
in, they're in a pretty crystal bowl.
(54:40):
I just grab a little baggie. Oh, here's one right here.
And and so they're right there. And, and there's a few other
supplements that are liquids that I, you know, just can grab
and drink. And then I've got my night time
on my night stand. So it's just setting your life
up to trigger that behavior thatyou're looking for that's
important. Perfect advice.
(55:02):
Well, I think this was a great conversation.
I really appreciate having you on today.
Best of luck with the book and promoting it.
And you know, just keep doing what you're doing.
Keep aging well. Thank you.
You too. Thank you for listening.
I hope you benefited from today's podcast and until next
time, keep aging well.
We often hear that life begins at 40, but what if 60 is just
the beginning? Welcome to the Aging Well
Podcast where we explore the science stories and strategies
behind living a longer, healthier and more purposeful
life. I am your host, Doctor Jeff
Armstrong, an exercise physiologist for the passion for
making science simple and life better as we age.
(00:21):
My guest is Allison Mccune Davis, a former Emmy winning TV
producer turned traditional and naturopath author and mother of
five who is now helping women rewrite the story of aging.
Her new book, 60 is a Good Startis more than a Wellness plan.
It's an invitation to embrace this season of life with
vitality, purpose, and a powerful sense of what's
(00:43):
possible. This conversation is for anyone
ready to approach aging with intention and make 60 just the
beginning of aging well. The Aging Well podcast
encourages informed decision making and always consult your
physician and scientific literature when making decisions
about your health. Well.
Allison, welcome to the Aging Well podcast.
(01:06):
You had an Emmy writing, Let me repeat that.
You had an Emmy winning career in TV before pivoting to natural
health. Can you come tell us a little
bit about that journey and what drew you to make such a
significant shift in your career?
Sure. Well, I, I studied TV and film
production in college, loved photography before that.
(01:28):
So it was the natural choice. And eventually that was in
Texas, San Antonio, eventually moved to LA because you know, it
was either LA or New York and I like the weather better in LA.
So, so I went there to pursue TVproduction as a producer and
just I spent eight years out there from the mid 80s to the
(01:49):
mid 90s and worked in various capacities.
One of my first and really fun, it was all fun, but one of the
first jobs that was really fun was at a post production house.
I was the assistant to the creative genius behind this
place. They were 200 employees and it
was where it was the largest post production house in LA at
(02:11):
that time. And some of our clients, our key
client or our big clients were Star Trek Next Generation, which
I didn't love then, but then later I did love.
So it's kind of funny. But and Max Headroom, that was
kind of a cult. So I don't know if you remember
that I'm. Old enough to remember that, OK.
(02:31):
And then we did prints videos. So I got to meet all those
people and you know, since I washis assistant, I he would be
like here, go go to the editing room and and tell him this is
what we need to do. So it was it was a lot of fun,
but then produced PBS series andthen I went to ABC and became a
(02:53):
computer graphics producer. And that's where the the L AM E
came from was it was an it was ashow opening to the pre show to
the American Music Awards. So
(03:20):
I was getting sick of the big city.
He, I mean, yes, I love you. I was big into my career.
(03:56):
You know, I was looking at, gosh, all kinds of other really
neat jobs. And but the director of the
community access TV station position came open just right
then. And my sister told me about it.
And so it's like my husband's a lawyer.
He was like, well, I could hang out a shingle.
And so we were, so that's all wedid.
And then, and then we had five kids.
(04:30):
And she she said traditional Chinese medicine doctor.
Well, my father was a surgeon. So yeah, I grew up in a real
(04:53):
medical family. But I always say, you know,
really all of America is that truly?
But maybe I was more, I don't know.
But anyway, I was like, OK, let's do it, You know?
So I go to him, he does all thismuscle testing.
And finally, he says, all right,you need to take these herbs and
you need to be off dairy for a year and maybe you can get back
(05:15):
on, but I don't know, we'll haveto see.
And so I did that. Everything healed, went away,
the problems went away, never came back in all this time.
And it was just my first experience in something natural
that could help heal the body, which the body is designed to
heal. We just kind of have to get out
of the way of it. You know, sometimes we do things
(05:38):
that aren't helping the body heal.
So that was my first experience into natural health.
And and then I got home, I, you know, had my third child at 42
and at 43 my body just kind of crashed, you know, takes a lot
out of you having kids. And I went to a naturopath Dr.
(05:59):
at that time and he was like, your adrenals are shot, your
thyroids messed up, you have toomuch bad bacteria in your gut,
not enough good. So we need to fix all that.
So, you know, we said about fixing all that with natural
substances, herbs and diet and, and so, you know, I just got on
(06:21):
that path of I always like to say, you know, the body is not
deficient in anything synthetic and the substances from the
ground that, you know, God gave us can help us heal.
And that's so fascinating to me.I think so I had this whole
natural health journey. I got my own traditional
(06:42):
naturopath certification and 2018.
But you know, during my 40s, my goal was, Oh my gosh, I've got
to have energy. That was just my motivating push
because I've got these three little kids.
You know, I can't do this job. I, you know, I was like in bed
for a week every six weeks before I went to him and got
things figured out. And, you know, like that just, I
(07:04):
just have to do that. You know, when you're a mom, you
got your little kids, you're pretty highly motivated.
So and also just loving the factthat we could do this without
prescription medicine or over the counter things or whatever.
So that was kind of, you know, I, I mean, that was kind of how
the transition happened. I was also, though, I've always
(07:28):
been so interested in televisionproduction, video production and
that transition into the world of social media and just the
world of it today was pretty easy and and fun.
So that's that's kind of how I got back to Oklahoma and kind of
got into natural health. I also had the fascination of
longevity, you know, just wow, what how do these people make it
(07:53):
to 90 a hundred? They're healthy, you know,
what's the secret? And so I've, you know, studied a
lot on that, too. Just of course, the Blue Zones.
I'm sure your audience knows what those are, but a lot of
other studies too in that area. Yes, you're almost kind of
forced through your own health to make that transition.
(08:13):
How was that transition? How difficult was it
transitioning from going from LAto middle America, raising five
children, homeschooling, and really all this a new career?
I mean it, it was seriously a transition.
I always say when I moved back here, it was reverse culture
shock, you know, because I had grown up here but left at 18,
(08:38):
spent eight years in San Antonio, a big city in Texas,
another eight years in LA. So 16 years of, you know, my
adult formation, adult life was away from here, just back to
visit here and there. And so when we came back, you
know, I, we were both, like I said, we can only come back if
(08:58):
we can travel. Like we gotta be able to travel.
But it was, it was tough. I will say it was tough for five
years. It, it took me that long to, to
embrace it. I, I've embraced it and I like
to travel, but yeah, it, it tooka while to learn to love it.
And, but also, I was 35, my biological time clock was
(09:22):
ticking. You know, it was like it's time
to have kids. I knew I wanted kids someday,
but I, I guess I was just a little later to that than
others, which was fine because Iloved having my career.
And so, you know, then, then I had one and then a second one
and I met a great family that homeschooled and I was just, and
(09:47):
I also went to some interesting conferences actually about the
the bait, the brain of the childfrom zero to three up in
Philadelphia. It's really fascinating
conferences learning about that,which kind of all of that led me
to the homeschooling world. You know, God gave me these
kids. I think I'm supposed to be the
(10:08):
one to teach him about the world, so.
So it sounds like your story kind of shifted in your mid to
late 30s, early 40s. Your book is titled 60 is a Good
Start. What inspired that title and
what does it mean to you? It's got a double meaning.
The 1st is when I turned 60 and also when I turned 50 and 40.
(10:33):
I remember those decade birthdays and the year leading
up to them. For me, just kind of was real
introspective and, you know, asking these questions, what am
I doing with my life? Am I doing what I should be
doing? You know, just really kind of
looking at it. Well, at 40, I was pregnant with
our second. At 50, I was adopting our fifth.
And so I ultimately thought, yeah, I'm doing what I'm
(10:55):
supposed to be doing right now. But 60 year old around and I was
asking the same questions, but it was just different.
It was, you know, my big three are, you know, old, out of the
house. My younger 2 are very
independent and my life's just totally different than what it
was. And so I was very restless.
(11:16):
I'd been teaching women, adult women for the prior decade about
natural health, you know, onlineand in local classes.
And I still love that. But I, I was restless.
I was like, OK, I just need something different.
I need something that is, it wasthat purpose part.
(11:37):
I need something I can sink my teeth into.
And I'm talking like for the next 5 to 10 years, like not,
not just something right now this year, but something more
significant. So I just was restless.
And I have come to find out thatthat is very common for women my
age, probably men too. But you know, just this time in
(11:59):
your life where all of a sudden you, you have some space in your
life in your mind, you know, to think about these things and to
ask these questions and to make it change.
Maybe, maybe it's a slight change, maybe it's a big change.
And so I went on this kind of little 7 month right at my
(12:19):
birthday at that points about 7 month little journey of trying
to figure out what was that thing going to be.
And so I just, I thought I'm going to have to say yes to some
things that just sort of pop up.Like I need to be real aware of
what's popping up in front of meand I'm gonna have to say yes to
a few things, I think to get to the thing that whatever that
(12:39):
thing is. And so I got into some Facebook
groups. I got, I got into a group that
was, it was a Facebook group that I bought a calendar from
this guy. And, and these people all ages,
male and female, they were really living life.
And his whole thing was he wanted you to create a misogi, a
Japanese word for a life changing event every year
(13:02):
because he was, you know, he wants you to make a memory, you
know, do something significant, maybe something hard each year.
So you can be like, yeah, 2021 my misogi was this 20/22 it was
this. And so that was pretty
interesting. So I'm I'm in this group for
like 3 months. I don't know anybody in it and
I'm not really talking I'm just reading people's posts and
(13:24):
stuff. And this girl pops up finally
like 3-4 months into it and she says hey tomorrow I'm going to
start 75 hard. It's a challenge and does anyone
want to do it with me? Well, I had heard of that four
months prior and it was created by this big muscular tattooed
guy and I listened to his podcast about it.
(13:45):
It's like a 45 minute podcast and I thought there's no way I
can do that. You know, it was this 245 minute
exercises a day you had to do one had to be outside in the
elements, you had to drink a gallon of water, this really
clean diet. No, no, you know, can't do
anything bad. No sugar, no alcohol, no
whatever. Or go on a diet and read 10
(14:07):
pages in a book. And so you had to do that every
day for 75 days. If you messed up, you had to
start over. Like there was no, no grace.
No, it was hardcore. And it was really about mental
toughness. And so when I first heard about
it, I was, I thought, no way. I can't, I'm not your target
market. And so, but after being in that
(14:28):
group for four months, and this goes to the point of we are the
five people we hang out with, I love that line.
You know, it's just how are we being influenced?
Like are we around? And it, you know, it can be
people you hang out with, you live with, you know, or some
online group. I mean, just that's an example
of it. You know, all of a sudden I went
(14:50):
and listened to that podcast again and I thought, I think I
can do this. And this could be my misogi.
And I just turned 60, so I was highly motivated.
So I did it and it was great. And I also was in a little
online mastermind kind of it wasall ages, it was women, but all
ages. Just sort of asking again those
(15:11):
those big questions, what am I doing with my life?
What do I want to do? And finally it was July 4th.
I was doing a little 10 minute breathing exercise that I like
to do. And I just came to me, I just
was like, I'm going to write a book.
That's what I think I'm going todo, you know?
And then my brain was like, what, what are you talking
(15:31):
about? It's all been written before,
you know, there's nothing new. But no, I was like, no, I think
I'm, I think I'm going to so that that's what happened.
And 60 is a good start was, oh, I was 60 when I started it.
It really is referring to midlife.
For some people that's 50. For some people, they had kids
(15:52):
earlier than I did and they're an empty nest earlier than I
was. Maybe it's 70, maybe just
whatever. It's just in there somewhere.
That's kind of who I'm talking to.
The principles I will say apply to male or female and any age,
but I'm I am talking to sort of the midlife people.
The second meaning of the book is that it takes at least 60
(16:18):
days to create a new habit. And we know this because Doctor
Caroline Leaf, she's that neuroscientist.
She's written tons of books. She has seen through the
microscope the nerve cells in the brain and you can see on the
dendritic spines the habit formation.
It turns into a little umbrella shaped thing when it when a
(16:39):
habit is formed. It's really interesting.
And so she says it's at least 60days.
It could be as much as eight months.
It depends on the person, on thehabit.
Is it a thought habit? Is it a physical habit?
You know, what is it? And so 60 is a good start.
And, and what this book leads tois the formation of the
(17:01):
longevity habits that all these studies had in common, even
studies on cancer longevity through cancer lifestyle habits.
That's what I'm talking about inthe physical, the mental,
emotional, spiritual, and the world, your purpose and your
relationships. So that's where all those habits
fall into those categories. So those are the two meanings.
(17:21):
That's the long the long explanation.
A great explanation if you're enjoying the Aging Well podcast,
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(17:43):
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And now back to the podcast. Many women feel invisible and
often even irrelevant after midlife.
What do you say to women who feel like their best years are
(18:04):
behind them when they hit midlife, whether again it's
506070? Yeah, I will just say that is a
myth, and you just have to change your mindset about it
because this, I think, can be the most incredible time of our
lives. I mean, we have space.
We, I mean, you know, I don't know about other people, but for
(18:25):
those decades of racing kids, you know, a lot of times it was
like we're just trying to survive here.
We're just trying to get people fed and clothed and educated,
right, Keep them safe. And you know, it's a lot of
work. And but that this even goes for
somebody. Maybe they don't have kids,
maybe they had a full on career,you know, I'm sure it was a lot
(18:47):
of work, much less the person that's got both going on, right.
So, so those, it's those decadesof, you know, 20s, thirties,
40s, fifties, maybe, you know, those are hardcore decades.
And now you're at this point of not only do you have some time
to think, like I love the line, leave room for the magic, you
know, to just sort of come up inyour mind, but we have the
(19:10):
wisdom of a lifetime. It's a pretty great combination.
There's so many people, and I list a lot in the book of, of
people that have really come into their own and come into
their life's work at this point in the last half, the last third
of their life. Yeah.
You just, it's a mindset shift. It's what it is.
(19:30):
You just have to decide, OK, I'mnot.
In fact, right before 2 weeks before I decided to write the
book, I happen to be in Dallas with my best friend from growing
up. We've known each other since we
were 6 and we were, I was with her and her friends.
And so we're all like 60. This is right then.
And so we're having a drink in abar like 5 ladies and talking
(19:54):
about that fact. And then my friends said, well,
I hear 60 is the gateway to old age.
And I just said no, no, we can't.
We can't look at it like that. I just had a real vehement
response, you know, and so they say, you know, your purpose can
be tied into things that you're passionate about, that things
that make you angry, you know, things that just sort of bring
(20:15):
up an emotional response. So interesting place to look for
if you're looking for what is mynew purpose?
So how can we reframe aging as atime of vitality and growth
rather than decline? Well, I mean, that's why I, you
know, my book is a combination of looking at natural health,
you know, not deep. I mean, because we're talking
(20:38):
about longevity, we're talking about habits, habit formation,
but we have to feel good, right?We've, we've got to make the
effort to feel good. And so the, there's three
pillars in the book that are called, I call body work, brain
work and world work. And under each are the big 5.
And so these are the big 5 areasof, of a habit that I want you
(21:01):
to choose one thing from each ofthese categories to do for 60
days. So there's planner that goes
with it. There's an online program you
can do if you want, or you can do with your friends or
something. I do think accountability is
important under that bodywork part, which is really where I
think that first, you know, the part of feeling good.
(21:23):
We, we have to look at this stuff.
Eat, what are we eating? We have to look at our diet.
You know, right now I'm 64, protein is crucial.
You know, I never paid attentionto it before I but it at this
point in my life, the two biggest things that are crucial
to me right now are getting enough protein.
(21:43):
We're in the middle of a 60 day dare right now.
And I'm one of mine is I have toeat 30 grams of protein before I
eat anything else each day. And so that has been fantastic.
The other part that goes with that for me are is strength
training. So building muscle and it's
never too late. All right, if you think it's too
(22:04):
late, get on Instagram and follow John McDonald.
Her name, her name on there is trained with Joan.
She is now 78. She did not start getting
healthy. She didn't start.
She was overweight, sick on prescription drugs, all kinds of
things at 70. And her daughter, a health
coach, said, mom, we got to get you healthy and we can.
(22:26):
So she just little by little started her strength training
and eating right. And little by little she got off
those medications. She is now so fit and she's so
she's like a grandma. I mean, she's sweet.
And so that's that's a great oneto be inspired by.
But you know, so we have to. And are we drinking enough water
(22:48):
that that's so eat, move your body.
If you're sedentary and you don't ever do that, then we're
just going to start with you putting those tennis shoes on
and walk into the stop sign and back.
I mean, it's, I always like to say baby steps, 60 days at a
time, you know, but sleep, are you sleeping well enough 7 to 9
hours? And there's a million little
(23:09):
strategies you can do to help that area.
And then breathing, deep breathing is a important thing.
So those are the big 5 in body work.
And so, and, and these habits, these longevity lifestyle habits
fall into those things. Drink are we drinking enough
water? Half our body weight and oz at
least then I think there's some statistic I've got.
I keep forgetting to look this up again, but it was, I know it
(23:32):
was over 50% of ER visits are solved with hydration.
You know, people just don't drink enough water.
And I like to think of it in terms of imagining the organs in
our body, the veins and arteries, they need to be supple
and soft and, you know, versus hard, like thinking about
hardening of our, you know, justjust and that that helps me want
(23:57):
to drink my water. Also.
You got to keep it with you all the time.
But but those are the big 5 in body work.
And so I think when someone starts to get on that track of,
you know, being doing the healthy things, then that's
going to lead to a good place feeling better.
And sometimes it's going to takea little while.
(24:18):
You know, it took our bodies maybe a lifetime to get in the
shape they're in. It's going to take a little
time, but that's that's what we're here to do is help people
with consistently building good habits.
So there's the brain work, whichis also, you know, mental,
emotional, spiritual, and you know, there could be issues
(24:38):
there. There could be toxic
relationships, there could be trauma that hadn't been dealt
with that needs to be dealt with.
And so, you know, there's the big 5 there too, that address
all of those. I can go into what those are if
you'd like. OK, so number one is right.
So and you're going to pick whatwhat do you think you should do
(24:59):
for these 60 days? So right would be journaling,
you know, brain download every day.
If you've got a lot of stuff in your brain and you just can't
think straight and sort it out every day, you just going to sit
down and do like 5 or 10 minute,just get it on to paper, hand
write it on to paper. Maybe you're going to journal
about some trauma. You know, that's a good way to
start just to kind of get it outand get it onto paper.
(25:23):
Maybe you need to go to therapy too, but this could be one
process that's really good. Number 2 is read, and that is
some kind of nonfiction, uplifting personal development.
It could be business development, something that is
improving you and you could do an audio book or you can read a
book that's number two certain, you know, 10 pages a day would
(25:45):
be great #3 is clear. So that's a choice of either
like a 15 minute. I'm doing this one right now.
Decluttering session in your house, just like I just, I did
my top drawer here the other day.
I was shocked at how I had, I had tolerated it for about two
years of being a disaster, you know, but it's just, we all have
(26:06):
all those places. And so decluttering because that
can really affect your mental state or toxing.
This goes back to the natural health, getting the chemicals
out of your home that you can get out of your home.
Usually they're in the laundry room, under the kitchen sink and
in the bathroom. So, you know, everything that we
put on our skin is going into our bloodstream and we've just
(26:30):
got to be reading labels. We've got to be choosing
products, what laundry soap, toothpaste, makeup, skin care,
shampoo, all the things. So we got to choose things that
are healthy plant based with no chemicals.
There's a great app, Yucca YUKA.And I will, if I'm looking at
something new, I'll just open that app and type it in.
(26:52):
And I think you can even scan the barcode and see how do they
rate it. And they'll go why they why they
rate it poor, you know, well, it's got this chemical in it and
this what this chemical does. So it's, it's a great little
tool. And then the 4th 1 is meditate,
pray or use affirmations. So going to the spiritual side
(27:13):
things, maybe a 10 minute session on that.
And the fifth one is create. So this is like art making.
My favorite is needlepoint. I've been really into that for
the last four years and I it's my reward at the end of the day,
you know, but they say 45 minutes of some kind of art
making just for the purpose of distressing, like adult coloring
(27:33):
books. You know, that became a big
thing. It lowers cortisol.
So that's pretty cool. And all of these go to de
stressing, which is a big thing.So those are the brain work
options. And then in the world work, the
bodywork and brain work, you're going to choose something and do
it for 60 days because we're building habit in the world
work. You can rotate through these or
(27:54):
you can rotate 2 or all 5 or whatever each week, or you can
do the first one which is calledDream.
There are 60 questions in the book that you would answer one
each day of the 60 day dare. And that is for the person that
doesn't know. They feel restless like I did,
and they don't know. They know they want to do
(28:16):
something different. They're just not sure what it
is. So I really believe these
questions will little by little lead you to that path of where
you should be. So you could do that.
A number 2 is engaged, so that'sjust engaging in relationships.
World work is all about purpose and relationships at this point
in life. You know, loneliness is a big
(28:36):
factor and there are people thatare widows or divorced.
The kids are all gone or just for maybe they're real introvert
to, you know, whatever the reasons that and and the the
studies I've seen lately on on longevity is so interesting.
I've seen multiple ones that arereally keen in on that
particular part, that relationship part as being maybe
(28:59):
the most important of all of thelongevity factors.
You know, that you have people in your life that you can count
on that build you up that you know are just important and you
know, you can call them if whenever you need to or you
know, And so that engage is thatyou're going to make the effort
to ask someone to go to coffee. They call someone, you know,
(29:22):
this is not texting, call someone on the phone, you know,
you're maybe your brother that lives across the country and you
haven't talked to in a year, youknow, just whatever kind of
engagement you can go to dinner with somebody, get with a group
and do something fun, you know. So sometimes that's easy for
some people and it's hard for other people.
So that would be maybe somebody that that's hard for.
(29:45):
They might do that once a week or twice a week.
Third one is gather and that is on the spiritual side of things.
All of these studies says these people were part of some kind of
spiritual community. So that could be church, it
could be a small group, it couldbe a one-on-one, but for the
purpose of discussing spiritual things or learning about spirit.
(30:08):
And then help would be the volunteer, like go volunteer for
something that has LED tons of people to a new purpose, that
part of their life. And then the last one I call
ACT, and that is if you do know your new purpose or your
slightly different purpose, you're going to spend an hour a
day working on it or however many days you determine for the
(30:28):
week. So those are the big 5 in each
of the three categories. Cool.
So very much what we try and promote here on the Aging Well
podcast. So we're on on the same page.
Yes. So coming from a family of MD's,
what was it like embracing a more natural, holistic approach
to health and what were some of the big changes that you made
(30:49):
initially? Well, it was, you know, it was
really funny. Our first child was AC section.
And then I had sort of this 180°turn on what I thought birth
should be. And I remember I that conference
I went to of the babies brains zero to three, the guy that ran
(31:12):
that showed this film, he, he travelled the whole world
studying babies brains zero to three, Africa to, you know, just
all kinds of areas. And he showed this black and
white film. It didn't have any sound.
And it was just, he just did this pan across this tribe out
in the fields. They're kind of in a tree
foresty area. And they're just sitting there,
(31:34):
you know, I don't know, carving something, carving a stick or,
you know, they're just doing random things.
And finally gets over to this lady sitting in a hammock with a
hole in the bottom of it. And she is having a baby and she
has this baby. It doesn't look like it's
stressing her out or anything. She reaches under the hammock,
pulls the baby up to her, gets an ember off the fire, burns off
(31:57):
the cord. Everybody's, nobody's like
jumping around. Yeah, everybody's just like,
this is an everyday occurrence type thing.
And I was just, I was bowled over by that video.
This is after I'd had AC section.
I thought, Oh my gosh, this is the way birth is meant to be.
It's been going on for so many years.
And so I ended up having a home birth after that and, and then
(32:20):
another home birth after that. Well, my, my father was a
surgeon and now we live in the same town as my parents, as my
husband's parents. His mother was an OBGYN.
And we thought on that first home birth, we other we can't
tell them they'll freak out. So so we didn't until the baby
had been born, they thought we were going to do the regular go
(32:43):
to the hospital thing like we had done the last time.
And so there were you know, I mean, I guess at some point they
all just started going well, that's Allison.
She does things a little different, but you know,
there's, there's always kind of a, a pushback on the whole the
world of natural health. I, I think it's getting better,
you know, especially in the lastyear or two, but there's always,
(33:08):
you know, there's just always pushback.
And so it's, it's a bit of a fight sometimes to, to have the
strength to do, you know, you, you, you believe in this thing
and doing things this way, but the world around you doesn't
really and doesn't really necessarily agree.
So you really have to find the people that are your people, you
know, and that's what we kind ofdid here when with teaching
(33:31):
classes. And I remember some people came
to a class one time, they're like, Oh my gosh, I didn't know
you guys existed. I was like, well, we're kind of
the underground, but not really.I mean, we're just, you know,
talking about things we believedin.
But you know, I in my 40s, we started drinking raw milk.
I was in a food Co-op. So we would go, you know, once a
(33:52):
week. One of the moms there was like
probably 30 moms of families andonce a week one of us would
drive out 40 minutes to this farm and you know, in Oklahoma,
you, you have to buy it straightfrom the farmer.
They they don't sell it in AI think they sell it in grocery
stores where you are, don't theyI.
Don't think you can get it in grocery stores yet?
(34:13):
OK, somewhere that you can't, I don't remember where, but
probably only one or two places in the country.
So that was one of the beginningthings.
And then I read some incredible books on how in, you know, 100
years ago, doctors used raw milkfor healing people with ulcers
and all kinds of gut issues. And you got to be, you know,
God, trust your farmer that they're doing things right.
(34:36):
So that, you know, that was a big thing.
We were we would semi trucks monthly with the kind of foods
that Whole Foods would have, butthere was number middleman and
we live in a smaller town, so there's no Whole Foods.
So you know, just trying to eat right and and take supplements.
I mean, gosh, supplements are a great thing and I always are
(34:58):
just like, if you've got some issue, you check that first.
Umm, it that might solve your problem versus having to get on
a medication which is going to have side effects.
They all do. Yeah.
You gotta really look at that. Not saying that they can't be
save somebody from some situation.
I mean, I, you know, I love my dad.
I, he's dead now, but I totally respected what he did.
(35:22):
But for just general health, youknow, it's great for
emergencies, it's great for lifesaving, incredible.
But for just general health, youknow, we really need to look at
what are we eating? What are our habits?
What supplements might we need? And you're not really going to
know all the best details on that, honestly, unless you're
going to a naturopath Dr. or a functional or integrative
(35:44):
medical doctor. They're using those terms now
because they're the ones that are going to give you the test,
the, the saliva test for your hormones, sex hormones, the
urine test for your neuro hormones, dopamine, serotonin
and all that. Those are important to look at.
You know, somebody's depressed. Well, what are those hormones
looking like? It's it's an easy supplement to
(36:05):
fix some of that stuff anyway. So what do you wish more women
knew about natural solutions forthings like hormonal balance,
energy, immunity, and so on? That it would.
I would. I wish they knew how easy it
really is. You know, everybody's just in
this model of thinking they justhave to go to their local MD to
(36:27):
get what they need. And I mean, in medical schools,
they don't teach nutrition. So your doctor does not know
about nutrition. Your hospital is serving you
green beans out of a can and jello.
I mean, isn't that crazy? That blows my mind that they are
not serving like incredible foodwith, you know, no seed oils and
(36:48):
beef tallow and bone broth and you know, all these healing
kinds of things. So unfortunately, you've got to
search these things out. You got to do a little research
or find some people you can trust that do the research And
but it's not that hard. It really isn't to just take a
little ownership and all of thatand and look for, you know, the
(37:11):
solutions. Look, look for natural before
you have to revert to synthetic.Just look.
And we, we do see a lot of tension, I think presently
between or traditional medicine approaches and more naturopathic
care. And just even within both
(37:31):
spectrums of that, that they're,you know, you go on to goo, you
Google, go on YouTube and there's just so much contrary
information in there. How do you go about addressing
that tension between not only just traditional medicine and
naturopathic care, but within those realms as well?
How do you get people to to not just follow some influencer on
(37:55):
YouTube because, you know, they look like they're in shape?
And frankly, I look at most of the longevity so-called experts
on YouTube and I'm like, no. No, I, I agree.
There are, there's so many and it's a big thing right now and
you, you have to just be discerning.
I mean, you know it. I like intuition to me, I think
(38:18):
is a real key skill and something you've got to learn to
know your own intuition and, andagain, be discerning on these
things. Everyone is different.
We are all different. We all have individual needs.
So what this person needs, you don't necessarily need, you need
(38:38):
something else. And the there's multiple ways to
start to figure that out. And like, I'll go back to, you
know, go to a functional medicaldoctor and get the right test to
start out with. Test your neuro hormones, test
your sex hormones. Then the naturopath doctors rely
more on a saliva test than a blood test.
(38:59):
So usually a regular medical doctor is going to do a blood
test, but with the research they've done, they think the
saliva test is more accurate. It's giving them better
information. You know, these functional
medical doctors, they're going to test on a blood test, They're
going to test like 75 to 100 different markers where and when
(39:21):
they get those reports back. There's a range that says, OK,
you're in the normal range or you're in, you're outside the
normal range. Well, a medical doctor is
typically, not all probably, buttypically going to be like, Yep,
you're in the right range, you're fine.
First of all, all labs are different.
Their ranges are going to be different.
(39:43):
But a naturopath, he wants to optimize your health.
He's like, here's here's the normal range.
I want you in here. This is what we're going for.
So what you need a little bit ofthis, we need a little bit of
that. We need to take this out, you
know, whatever it is. So, you know, you just have to
know that you're different. You may want to have some gene
(40:05):
testing, you know, you may want to have some stool testing.
I mean, that's 85% of our healthis our immune system is in our
gut. And so that's going to tell you
how's the bacteria balance the good and the bad.
And you know if that's not right.
Then it's going to be hard for other things to be right.
So that would be a, if you've never done that, I highly
(40:28):
recommend that to really see, you know, where are you but in
the blood test tube. That's going to tell you a lot
of things. Vitamin D is a big one, you know
that people just sort of blow off, but just getting enough
vitamin D can really help things.
Yeah, I think it's interesting that, you know, we don't
understand that normal is based off of the average population,
(40:51):
which means, you know, you're between mean ±1 standard
deviation from the mean, and that mean is a very unhealthy
population. It is.
So like for me, I teach my students and just kind of
occurred to me within the last year or so as I was presenting
data on within the normative data on bench press.
(41:12):
You know what your scores shouldbe at different ages.
And if you're 25 or you're in your 20s, if you can bench your
body weight, you're considered to be in fair condition.
At my age, in my 60s, I'm now 62, if I can bench my body
weight, which I can with some joint pain, but I'm considered
superhuman, and it's like, that's ridiculous.
(41:34):
I'm not that strong, you know? It's just that the expectation
is that our body is going to decline and that's what we're
presented with as we go to a more traditional medical
sources. We or you're just getting older.
Well, that's that's a bullshit answer.
Yes, I'm getting older, but I shouldn't be declining.
(41:55):
And So what kind of transformations have you seen
from the women who go through the program?
How can our listeners join? What can they expect from the
experience? Well, I think if if you want
some accountability, this is this is a great place to do it.
I'll give you the links for how to get there.
It's my website, which is my name, Allison Mccune davis.com.
(42:17):
And you'll see 60 day there up there.
You can click and it takes you right to the community and you
can join if you want. You know, I've had we're we're
actually right this moment. We're beta testing it.
We're going to start another onein about a month.
And it's been really fun to watch, particularly I've loved
watching some of these people that are doing those 60 dream
(42:38):
questions. We, we do a weekly Zoom call for
accountability that, you know, we just get on there.
We talk about, you know, what's working, how's it going, what's
not working, you know, what could help.
And so, you know, just various people are doing different
things. And so like we're on day 50
right now. And so we've been talking about
just how, how it just start, youknow, probably people tend to
(43:02):
quit things around 3 weeks, you know, that's I think New York or
New Year's resolutions and, and things, you know, challenges and
things like that. So the goal is to really try to,
you know, keep going, but it starts to become part of your
life just like, OK, this is my routine when you start getting
(43:22):
into the 30 days, 40 days. And so that's really nice.
I do think that, you know, again, 60 is a good start.
So this is the start. The goal is to keep going.
You know, we'll, we'll probably have little bits of space
between each of the 60 day dares, but also anybody can
(43:43):
start at any time in the community.
So there are people in there that I'm on day 50 today.
There are people in there that are on day 35, you know, just
whatever it is. So we're all doing the same
thing. We're all, you know, going for
the same goal. But yeah, people are.
It could because you're you and you have to adjust your life a
little bit and you have to figure out like for instance,
(44:04):
the other day, one of the thingsI'm doing is the the breathing
exercise. Well, I've mostly done it in the
morning. Sometimes I have forgotten or
just didn't have time or whatever my excuse was.
And so I did it in the afternoon.
And then there's been sometimes that I totally forgot all day
and literally was in bed that night and did it right before I
(44:26):
went to sleep. But I don't like that.
And so I was trying to figure out how could I, you know, when
we were talking about this on the Zoom call, how could I, you
know, have it stack that, which is what I ended up deciding to
do. So in the mornings, I love to
have a slow morning. That's one of my favorite things
in life. And so I drink my coffee.
(44:47):
That's healthy coffee with minerals in it actually.
And I have two cups, but they'relike three quarter, each one's
like 3/4 of a cup with my Frenchpress.
And so I decided that I'm going to have my first cup.
I have to do the breathing before I get my second cup.
So we'll see how that works in terms of, you know, just making
(45:10):
that a solid habit that really happens in the mornings because
it's a great way to start your day.
Kind of you're kind of igniting all of your body systems by
doing that deep breathing Wim Hof.
You know who Wim Hof is? Yeah, his stuff.
I love his app. I've been using it for years.
So did that answer your question?
Yeah. OK.
Right. So we asked this question of all
(45:32):
our guests and you've kind of gave in some of the the answer,
but what are you doing personally to age well?
Well, yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm in the middle of my 60 day.
Dare I? I'm the protein.
The 30 grams of protein is a bigdeal.
I really think it's making a huge difference along with the I
do three Monday, Wednesday, Friday strength training.
(45:54):
And so I feel like, I feel like my muscles are bigger, you know,
and I do believe it's that protein.
I've just always kind of struggled to get enough protein
and never like made it that kindof priority like I am right now.
So that, that's pretty huge. I always do, I sleep that amount
so that I that's normal for me. And then the breathing is pretty
(46:15):
great. You know, I'm just, I mean, my
goal is to have all of these things that are these big 5 in
each of these categories be a part of my life.
And so I'm choosing to do the ones that just aren't quite part
of my life or there may be partsthat I don't feel like I really
need at this point anymore. Like the writing, I mean, the
(46:36):
the brain download. I kind of do that anyway when
I'm just planning my day or planning my week.
But so, so it's just, you know, attacking each of these as, as,
as I can and, you know, getting the exercise, getting the
getting the world work part too,though, I mean, get that
purpose, that purpose part is huge because we want to wake up
(46:58):
excited about the day, excited to what are we going to do?
That's really cool. That's going to, that's going to
delight us. You know, what are the desires
of our heart? You know, God, I think God put
those desires in there, there because we're supposed to do
them. I think some people think, oh, I
should do this and that would beselfish to do that thing.
(47:18):
That's the desire of my heart. Well, probably not.
It's probably there for a reason, you know, and you really
have to explore that. But there's a line I love that's
that says your future is hidden in your daily routine.
And so I think we have to ask ourselves, who, who do I want to
be? What kind of person do I want to
be a year from now or five yearsfrom now or 10?
(47:41):
And what am I doing in my daily routine to get me to that place?
So deciding today what you want to be for tomorrow what what
advice would you give if you went back to your 40 year old
self? What advice would you give that
person about aging and what would it be?
Well, it would probably one thing would be to pay more
attention to the like the exercise piece and that's hard
(48:04):
to do. I mean, I, I had, you know, 3
little kids and then added another two and during my 40s
and, but even still, it was at age 55.
I, I guess I had a mini freak out at 55 versus the full blown
at 60. And at 55, I, for that previous
15 years I had exercised just off and on.
(48:28):
I was not being consistent. And finally I, I read a good
book and it was about, it was written by a 70 year old man.
It's called younger next year. You ever heard of that book?
I haven't really good. It's written by two guys, a
doctor and a 70. The doctor I think was in his
50s and the 70 year old was a lawyer.
(48:48):
He was so funny. But it was all about aging and,
you know, just really good book and it that was what inspired me
at 55. I just said OK and I was
homeschooling. I, it doesn't matter.
I had to take it to this extremein my brain.
It doesn't matter if my kids eatcereal for dinner, don't get
educated and blah, blah, blah. I have got to be healthy or I
(49:12):
won't be here anymore. And so I was like, I am going to
start exercising. I started with two days a week,
like going to this particular gym, you know, paid for it, like
the whole 9 yards. Then I went to three times a
week and ultimately 5 * a week over the course of about two,
two years, you know, to get to that point, maybe 3.
And that and, and my rest of my life revolved around those times
(49:36):
at the gym to just become consistent in exercise and, you
know, sweating and just doing what I needed to do in that
area. Because I just, of course I did
care if they got educated and, you know, ate well, but I just
had to take it to that extreme in my mind to make myself go
there and commit to that. And so, you know, also, so that
(50:00):
would be one thing is just, you know, pay more, pay attention to
that because like put the mask gone in the airplane 1st and
then then put it on your kids. You know, you got to, you've got
to be that person that's fit andthen all of that will just
overflow to the people around you.
But I'd also say don't worry about what anybody else thinks
(50:22):
about anything. You know, you're here to do you
and people are unique, and that's the fun part.
And, you know, just don't worry about one of my things.
I think people worry about that too much.
I'm sure I did. Hopefully I didn't go to the
extreme of just giving your kidscereal for dinner.
Oh, there could have been a timeor two.
(50:42):
Because that's where we kind of set up those bad patterns for
people to have to change when they hit 60s.
That's true. It's true.
It's true. But hopefully we make those
changes, we're making them not only for ourselves, but we're
making them for the family as well.
For. The kids we're seeing the exact.
Right. I want my kids to see me being
fit. Put attention and boy, they have
(51:02):
seen it. They'll tell you, you know,
attention to what are you eating?
Are you reading the labels? Are you exercising purpose too?
I mean, are you, you know, choosing to do what you were
meant to do, what you love, all that?
So you've already mentioned the web page and have you kind of
mentioned that again, but about where the listeners can learn
more about your work, the six join the 60 day chat there, But
(51:25):
more importantly, where can theyfind the book?
Oh, all the places, Amazon, Barnes Noble, wherever you buy
your books. There's the audio book too,
which I read. And then there's the planner
that goes with the book, if you want that.
That's made specifically for the60 day dare.
And I'm on Instagram and Facebook, mostly my full name.
Again, send me a message, be happy to chat.
(51:47):
Anything we missed discussing today?
I don't think so. We didn't.
We had a good talk. Really hope the listeners and
the viewers will kind of check out the book.
Maybe take advantage of, you know, whether they join your
group to do a 60 day dare. Maybe just find a, you know?
Group of friends. Were there four or five friends
that you said you wouldn't have a drink with?
Just have a drink. It's OK.
(52:09):
You know, it'll take you from a couple glasses of wine.
Let's let's come up with a 60 day dare.
But just baby steps is what we've always preached on here.
It's it doesn't take much. It's like 1 little thing that
you can change for 60 days. And maybe it's, you know, drink
one less pop or so. I don't know what they I don't
know what they call it in Oklahoma.
I'm from Pittsburgh. It's pop.
(52:30):
My wife, it's soda. Soda.
I would say it's soda. Texas is coke, but yeah.
I was going to say Coke. Everything's a Coke.
But yeah, if, if, if that's one of your habits, just changing
one of those. I teach my students if you drink
like 20 ounces of sugared pop a day and you stop doing that,
just avoiding one of them a day for 365 days, I think it
(52:53):
accounts to about 16 lbs of bodyfat.
Yeah, I believe it. It's it's huge.
When I remember, I quit drinkingsoda.
Soda, OK, I think it's soda. That was the natural one that
came up. I don't remember when, it was
probably in my late 30s or 40s, something like that, But I
remember it was significant whenI put that.
(53:13):
And these small little things really, really add up.
And I think we've we feel like we have to make these dramatic
changes in our lives and really change is just a series of 60
day challenges. It is.
It is. Everything is just a habit in
our thoughts. Our thoughts too.
They're just habits and we can change them.
OK, there's your final words forour listeners or viewers.
(53:34):
Do you have anything final to say to just kind of?
One other one other little concept that I think super
important and helps for success is to remember the the concept
of environment triggers behavior.
So I think it's real important that we always are setting up
our environments to trigger the behavior that we want.
(53:54):
So if we want to eat better thanin our refrigerator at eye
level, our we should have glass bowls with fruits and
vegetables. You know, it's like that's the
first thing we see. And, you know, set the tennis
shoes out to where you see them,like right when you wake up
there they are. They're not hidden in the closet
or you know, I have a cushion, afloor cushion that I like to sit
(54:19):
on. You know, I sit in the chair
too, but sometimes I like to siton the floor cushion.
Well, that's making you get all the way down, then get all the
way up. You know, that kind of movement
mobility. So just, I have my supplements
in little tiny Baggies for my morning.
My morning ones are right here in my office, right when I walk
in, they're in a pretty crystal bowl.
(54:40):
I just grab a little baggie. Oh, here's one right here.
And and so they're right there. And, and there's a few other
supplements that are liquids that I, you know, just can grab
and drink. And then I've got my night time
on my night stand. So it's just setting your life
up to trigger that behavior thatyou're looking for that's
important. Perfect advice.
(55:02):
Well, I think this was a great conversation.
I really appreciate having you on today.
Best of luck with the book and promoting it.
And you know, just keep doing what you're doing.
Keep aging well. Thank you.
You too. Thank you for listening.
I hope you benefited from today's podcast and until next
time, keep aging well.
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