Why Growing Older Can Be Your Greatest Advantage

Summary
In this episode, Allison McCune Davis shares her insights on aging gracefully, building health through natural methods, and embracing life's transitions with purpose and vitality. Holly Porter hosts a conversation that empowers women over 60 to live vibrantly and intentionally.



Takeaways
Redefining aging and mindset shifts
Natural health practices and diet changes
Importance of protein and muscle building after 50
The role of retreats in life transitions
Self-advocacy in healthcare and wellness
Your age is a mindset, not a limit.
Starting healthy habits early benefits longevity.
Retreats can help women find purpose and community.
Protein and muscle are key to mobility and independence.
Self-advocacy is crucial for health care.



Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Allison McCune Davis
01:04 Redefining Aging at 60 and Beyond
02:03 How Natural Health Changed Allison’s Life
04:50 Health Mistakes Women Over 50 Make
06:40 The Power of Purpose and Routine
11:01 The Role of Retreats in Life Transitions
13:37 Designing a Retreat for Women Over 60
15:51 The Greatest Contribution Later in Life
17:32 Advice to My 40-Year-Old Self
18:22 Living Well: Fundamentals and Community
20:09 Rapid Fire: Personal Preferences and Tips



🔗 Connect with Allison McCune Davis
📧 Email: allisonessentials@gmail.com
🌐 Website: AllisonMcCuneDavis.com
📸 Instagram: @allison.mccune.davis
📘 Facebook: Allison McCune Davis


🔗 Connect with Holly Porter | Retreat RNR 
📧 Email: holly@hollyporter.com 
🔗 LinkedIn: Holly Porter | Retreat RNR 
🎵 TikTok: @retreatrnr 
▶️ YouTube: @intlretreatassociation
📸 Instagram: @retreatrnr | @hollyporterinternational 
📘 Facebook: HollyAnnPorter

FREE GIFT: 2026 Retreat Industry Report
https://internationalretreatassociation.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to All Things Retreat Podcast. I'm Holly Porter, your host and CEO of Retreat R. With over 25 years of experience in designing transformative retreats, I'm here to share insights and inspiration to help you create extraordinary experiences. Whether you're a pro or just starting out, you'll find valuable ideas here. Enjoy the ride. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hello and welcome everyone. Today's guest is Alison McCune Davis, and she is an author, traditional naturopath, not if I said that right, an entrepreneur and a mother of five. For more than 14 years, she's helped people pursue better health while building business and raising a family. Now, through her book, 60 is a good start, she's challenging everything we think and know about aging. Yay. Instead of seeing 60 as the beginning of the end, Allison believes it's the beginning of one of life's most meaningful and vibrant chapters. Welcome to the show. Thank you. It's so good to be here. Yeah. I have to always add in my little two cents, you know, because that's how my brain works. So I love that. It's funny, you know, it seems like we turn 50 and everybody goes, Well, my life, my life's half over. And I'm thinking, well, how many live to be a hundred? Right. I know. And it's all a mindset, right? It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Yes. I remember one of my friends was like, Oh, you're, you know, at 60, you're entering the gateway to old age. I was just like, no. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Well, my body's telling me different just from having, you know, long COVID from my whole COVID experience. It's like, oh, like, uh, it's a screaming. I'm amazing.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

There are a few changes that happen, yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah, but you know what? Go with the flow, you adapt, you just, you just uh mind over manner. Well, okay, so let's talk about you building a business while raising five children. What originally inspired you to pursue pursue natural health?

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Well, um, I guess it really started when I lived out in Los Angeles in my, I was probably 30 about this when this happened. My father was a surgeon, so I you know, I was raised in kind of a traditional medical environment, but I I think sort of all of America it has been too. So maybe not that different. But I went, I was working out there, and a friend of mine, I had this irritating thing that was happening physically. And this friend was like, Oh, you have to go to my TCM doctor. I was like, what is that? And she said, traditional Chinese medicine. And I just was, she said, he can totally help you. And I said, Okay, well, why not? Let's give it a try. So, you know, he was busy. It took me like six weeks to get in. And uh, I go in and he does all this muscle testing. Um, you know what muscle testing is, right? Yeah, I do, you know. Yeah. And so I'm with all these substances, you know, environmental things and little vials or foods, different things like that. Finally, he said, All right, you need to take these herbs, I don't remember what they were, and you need to have no dairy for probably a year. You may be able to get back on dairy at that point. We'll see. You may not. I was able to, but anyway, I was just like, okay, I'm gonna try this. And I realized I was eating dairy at every meal, you know, just typical bad diet of cereal and milk, cheese and crackers, pasta and cheese. That was kind of my standard diet. And at 30, you know, and uh it worked, and then it never came back. And so I was that was just my initial like, oh my gosh, herbs from the ground, plants, right? And diet, what I'm eating, can fix a, you know, an issue, a symptom, a whatever, as opposed to over-the-counter drugs or prescription medicine that I had used and hadn't worked. I mean, maybe it worked temporarily, but like the root cause wasn't figured out. And so that just was really interesting to me. And so for the next, you know, well, from then on, I just was little by little more interested, more interested. And I mean, it was I was about another decade later, I'd moved back to my to middle America and uh found my first naturopath doctor. And, you know, that was 25 years ago. So, you know, I just it just it just becomes a belief system of like, right? Like what we have the body is this this natural organism, you know, made by God. And it's just, you know, we got to put the right things in it, we got to do the right things. But mod modernity has made that a bit of a problem, especially in first world countries.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

So well, I know your focus is more on you know women 60 and above, but you women listening that are younger than that, you're gonna get there someday. So you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Right. Yeah, it's it's it's like it's kind of like reminds me of, you know, when when I don't know about you, but my age, when we were younger, I was in the Las Vegas sun on a black trampoline with tin foil underneath me and baby oil, and I'm a redhead. Come on, I mean, talk about a recipe for disasters like I've had the melanoma three times now. It's like you're you're just asking for trouble. So it's sometimes those things that like you said, you were eating cereal and milk and things that weren't you know helping your body. Yeah, and I think a lot of people are more conscious now than ever. I I really do, and I think I mean I I definitely go all natural if possible.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yeah, I mean when I'm always the first way to look, right? And then if that's not working, but sometimes that takes a little longer. It does a pill, you know, it it it's doing a certain action in your body, but I think listening to our body being intuitive really is is the key. It is the key, it is the key because everyone's different. Yeah, you know, there are generalities that kind of apply to you know human bodies, but everybody is different, yeah, different minds, conclusions, and there's different ways to fix things and opinions.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

I've noticed that you know, with with the long COVID that I got, it was like no doctors knew. They they were like listening to me because I knew more than them by how I was, you know, what I was doing. It was like self-medicating myself, figuring out different ways to help it. And and you know, like I said, sometimes they're just opinions and don't ever be afraid to get a second one for sure.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Oh gosh, for sure. Yes, yes, my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

So, as a traditional naturopath, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you see women making with their health after 50?

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Well, I mean, one of the biggest things that well, two of the biggest things that I think we have to focus on and be intentional about are the amount of protein that we're eating.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Right. And also building muscle. I mean, those two, and yeah, everybody's talking about it. So I I hope everybody's knows that already. I maybe my algorithms are just full of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

So I've been protein right now for sure. Wherever I'm looking.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

But you know, we have to have the protein to build the muscle, and we have to have the muscle to be mobile. And to, you know, I watched my mother, she died, I guess it was 2018. And those last few years, you know, she was kind of in a wheelchair, a walker, and then a wheelchair. Yeah. And her diet, when I think back about her diet, it was just awful. You know, it was the same thing every day. It was full of sugar, and her muscles just wasted away.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

And and her brain did a little bit too. Um, so, you know, so I think about that a lot. And boy, it has to be intentional. Like, you know, one of my favorite lines is your future is hidden in your daily routine. Yeah. And so, what is your daily routine or your weekly routine? You know, are you going to the gym or somehow, you know, doing resistance training to build those muscles? Especially like if you had to pick one area, it'd be the waist down, like the legs, right? They have to carry us and do all those things. You want to be able to sit down on the floor and you know, whatever, you know, and get up easily. Sure. Right. But so, so I think I don't, you know, there's a point in there where I think women do make that realization, but that I think those two things are really key and really where people, I'll speak for myself. I was 55 when um I'm, you know, I had my first child at 37. So I was later than most in all of this. And I was 55 when I finally said, Oh my gosh, if I don't start exercising regularly, so this is 10 years ago, yeah, um, I I'm not gonna be here to be the mom. Like, you know, the mom, it's like you're the hub of the whole family unit, or even, you know, in whatever your family is, you are. And so if you're not filling that cup up first, you know, put the oxygen mask on you first, and then like who you're with, if you're not doing what you need to physically be here and well, then that's that's not good. You know, yeah. So I finally when I was 55, I just hit a threshold on that subject. And I just, you know, had to take it to the extreme in my mind and say, okay, I'm my life is going to revolve around, you know, it started out, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I am going to this gym. I am going to pay for, you know, class or train or whatever. And um, and everything's gonna revolve around it. And, you know, whatever my kids need or my husband needs, this is gonna have to revolve around that. There's because there's always an excuse. Yeah, such and such happen, oh, that day I had to go. Oh, so and so called, oh, something happened. You know, there's always an excuse. And it's it's just about keeping promises to ourselves, right? We we keep them to other people, we show up, but are we doing it for us?

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Are we keeping the promise we said we would do? Yeah, I learned one thing that nobody cares about your health, like you should care about your health because and no one's your own advocate. You're your best advocate because I had nine doctors for a while. I had never had one, like regular ever, my whole life. There were like no records when I went to the hospital on me. And it was like nine doctors. I thought, why on earth would people need more than one? You know, and I had a I had a doctor for everything, a specialist for everything, because I had so many things going wrong. And it was just like, oh my gosh, I I mean, they don't they have so many people coming in and out of there. You're just a number. I I mean there's very few doctors who know you by name, who you can have that. I mean, and if you have one, hang on to them because they're rare, and then we'll actually listen to you, spend time with you. You gotta you gotta be your own advocate in in a not just your health, I mean life too, but yes, definitely your health. Um let's jump into talking a little bit about retreats. Why why do you believe retreats could play a powerful role during these life trans just transitions with women?

SPEAKER_02 11:08

I mean, you know, what happens in this life transition that for me it hit me when I was 60. That's why I ended up writing the book. But, you know, for others, maybe it's 50 or you know, just somewhere in there where you've spent the majority of your adult life giving to kids, probably kids. I think it's 85% of women have children. So most of the women, you know, that's what they've been doing for decades. And, you know, right, or you know, it could be, gosh, it could be 30 years or 40 years, you know, depending on how many you had. But you're just your whole life is giving to that. And so they start to leave the nest, which is the goal, and then all of a sudden you're just like, oh my gosh, what wait, what what what's my what am I doing? What is my role? What is my purpose? And um that's a real like it's like a midlife crisis kind of you hear about that in terms of men, but you know, it's women too, and it's just like really finding that purpose again, because you do have one, you know, until you die, I think. Um, but what's so beautiful about this time in our life is that we now have some brain space, like right, some margin in our brain to consider and to think about what might be something that I want to do now that's exciting, that makes me, you know, wake up in the morning and be thrilled for the day and what I'm gonna do. Because I definitely wasn't feeling that for a while, you know, and it was like, oh, I I gotta figure this out. Like, you know, so I so of course, retreats, oh my gosh, what woman doesn't think the sound of a retreat, you know, and there's a million different topics of retreats out there, but that can be an incredible place to help women reorient in the at for this new time in life, you know, this very exciting time in life because you've got the brain space and you've got the wisdom, the wisdom of all these decades of life. That's huge.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

It is huge, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

And what what a great place to go, go on a retreat and really, you know, just kind of sink into, you know, whatever it is, various meditation times or just you know, journaling key questions to you know, purpose type things. And you know, it's a great place to do something like that.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Oh, for sure. Yeah, definitely. Um, if so if you were gonna design a retreat for women over 60, what what would that look like for you?

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Well, it would need to be in a beautiful place, of course. Um, to me, I love the beach, so something something, you know, at an ocean retreat spot would be wonderful. But I would want to spend, you know, I would want to sort of design it between doing the physical things, you know, like eating really good food, really healthy food, focusing more on protein, vegetables, you know, some just healthy food to because some people don't really know how to do that. They don't, and maybe now the kids are gone, they're just like cooking for one or two. Who knows if they live alone? And so maybe having a portion of it really focused on look, these are the things you can eat that are they're easy to make and they're good for you. And you know, it's just not hard. Like here's a here's a list of five great things you could have for breakfast every day, right? I mean, I I got a list like that a few years ago and I look at it all the time just to help me figure that out. But, you know, drinking enough water, getting into movement, you know, just going through that whole thing. Maybe you're doing some yoga, maybe you're going on some gorgeous walks, you know, maybe you're focusing a little bit on how do I lift weights? You know, do do some people probably don't even know how to do that at this point. Yeah. I actually had a job when I was 19 years old, a summer job at a gym where I learned how to lift weights. And, you know, then I went back to school. But that little experience was so informative, and I've kind of kept that in my mind. But you kind of have to learn a few things about that. So you know, some probably grounding with the bare feet in the grass, you know, that's super good for us. That, you know, probably some deep breathing exercises that can, you know, you can sort of put that with a little meditation too. But I would address just those would just be the physical things, but you know, we'd have some mental, emotional, and some like what does your outer world look like? What do your relationships look like? And and purpose, we'd have a lot of stuff on purpose and figuring that out. There's there's exercises you can do for that, so it'd be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Yeah, it's true. Well, I'm gonna challenge you. Well, it's been in the back of my mind. Yeah, no, definitely. Um, we we definitely love supporting retreat leaders. What do you think is um our greatest contribution that we can come to later in life?

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Our our greatest contribution. Well, everybody's is different, but certain when we when we say purpose, what that really means is we're serving somebody in some way, you know, and it might be that it's a thousand women at, you know, at some uh event, or it might be that it's the grandchildren that need your wisdom. And right, it might it might be in that situation, like a few people. So we all have to figure out what that is. Um and I do I have a process for that. So it's answering a lot of questions and it's journaling.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Always asking the questions, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

So so everybody's different, and uh, you know, a lot of people find their new purpose through just different things. I mean, it could be through volunteering, you know, and and then you've got some people that are extroverts and some that are introverts, and those introverts, it's you know, they love to stay home. But boy, you know, having relationships is one of the keys to longevity, you know, which is one of my sort of fascinations in life is how these people live to be 100, 120. That's crazy. What'd they do? What was their secret?

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yeah, I I had a part of it. I'm like, wow, I think she died from breast cancer. So yeah, pretty wild. If you could give your 40-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Uh it probably would be to get that revelation I got at 55 that I just told you about about exercising earlier. You know, everyone's gonna be fine. You can leave the house, you know, you gotta figure it out, like get a babysitter or do it when your husband comes home or get a friend to swap back and forth or something. Um, but figure that out. And you need that time, not only just physically, but for your mental well-being. Gosh, you know, we know that one of the biggest antidotes to depression is physical exercise. Walks out of the house and walk down the street, right? I'm not saying it's the solution to everything for everybody, but it's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Moving the body, be deep breathing, you know, getting the heart going. How would you define living well? Well, I would basically it would be knowing your purpose, spending a little time on it every day, or a lot of time on it every day, doing those physical things that keep your body in shape, eating right, sleeping well, drinking enough water, you know, moving your body. Those are just the very basic fundamentals. If you're just doing get outside, get in the sun, you know, get get your feet in the dirt and or the grass, whatever. A little bit of, you know, if you're doing, and those things don't take that long. It's just so easy to sit around and be a couch potato and which kind of just brings you down. And, you know, it's just, it's just, and so I think it's so important to have community too, because we lift each other up. I mean, it's just amazing to me. I I experience it, you know. I'll just find myself being alone for, and I am an introvert, so I I do enjoy that. But there's I can tell when that line is, you know, it's like okay, I need to be around some people. I need to be, you know, in uh with other women, you know, just in community, whether that's in a on a Zoom call, because I do some of those, and you know, or in person, in person always best for sure. It's always best. But if you can't do that, you know, get in a group on any subject. There's yeah so many out there, you know. So it's purpose, it's relationships, it's your physical health and your mental health too, which those are all intertwined, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah. It's all about lowering stress too. All of those go-to. Oh, absolutely. Right. My top values, I always it's build relationships, build community, build prosperity, like in that order. And yeah, and that's what you're talking about. And I feel like with the International Retreat Association creating that, it's that's that's what it's about for me. It's about having those relationships in the community, you know, and by building the relationships, you are building the community, and yeah, it's so important to me. So I hope others feel that too.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Um, okay, you're ready for some rapid fire. Hey, no right or wrong answer, just top of mind, uh, one word, one sentence. Coffee or tea? Coffee. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

SPEAKER_02 20:38

I have a night owl.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

I like to have slow mornings. Do you like the mountains or the beach? The beach. What's your favorite healthy snack?

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Uh gosh, my favorite. Um, might be those. Now, this would be like taking the place of bad snacks, but the lily's dark chocolate. Have you seen that?

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

What's a one daily non-negotiable for you?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

It's non, it's slow mornings. That is my daily non-negotiable. Like I don't book anything until noon or later.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Okay. What's your favorite char way to recharge?

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Being alone and but I I love to needlepoint. So I love to, that's kind of my reward at the end of the day. But it's also a, you know, I think we all need kind of a creative outlet like that. Something to do with our hands is really good. You know, they're saying grandma hobbies are back. So um just sitting there needlepointing something and maybe watching something on TV at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

I love it. Well, thanks, Allison, for coming and being on the show today. Um, we are going to put all your information in the show notes so people can go and find you. Is your website, does that have your book, how they can get your book as well?

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Yes, it's it's there. It's which is myfullname.com. Um and it's you know, wherever books are sold. Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

And say the name of it, the full name. 60 is a good start. Love it. 60 is a good start. So um, and don't wait till you're 60 to have to learn all that. Yes. Uh okay. Well, everyone, I guess we'll see you next time on the show. Thanks for joining us. I hope you grab some tips so that you can help your life and your business move forward. And we will see you next time. Bye for now.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Thanks for joining us on this episode of All Things Retreat. We hope you're leaving with new ideas, fresh inspiration, and the motivation to take your retreats to the next level. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review. It helps us grow and reach more retreat leaders like you. And if you have any questions, topics you'd like us to cover, or just want to say hello, send us an email at infobewretreatrnr.com. Follow us on social media to stay connected and catch all the latest updates. Until next time, remember, great retreats start with great intentions. Let's make them extraordinary, one step at a time. Let's make sure you're really ready. Grab your free RU Retreat ready checklist and find out if you've got everything in place from your purpose to type it to your audience and agenda. Don't yes, get clear. This quick checklist will show you exactly where you stand and what you need to make your retreat. Click the link below in the show notes to grab your gifts and take the first step toward hosting.