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What 100-Year-Olds Know That Kids Already Understand · The Expert Method

• speaker-0: What do you think it takes? And to my surprise, they were like, you gotta have a lot of friends. We kind of know intuitively what we should do, but the marketing that it bombards us, the messages, the the social media, there's one person that gets in the way, and that's themselves. speaker-1: Today's guest is Judy Gammon. Judy is the CEO of Executive Medicine of Texas and has spent years studying longevity, including a famous series of interviews that she did with people who lived past 100, asking them about what helped them to live long, happy, and healthy lives. In our conversation we talk about the surprising similarities between what those centurion centenarians told her and what elementary school kids already seemed to understand. Why we lose touch with those s simple principles as life gets busier and what it takes to start living by them again. If you get value from this conversation, be sure to subscribe and share with a friend. And now please enjoy my conversation with Judy Gammon. Judy, thank you so much for being here. speaker-0: it's my pleasure. Thank you. speaker-1: Absolutely. So Judy, you have spent a lot of time studying longevity, but there's one story from your work that I've heard you talk about on other podcasts and other content that you've created that really caught my attention. So Judy, you interviewed people who had lived past one hundred and kind of asked them what their secret was. And then at some point you decided to ask elementary school age kids what they thought it took to live that long. So can you tell me that story of what happened and what you took away from that research? speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. And I was working on a book called Age to Perfection, How to Thrive to 100, Happy, Healthy, and Wise. And so my goal was really to look at the longevity research, the blue zones, these are places where people live a long time. You know, what are the trends? What's happening? What's influencing this longevity? And then I had this idea, you know, why don't we just reach out? And I was talking to my my assistant and why don't we reach out to people over a hundred? Can you find me two or three? Well shockingly, you know, she she came back and says, I can find you several people. And I'm like, yeah, but you know, they have to be able to carry on a conversation and it can't be drooling. And you know, if I ask them a question, I ask a follow up, they got to be able to kind of follow the follow that. And to my surprise, it was incredible. These relationships I that I built, and especially the one I built with Wazille Fleming, incredible to get to know these people. That were just so vibrant. And, you know, they're over, they're over a hundred years old. They're so vibrant. They still have have goals. They have, you know, what they felt kept them long, living long and healthy lives. And then I started to think about this. And and like you mentioned, I said, let me go into the element elementary schools and let me just ask them, without them knowing anything about what these centenarians had told me, what do you think it takes? And to my surprise, they were like, You gotta have a lot of friends. You know, they were saying so many of the things that these elderly were saying. It was it was really incredible. And remember, these people that are over a hundred, they didn't grow up with, you know, let me pick up the magazine and the grocery store line and figure out what are the ten healthiest things for me to eat today, or they were following podcasts or any of this. They were kind of seeing what was working and what wasn't working. So they knew. They knew fruits and vegetables, they knew meat sparingly, they knew a lot of these things just maybe intuitively or just because they watched as people were healthy or unhealthy just in their environments growing up. And they had to be really good observers. So children also I think are really good observers. But somewhere along the line, and you may have heard me say this before, that this is This is too good to not repeat. Somewhere along the line, we kind of know intuitively what we should do. But the marketing that bombards us, the messages, the social media, the f serial aisle. You know, when we were kids or when I was a child, it used to be that the serial aisle, you know, we had like five options. And now it is two-sided and it's 30 feet long. And the more colours and the more sugar and the more artificial everything that could be possibly be pumped into it all becomes a selling strategy. But they're not selling you longevity. speaker-1: No. No. They're selling immediate instant gratification, which seems to have its symptoms and that idea of instant immediate gratification shows up in a lot more than just in our food. But, you know, the idea of like it was kind of their intuition, right? They kind of intuitively knew what because there weren't these resources that we have available to us today, right? These books, these podcasts, these magazines, these experts that are super easily accessible through the internet, sharing this wisdom. Like they just kind of inuitively picked it intuitively picked it up. from other people. And then there was also the element of the fact that the food wasn't poison. like most of the food wasn't poison like what we have now. so so that helps. speaker-0: Drew it themselves, so I knew exactly what was in it. speaker-1: Right. Exactly. So we definitely have some forces fighting against us. But I think, you know, the information piece, it's out there, right? Like this isn't the first podcast talking about longevity and the keys to living a healthy, happy life. But like what do you think gets in the way of people one seeking out finding this information? But then second, like people are aware of this stuff now, right? Like they know kind of what we're going to talk about here today and the keys to longevity won't be the first time that most people have heard it. Like what gets in the way of people actually practicing the things like those keys to longevity? speaker-0: Well, there's there's one person that gets in the way, and that's themselves. And that is the biggest thing to have to recognize that nobody's making you eat that. Nobody told you to spend hours on your phone. Nobody sat you down and strapped you to a chair and said, You can't go to the gym today. We get in our own way when it comes to this. So this is where you you really have to focus in on what do I really want to be in the future because your choices today are going to create who you are in the future. Yeah, I've been reading this really good book. I don't know if you're familiar with Dr. Benjamin Hardy. I hadn't been familiar with him, but I I read a book which led me to another book of his. But the first book I read of his was Your Future Self Now. And it was a real eye-opener for me. Now Here I am, somebody who talks about this, speaks about this. I'm a CEO of executive medicine. We preach this to our patients. But he had a way of really driving it home. And one of the suggestions in the book, and and I hope that all of your listeners will pick this book up because it's life-changing. And I've already told people to get it and they've called me or texted me and said, my gosh, this is this is, I'm so glad this is on the bestseller list because. There's a reason it's there, and I'm so glad that you recommended it. But this particular book, one of the things they say is go in if and actually see your future self as a different person because you are. You are gonna be a different person. And then write yourself a letter from your future self. Now I'm paraphrasing this and it's so much better in the lead up to it and understanding all the nuances of this exercise are are in the book, but it says So basically for me, I decided to just go one year out. Cause you can one, three, five, whatever. I'm like, I'm just gonna go one year out. So I wrote a letter from Judy 2027 to Judy 2026. And it took me a couple of days to honestly like say, okay, I'm gonna do this. I don't know why there was some soul searching going on. There was just a a lot of things that I think kept me from just going, this is easy. It wasn't easy. And the other thing about it is that you start writing this, because you're writing as somebody else, right? You're writing it as this other persona. And you start writing and these things come out on the paper, you're like, my gosh, where'd that come from? And it's really an exercise of taking a micro you know, a microscope and putting yourself under it and and being able to say, if you don't change these things. or do more of this and less of this, then who you are or for me, who Judy 2027 is going to be, is going to be completely different. This is all about the cause and effect. This is all about quantum, you know, mechanics. This is all about the things that have been proven time and time and again with science, that what we think we we are, what what we, what we say we become, what we eat is what we're made up of. All of these things. So it's a great exercise. You know, I I'm probably not even doing it justice, but I can tell you if you get it and you understand that and you do that exercise within the book, it's gonna change your life. It did mine. speaker-1: Wow. I think just to double click into that a little bit, so like the contents of the letters. So you kind of put yourself into the frame of the future version of yourself who is a different person and you're just writing back to you today in the present, just kind of like giving advice or like kind of how does it sound without you don't have to go into the details specifically of what the contents of your letter to yourself were, but like what kinds of things are you writing to yourself? speaker-0: Yeah. So one thing that I realized is that I was really becoming way too busy. Wor work was very busy, life was very busy, a new book I'm working on has kept me very busy. And I realized that if I don't really focus in twenty twenty six on those friends, those relationships, twenty twenty seven, they might not be my friends. I might not have these same relationships because things are happening in their lives, things are happening in my life, and we will we will just like drift apart. So one thing that was kind of like an immediate takeaway for me is I reached out to three of my really good friends and I said, you know what? I'm sorry I've been so busy and so wrapped up. Let's grab breakfast, let's grab lunch, let's, you know, let's get together for this, that, or the other. Every one of them was Super excited. And I've already met with all three of them. And that was just, you know, I think it was a month ago I read this book. So it's actionable things because you find your why, right? You say, I should do this, but this is why. And if I don't do this, there's also a a cause and effect. There's a consequence to that. And that, you know, that was just kind of one of them. it's got me still, you know, back to doing my 10,000 steps before 10 a.m., which was something I kind of got too busy to do, because I started thinking about who am I gonna let down? my gosh, I'm gonna let Judy 2027 down. I don't want to let her down. You know, I I I I can give something up as Judy 2026, just so I don't let Judy 2027 down. Because we're really good at not wanting to let people down. But we're not so great at Not wanting to let ourselves down. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, there's so many parallels that I could draw from this idea. Like one common theme that we've had here on the podcast recently is this idea that, you know, your thoughts are what create your emotions and your emotions are what create your actions. Right. So your thoughts really are the foundation of creating the fuel, which are the emotions that then create your actions, and you can decide and choose what your thoughts are. And going through this kind of intentional practice of like visualizing that future version of yourself and playing out this scenario of okay, if I keep doing the same things that I'm doing today, what is that future me going to look like and how different is that compared to what I want? And there's like another theme from the conversations that we've had recently is taking that intentional time to really slow down and then taking the next step of forcing yourself to take your thinking or considerations and putting it into words and writing. Like I've recently started to try and pick up the habit of writing for fifteen minutes a day. And there's something magical that happens when you just actually have to take something and put it into words on the page. It's unbelievable. But Just to drive home this whole point about the you know the cause and effect relationship and this idea of thoughts kind of being that cause to the effects of the things and the outcomes that happen in your life, I've brought up this quote before, but from this book, A Return to Love by Marion Williamson, a classic that I'm rereading now for the second time. But it's this idea that thoughts are like data programmed into a computer registered on the screen of your life. If you don't like what you see on the screen, there's no point in going up to the screen and trying to erase it. Thought is the cause, experience is effect. If you don't like the effects in your life, you have to change the nature of your thinking. And it sounds like this practice, this exercise that you're describing, which we should all I'm gonna go get a copy of this book as soon as we hop off here, we'll leave the link in the description if anybody else wants to join me in that. But it sounds like this exercise, this practice is almost just like an intentional slowing down that's gonna get you to change the nature of your thinking. Is that right? speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. It's it's more of reflection and we really need to do do more of that. You know, I was I was scrolling, which, you know, I shouldn't do, but I by the way, I did set timers. This also this is another takeaway for me. I went into my phone, didn't know you could do this, but I've figured it out. Went into my phone and I set social media timers. I cannot be on my phone more than thirty minutes a day for social media. So if I do five minutes here, whatever, twenty minutes, it says you got ten minutes left. So And then they shut down. And this was a huge takeaway because I didn't realize how much I would, you know, it would ding, I'd pick it up, I'd look at it. It was a complete and utter distraction. And this is just trained me. You know, I sounds weird, right? That we need to be kind of trained, that it kind of trained me to say, no, you don't, first of all, it's not going to ding. Secondly, you don't need to to pick it up all the time. There's no fear of missing out. What you're gonna miss out on is is your own life and and your future self. So this th this was another huge takeaway. But but I was was looking in my little 30 minutes that that I get and I was following this doctor and I wish I could remember his name, but I I it escapes me. But he was talking about a study that came out and I thought this was so fascinating, especially because I'm all into the research about this kind of stuff. And they basically had the patients in functional MRIs and they would have them say stuff, words of power. They would have them say, my gosh, I'm so tired today. And then they would look to see what happens in the brain. Then they would have them say, you know what? I was tired, but I have so much energy now, and I'm getting stronger and I'm getting I feel good. And it Different part of the brain lit up. So just voicing these things actually changes the brain. There's a physiological connection within the brain when you say these words. Now it goes back to some other research that we we already knew, and this is before functional MRI. And that was you could look at groups of patients with cancer. There's a big study that was done. And the the ones that spend their time watching comedy, talking positive. you know, all of these things that were all on the positive realm, what they were saying about their cancer, what they were saying about themselves, spending time with loved ones, their their rate of of recovery and and becoming cancer free and staying cancer free after five years was so drastically different than any of the people who were saying things like, well, this cancer is going to kill me, or I feel so tired. I feel so sick. Well, I can't do this. I can't do this was a big one because the body is saying, okay, we can't do this. And and now we now we can back up all that research that we already knew. Now with this functional MRI and how the words are connecting, and it's all just kind of making so much sense now. And the doctor's takeaway in this video was, I don't care what you're going through today. You've got to be very careful. Tame your tongue. You know, this is this is something biblical. I mean, this isn't new stuff. You know, tame your tongue, you know, and and really watch what you allow yourself to say about yourself to yourself and to others about. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. It really is magical and it just sounds like so wild and it just does not connect. Like I remember the first time I came across these ideas when I was, you know, getting ready to leave college and it just didn't really register because I just couldn't believe that that was the case. But like the as I've gotten older, as I've, you know, taken the you know, just struggled so much to be like, okay, now I'm gonna try anything and I'm gonna give this a chance. I'm gonna give this a try. And it's just working. But like it it it just doesn't really connect with like my And not that I've dug into the science or went to medical school or anything like that, but it just doesn't feel like it should work. Like what do we understand about why it actually works? Why like the things we say to ourselves, the thoughts that we think having an impact on, you know, how we feel and how we the actions that we take, like what do we know about why that actually works? speaker-0: Yeah, I I think now that we we just have so much so many more tools in our toolbox from the medical perspective. You know, there was a there was an interesting study that happened years ago. And this is fascinating to me because this is about cell memory. And they what they did is they took people that had been in the battlefields and they took their blood and then they took people who had not been in any kind of, you know, war of any sort. They took their blood. And then they showed war movies. And the the blood of the people that have been in those situations, it actually vibrated. It actually vibrated and and aged. And the there was no effect from somebody else. So so the cell memory is is so fascinating. So if you've had a bad experience, but you keep putting yourself in that experience, or you doom scroll the news or all of these things that kind of bring us back. This is probably in and I'm sure there's research to bag this up too, the root cause of inflammation. Because we know from these blood external blood studies about this. Now, there was some other research that came out fascinating, where they took it a step further and they looked at people that had had that are the grandchildren or children of people that have been in wars or the Holocaust or been, you know, either on the battlefield or in a situation very, very traumatic. Right. And they they looked at what is going on in their cells and they saw that there was still some cell memory that carried over, which is fascinating. It's just so fascinating. But it also, it also shows the importance of, you know, creating peace in your life and and resisting the urge, and the urge sometimes is so strong, resisting the urge to flip on the news and and watch the tragedy and and relive things and go even go through your own life and my gosh, remember when this happened and and kind of relive that. Because your body, and there's an another book, The Body Keeps Score. I love the title. But you know, the the body does in such a sense. But Even with these thoughts and even with these words. So I it is literally something that is just so front of mind right now. Yeah. speaker-1: No, I love it. I mean, I think the point that I was trying to get at is you nailed it, where it's just for some reason this idea that thoughts and memories and experiences and these things can really influence, you know, our life, our behavior, our emotions, how we feel, and then like create us and get in the way of us like creating the life that we want to live, like just doesn't really fit with like the rational, like the overly rational thing that we've talked about. It's like, no, everything should make more sense. I don't know. Like it just it's It's a magical thing that like your cell membrane of your, you know, your grandparents, their experience at war can be passed down like in influence you like that is absolutely fascinating. I think you hit it right on the head. And one of the ideas that you brought up there is like creating peace in your life. So it sounds like that's one of those characteristics of you know, it from the conversations of the people that you found, the centerarians. I don't know if I use that word right, but the people who live centenarians. speaker-0: Isn't close. speaker-1: Okay. I think Centurions is almost like a like a myth mythology creature. But anyways, so the people that live past a hundred. So what were some of those other characteristics? So they they created a lot of peace in their life, they ate well, they exercised, they had a lot of friends. Were there any other things that were those common characteristics that you found? speaker-0: You know what was fascinating was that they were not of the same religious affiliation. They they I mean, some were Catholic, some were Baptists, some were Jewish, that and they all gave me on their top ten list, every one of them, that you have to believe in a higher power. And it was almost like they none of them had met each other. It was almost like they had thought this through and and and memorized because the very next thing they would say would be something. to this effect because you can't carry this burden yourself, or because you gotta lay it down, or because this is just too much, or things are gonna happen and you're gonna have to be able to just accept that accept them that this happened and you know what? There's something better out there. It was so fascinating to hear them talk about this because they did it with such conviction. And it again, they weren't of the same religious affiliation. It was really that that higher power and what got them through the wars, what got them through the Great Depression, what got them through their family members dying so young. A lot of them had lost children to to terrible disease because we didn't have the medications that we have now. And just spending some time with people that are over a hundred will completely change your perspective. I mean if you want perspective, you know, that that's how you get it. 'Cause we think we'd been through so much and you know the world. They have been through, they have been through so much. speaker-1: Yeah. I mean, if somebody's a hundred today, they would have been born on the cusp of the Great Depression. That would have been their youth. It's just in America, and really anywhere in the world during that time period of the early nineteen thirties was just absolute yeah, chaos. the no economy. And then coming into their later years, just how about World War Two for ya? And then yeah, absolute chaos. No kidding about the perspective piece. but that belief in a higher power is An interesting idea because again, the rational mind, like when you're young, you know, you think, nah, I don't you're invisible. Doesn't even exist yeah, exactly, right? So, yeah. And then for me again in my own experience over the last six months I wasn't raised with any religion and I'm grateful for that because it allowed me to kinda have my own experience and finding what really resonated with me and you know, having my own experience of building that connection and building that relationship. But that point that you made about you just can't carry this burden on on your own and Like it just feel like there is just a huge weight that comes with that. Like if you don't have that belief in that higher power, like what is what is it that you found in those conversations with the people that you live past or hundred, maybe in your own personal relationship and like the weight that b a belief in a higher power takes off of you? Like could you explore that idea a little bit more? Like what is what does that belief in a higher power do for you and why do you think it helped those people to live so speaker-0: Yeah. Well, I'll tell you a little exercise that we did at a a girls' youth camp. And I think this kind of is a visual picture of it. And then I'll kind of go into my own experience. But one of the things they did, they all had giant king size pillowcases and they had to go along the trail. And then they would draw something out of a hat at each stop. And maybe that would be your best friend just decide they don't want to be your friend. pick up two bottles. So they would pick up two water bottles full, put them in their in their bag, right? They go to the next stop. They draw something out and and it that one could be something like, you failed your whatever test. These were teens. And now you're not sure you're going to graduate. Pick up six bottles. So they put their six bottles. So as they went down the trail, your parents are fighting, you're concerned they're going to get divorced. Pick up nine bottles. So their pillowcases got so full and so heavy that that they literally couldn't even carry them over their backs very well. Now fascinating thing happened with this and this was this was beautiful to watch. In some instances, not all, because they came in groups of like two or three or whatever as they went down the trail. There was probably thirty, forty of And in one instance I watched a girl who just she had picked up so many and hers was full more full because, you know, the one she had drawn out. I watched one of the people with her, one of the young girls, say, You know what? Let me help you carry yours. And she carried hers and she carried half of the other girls. And I just thought, this is so beautiful. This is really what life is about. You know, we have our own struggles and other people have struggles. And sometimes we gotta help them carry their sack of water bottles. And sometimes they gotta help us carry our sack of water bottles. But at the end, this particular exercise, this was This was a a a beautiful LDS thing that I was at and they they took their bags of bottles and at the end there was a picture of Jesus on a tree and they literally dumped them all their bottles out and they allowed to dump them out and then they said, Just carry your pillowcases now over to you know, to the fire and they went over and they said, How'd it feel to lay that all down? And the kids were exhausted. But I thought this was such a beautiful way to kind of show how that can feel and how all these little things add up and we carry them. So now fast forward to be adults, right? And we're carrying incredible amounts, incredible amounts of of things. You know, it's it's not that you failed your test. It's maybe you got laid off at your job and you don't know if you're gonna eat tomorrow. Maybe it's one of your kids got sick and now you're parent. You you just don't know what the future holds. There's so many things that we carry. I just thought that was a beautiful exercise. I did grow up in a in a religious family. I grew up Episcopalian. I'm LDS now, but you know, I do love that I had that freedom of religion. I think that that is so important for everybody to to have that. But that has been a guiding light for me in so many ways. So many ways. And it's it's it's a beautiful thing when you don't have to walk alone. And you know that. That is what gets you through the tough times and the good times and you know, help helps you keep smiling through them. God is good. God is good all the time. speaker-1: Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that story. I think that is a beautiful kind of depiction of the lesson that we're trying to communicate here. But just to repeat back my interpretation of it or my understanding, just to 'cause I'm learning, right? I'm learning. So it's that faith in a higher power, that belief in a higher power allows for you to kind of not feel like you have to carry this burden, like these water bottles that you pick up throughout your life. You know, on your own, but it's just this faith that there's a higher being, there's a higher power that has a purpose and is using these things as like ways to teach you something. But it's like it's not something that has to weigh you down so much. It's more just like faith that it's all gonna work out, there's a plan, just kind of stay the course, just keep doing my best and it's all gonna kinda work itself out. Is that speaker-0: Yeah, it's it's all about being yoked. You know, a lot of people are like, what does what does it mean being yoked? Well, if you take an oxen and they have to pull a cart, but you take a yoke and you put it over two oxen and they're pulling the cart, then they're they're sharing the load. And so, you know, take upon the yoke and and the burden is lighter is I mean, there's so much truth to that. There's so much truth to that. And in my own life, I definitely have seen that. You know, that I I think too, the the stronger and the better I am, I think happened a lot of times when I was on my knees. this broken. And and there's sometimes you had to be broken and be put back together. And that is and that's where the gold is. speaker-1: Right. And I think, thank you for the time. I know you gotta get going here soon, but I'll just we'll we'll finish this with this one idea and then one final quick question is the idea that an idea that has resonated with me. You know, I study a lot of philosophy and then I've started to get into more religious work, but this idea that, you know, God granted us free will and God in the universe, the higher power, is always there to support us and help us in those moments of need, or really just whenever, right? The the universe, God is always there to help us. But He God isn't going to intervene and step in and offer that support without us intentionally asking for it, right? Without us getting on our knees and asking because we have that free will, right? He's not going to interject himself for that support. We have to kind of help and reach out and connect and build that relationship. And oftentimes that really only happens when we're on our knees, when things get down and things get low. But yeah, thank you for that. Judy, thank you so much for the time. I have one final question for you. It's a recurring question I ask every guest. But before we get to that, how can people find you? speaker-0: Yeah, they can go to Judy Gammon dot com, J U D Y G A A N dot com. speaker-1: Perfect. We'll have the link in the description. So go check out all of Judy's amazing work. You have done. Incredible stuff. A lot of really fascinating research. There's a lot to explore there. But Judy, my final question for you is a recurring question I ask every guest. If you had a giant billboard that everyone in the world could see for ten seconds, what would it say and why? speaker-0: this is a great one. You know, I I think it would say if you still have breath in you, you have a purpose. And this really is something that Lucille Fleming taught me. And she was a centenarian that I I really connected with after writing the first book. And then I wrote a memoir, Love Life and Lucille. And she just embodied that. You know, she died just a couple of weeks shy of her 104th birthday. And at 102, 103, we were traveling around on airplanes. And she became a longevity expert because she just found this whole new purpose. And I think that that statement that she really taught me, if you still have breath in you, you have a purpose. So you better go find it. Yeah. speaker-1: You s you still have breath and you you still have a purpose. That's amazing. Judy, thank you so much for the time. speaker-0: pleasure's all mine. Thank you. speaker-1: Thank you for listening. My main takeaway from my conversation with Judy is that something that hit me, because it's something that I'm exploring more in my own personal life recently, is that a belief in a higher power can change how you carry the hard things that inevitably come in life. Right? Judy talked about how every centenarian that she interviewed, person who lived to be a hundred or older, even though they came from very different religious backgrounds, believed in something bigger than themselves, every single one of them. They had lived through wars, loss, illness, and some incredibly different difficult seasons of their lives. And they didn't feel like they had to carry all of that waste that life brings alone. Right. They had a higher power that they could lean on, that they had faith in, that they believed brought these circumstances to them for a purpose to teach them something. You know, I guess those last details are my interpretations, but I just thought that was a a beautiful idea. And it's something that resonated with me because it's something that I'm exploring in my own personal life. Right now and is opening myself up to this idea of a higher power and reaching myself out and extending myself to build that relationship. But thank you for that, Judy. If you want to get connected with Judy yourself, you can find her links in the description of this episode. You can also learn more about her work at Judygammon.com. And if you run a coaching program course, Mastermind, or you have a book, and you want more of your clients to actually follow through on what you teach, I put a free resource in the description that will help you build more execution support into your program. Thank you for listening. And I'll see you all in the next one.