The current life expectancy in the United States is 79.4 years, with Latinos living over 82 years on average and white, Native American and African Americans all living less than that particular number.
The United States typically spends the most on healthcare worldwide according to recent statistics, yet health outcomes, especially in terms of chronic disease, remain worse than many other countries.
One United States resident who bucked the trend over the course of her long, illustrious life is Dr. Gladys McGarey, who was featured in an article by the Today Show.
McGarey, a holistic health focused doctor and pioneer in her field, passed away in 2024 at the age of 103 years old, but not before leaving five key tenants of advice for her followers, patients and community of health focused individuals.
Dr. McGarey was born in 1920 and served as the co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, based in Woodmere, Ohio.
A cancer survivor, physician and holistic medicine practitioner, McGarey overcame the death of her daughter, as well as a divorce at the age of 70 that occurred when her husband and clinical partner of 46 years left her to be with another woman.
******
She offered the following advice to TODAY.com on how to overcome setbacks in life.
“You just don’t get stuck in them,” she said.
“It’s a matter of choice: What do I choose? I chose not to be stuck in the pain and suffering. It hurt and I didn’t like it.”
After difficult times and grieving processes, she finally decided to move forward.
“There comes a point where it’s just not worth my energy to spend any more time on that.
“I’ve got the energy to do something that’s creative and pull myself out of that and work forward.”
1. Strive for Improvement
McGarey lived by the core belief that each year she lived drew her closer to her true purpose.
One of her life’s goals was to “create a village for living medicine where people can ‘come together to practice wellness,'” she said according to TODAY.com and she worked to as close a facsimile as she could.
2. Embrace Your Purpose
“I truly believe each one of us has a purpose here,” McGarey said. “It’s our privilege and our responsibility to find that within ourselves.”
Her philosophy is similar to the one found in ‘Blue Zones’ such as Okinawa, Japan, where advanced age is celebrated to the degree that people in this age bracket are paraded around and celebrated in the city streets.
***
The Most Incredible, Silky-Smooth Organic Body Butter!
A Moisturizer That Will Heal Your Skin in Time For the Summer Months!
This Body Butter was created by a Holistic Doctor with Over 20 Years of Professional Experience
***
3. Health is Personal
Diet and exercise are important for health and longevity, Dr. McGarey said, but she also preached to her clients that everyone’s version of health is different.
She made time for foods like chocolate cake and hamburgers, and generally did not drink alcohol or smoke.
“I’m not opposed to alcohol and I think wine for some people is a lovely thing. It’s what works for you,” she said according to TODAY.com.
“The individual person has to live their own individual life, so as you find what works for you, bless it and use it and work with it.”
4. Movement, and Moving On, Are Important in Life
Each person has a certain type of energy within themselves that has to move, she added.
That could take on the form of stuck emotions after a breakup or a death in the family or it could take on the form of needing to exercise.
Photo via HolisticPrimaryCare.net
McGarey walked over 3,500 steps each day and used a walker when necessary.
She urged people to move on from difficult times and to look for a different path in life when the one they’re on begins to feel like a dead end.
“If you’re spending your energy on something that is just keeping you miserable, uncomfortable or in a place you don’t want to be, start looking for what is out there… the world is all around you and it’s full of amazing, amazing things,” she said.
5. Everything Can Be Seen as a Teacher
Dr. McGarey also made it a point to keep an open mind in life.
She believed that everything was her teacher.
She used the pain of her divorce to fuel the beginning of her holistic health clinic with her daughter, which she said gave her life purpose.
“Up to that point, I had depended on (his) support in the things that I was saying. After that, I had to believe that what I was saying had strength and was important,” McGarey said.
“Once I could actually find my own voice, I wrote (her ex-husband) a letter and thanked him for giving me my freedom. Because up until that time, I did not feel that my voice was strong enough.”
******
Thank you for reading!
Dr. McGarey was a staunch advocate of natural living and natural foods and supplements.
Check out my favorite line of supplements from Paleo Valley (Whey Protein, Coconut Water Infused Electrolytes, Vitamin C Complex etc. — Find It Here On Sale Now)
******
Thanks for installing the Bottom of every post plugin by Corey Salzano. Contact me if you need custom WordPress plugins or website design.
About Nick Meyer
