By the end of 2019, I was physically healthy, but inside I was struggling. My eight-year relationship with my fiancé had ended, and I could feel my time as CEO of Onnit was coming to a close. I was also still unable to find resolution with my father’s mental disorders. And the deeper reasons for my suffering were still lurking in the shadows. 
I heard about darkness therapy from Aaron Alexander, which was one of many signs to take the plunge into the great unknown. He told me of a house in the black forest outside Frankfurt, Germany, near a town whose name translates to “the middle of nowhere.”

The house is owned by a family whose matriarch studied in the Hindu tradition and learned darkness therapy by staying in isolation in a cave. She is the real deal. In their house, there was a light-proofed room that you can pay to spend up to a month in. Away from your job, your friends and family, your life, and your world. And possibly the most significant aspect is the constant, ever-present pitch darkness. 

People who’ve been there say that room breaks you. But what did I have to fear? As I said, I was already pretty fucked up. So I signed up.

No sooner did I tell people about it than they were trying to talk me out of it. I’ve been on the psychedelic medicine path for over two decades, exploring many of the great indigenous traditions and initiations. But the reaction I got to the announcement that I’d simply be sitting alone in a dark room for a week was far harsher than any of the times I said I was going to a jungle in Peru for a month to do ayahuasca.

“That’s crazy!” said pretty much everyone. “You’ll go CRAZY! Aren’t you afraid of what will happen?”

To each of them, I had the same response. “Afraid of what? Being alone with my own mind?” My thinking was this: If the prospect of sitting in the dark with just your own thoughts frightens you, maybe that’s exactly where you need to be.

So, was I scared? Not really. I knew the isolation and removal of sight would test me, but if you’ve followed my work for any length of time, you know I like to test myself. I like to learn what I’m capable of, and who I am inside. And so if the learning process takes me to the brink, so be it!

Besides, the week before I went on the darkness retreat, I was with Wim Hof, testing my limits on a mountain in Poland. In the first week of 2020, I dove into a natural pool beneath a freezing waterfall, held my breath under ice for more than two minutes, and climbed four and a half hours up an icy mountain (with no shirt on).

I needed some time to be with myself. Just myself. And sitting in meditation for a week sounded like a powerful way to usher in the New Year. Little did I know how crazy the year 2020 would turn out to be. The world would shut down, and I would get together with my wife Vylana Marcus. But before all that transformation, I was entering the ultimate cocoon. 

A House In The Woods

I arrive at the house and meet Bharati, the woman who runs the retreat. She lives there with her husband and two young daughters. They are deeply steeped in the mystic traditions of India, and have a lovely little collection of artifacts from their years spent there. 

Bharati shows me to my quarters for the next week. It’s a 20’x10’ rectangular room with a cot, table and chair, couch that seats one person, dresser, yoga mat, and radiator. There’s one window that’s painted black, so I can’t see out of it, but at least I can open it for ventilation as long as I use my blackout blindfold. On the table is a single speaker that plays an “Om” chant continuously on a 15-second loop, in case I need help meditating, or just want a break from the silence. The only other voices I’ll hear (apart from the ones in my own head) will come from out the window when I open it— like birds’ songs or whispers from the wind.

If it sounds like I volunteered to do time in what convicts call The Hole, or The Box, I can assure you it isn’t that severe. First of all, a little bit of light in a jail cell is just torture. Because it’s a tease, and it prevents the psychotropic effects of the black. But beyond that, my bed includes a memory foam neck pillow, for goodness sake! There’s a 24-hour call button on the wall that I can push to alert Bharati if I need something urgently, or I lose my mind. But while the darkness retreat isn’t technically solitary confinement, it is solitary, and it is confining.

In my room is a small bathroom where I can shower and use the toilet. These will be in total darkness too. Bharati will leave food for me in a blacked out corridor outside my room, but I’ll have to find my way there and back. I’ll know it’s time to eat when they ring a bell. This will also help to give me a sense of how time is passing. If I count the meals, I can determine which is breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then I might have an idea of what time it is, or what day I’m on. 

Not that it matters.

The meals will all be raw vegan food. That’s what Bharati’s family eats, but it serves another purpose as well. I’m going to have visions, just as if I’ve been taking plant medicines. This is the darkness “dieta,” to borrow a term from the ayahuasca tradition. If I’m eating food made from animals, I’m liable to imagine how they died to make it onto my plate. That could be quite a significant thing to reconcile, so it’s best to eat things that I won’t empathize with.

The mechanism behind why visions start to occur after a few days in the darkness is still being studied. Leading theories suggest either an increase in endogenous DMT—a hallucinogenic chemical—or an increase in the chemicals that break down endogenous DMT, therefore creating a surplus in the body. For more on the leading edge science of endogenous DMT, you can check out my podcast with research professor Jon Dean.

I have three other tools at my disposal. One is a Mindfold blindfold. It blocks light while allowing you to keep your eyes open. This will allow me to open the window for some fresh air without accidentally cheating some light in. Even with your eyes closed, light will seep in through your eyelids. 

The next tool is a rudraksha necklace, which Bharati’s daughter, Ananda, hands me. The walnut-sized prayer beads are rough to the touch, but I’m grateful to put them on. They’ll be my security blanket when the lights go out, and they make a comforting rattling sound—my only entertainment apart from the sights and sounds that will soon arrive in my head.

And lastly is my tape recorder. I memorized how to turn it off and on in the dark, and it is there to capture my experience. Little did I know that these recordings would eventually turn into the most powerful film I have ever been a part of. 

Day 1

Bharati’s family gathers in my room. It’s already dark, save for a single candle that’s working for all of us. We sing Hindi songs to prepare me for my journey. Then she asks me to blow out the candle, and they’re gone. Everything’s gone.

I start to do the only thing I really can, other than sleep. I meditate. Without any distractions, it’s not difficult to go deep within myself, and quickly. I begin to hear words in my head. One of them is “obsequious”—excessively obedient or attentive. This makes me think of a waiter in a five-star restaurant who has worked his way up over a lifetime of service. The blackness around me is providing everything I need, like an obsequious waiter. It’s giving me everything I came for.

A little later, I have my first meditation vision. It’s an upside-down heart. Then I see landscapes in my mind. Finally, there’s Buddha. He’s a shining golden figure, and he’s smiling at me. I ask him why.

“Why aren’t YOU smiling?” he replies. He’s laughing now.

“Buddha, why are you laughing?”

“Why aren’t YOU laughing?”

It’s a good question, and a reminder that I haven’t been happy for a long time. I’ve been a pretty somber person as of late, not giving in to playfulness or laughter easily. Unless I’m intoxicated, on some substance or another. Which is not the way I want to live—dependent on something outside of myself for happiness. 

I take Buddha’s visit as a message to, quite simply, lighten up. And I’m starting to understand that total blackness and blinding light are really the same. In either case, you can’t see. Nothing’s all bad or all good. You need both, and you can live in both. You need to appreciate both sides of everything.

Day 2

The roosters outside my window wake me up. That’s how I know it’s morning. I have to take a shit, and when I’m done, I realize I don’t know if I’ve wiped thoroughly enough. I decide to shower after every bathroom trip to be sure. It’s an unexpected inconvenience, and the first of many.

Back in the sunlit world, I was addicted to hand sanitizer. Before putting anything near my mouth, I would wash my hands or use the alcohol. But in this darkness, even if I had sanitizer, it would be useless. I’d have used the bottle up already. I have to touch everything—the walls, the toilet, even the floor—just to get around without smashing into something. I quickly learn not to fear germs.

I also have to trust my food. I can’t see what I’m eating, so I have to believe it’s clean and well prepared and that there isn’t a bug crawling on top of it. And if I spill some on the floor, I accept that I can scrape it up and eat it or go hungry.

Brushing my teeth is another challenge. I can hardly find the bristles of my toothbrush with the hand that holds the toothpaste tube, so to avoid squeezing gobs of it everywhere else, I decide to drop it directly into my mouth and then rub it around with the brush.

These little frustrations add up, and my mind turns faster to deal with them. I’m becoming more aggressive with myself. I have verbal fights with people I care about in my head, arguing both their side and mine, but to no resolution.

At some point, I decide I need to sell everything I own. It’s holding me back. I also think everybody needs to do a public confessional. Now and then, we all need to get up in public and say, “Here’s what I’ve been hiding. This is who I am. These are the sexual thoughts I get off to…” I imagine how liberated that would make us all feel, and how we’d all be better people as a result.

Annoying as my new daily tasks are, they’re working. I’m starting to let go. I’m not going to die without hand sanitizer. I can eat food off the floor. And I can afford to brush my teeth with some procedural modifications frowned upon by the American Dental Association for a few days.

I’m learning how to just be. 

I hear my friend Mike Posner’s voice in my head. He says, “Bro, honestly, it’s not that important.”

I sleep well that night.

Day 3

I don’t wake up with the same calm I went to bed with last night.

It’s starting to get hard. I’m questioning why I’m doing this. All I have to do is look out that window, or push the call button that alerts Bharati and tell her I quit, and I can go back to my life. It’s tempting.

I try to remind myself of my why—the reason I wanted to do this in the first place. But I can’t remember it. Did I ever really know what it was?

I put my blindfold on and open the window, but I don’t look out. I just need some air… and oh fuck does it smell sweet. I take the rudraksha beads in my hands and I begin a breathing exercise. I take in deep breaths until the oxygen rush has me feeling tingles, and then I hold my breath and let out one small atmosphere of it at a time. I say “I love myself” in my head on every in-breath, and on every exhale, I try to expel anything that isn’t love.

I see I’ve been caught between serving other people—my stated purpose in life—and my own ego. I’m both self-rejecting, and selfish.

Breathe it out.

I am in a constant chase for validation, and nothing I ever do is enough for me. 

Breathe it out.

I miss my friends. I miss hearing music. I want out of this fucking room. What the fuck am I doing in here?? 

Breathe. It. Out.

I see my grandfather Aubrey. My namesake. I never actually met him in life, but here he is in front of me now. My grandmother is with him. They tell me they’re proud of me.

“I don’t know why I’m here,” I say, with tears coming down my face.

“You’re here for the darkness, son.”

And that’s when I stop resisting it.

As the ego softens, my bargaining melts away.

Mike Posner enters my head again and starts talking to me. “You make deals with yourself so you can learn to trust yourself,” he says. “When you break deals, you trust yourself less.”

Day 4

The endogenous DMT visions are really coming on strong now, and some of them are seriously fucked up. I’m seeing demons. Images so gruesome they might not be allowed in theatres if they were part of a horror movie. 

A wheat thresher is mowing people over. Heads are being crushed and limbs are spraying blood.

The more I don’t want to see it, the longer the scene lingers. My 22-year journey with plant medicine has taught me that what you resist persists. So I begin to look for beauty in the desecration and destruction. I get the word “aperspectival” stuck in my head—the absence of perspective. I remember that from the perspective of unicity, there is no good or bad. No polarity whatsoever. There is just God, who I define as “the Loving Aperspectival Witness,” or LAW. From God’s perspective, I understand that destruction is as necessary as creation, and that evil is a requisite consequence of a world of free will. 

I’m big into coming up with acronyms now. My guide to relationships is LARK—Loving, Aware, Respectful, and Kind. You have to be able to let love in and love others for exactly who they are. You need to be aware of your behavior, and your partner’s. Respect means to respect their boundaries, and your own. And, lastly, be kind.

I am able to see my habit of loving people for their potential, not for who they are in front of me. I love them when I see how great I think they could be. But making people feel that your love is conditional upon some future achievement isn’t Loving. All you’re doing is telling them they’re not enough right now.

I see Whitney, my longtime lover and ex fiancé. She’s wearing a crown of eagle feathers like a first nations moon dancer and looking over herself. She meets my gaze and asks, “Am I doing it right?” I always wanted her to reach her spiritual potential, and now I’m overcome with guilt and sadness about how I made her feel.

“Yeah, babe, you’re doing just fine.”

I understand now that the best way to support someone is just to love them. I can’t drag them up a mountain to help them climb it. I can’t make them sit in darkness. It doesn’t work that way.

My purpose now is to love people as they are. If someone asks me for help, or an analysis, or a judgment, I’ll give it and let it go. I won’t be attached to it, and I won’t try to force it.

Another acronym that comes to mind is HEB, my new guide to life. In Austin, where I live, it’s a supermarket chain. In this dark room, it means Honesty, Expectation management, and Boundaries. The importance of honesty and boundaries are obvious. But I’ve had a hard time letting go of expectations. I see how stupid that is now. Having expectations is saying I know better than what’s going to happen, and if what I expect to happen doesn’t, it’s wrong. What an ego!

Saying that anything “should be” is hubris. There is only what is. And you deal or dance with it.

With these revelations, I achieve some peace. The greatest calm I’ve felt since I got here. I see more demons, but now they’re throwing confetti in the street. Seriously. Probably some deeper meaning there, but not worth exploring for now.

In the most profound vision of the entire journey, I see my father. He’s in a corner reading a book. Back home in Austin, he’s mentally ill. He hears voices that give him delusions of grandeur.  

I ask him what book he’s reading.

“The Book of Lies,” he says. “It tells me things I want to hear.”

“Why are you reading that book, Dad?”

“Because I never loved myself.”

He throws the book over his shoulder and continues speaking to me.

“Remember that you’re worthy of love. You don’t have to be a king or a messiah to be loved.”

Wow. I take a moment to see him, and I understand his plight with deep compassion.

“Thanks, Dad. I want you to know that everything you did was perfect, because look at where I am now. I love you.”

After that vision integrates, I feel like I’m ready to leave the darkness. I got what I came for. 

I find the call button and ring for Bharati. I can’t see her when she comes in, but I hear her gently speaking to me. “The mind is tricky,” she says. She asks me to think about it another day and be sure I’ve had enough before I come out. There might still be a clue or two more to find in the dark. And I already committed to two more days. I agree to stay.

Day 5

I see my mom. She tells me she always loved me, and I confront the fact that, in spite of her efforts, I never fully let that love come in.

Why? Because if you let yourself feel loved, you’ll get attached to it. You have to say goodbye to everyone at some point, so in order to avoid the pain of losing them, we hold back the love we feel with them. It’s easier that way.

To be afraid to die is to be afraid to live.

You need to have the courage to love things in spite of the risk of losing them. You WILL lose them. Eventually. We love them BECAUSE they can be taken away. Whether it’s people, a rose, or a sunny day, they won’t last. To not enjoy them protects us from missing them as much when they’re gone, but it also denies us the pleasure of having them in the first place.

I didn’t love Whitney as much as I could because I was afraid she would choose someone else. And sometimes she did. But she always loved me; that never wavered. 

I sob for probably 20 minutes. Catharsis.

I’ve spent so much of my life not really letting love in or putting the maximum amount of love out. Not anymore. I’m terrified of going through another day of life not loving it as it is. Not loving people as they are.

Then another horrifying thought enters my consciousness. What if someone I love dies while I’m in the dark? I’m not home. I will have never gotten the chance to really love them like I know I am capable now.

In my new film, Awake In the Darkness, these moments recorded live on my tape recorder and animated for the screen are absolutely devastating for me to watch. 

I think back to when I was in high school, living with my mom and sisters in a cramped cabin in Dripping Springs, Texas. We didn’t have much—not even a TV—so we’d sit around the living room, playing music and singing along to the words.

Our family was never happier.

Right now, I don’t miss my house, or my ranch, my companies, or my possessions. I miss the people I’ve shared those things with. Human beings crave intimacy, not items.

The darkness has broken me, as I was warned it would. It’s made me see that I love life. My life, yes, and also Life with a capital L.

I’m ready to leave this room and re-enter the world.

I reach out to Bharati again, and we agree that at sunset tomorrow, I’ll take my blindfold off.

Day 6

Bharati opens the door, and I remove the blindfold. Even with my eyes closed it’s like someone is shining a flashlight in my eyes, and it’s several minutes before I can fully open them. When I do, a feeling of grief and gratitude like I have never experienced overwhelms me. 

I see the soft rolling hills of the German countryside. I see the forest. The small homes speckling the scene. It’s the most painful and beautiful thing I’ve seen in so long. Until then, I’ve forgotten how incredible my life truly is. This is one of the most powerful moments in my life, and I feel blessed that it is all captured on film. So I’ll remember. So I’ll never forget.

Let There Be Light

Darkness is the most powerful form of therapy I’ve ever experienced. It took me deeper into myself than any type of meditation or even plant medicine I’ve tried. Your trip comes not from taking something but by REMOVING everything. You don’t need drugs when you ARE drugs.

The first thing I did when I got out was listen to music. I didn’t want to look at my phone. I just sat with it on the table in front of me. Eventually, I took a peek at my texts, and eased back into social media, but I loved the feeling of being without it all, and I wanted it to last.

When I got home, I made good on my promise not to tell people I loved them, but to SHOW them. I felt even more vulnerable than I had expected to, but with that vulnerability I was alive. When you are armored to protect from pain, you are armored from beauty as well. Every warm human interaction I saw made me cry, from a guy opening a door for a woman, to the kids in Stranger Things playing together. Seeing people be human affected me like never before. It was too much.

It was like the skin of my psyche had all been ripped off. It would grow back, but it needed time. Eventually, I put enough layers back on that I could function as a normal human being again, but I haven’t forgotten the lessons I learned in the dark.

The most important of which is to love the world as it is. You don’t have to change it; you have to change your mind, because you can choose the attitude you take toward any situation. The game of life is here for us to enjoy playing it. If we do, then we’ve played well.

We are all capable of much more than we think we are. We are worthy of love and able to give it in return.

You don’t need to spend a week in darkness to prove it to yourself. You could just put your phone away and sit alone for a little while and be still, or go for a walk in nature. That’s a good start.

Remember that we live at a banquet. There are so many amazing things in our lives we completely take for granted, like daylight, eyesight, music, and fresh air. In the world of polarity, we understand through contrast. If you never deprive yourself of anything, you can never really appreciate what they offer you. If you never fast, you’ll never realize that every meal is a feast. 

Sometimes you just have to choose nothing, so you can have everything. 

You can access my film, Awake In The Darkness, HERE. Directed by Ben Stewart, and featuring music from Nahko, Porangui, and Jon Hopkins, it shows the full journey of my time in the darkness. It’s like stepping right into the ceremony with me. I hope you enjoy it and share it with anyone who could use a little inspiration to live their life like a warrior poet.

The post Illumination: What I Learned Spending a Week in Total Darkness appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Melanie Giles, 38, a massage therapist in Austin, TX, found the Tribe after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and she credits the group for helping support her sobriety, rebound from the loss of her job, and cope with her husband’s sudden passing. We interviewed Giles to get her take on what this unique community did for her, and what it may offer you.

Onnit: You started on the path that led to Onnit when your husband died. Could you share a little about that experience?

Melanie Giles: I was a dancer living in Las Vegas, and I fell in love with a magician. We got married and traveled the world together doing a stage illusion show—levitations, sawing the lady in half, vanishing and reappearing, stuff like that.

Then, in 2017, my husband got pancreatic cancer. By the time he showed symptoms and was diagnosed, the cancer was so advanced that he passed away eight weeks later. He was only in his early 50s.

Not only had I lost my spouse, but I lost my business partner, my income, and my whole career—all at once. I had to start from scratch.

I used alcohol to numb the pain. I wasn’t out of control with it—I wasn’t an alcoholic—but I knew it wasn’t a healthy way to deal with my grief.

I had fallen in love with Austin [Texas] years earlier after a visit here, and I had always wanted to come back and live here, but it never came together. After my husband passed, I wanted to leave Vegas, change careers, and become a massage therapist. When I looked up which cities were best for massage therapy, Austin came up as number one for lucrative jobs and opportunities. In 2019, I decided to finally move here and start massage school.

When I got out of school, I immediately landed the best gig in town, working at a five-star resort. It was a perfect job, and I was so happy, but then the pandemic hit, and everything came to a complete stop with the lockdown. Suddenly, massage therapists couldn’t work at all. I lost touch with friends, clients, the whole community, and it was scary.

That’s when I saw an ad on Instagram for the Onnit 6 Challenge.

What made you want to take the Challenge?

I thought, “This is something positive I can do in the meantime while I can’t do anything else due to the pandemic.” My job as a massage therapist is very physically demanding. When that ended all of a sudden, my exercise options were… what? Sit on the couch and die a slow death? [Laughs] Or do I get my body moving?

The ad said the workouts would be bodyweight-only. I didn’t have an income, so I wasn’t going to buy a bunch of equipment anyway. It was perfect. I started the program in May 2020.

Doing an Onnit 6 program automatically gives you access to the Onnit Tribe, whose support can really help a person’s progress. Still, we find that many people are hesitant to participate in the group due to preconceived notions about who the members are and what they might talk about in there. What were your expectations when you first joined the Tribe?

I had done other workout programs and, when I first read that there was an Onnit Tribe, I thought that the Tribe might be another meathead forum—a place just for men who lifted weights. I thought it could be very superficial and I wondered, “Are women safe on this platform? Or is it going to be harassment central?”

Then, when I got inside the Tribe for the first time, I got so into reading everybody’s posts that I forgot to officially register for the Challenge! I thought I had clicked the “submit” button, but I got distracted by the Facebook page. As a result, I wasn’t technically in the running to be a finalist in the Challenge and win prizes, but I was able to do the workouts and interact with the group. 

The Tribe was not what I thought it would be at all. It turned out to be a place where people could show up authentically and share the good and bad parts of their lives, and no one was judged for it. That helped free me of any shame I had about my own life.

When I saw that the community of the Tribe was the key ingredient in keeping me motivated and engaged in my workouts, I realized that I could join other communities too. I thought, “If I can be so honest in here, maybe I can do it in Alcoholics Anonymous, and then I wouldn’t have to quit drinking alone.” It didn’t take long. I was only in the Tribe about two weeks when I decided to go to AA, and I ended my relationship with alcohol for good.

That’s amazing. What was it, specifically, about the conversations in the Tribe that helped you find the strength to quit alcohol completely?

Many people in the Tribe have had their own challenges with sobriety, and they’re very open about them. We all have this illusion that we’re all alone going through whatever sadness is in our lives, but once you start hearing from other people, you realize they’re going through the same things. One of our Tribe members, Anthony Mejia, is very open about his sobriety journey, and he’s posted about how his sobriety and his journey with Onnit are closely tied. That inspired me.

How did the Tribe help with your training?

First, let me say that the Onnit 6 Bodyweight workouts are extremely challenging. Ground-based movements [exercises that have you close to the floor] were new to me. It engages every muscle and brings out things you need to work on. I have an old shoulder injury from my performing days, and I had tried to ignore it before, but I couldn’t do that with the Onnit 6 workouts. Onnit 6 makes you really honest with yourself in every possible way.

I’ve bought other workout programs from other celebrity trainers, and you just download the program or buy the DVD and that’s it. I was very surprised that Onnit 6 came with this Tribe and that John [Wolf, Onnit’s Chief Fitness Officer] and Shane [Heins, Director of Fitness Education]—the stars of the show—make themselves available to the members and get involved. I was able to ask them how to work around my bad shoulder, and they not only answered questions, but we had whole conversations about it. They’d say, “Maybe try this,” or, “try that.” “You can modify this exercise in the program,” or, “skip that one.” It didn’t feel so much like they were trainers and I was a client—it became more like a collaboration. Working together to help me get better.

You know, different people need different things to motivate them, and what resonates with me is that John and Shane come from a place of positivity and love. They don’t train you by trying to get you to channel anger and rage to work out. Instead, they have a kind and loving approach that gets you to push to your limit. They know how to translate and communicate ideas that help you understand what you’re supposed to do and do it with intention. They never say anything that would shame anybody or make them feel like they can’t do the work. John and Shane have a lot of emotional intelligence, and I love that.

What other changes did the Onnit 6 Challenge and Tribe allow you to make to your body and your life?

I lost about 12 pounds doing that first Challenge, and I liked it so much, I’ve done three more Challenges since then. But the best thing that came out of it was that I decided I was going to become a morning person. I’ve never been a morning person, but I knew I’d have to create that habit in order to keep getting my workouts in after the lockdown. It’s one thing to get up early when you’re in lockdown and there’s nowhere to go, but I wondered what was going to happen when the pandemic got contained and we all went back to real life. Would I be able to keep the habit then, when I had a physical job like massage therapy to do all day? I knew the only way I would be able to keep the habits I’d made with Onnit 6 was if I got my training in first thing in the morning—something I had never done before in my life.

But I trained myself to do it. I started waking up at 4:45 every morning, got my coffee, and I was working out by 5:00. A year and a half later, I’m still doing it, even though I’m doing massage therapy again. I used the Tribe to get me going. I started putting the hashtag “#EMOMsForBreakfast” on my posts [EMOM stands for an exercise that’s done every minute on the minute], and it became a running joke in the Tribe: “What’s the best meal of the day? EMOMs for breakfast!” Lots of the members started keeping the same schedule, and we motivated each other.

Have you used any supplements to help with your training?

As I got more in tune with my body, I decided to become a vegetarian. I thought, “I gave up alcohol. Why not give up meat as well?” I made the switch about eight months ago, but soon after, I realized that I was struggling to get enough protein. I made a post in the Tribe about it, asking for advice, and Shane mentioned that Onnit makes Plant-Based Protein. I’ve been taking it ever since, and I no longer have trouble getting the protein intake I need.

Has the Tribe helped you cope in any way with your husband’s passing?

Yes. Seeing other people posting so openly and so vulnerably helped me share my own story. When I got comfortable enough to share my story and my grief, many of the Tribe members reached out and shared their own stories and thanked me for my openness and vulnerability. Some people reached out to me privately in the Tribe saying, “I’m not as brave as you that I can share this publicly yet, but I’m so glad that you did. Please keep it coming because it helps me.” The Tribe taught me that the more we share, the more we heal.

You’ve also been giving back to the community with your Spotify playlists. Can you tell us about that?

Ecstatic dance is something I’m passionate about. You listen to different vibrations and tones that help you express yourself, and you get rid of whatever you need to get rid of on the dance floor. Typically, people choose a location, gather together, and dance in whatever way they want. But I created a way the Tribe can do it together even while we’re all remote.

Every Sunday in the Onnit 6 Challenge is an active recovery day, and I started offering a playlist for ecstatic dance that people could use for recovery on that day. I made a playlist on Spotify and said, “If you want to join in, just press play.” So people can listen to it and dance at home.

It’s just another example of how the Tribe can help people grow and feel empowered. There are so many ways it can help you other than by just lifting weights [laughs].

The post “The More We Share, The More We Heal”: Q&A With Melanie Giles appeared first on Onnit Academy.

If all of that hasn’t piqued your curiosity enough to join the Tribe and see what it’s all about for yourself… what are you waiting for?

The group is free to join and open to everyone. Inside, members post messages, photos, and video to engage with one another. The Tribe prides itself on being a safe space, where users can feel comfortable being vulnerable and share any kind of personal struggle—so harsh or negative responses to posts are not tolerated. Apart from cheering each other on, Tribe participants share knowledge and advice on all aspects of fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle, showing new members how they can practically adopt healthy habits that might otherwise seem daunting or unrealistic.

While the Onnit Tribe exists to serve members in any way they see fit, it’s a key feature of three other Onnit offerings: Onnit 6 (O6), Onnit in 30, and the Onnit 6 Challenge.

Onnit 6 is a collection of streamable, six-week long workout programs designed to help you transform your body and set healthy habits for life. Those who purchase an O6 program are automatically admitted to the Tribe to help them achieve the greatest possible results. Onnit in 30, meanwhile, is a more price-friendly selection of O6-style training that provides a perfect introduction to the Onnit fitness philosophy—10 workouts for under 10 dollars.

Finally, there’s the Onnit 6 Challenge—an extension of the Onnit 6 programs created for those who want to raise the stakes. Held several times throughout the year, it’s a competition among Onnit 6 users to build not just a better body but a better life—although the term “competition” is a bit misleading. Rather than vie against each other, Challenge contestants work together through the Onnit Tribe to build relationships and adopt practices that make them fit, healthy, and happy long-term.

As another quarter of the year has passed, we wanted to update you on what’s been happening in the Tribe and how the members are progressing. (If you missed it, catch up with the Q1 recap here.) At the very least, we hope you’ll find it interesting. But, ideally, it will be the kick in the butt you may need to enter the Tribe and start making some changes in your own life.

Be the first to know when the next Onnit 6 Challenge registration opens

Onnit Tribe Quarter 2 Recap

Many people who join the Tribe do so as part of their participation in the Onnit 6 Challenge, and most people who compete in one Challenge enjoy the experience so much that they sign on for additional Challenges. In between O6 Challenge training blocks, participants are encouraged to reflect on what they’ve already accomplished, and consider how they can set themselves up for even greater success before the next round begins. Here’s a look at what happened in the weeks after the first O6 Challenge of 2021 finished on March 28.

Weeks 1–5 (March 29 – May 2)

Tribe members were invited to engage in the following #OnnitTribeChallenges.

• Spend one week reflecting on the six weeks of the first O6 Challenge, considering how you fared, what you learned, and what you can improve upon the next time.
• Take a one-week deload, via a program created by O6 coaches John Wolf and Shane Heins, to help recovery after six weeks of hard training.
• #ChallengeYourself. An invitation to try something new or hard in an effort to get out of one’s comfort zone. Heins suggested a 14-day yoga challenge, in which participants aimed to practice yoga every day. Yoga sessions are included in all O6 programs, and many people acknowledge that they can be difficult to adopt. The yoga challenge was an effort to help users establish the habit of regular yoga, so it would feel natural to continue it in the next O6 Challenge (or wherever their fitness path leads).

On May 2, the finalists in the first O6 Challenge of the year were announced. Congratulations to Aaron Kershaw and Amy Stallings! Prizes included $6,000 in cash, $1,000 in store credit on Onnit.com, and access to all Onnit 6 programs.

Some of those who were not chosen as finalists were understandably disappointed. Coaches Wolf and Heins led discussions of how participants could channel those feelings positively and use them as motivation to perform even better in the next Challenge. Most people who undertake the O6 Challenge learn to feel gratitude for having taken a giant step in their self-development. They also learn techniques for manifesting the results they want.

Weeks 6–9 (May 3 – May 30)

Participants spent four weeks prepping for the start of the next O6 Challenge, guided by a different theme weekly.

• Week 1: Goal setting. How to set appropriate, realistic goals.
• Week 2: Creating support. Discussion on the importance of surrounding yourself with people who believe in you and support your efforts.
• Week 3: Giving and grounding. The importance of acknowledging good things in your life, and remaining humble about your journey.
• Week 4: Synergizing 6. How to bring all your habits and practices together in balance.

Weeks 10–15 (May 31 – July 12)

The Q2 O6 Challenge kicked off May 31. As with the first Challenge, participants were able to directly engage with the Challenge coaches via weekly Facebook Live events.

Keys to Success are 30-minute Lives done at the beginning of each week to help you set intentions and goals for the week, and highlight key strategies to maximize your performance. These mini-conferences are the building blocks that set the foundation for success in the Challenge, and cover training, recovery, sleep and eating habits, scheduling, mindset, and more.

Another Facebook Live, called Live at 5, is also done weekly, typically on Fridays. It’s an hour-long live Q&A session recapping the week—addressing challenges that came up along the way, sharing insights and stories, and allowing members to ask specific questions about any fitness, health, or wellness topic and get an immediate, personal response.

Finalists for the Q2 Challenge have yet to be announced.

During this time, we also re-launched and updated the Onnit Stories series—a weekly live video interview with someone who’s dramatically changed his/her life by letting Onnit into it (Tribe members are often featured). Subjects are interviewed by Wolf or Heins on Instagram TV (IGTV), and the discussions are later transcribed to appear in article format on this blog. Onnit Stories began with two Tribe members—Anthony Mejia, and previous Onnit 6 Challenge finalist Barry Peterson.

Bottom line: the Onnit Tribe is the ultimate opportunity to connect with like-minded people who share your passion for a healthy lifestyle, and have put their trust in Onnit to help them achieve it. There’s no better way to ensure you see your goals to completion—both in fitness and beyond.

Don’t let another quarter go by. Join the Onnit Tribe on Facebook today.

The post Onnit Tribe Update: Quarter 2 Review appeared first on Onnit Academy.

If you followed her around for a day, you’d understand why. She has four children—including a 17 year-old with high-functioning autism—four grandchildren she helps look after, and a husband who’s battling tongue cancer.

Even with all these responsibilities, Davis, 46, from Raeford, North Carolina, routinely makes time for her second family—the Onnit Tribe. A private Facebook group of Onnit fans who support one another in their fitness and life goals, the Tribe has become both a refuge for Davis and a source of strength. It’s had her back while she’s completed every Onnit 6 program, participated in nearly every Onnit 6 Challenge, taken her hubby in for immunotherapy and chemo treatments, and more.

So, while Davis often doesn’t want to work out, she usually does. And she’s returned the love the Tribe has shown her with so many supportive and nurturing posts urging other member to do the same that she’s earned the nickname “Mama Bear” within the group.

In this interview, Davis reveals how she balances her fitness goals with all her other demands, and why being honest about who you are what you’re going through is the ultimate feat of strength.

How did your fitness journey begin?

Davis: A long time ago, I was in a horribly abusive first marriage, and I was an emotional eater. I stayed at 180 to 200 pounds most of my adult life, and I had so many health problems that I didn’t do any physical stuff.

I had nerve pain in my neck that was ultimately diagnosed as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis [an autoimmune disorder], and then I found out I had Crohn’s disease [a condition that causes inflammation, pain, and fatigue]. I had a lot of surgeries, and I was put on a lot of medication. My quality of life was horrible, so I didn’t feel like doing anything physical.

But when I saw what that was doing to me, and I saw how much of my life I was missing, I wanted to dial the medications back. I was like, “This is not how I want to live. My children deserve better. My husband deserves better. I deserve better.” Since then, I’ve been as active as I can be and I’ve learned how to manage my Crohn’s.

How did you find Onnit?

I saw an Onnit steel mace and I was like, “I want to swing that!” So I started with the Steel Mace Onnit 6 program in August 2019. I get bored with the same old workouts, and this was something different. I was just training with the mace on my own at first, and then I joined the Onnit Tribe in January 2020.

The Tribe has grown considerably since the pandemic began. How has it helped you handle the events of the past year?

The Tribe gives you the community that you yearn for. The kind you need when you’re participating in a workout contest like the Onnit 6 Challenge. With so many people being stuck at home, I think the Tribe has been an outlet for us to get the socialization we need. It helps us know that you’re not alone, and that there are people you can reach out to. A lot of friendships have been formed in this Tribe.

It’s hard to find people that are on the same path as you—have the same goals, are like-minded, and that you can talk to about your goals without them getting bored or tired of hearing about it. But you never run out of support in the Tribe.

How has the Tribe helped you in dealing with your husband’s cancer battle?

Just them being there has been huge. Whenever something serious happens in my life, I hyper-focus on my family and shut down with everyone else. That’s just how I deal with stuff. But the people in the Tribe reach out to me, even when I want to pull away. Even the Onnit coaches reach out when I least expect it. It’s not a “have to” thing. It’s a genuine “Hey, I’m thinking about you. How are you doing? What do you need?” It means the world to me.

How do you get your workouts in on days when you’re going with Wolf [Davis’ husband] to treatments and taking care of other family responsibilities?

A lot of scheduling. Homeschooling our kids and trying to get everything worked around that has been a big challenge. Our youngest son has high-functioning autism, but he’s doing great. He just finished his junior year in high school, and he’s ranked 15th out of 575 students.

Wednesdays are Wolf’s treatment days, so I know the next three days are going to be hard, because he’s going to need my help. He’ll lie down and, if I try to work out, I’ll have to bounce between the living room (where I train) and the bedroom to check on him. It’s a bit frustrating and I get interrupted a lot, but I get it done.

I have two set days that I’m going to be at the gym—Tuesdays and Thursdays. The other days, I’ll get up earlier if I need to in order to get a workout in, or I’ll do it later in the day. I make time for it.

You’re still battling Crohn’s disease. How do you train around your symptoms?

When I start something, I have to finish it. So, during the Onnit 6 Challenges, I never missed a day—no matter how I was feeling. The workouts are hard, but they’re written so that you can modify them if you need to slow down. The way the programs are set up, there are three levels of difficulty for each exercise. I can go back and forth between Level 1, 2, or 3 as I need to. But one thing I’ve learned from the Challenges, and Coach John Wolf, is that I can take rest days and show myself grace when I need to. It doesn’t mean I’m slacking off.

On days when you’re not feeling your best but you don’t want to skip your workout, how do you find the motivation?

I don’t know how else to say it except that I don’t like to half-ass anything. Motivation ebbs and flows. You’re not going to be motivated every day. So, you set an intention, you stay disciplined, and then you get up and you just do it. Most of the times that I don’t feel like working out and do anyway, I feel 10 times better afterward, so knowing that helps me stay consistent.

The mental aspect of training is so important. What else have you learned about your own mindset since you discovered Onnit?

One of the biggest things I’ve learned is to stop all the negative self-talk—feeling like I wasn’t worthy and couldn’t do it. I know that’s not true because I am doing it. And if I can do it, anybody can. If you’re going to talk to people in the Tribe and tell them to show themselves grace, you have to look inward and practice what you preach. It probably took me through the second Challenge I did to really get it, and I still struggle with it sometimes, but you learn to love yourself, to honor yourself, and to know that you’re doing this to better yourself.

If you’re a better you, you can take better care of the people around you. I’ve taken care of my son. I’ve taken care of my family. I had to get over feeling selfish about doing it and understand that taking control of my health was something that benefited everyone.

How, specifically, does fitness help you be a better mother, grandmother, and wife?

It helps me feel better mentally and emotionally. I’m not anxious. I don’t hold onto things as much. I don’t snap at people. It makes me happy to work out; it’s not a chore. I have energy, and happiness, and it shows. My husband tells me now, “You’re like a teenager bouncing around.” And with what we’re going through with him now, I would have never been able to do it if I didn’t have fitness.

Where are you now in your fitness journey?

I’m around 115 pounds now, at 5’ 2”, but I don’t get on the scale very much. The reason for that is because I could get really caught up in it, and I don’t want to because I have body image issues. I still see myself as 200 pounds, so it doesn’t matter how much I work out—200 pounds is what I see. I don’t want to get caught up in the whole number thing, so I just work out to feel good. Working out is my therapy. I was on so much anxiety medicine before, and now I’m on none.

You’re known in the Tribe for affectionately addressing other members as “Sassy Savages.” Where does that name come from?

It comes from the fact that a lot of us in the group are savages! We’re all going through something. Everybody is. But if you’re in the Tribe, you’re probably doing an Onnit 6 Challenge, and you don’t half-step into doing something like that—you go all in. So anyone who can do the Challenges while going through everything else they’re dealing with is kind of a savage. We have people doing two, three programs at a time in there, on top of everything else they have to do in their life.

The “sassy” part is pretty self-explanatory if you talk to any of us in the group. Everybody has a little bit of sass to them—some fierceness—and you see it come out in the Tribe. It’s great.

There’s nobody cheering for the people in the Tribe harder than me. I want everybody to win. Even when I’ve been a semi-finalist in the Onnit Challenges, I was pulling for the other people that were in it because it feels so good to see people start to love themselves and know their worth.

Your posts in the Tribe are often emotional, and you show a lot of vulnerability, which takes courage. How did you get comfortable enough to share things like that?

I think the best way to make people feel comfortable and to be able to share in the journey is to be your authentic self. With the Onnit 6 Challenges, you learn who you are and you find yourself—and to find yourself is to be yourself. So, the Tribe is a place to be able to safely and authentically share who you are with other people. It will rub some people the wrong way, but then others identify with it and it helps them share more of themselves. It’s like the way you share with your family, and the Tribe is a type of family. It’s very raw. It’s very from the heart.

For those who are still unsure about joining the Tribe, can you sum up what it can offer them?

The Tribe gives you the community you need, because you can’t do it all by yourself. You need that encouragement. There may be days when you need advice, and you can go to the Tribe and get recommendations for anything, even if it’s not workout-related. There will be days when you’re feeling down, and somebody in the Tribe will say, “Hey, I’ll do the workout with you. You want to get on FaceTime and we’ll do it together?” The Tribe has become family. It’s been life-changing for me.

The post “The Onnit Tribe Has Become Family”: Q&A with Lynn Davis appeared first on Onnit Academy.

– Pork is the most widely consumed meat in the world. It’s a good source of complete protein and several important vitamins and minerals.

– Saturated fat and cholesterol have not been proven to cause cardiovascular disease. Pork tenderloin and sirloin meet American Heart Association criteria for heart-healthy eating.

– Lean pork can be made more flavorful by using a brine or spices, and by adding fruit, acidity, herbs, extra fat, or mustard to your recipe.

Healthy Pork Recipes & Ideas That Taste Great

Pork is so much more than bacon and sausage. Because it’s so prevalent in fast food and decadent restaurant meals, it seems that many people have gotten the wrong impression that pork is an inherently fattening food. The truth, however, is that it’s packed with protein and can be quite lean—comparable to chicken breast. Fattier cuts probably do need to be consumed in smaller portions if you’re watching your weight, but they can deliver an awful lot of flavor—at a minor caloric cost—in small doses.

This is our guide to “the other white meat” (that actually isn’t white), covering everything from its nutrition properties to some of the best ways to prepare it.

Is Eating Pork Bad For You?

Here’s our theory on why some people squeal at pork: Pork comes from pigs. Pigs tend to be fat, and their meat contains fat. Therefore, eating pork will turn you into a pig.

Or something along those lines…

Fortunately, most of the world doesn’t follow that logic. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 36% of the meat consumed internationally is pork—which means that pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world (but poultry isn’t far behind, at 33%).

There are plenty of reasons to dine on swine. For one, pork is high in protein. “It’s considered to have complete protein,” says Chris Mohr, PhD, RD, a nutrition and wellness consultant (follow him on Instagram, @mohrresults). “That means that pork contains all the amino acids your body needs to build and maintain muscle, bone, and all its other tissues.” Pork is also a good source of vitamins and minerals, particularly B vitamins, iron, and zinc. B vitamins are crucial for energy production and a healthy metabolism, iron supports red blood cells and helps to make hormones, and zinc promotes brain and immune system health. (Read more about B vitamins in our guide.)

Pork offers some other nutrients that are especially important for active, fit people. Like other meats, pork has creatine, which helps to power muscle contractions (and a lot more—read our creatine guide). It also has taurine, an amino acid that can help protect against cellular damage and support heart function. Finally, pork contains beta-alanine, another amino that can help promote work capacity in the gym (yes, we have a guide for beta-alanine too).

The big knock on pork is that it contains saturated fat and cholesterol, like all red meats. (Despite marketing hype that would indicate otherwise, pork is not a white meat—more about this below).

If your doctor has advised you to steer clear of pork, and foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol in general, we won’t try to convince you otherwise. But if you’re a regular, healthy person, science shows that fearing these nutrients is probably unwarranted.

The American Heart Association’s practical guidelines state that a moderate intake of cholesterol does not affect blood cholesterol levels in most people. Furthermore, a review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicated that some saturated fats actually lower LDL cholesterol. Still, other research shows that reducing saturated fat in the diet without considering other nutritional factors won’t reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Even if you are concerned about saturated fat in your food, pork can still be a part of your plate. “Both pork tenderloin and pork sirloin roast meet the criteria for the American Heart Association Heart Checkmark,” says Mohr, “which means they contain less than 5 grams of fat, 2 grams or less of saturated fat, and 480 milligrams or less of sodium per label serving.”

Of course, the pork family also consists of processed meat products, such as bacon and sausage, which have been linked to illnesses, including cancer. These meats are often cured with nitrates and nitrites, types of preservatives, which, once cooked, can form carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines. However, many suppliers try to offset the risk by adding vitamin C and other antioxidants to bacon and sausage during the curing process, which reduces the nitrosamine content.

Another option is to buy bacon and sausage that advertises no added nitrates, but this isn’t a guarantee that the meat is any healthier. Celery powder is sometimes used as an alternative to synthetic nitrates and nitrites, but it has the same effect in preserving the meat, and it hasn’t been proven to be less risky.

Bacon is also high in fat and salt. While dietary fat may not play a significant role in heart disease, it is calorie-dense, so people watching their weight should avoid it in high amounts (unless you’re following a low-carb diet, in which fat is substituted for a high-carb intake, and still manages to create a calorie deficit). Salt, meanwhile, may increase the risk of high blood pressure, but probably only in those who have a sensitivity to it. Still, it’s best to let most of your sodium intake come from whole foods and seasonings used to flavor them, not processed foods, so you don’t take in too much.

The bottom line on bacon and sausage is to treat them as an indulgence that you eat now and then—not as a diet staple. But you should have no problem eating leaner, minimally-processed pork products, such as tenderloin, on a regular basis, if you so choose.

You may have also read about pork carrying certain parasites that can be harmful. This is a possibility, but it’s only a real concern in developing countries where farming and meat processing procedures aren’t held to the highest standards. An article in Clinical Microbiology and Infection states that the risk of contracting a pork-born parasite in a developed country is minimal, provided you only consume meat that’s been cooked through. So the pork you get at Walmart is almost certainly safe to eat, as long as you heat it until it’s no longer pink and soft inside.

How Does Pork Compare Nutritionally To Other Types of Meat?

Lean pork products are on par with other types of meat, health-wise. As with all meats, pork is naturally carb-free, and high in protein. Though it’s been marketed for decades as a white meat, pork is technically red meat, like beef, but all this means is that a certain protein in meat, called myoglobin, produces a red color when it’s exposed to air.

The cut of pork that offers the best combination of high protein and low calories/fat is pork tenderloin. In this regard, it’s almost identical to skinless chicken breast and turkey breast. It’s also much leaner than most lean cuts of steak, such as sirloin. Boneless loin roast and loin chops are also good options. See how these meats compare below.

And what about ham? If you’re making a sandwich, the extra-lean, low-sodium variety is your best bet. A 3.5 oz serving has only 140 calories for 19g protein and 3g fat—but the sugar used to cure the ham brings the carbs in at around 11 grams. Canadian bacon is a better choice, as one slice has only 20 calories for 4 grams protein and less than a half-gram of fat and carbs.

Bear in mind that the nutritional quality of any meal depends largely on how it’s prepared. To control calories, opt for baking, broiling, grilling, or roasting pork, as opposed to frying it, or cooking it with large amounts oil.

You should also try to get organic pork whenever possible, or look for brands that are antibiotic- and hormone-free, and pasture-raised. This provides greater assurance that the pigs lived healthy lives and were treated humanely, and that means better nutrition and flavor (as well as karma for you).

Remember also that a pork dish by itself is never good or bad. The same can be said of virtually any food. If you’re watching your weight, you have to keep track of what you’re eating at all your meals. Whole eggs and bacon at breakfast, grilled salmon at lunch, and pork tenderloin for dinner isn’t an unhealthy day of eating, per se, but it will add up to a lot of calories. One who’s trying to lose weight, and isn’t following a low-carb/higher-fat diet, should consider subbing some lower-fat, protein-rich foods—such as chicken breast, turkey, and white fish—for higher-fat fare like bacon and salmon, to avoid excess calories.

“At the end of the day, it’s about balance,” says Mohr, “and what else is on your plate as well.”

7 Helpful Pork Cooking Tips

If you’ve had pork dishes turn out dry or bland in the past, follow these seven suggestions from Liv Langdon (livoutloud.com), a holistic wellness coach and recipe developer, for delicious meat every time.

1. Bring In A Brine

Lean cuts of pork are easy to overcook, and doing so will leave you with a tough, dry piece of meat. You can lock in moisture by brining the pork before cooking. All you have to do is soak it in a saltwater solution (a wet brine), or coat it in salt (a dry brine) and let it sit in the fridge for 45 minutes, or overnight. Dry brine is preferable to wet because the latter tends to dilute the resulting flavor, while a dry brine can enhance it.

2. Spice It Up 

Pork is a pretty mild-tasting meat, so if you want bolder flavor, don’t be shy about adding spices. Smoked paprika is a game-changer; it’s one of those spices you should have on hand at all times. It adds a smoky flavor to whatever you’re cooking that is simply delectable. Add it to your dry brine, or throw it in your ground pork kale sauté (shown below) to turn up your breakfast tacos.

3. Pair With Sweetness

Pork goes really well with sweet flavors. Whether you make a sauce, marinade, or dressing, a touch of natural sweetness goes a long way toward making pork more delicious. Think apples, pears, or raw honey!

4. Balance With Acidity 

Whether it’s a wedge of lime with your breakfast tacos, balsamic vinaigrette on your salad, or apple cider vinegar in your spiced apples (see below), a touch of tartness really elevates any dish.

5. Level Up With Herbs

Fresh herbs make whatever you’re serving look fancier (and taste better, too!). When you sear pork chops in fresh thyme sprigs, you immediately add an extra layer of flavor without adding calories, and it takes no extra effort. Rosemary is another great option.

6. Use Fat For Flavor

Pork is healthiest when it’s lean, but cutting the fat can also mean cutting flavor. If you’re trying to keep your fat intake lower, but still want to maximize taste, consider using a lean cut of pork like tenderloin along with a slightly fattier cut like pork shoulder. Adding a little fat with the shoulder can pile on flavor without pumping up the calories too much. 

7. Add Mustard

If you can’t be bothered to make a brine, marinade, glaze, or any special sauce for your meat, then you must have mustard on hand. It pairs so well with pretty much every cut of pork that you should have whole-grain, Dijon, and honey-mustard always at the ready. 

Healthy Pork Recipes

Pulled pork… Pork chops… Bacon?? To most people’s ears, they sound like foods you should avoid if you want to eat healthy. But the way you prepare them, and the foods you include alongside (or leave out), can do a lot to round out the nutrition profile of your meals, save calories, and promote satiety without sacrificing flavor. Langdon offers the following options.

DINNER: Slow-Cooked BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 3–4 hours on high, 5–6 on low 

Serving size: 1 sandwich 

Yields: 8 sandwiches 

PULLED PORK INGREDIENTS

1 lb. pork tenderloin

1 lb. pork shoulder 

4 cans Zevia Ginger Root Beer*

10 oz. no-sugar-added barbeque sauce**

8 Whole-grain artisan-style burger buns***

Dill pickles (optional)

COLESLAW INGREDIENTS

2 cups shredded cabbage 

¼ cup avocado oil mayonnaise****

¼ cup full-fat plain Skyr or Greek yogurt 

1 tsp. Dijon mustard 

2 tsp. apple cider vinegar 

½ lemon 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

*This specific brand is free of refined sugar, contains no artificial dyes, and is sweetened with stevia. 

**We used Good Food for Good Organic Classic BBQ Sauce. It’s sweetened with dates and has 3g sugar per serving.

***We used Dave’s Killer Bread USDA Organic Burger Buns Done Right. They’re free of high-fructose corn syrup and bleached flour.

****We used Primal Kitchen avocado oil-based mayonnaise

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Add the meat to a slow cooker, and cover with the Zevia ginger root beer. Cook on low 5–6 hours, or on high 3–4 hours, depending on when you want it finished.

Step 2. Add all of the slaw ingredients to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. You can prepare the slaw the day before. The longer it sits in the fridge, the better it tastes!

Step 3. When the meat is finished cooking, transfer it to a large cutting board and shred with two forks. Transfer the shredded meat to a large mixing bowl, and toss it with the barbeque sauce.

Step 4. Serve on a warm burger bun with a scoop of slaw. Pickles and beer are optional (but encouraged!). 

SIDE DISH: Crispy Bacon Brussels Sprouts with Whole-Grain Mustard Sauce

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

BACON AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS INGREDIENTS

6 slices bacon (preferably with vitamin C added, or uncured/nitrate-free) 

5 cups Brussels sprouts, halved and trimmed 

¼ tsp. garlic powder 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

MUSTARD SAUCE INGREDIENTS

¼ cup whole-grain mustard 

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard 

3 tsp. apple cider vinegar 

2 tbsp. raw honey 

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Place a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cut bacon strips into small, ½-inch thick pieces, and add to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy.

Step 2. Transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel-lined plate. Discard most of the rendered fat, but leave 1 tbsp. in the pan.

Step 3. Add the Brussels sprouts, garlic, salt, and pepper to the pan. Cook until the sprouts’ edges are golden brown, and they’re fully cooked—approximately 10 minutes.

Step 4. While the Brussels sprouts cook, make the mustard sauce in a small mixing bowl, whisking together all the ingredients. When the Brussels are done, remove from heat. When they’re slightly cooled, toss in the mustard sauce and bacon bits, and serve warm. 

DINNER: Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Spiced Apples

Prep time: 15 minutes

Brine Time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

PORK CHOP INGREDIENTS

2 bone-in pork chops, about 1-inch thick

Ghee (or high-smoke point oil of choice, like avocado oil or rendered bacon fat)

1 tbsp. grass-fed butter 

4 cloves garlic 

6 sprigs fresh thyme

Black pepper and sea salt, to taste 

DRY BRINE INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp. salt, or enough to generously coat the meat

1 tbsp. coconut sugar 

1 tsp. garlic powder 

1 tsp. smoked paprika 

SPICED APPLES INGREDIENTS

1 Granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced

1 tbsp. grass-fed butter 

Dash of ground cinnamon

Dash of ground cloves 

⅓ cup apple cider vinegar 

⅓ cup coconut sugar

1 tbsp. maple syrup 

SIDES

6 red-skinned potatoes 

1 tbsp. grass-fed butter

garlic, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Head of broccolini, trimmed 

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp liquid aminos (we used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos)

1 tsp. garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Rinse the pork chops, and pat them dry. Mix the spices for the dry brine, and completely coat the chops. Keep in the fridge 45 minutes, or overnight if you have the time.

Step 2. Boil the potatoes until you can easily pierce them with a fork. Mash the potatoes, and add flavor with 1 tbsp. butter, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Step 3. Toss the broccolini in the olive oil, liquid aminos, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and roast in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.

Step 4. Meanwhile, lightly coat a cast-iron skillet with the ghee, and place over high heat until smoking. Add the pork chops, and flip until all sides have a golden crust—about 5–7 minutes.

Step 5. Add the butter, garlic cloves, and fresh thyme to the skillet. Continue cooking and flipping frequently for an additional 5 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the pork reads 135 degrees Fahrenheit (medium doneness). Remove the chops from the heat, and let the meat rest 5 minutes before serving.

Step 6. Discard thyme sprigs and garlic cloves, but leave the remaining oils, thyme leaves, and brown bits on the skillet to flavor the apple.

Step 7. Add the diced apple and butter to the skillet and turn heat to medium-high. Stir and cook the apples until softened. Then add the spices, vinegar, coconut sugar, and maple syrup. Lower the heat to medium-low, and reduce to a syrup consistency, about 6 minutes. Serve the spiced apple over the pork chops, and with the mashed potatoes and broccolini on the side.

Healthy Pork Tenderloin Recipe

Tenderloin makes for a lean lunch or dinner. With the addition of fruit, spices, and some acidic ingredients, you can offset any blandness that comes with lower-fat meat and provide an amazing array of flavors. Langdon conjured up this salad to illustrate.

Pear + Blue Cheese Arugula Salad with Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Prep time: 10 minutes

Brine time: 45 minutes 

Cook time: 25 minutes

SALAD INGREDIENTS 

12 oz. pork tenderloin 

Avocado oil, or other oil with high smoke point

3 cups arugula

2 Bartlett pears, cored and thinly sliced

⅓ cup crumbled blue cheese

½ cup walnut halves

DRY BRINE INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp. salt, or enough to generously coat the meat

1 tbsp. coconut sugar 

1 tsp. garlic powder 

1 tsp. smoked paprika 

VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS

¼ cup aged balsamic vinegar

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 

2 tbsp. raw honey 

1 tsp. minced garlic

1–2 tbsp. fresh thyme, or herbs of choice, finely chopped 

Salt and pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. Rinse the tenderloin and pat it dry. Mix the spices for the dry brine, and completely coat the tenderloin. Cover and store in the fridge 45 minutes, or overnight if you have the time.

Step 2. Fire up the grill! A cast-iron skillet works well here too. Lightly coat the grill or pan with a high-smoke point oil (such as avocado or almond) to prevent sticking. If using a pan, set it over high-heat, until the oil begins to smoke. Add the pork tenderloin and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides—about 10 minutes.

Step 3. Once the pork’s edges are crisp and brown, turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook an additional 10–15 minutes covered, until the internal temperature reaches 130 degrees Fahrenheit (use a meat thermometer to check). Remove the pork from the heat and let it rest 5 minutes before slicing.

Step 4. While the pork cooks, whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until combined. Or, if you prefer, skip this step, and use your favorite salad dressing instead.

Step 5. In a large bowl, add the arugula, pears, walnuts, cheese, and vinaigrette. Toss to combine. Plate and serve with the tenderloin.

Healthy Ground Pork Recipe

For those watching their carbs or watching out for gluten, Langdon created these tacos. They make a great breakfast (with leftovers that can supply a lunch or dinner the next day). The tortillas are grain-free, but offer much the same texture and taste as conventional flour ones.

Ground Pork Al Pastor Breakfast Tacos 

Prep time: 10 minutes 

Cook time: 15 minutes

Yields: 6 tacos 

TACO INGREDIENTS

1 tsp. avocado oil 

¼ red onion, diced 

1 lb. ground pork

2 tsp. chili powder 

1 tsp. smoked paprika 

½ tsp. garlic powder 

Salt and pepper, to taste 

½ orange, juiced 

½ lime, juiced 

5 oz kale (or ½ of 10-oz bag)

6 eggs

Tortillas (we used Siete Grain-free Coconut Cassava Tortillas)

TOPPINGS

Avocado, sliced 

½ cup pineapple chunks, chopped into ½-inch thick pieces

2 jalapenos, sliced into rounds

¼ red onion, thinly sliced

4 sprigs fresh cilantro, stems removed

2 limes, cut into wedges 

Hot sauce, to taste 

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1. In a large sauté pan, add the avocado oil and the diced onion. Cook 2–3 minutes over medium heat until onion is translucent.

Step 2. Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the ground pork. Break up the meat as it begins to brown.

Step 3. Add the spices, orange juice, and lime juice, and continue to cook thoroughly.

Step 4. When the meat is browned, turn the heat down to medium-low, add the kale, stir, and cover until wilted—about 2–3 minutes.

Step 5. Transfer the pork and kale mixture to a bowl, and cover to keep warm.

Step 6. In the same pan, cook the eggs in whatever style you prefer. While they cook, warm the tortillas.

Step 7. Assemble tacos with the pork-kale mixture on the bottom, then top with egg, avocado, pineapple, jalapeno, onion, and fresh cilantro. Serve with a lime wedge.

The post Healthy Pork Recipes & Ideas That Taste Great appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Is it because you didn’t have the right workout equipment? Plenty of people have gotten in shape using their bodyweight alone.

Did you feel like you just didn’t know what to do? Thousands of free workouts and diets are a Google search away.

Maybe you just weren’t able to stay motivated? But motivation comes and goes. Everyone misses a workout here and there.

No, the truth about why you’ve had trouble reaching your goals—in fitness and in life—more than likely comes down to one mistake you make every time you go after something: you go it alone.

You keep trying to make massive changes to your body, your nutrition, or your mindset all on your own, without a network of supporters who keep you accountable, on task, and in a positive frame of mind.

Research shows that you have a much better chance of staying on track with your goals, and achieving greater results, when you have friends who work for the same things alongside you. As the saying goes, “No man [or woman] is an island.”

A study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that subjects who started a weight-loss plan with their friends were more likely to complete the program than those who went at it alone, and did better at keeping the weight off when checked up on months later.

The trouble is, good friends don’t grow on trees. It’s hard to find like-minded people who will support you unconditionally—and without judgment. How do you meet and convince the right folks to rally around you, especially in the middle of a pandemic where everyone’s social distancing??

The answer: you join the Onnit Tribe.

What Is The Onnit Tribe?

Onnit Tribe is a Facebook group of Onnit fans who provide ongoing support for each other in their fitness and life goals. The group is free to join and open to everyone.

Members post messages, photos, and video to engage with one another. The Tribe prides itself on being a safe space, where users can feel comfortable being vulnerable and share any kind of personal struggle—so harsh or negative responses to posts are not tolerated.

Apart from cheering each other on, Tribe participants share knowledge and advice on all aspects of fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle, showing new members how they can practically adopt healthy habits that might otherwise seem daunting or unrealistic. 

While the Onnit Tribe exists to serve members in any way they see fit, it’s a key feature of three other Onnit offerings: Onnit 6 (O6), Onnit in 30, and the Onnit 6 Challenge.

Onnit 6 is a collection of streamable, six-week long workout programs designed to help you transform your body and set healthy habits for life. Those who purchase an O6 program are automatically admitted to the Tribe to help them achieve the greatest possible results. Onnit in 30, meanwhile, is a more price-friendly selection of O6-style training that provides a perfect introduction to the Onnit fitness philosophy—10 workouts for under 10 dollars.

Finally, there’s the Onnit 6 Challenge—an extension of the Onnit 6 programs created for those who want to raise the stakes. Held several times throughout the year, it’s a competition among Onnit 6 users to build not just a better body but a better life—although the term “competition” is a bit misleading. Rather than vie against each other, Challenge contestants work together through the Onnit Tribe to build relationships and adopt practices that make them fit, healthy, and happy long-term.

Onnit Tribe Quarter 1 Recap: See What You’ve Been Missing

The first Onnit 6 Challenge of 2021 concluded March 28, marking the end of the Onnit Tribe’s first quarter of the year. To show how the Tribe works in helping people transform their lives, we’ll reveal some of what went on inside during those first three months of 2021, and share actual posts from the members that illustrate it.

Weeks 1–6 (January 4 – February 15)

Onnit 6 Challenge registrants are given a period of guided preparation before each Challenge begins, led by Challenge coaches John Wolf (Onnit’s Chief Fitness Officer) and Shane Heins (Director of Fitness Education).

Wolf and Heins help prepare the team for maximum results by giving them Topics of the Week to focus on. Topics include how to set goals, establish daily routines, create a support network at home, and other factors that set them up for success. Participants are encouraged to post in the Tribe about what they’re doing in their own lives to address each topic. Posts are entered into a weekly draw and then randomly selected; winning draws are rewarded with a $125 Onnit gift card to the poster.

Many people have preconceived notions about Onnit being a brand that’s just for athletes or the uber-fit, but, upon joining the Tribe, quickly realize that Onnit’s fans consist of people at all different points along their health and wellness journeys. No one is shamed for missing workouts or falling off a nutrition plan. The Tribe understands that life happens—and as long as you’re trying to better yourself, you can’t fail.

Weeks 7–12 (February 15 – March 29)

When the O6 Challenge begins, Challenge participants are able to directly engage with the Challenge coaches via weekly Facebook Live events.

Keys to Success are 30-minute Lives done at the beginning of each week to help you set intentions and goals for the week, and highlight key strategies to maximize your performance. These mini-conferences are the building blocks that set the foundation for success in the Challenge, and cover training, recovery, sleep and eating habits, scheduling, mindset, and more. Specifically, Keys to Success include the following:

1. Technical Proficiency

Each exercise prescribed in the O6 workouts can be modified to three levels of difficulty, so it’s important to find the one that’s appropriate for you. Specific coaching cues on how to do moves properly are also discussed.

2. Pacing

How to find a workout pace that lets you work hard but not burn yourself out or risk injury.

3. Restorative Work

What you need to do on a regular basis to help you recover from workouts and make the best gains—foam rolling, stretching, active recovery, and more.

4. Daily Journaling

Why and how you should record your progress, thoughts, and feelings in a log, using a notebook or the computer.

5. Listening To Your Body

How to check in with yourself, bringing awareness to how you feel about the program so far, how your body is doing, and what you need to do to stay on track.

6. Sharing Your Wins

Tell the Tribe all your accomplishments so far, no matter how insignificant they seem. A small step for you could provide major inspiration for someone else.

7. Exploring Your Limits

When you should push yourself on a given exercise or in a workout.

8. Knowing When To Throttle Back

Once you know how far you can push, recognize when and why you should back off.

9. Fueling For Performance

Healthy and sustainable changes you can make to how you’re eating and sleeping.

10. Prioritizing Success

How to ensure the choices and effort you make lead to the most meaningful outcomes.

Another Facebook Live, called Live at 5, is also done weekly, typically on Fridays. It’s an hour-long live Q&A session recapping the week—addressing challenges that came up along the way, sharing insights and stories, and allowing members to ask specific questions about any fitness, health, or wellness topic and get an immediate, personal response.

What Happens After the Onnit 6 Challenge?

At the end of the six-week Challenge, the participants have the opportunity to post a video or write-up summarizing how their physical and mental well-being has improved from the experience, and what healthy habits they’ll work to keep going forward.

After a multi-layered review process, two finalists—one male and one female—are selected for the grand prize, which includes $6000 in cash, $1000 in store credit for Onnit products, and access to all the O6 workout programs.

Though the Onnit 6 Challenge officially ends after six weeks, membership in the Tribe has no expiration date, and most participants continue to post actively—sharing their experiences with the Challenge and helping newer members.

The Tribe Is Waiting To Welcome YOU

The Onnit 6 Challenge is the biggest anchor point in the Onnit social community, and you’ll find that much of the Onnit Tribe conversation leads back to it. But if you’re not ready for that level of commitment, you’re still welcome to be a part of the Tribe, receive support, and challenge yourself in other ways.

The Tribe is guided by weekly themes that serve as focus points for members to rally around and stay connected to their life and fitness visions.

Themes include:

– Identifying meaningful, personal goals

– Exploring nutritional adjustments

– Allowing yourself space for reflection

– Facing what you’ve been avoiding

And many more.

Themes are often accompanied by short-term challenges. Participants are encouraged to post in the Tribe about what they’re doing in their own lives to address the topic, and are subsequently included in a weekly draw for Onnit gift cards and other prizes.

Tribe members can even come up with their own challenges. Check out O6 Challenge grand-prize finalist Barry Peterson’s Bump In The Road Challenge below, and some of the responses he got. Tribe members often tag each other in posts to draw attention to one another’s accomplishments so that the whole group can be inspired.

Bottom line: the Onnit Tribe is the ultimate opportunity to connect with like-minded people who share your passion for a healthy lifestyle, and have put their trust in Onnit to help them achieve it. There’s no better way to ensure you see your goals to completion—both in fitness and beyond.

Don’t let another quarter go by. Join the Onnit Tribe on Facebook today.

And for a first-hand account of how the Tribe can change lives, see our interview with Tribe member Freddy Lopez.

The post Onnit Tribe: The Support You Need For Success appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Experts tell us that to see results long-term, we need to change things just a little at a time. Eat a little less dough and a few more carrot sticks each day until you’ve weaned yourself off junk food and onto salads… Start by taking walks around your neighborhood and knocking out a few pushups before you start renovating your house for a home gym. Small, gradual, maintainable changes work best.

That is, unless you’re Shawn Paul Jennings, who harnessed his bipolar personality to change his mindset and his life practically overnight—and without looking back. Jennings dropped his body fat by eight percent in six weeks en route to an Onnit 6 Challenge victory, and he’s only just beginning to build steam.

Death and Rebirth

Jennings, of Snohomish, Washington, worked in digital marketing, and was an avid surfer, artist, and musician. He struggled with anxiety and depression, but enjoyed an active and relatively balanced life. Then, in February 2019, he lost his father to pancreatic cancer. “We thought he had a little bit longer than he did,” says Jennings, “so it kind of snuck up on us.”

The shock sent Jennings into a spiral, in which he gave up all physical activity for rich food and booze. A typical day would begin with sleeping late—because he couldn’t get to sleep the night before—and then migrating to his beanbag chair where he’d vegetate until dinnertime. “I developed a lot of bad habits,” says Jennings, “and became an expert at them,” he jokes.

While his body swelled some 15 pounds over the course of that year, Jennings felt his mind was atrophying, describing his creative drive at level zero. His breaking point came when he turned 40 in January 2020. Attempting to celebrate his birthday by going surfing, his favorite activity, Jennings found he was so out of shape that he couldn’t even paddle out to the big waves.

Then Jennings discovered Own The Day, Own Your Life, the best-selling lifestyle book by Onnit founder Aubrey Marcus. “It really struck a chord with me,” he says, as he felt it provided the roadmap that would lead him out of his funk. “I listened to the audio version of it twice.” Jennings began following Marcus on social media, and that led to his discovery of the Onnit 6 Challenge, Onnit’s fitness transformation contest.

The Onnit 6 (O6) Challenge is a six-week course focused around one of the Onnit 6 workout programs—plans that use just one piece of workout equipment (or bodyweight alone) to build stability and strength in the body while training the mind to adopt healthy habits for life. All workouts feature video instruction, and are streamed online, allowing you to train at home. In the O6 Challenge, participants work together (albeit remotely) to stay motivated and achieve the best results—so it’s not so much a competition as a shared mission. To win the challenge, you need to demonstrate that training with Onnit helped you not only change your body but also improve your life. Grand-prize winners are awarded free Onnit products, access to all Onnit 6 programs, and $6,000 in cash.

Jennings signed up for the Kettlebell O6 Challenge, even though he’d never touched the cannonball-shaped implement before in his life, and the contest began, coincidentally, one year to the day after the passing of his dad.

“I had just turned 40 and wanted to make a change,” says Jennings. “The Challenge seemed like a good opportunity to do that, so I jumped in with both feet.” He bought three kettlebells—none heavier than 35 pounds—and, to help keep himself accountable, created a YouTube channel on which he’d maintain a video log of the experience. Christening the channel Kook & Rally, as in, “here’s a kook who’s going to rally and get his life together,” Jennings announced in his first video that “Grief left me a depressed, angry, lethargic fat slob. That all changes today.”

And just like that, it did.

Going forward, Jennings vowed to stop grieving over his father and instead celebrate his life by doing the things his dad would have wanted him to: taking care of his physical and mental health, expressing himself as an artist, and reclaiming his identity as a surfer. “I thought I could use the Challenge to get back into the things that used to make me happy,” says Jennings, “and to put me in a position where I felt I had the power to perform well at them again.”

A Tale of Two Shawns

Of course, it wasn’t quite as easy as just drawing a line in the sand and stepping over it. Jennings has always had trouble finding the middle ground. If he drinks alcohol, he’s apt to get loaded, and if he’s following a workout plan, he’s going to train like he’s heading to the Olympics. To make it even trickier, the switch can flip from on to off with the least provocation.

In the past, Jennings would make a run at working out, but if he missed a day, he’d give up the pursuit entirely. The difference with O6 was that he now had a support group to cheerlead him through the obstacles and keep him on track.

The Onnit Tribe is a Facebook group created for Onnit 6 Challenge contestants to communicate. They exchange ideas about workouts and nutrition, but the real magic lies in how they motivate each other through difficult times.

“People in there post a lot of before and after photos, which is inspiring to see,” says Jennings, but the people who inspired me the most were the ones who seemed to be struggling the hardest. They’d post things like, ‘I missed my kettlebell workout today and I just feel like crap about it,’ and other members would jump on and say, ‘Hey, don’t beat yourself up. You’ll get it tomorrow. It’s OK.’ People even talked about things outside of the Challenge that they were struggling with. The tribe became a support system, not just for the contest, but for our lives in general. And as the pandemic began, that really meant a lot.”

There were days when Jennings missed workouts, but fueled by the love of the Tribe, he’d make sure to make it up the next day and, given his tendency to go to extremes, he sometimes did double sessions for good measure. “Another thing that helped me stay consistent was knowing that each week of the program built on the last one,” says Jennings. “I knew I had to get the exercises we did this week down before I could advance them the next week.”

Though he was a newbie to kettlebell training, Jennings took to it right away. Every Onnit 6 program provides exercises in a three-tier format: new users should start with moves that are at a Level 1 difficulty, and can progress as they see fit to Levels 2 and 3. For example, a trainee working lower body in an O6 session might start out with a basic lunge movement for his/her first few workouts and then graduate to a warrior lunge (a lunge followed by an external rotation of the rear leg) a few weeks later. Jennings was able to customize his workouts to his strength level, as well as his readiness to train that day according to how he was feeling.

Since all the workouts are streamed online, Jennings trained from his home office and garage, and sometimes even outdoors when the weather was nice.

As he built momentum on the program and settled into the habit of moving his body on a daily basis, Jennings found he craved even more activity. “I added things on, like going for a long walk or raking the leaves, instead of hanging out and watching TV.” Jennings made changes to his diet as well, incorporating more fruits and vegetables, a habit made easier by the delicious recipes and food prep ideas shared amongst the Tribe. Jennings didn’t count calories or carbs, but he was meticulous about weighing himself on a smart scale so that he could track his progress, and he took pictures of himself daily.

Still, one of his favorite features of the Challenge was that it wasn’t based entirely on aesthetic results. “Unlike so many other fitness contests,” he says, “there was no weigh in, and no pressure to look a certain way at the end. I thought that was very cool.”

Life Begins (Again) At 40

By the end of Week 6, Jennings had taken eight percent off his body fat while gaining significant muscle mass. He also found himself feeling more enthusiastic about his work. “I felt like an artist again,” he says. “I have a list of things I want to do and make now.” He returned to surfing with a vengeance, as well as his music. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished,” he says, “and I know my dad would be proud of it too.”

He not only righted his ship after the death of his father and turning 40, Jennings proved that he had the dedication to weather storms and maintain his lifestyle change indefinitely. For these reasons, Onnit named him the O6 Kettlebell winner in April 2020.

“The $6,000 in prize money was great, and it helped me out a lot,” says Jennings, “but that was the least of what I got out of the Challenge. The overall physical and mental health change was the real prize, and I made quite a few friends that I’m still in touch with who keep me on track. In fact, I’m connecting with people now better than I have in years.”

In September 2020, Jennings was finally diagnosed as bipolar, which explains his tendency toward erratic behavior, and why previous treatments never worked for him. While Jennings acknowledges that he still has days when he misses workouts and makes less than optimal decisions, he knows he’ll never let his demons overtake him again. “I have my peaks and valleys,” he says, “but I find some way to be active every day. As someone who struggles with moderation, if I miss one day, I feel like I might as well miss two weeks. That’s a difficult thing for me to work on. But when I pick myself up and do the work the next day, I feel one-thousand times better, and I’m pretty stoked by how I look and feel right now. When I get down, it’s easier to pick myself up than it used to be. Onnit 6 was not a fad workout for me. It’s become a lifestyle.”

All photos and video courtesy of Shawn Jennings. Follow him on YouTube and Instagram.

Learn more about the Onnit 6 Challenge HERE.

The post How Shawn Paul Jennings Changed Everything and Made It Stick appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Peterson, now age 52, hadn’t done a hurtman rescue in nearly 10 years.

He took a deep breath, slapped on his hard hat, pulled on his gloves, and listened for the “go” command…

Joining The Tribe

Back in his 20s and 30s, Peterson, from Modesto, California, had his dream job as a high-voltage lineman for the local irrigation district. He had been a competitive mountain biker and road cyclist as well, until a bad knee injury made him give up cycling. From there, Peterson gradually settled into a sedentary lifestyle, and self-medicated with alcohol.

His weight ballooned to more than 300 pounds, making his work as a lineman that much more perilous. Facing alcoholism and burnout, Peterson quit his job in 2012, walking away from both his passion and a six-figure salary. He was 44.

After a few years running a restaurant, Peterson and his wife moved to Hillsboro, Oregon, in 2016, where he began work in a motorcycle dealership. Since his days on the line, he had quit drinking, and the process of drying out, as well as disciplining himself not to eat late at night, helped Peterson lose more than 100 pounds. But he eventually reached a plateau. “I was still too fat to go to a gym,” he says. “It was too intimidating.”

When the Covid-19 lockdowns hit in March 2020, Peterson was laid off by the bike shop. “I whined and cried for a minute,” he says, “and then I came up with a game plan.”

A longtime fan of Onnit since he had first heard founder Aubrey Marcus on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Peterson was browsing the company’s website when he saw that digital products were on sale at 50% off. Though he was collecting unemployment benefits and had to be frugal, Peterson made the investment in an Onnit 6 (O6) program to help him lose weight and stay active during his downtime.

Onnit 6 workout plans are six-week long courses that focus on helping users adopt a fit lifestyle. There’s one based around each of Onnit’s core pieces of workout equipment, from the kettlebell to the steel club, and they also come with nutrition advice and yoga routines for recovery. Workouts are streamed online—featuring video instruction from Onnit’s Chief Fitness Officer, John Wolf—so you can follow along with them in the comfort of your own living room.

Several times per year, Onnit offers an Onnit 6 Challenge transformation contest as a companion to the O6 workout plans. Participants choose an O6 they want to commit to for six weeks, and work (remotely) alongside other users to change their bodies and their lives. One of the key features of the O6 Challenge is access to the Onnit Tribe, a Facebook group that Challengers use to motivate and support each other. To win the Challenge, you need to demonstrate that training with Onnit helped make a positive difference in your life, and that you’ve developed the habits, mindset, and community one needs to be successful long-term. Grand-prize winners (one male, one female) are rewarded with free Onnit products, access to all Onnit 6 programs, and $6000 in cash.

Armed with Onnit 6 Bodyweight, Peterson signed up for the O6 Challenge in July.

“Team Fat Ass”

The O6 Bodyweight program requires no equipment, but Peterson soon discovered that lifting your own mass is often harder than hoisting any external load. “I was incredibly sore after the first workout,” he says. “But I was also hooked. It’s the hardest training I’ve ever done. And I never would have found these exercises without this program.”

The exercises in question included rotary lunges—step back and drop into a lunge position, and then rotate your rear knee outward 90 degrees while staying low. The move challenges your hip mobility while it builds leg strength and conditioning. Peterson also performed planks with one leg lifted, a brutal core exercise. O6 workouts are always tiered, so users can customize them to their level. Beginners can focus on Level 1 exercises to help build a base, and more advanced trainees can choose Level 2 or 3 moves for a greater challenge. Therefore, two people of very different experience levels can train together in the same session without missing a beat.

“So many programs just give you exercises and let you go,” says Peterson. “But I liked the three different levels that Onnit 6 lets you choose from. You can do half the exercises at Level 1 and half at Level 2 if you want to. You always have some way to progress or tailor the workouts to your own body.”

Another outstanding feature of the O6 workouts is their user-friendliness. Most trainees find the workouts don’t aggravate any pre-existing injuries they have, and they sometimes even help to alleviate them. “I had a meniscus surgery where they took a silver-dollar sized piece out of my right knee,” says Peterson. “When a storm comes in, I’ll feel it there first. But the O6 exercises were all doable. There were plenty of moves that scared me,” Peterson says with a laugh, “but nothing hurt me. And some of the stretches we did in the yoga workouts were phenomenal for me.”

Peterson coupled his grueling workouts with a return to sensible eating. He employed intermittent fasting by skipping breakfast, thereby reducing the amount of time during the day he could allow himself to eat. He also watched his sugar intake. “I go on sugar benders very easily,” he says, “so I found that if I cut out sugar with my morning Starbucks, that helped me avoid it the rest of the day.” But Peterson stresses that he’s not a diet zealot, and never will be. He loves food too much, and says it’s OK if you do too.

“If I want to go have a cheeseburger now and then, I will,” says Peterson. “I’m not some crazy nutrition naysayer when it comes to food. I just tried to watch what I was eating, when I was eating, and how much I was eating. I ate mainly protein and green vegetables, but there were times when I felt tired. I asked Coach Wolf about it and he said I should eat some more carbs to bring my energy levels up. I had some rice, and sure enough, I felt better.”

The best part of the entire O6 experience, says Peterson, was drinking in the love of the Onnit Tribe. Members share workout and nutrition advice, and encourage each other to stick to the program, but the relationships that develop aren’t constrained to matters of fitness alone. Unlike with most physique transformation challenges, the competitors really aren’t competing against each other. They’re encouraged to form friendships that last beyond the six weeks of the program, and many participants find that they grow very close to each other and become like family.

The Tribe culture is positive and fun. There’s at least as much discussion on the message threads about light-hearted topics such as music and jokes as there is about calories, sets, and reps. “At first I thought the Onnit Tribe was going to be a bunch of in-shape muscleheads that wouldn’t want to hear from some old fat guy,” says Peterson, who, in keeping with his self-deprecating sense of humor, referred to himself as “Team Fat Ass” in his posts. “But I was completely wrong. The very first video I saw on there was of another big guy working his ass off. The Tribe is real-world people who have real-world issues like everybody else. They come from many different walks of life.”

No one has embraced the Tribe’s happy-go-lucky vibe, or contributed more to it, than Peterson. A regular poster who hasn’t been afraid to share his struggles with the group, many members cite Peterson as a constant source of inspiration… and entertainment.

“I posted a video of me dancing to the Moulin Rouge song, looking ridiculous” he says, “and challenged a bunch of the other members to do the same.” Before long, nearly everyone in the Challenge group had contributed a video of their own dancing in what became an exercise in silliness, but also fearlessness—dropping the ego and letting senses of humor shine.

The Lineman… Is Still On The Line

When the Challenge concluded at the end of August, Peterson had lost 30 pounds. He had also trained through a freak injury to his hand, sustained while installing a new refrigerator in his house, without missing a step. “There was a chiropractor in the Tribe who gave me some tips on taping up my hand,” says Peterson. And it was back to business as usual.

In light of his results and determination, Peterson was declared the O6 Bodyweight male grand-prize winner. At 52, he has the great distinction of being the oldest O6 winner to date.

Of course, the benefits Peterson reaped weren’t just aesthetic. The strength and conditioning he gained from the training allowed him to get more out of his outdoors active lifestyle. Peterson and his wife enjoy hiking. “We go to this area where there’s a really steep climb,” he says. “I used to have to take a little break halfway through, but since Onnit 6, I can go all the way without stopping.”

Even before his experience with O6, Peterson had been craving a return to line work. With the downtime his pandemic layoff provided, he looked for a new job in electric utilities. To get it, he had to become re-certified in hurtman rescue: the skill of saving an injured fellow lineman from the top of a high-voltage telephone pole. Peterson, nearly 10 years older than the last time he’d shimmied up a pole, but also more than 100 pounds lighter and in the shape of his life, accepted the challenge.

“I remember climbing it and thinking, ‘I feel pretty good compared to how I thought I was going to feel,’” says Peterson. He completed the simulated rescue in time, passed the test, and got hired as a lineman at a Portland utility company in October 2020. “Line work is a young man’s game,” says Peterson, “but I’m not going to get outworked. I like to out-hustle folks that are younger, and Onnit 6 helped me be more confident that I could do the things I used to do.”

Barry Peterson’s Tips For A Fitter 2021

We asked Peterson what advice he would give to someone trying to turn over a new health and fitness leaf in 2021.

“Find something that works for you,” he says. “People love to give advice, but it’s usually based on what worked for them, and they have no idea what struggles other people go through. So try different stuff and see what fits. I tried lots of other stuff over the years—DDP Yoga® and silly stuff like Tae Bo®—and gave up on it, because it wasn’t as user-friendly as Onnit 6, and it didn’t have the community involvement that Onnit has.

“Onnit gives you six workout programs to choose from, so there’s probably something there for you. If nothing else, repeat the Bodyweight one until you can do Level 2 or 3 for every exercise. You’ll be amazed by the shape you can get in.”

All photos courtesy of Barry Peterson.

Learn more about the Onnit 6 Challenge HERE.

The post The Oldest Onnit 6 Challenge Winner Can Still Kick Your Butt appeared first on Onnit Academy.

“One of the older members of the gym, a woman who was in my class every week, caught me outside smoking a cigarette,” says Spain, of Preston, Maryland. “She said, ‘What the …?’ Smoking was my dirty little secret.

“When you do something long enough, it becomes a part of your life. You smoke that cigarette after you eat, when you’re driving… you tell yourself it’s become a part of who you are. Then it becomes really hard to change that, because it feels like you have to change every aspect of your life. You think, ‘I’ll never be able to do this.’

“But you can. You can!”

Enter The Onnit 6 Challenge

Spain, age 47, who is also a licensed massage therapist, had the same daily routine for years: go to work, and go to the gym. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, she suddenly couldn’t go anywhere. In late April 2020, she was on Facebook and saw a meme poking fun at the idea of a “quarantine 15”—the amount of weight you’re (supposedly) apt to gain during a lockdown. Curious to see where she stood, Spain got on the scale, and was mortified to find she had gained seven pounds since the closures began in mid March.

Spain’s husband uses Onnit’s MCT Oil, so the two of them were already on the company’s email list. Spain was checking her messages and saw one with a subject line that read, “Last chance to sign up for the Onnit 6 Challenge.”

Spain: “So I said, ‘Thank you, Universe,’ you heard my call!”

The Onnit 6 (O6) Challenge is a fitness contest where participants adopt an Onnit 6 workout program for six weeks. Users can choose from routines for bodyweight, kettlebells, the barbell, steel club, steel mace, and Durability (a mobility/prehab course). All workouts feature video instruction, and are streamed online, allowing you to train at home. To win the challenge, you need to demonstrate that training with Onnit helped you not only change your body but also improve your life, and that you’ve adopted healthy habits that you can maintain going forward. Grand prize winners are rewarded with free Onnit products, access to all Onnit 6 programs, and $6000 in cash.

Spain didn’t have any exercise equipment at home, so she took on the Bodyweight O6 Challenge. She fell in love with the training right away, but even more so with the entire Onnit community.

A major feature of the O6 Challenge is the Onnit Tribe—the Facebook group that challengers join to motivate and support one another. “It’s the best thing on Facebook, as far as I’m concerned,” says Spain. “Everybody goes on every day and posts about their workouts, but also personal stuff. We all try to better ourselves so we can be better for ourselves and our families. There’s zero talk of politics and religion or anything controversial.”

Spain lost a few pounds and was so active in the Tribe that she was ultimately selected as a semi-finalist. At that point, another Onnit 6 Challenge was about to begin, this time focused on the steel mace. Spain signed right up. “I’m going to win this one,” she told her husband, and O6 Steel Mace began July 21.

How Michelle Spain Quit Smoking For Good

Spain had been a self-professed yogi and cardio girl. She knew she needed to do some form of resistance training to round out her fitness, but lifting weights bored her. The steel mace, however, was intriguing. She ordered a seven-pound mace from Onnit to use for the Steel Mace Challenge.

“It feels awkward at first, but it doesn’t even matter,” says Spain. “I feel like a medieval warrior princess wielding a weapon [whenever I pick it up]. I feel bad ass.”

The Steel Mace Challenge workouts included a Tabata, HIIT routine, and EMOM, all designed to burn calories and train conditioning while strengthening muscles and improving stability—the ability to control your body position during movement. As stability and movement skills improve, users find that they can perform better in virtually any athletic pursuit. “I’ve got a lot of wear and tear,” says Spain. “Two bad shoulders; I had surgery on one of them. But training with the mace strengthened both of them. I’m doing things in my yoga practice now that I had not been able to do in years. [Now that I have the Onnit 6 workouts,] I’ll probably never go back to another gym, regardless of what happens with Covid.”

As great as the workouts were, the support Spain got from the Onnit Tribe was the most impactful. “People opening up and sharing parts of themselves that were really difficult to share, that was super inspiring to me,” says Spain. The Tribe, as well as the guidance of Coach John Wolf, Onnit’s Chief Fitness Officer and the creator of the Onnit 6 programs, proved to be the catalyst Spain needed to quit cigarettes for good.

“I did not start smoking until I was almost 26,” says Spain. The habit began as a reaction to an unhealthy relationship she had been in years before. “It was a ridiculous need to take some sense of control back. For whatever ungodly reason, smoking was how I decided to do that. It was like, “I know, instead of leaving the relationship, I’ll start smoking cigarettes.’

“I was thinking, ‘Here I’m doing [this challenge for a second time], I’m feeling really good, but I’m still doing this gross thing.’ I felt this terrible imposter syndrome, and I told Coach Wolf. But he said, ‘No, you’re not an imposter. Your goals just aren’t aligning with what you’re actually doing in your life.’ That was much more eloquent than how I put it, but that was how I felt. I felt like I was lying to the Tribe, lying to my yoga and cardio students, and myself.”

Toward the end of the Steel Mace Challenge, a somber date arrived: the three-year anniversary of the death of Spain’s best friend. “It just all came together at the same time,” says Spain. “Onnit 6, the Tribe, the anniversary, and my want and need to stop lying to myself.” She decided she would mark the occasion by quitting smoking for good.

Her husband built a bonfire in the family’s yard (they live in a rural area), and Spain took one cigarette out of the pack. She lit it, and told him it would be the last one she ever smoked.

“I didn’t even finish the cigarette. I threw it and the whole pack into the fire and watched it burn. I have not touched a cigarette since that day.” That day, to be precise, was August 21, exactly one month into the Steel Mace program.

Of course, Onnit can’t (and won’t) take all the credit for breaking Spain’s addiction. A Tribe member recommended she download an app called quitSTART. “It helped me keep track of my wins,” says Spain. “How many days it had been since I quit smoking, how much money I’d saved. Little motivational things like that. The app asks you if you’ve had any slipups, and I didn’t want to press ‘Yes’. I couldn’t face that. I also didn’t want to face my husband, who had already quit smoking, or my 12 year-old son, who had asked me to quit.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Spain was named the female Onnit 6 Challenge Steel Mace Grand Prize winner when the contest ended last September. She still can’t get enough Onnit training, and just finished her fourth O6 Challenge.

New Year’s Resolution Advice from an Onnit 6 Challenge Winner

While being able to quit smoking was a pleasant surprise during her Onnit 6 Challenge training, it was something of a side effect. Spain had gone into it hoping O6 would help her learn to eat better so that she could lose weight. The recipes and nutrition tips provided by the Tribe—in addition to gorgeous photos of delicious, healthy meals that some of her fellow contestants prepared—did the trick. Another trick she used was to set short-term goals. If you’re resolving to eat better in 2021, you might do the same.

“I’ll say to myself, ‘I’m not going to eat fast food for the next three days,’” says Spain. “And then, when I get through those three days, I say I’m not going to do it for another three days. That’s not as daunting as saying, ‘I’m never eating fast food again,’ and it works. Now fast food kind of grosses me out.”

But overall, Spain recommends not making resolutions, per se. “Make a lifestyle change,” she says. “You need to make a decision to be a better version of yourself. You can get all the inspiration and the love and encouragement you need to stick to it from [a community of like-minded people, such as the Onnit tribe].”

Incidentally, if you’re wondering if Spain ever reconnected with the student who caught her smoking outside the gym, both of them got their closure.

“I spoke to that lady over the phone,” says Spain. “I told her I won the Onnit program and quit smoking. She legit cried. She was so happy for me.”

Learn more about the Onnit 6 Challenge HERE.

The post “I Quit Smoking Cigarettes”: How the Onnit 6 Challenge Changed Michelle Spain appeared first on Onnit Academy.

I’m going to share some of my favorite strategies for healthy vacationing, from foods and recipes that travel well (and still taste great) to workout tips that can keep you in shape. It’s the same advice I give my clients—who range from moms and dads to pro athletes and busy businesspeople—whenever they go away. You may even come back from your trip leaner than when you started.

How Do You Eat Healthy on a Long Road Trip?

If you’re currently following a diet, sticking to it while traveling can be extremely challenging. You’ve probably already given yourself permission to go off-plan because you’re on vacation, but, if you want to avoid weight gain, you shouldn’t give yourself license to eat anything and as much of it as you like. A better strategy is to focus on what I call controlling the “controllables.” That is, make the best nutrition decisions you can under whatever circumstances you find yourself in (give or take a few).

For example, you may be out to eat at a restaurant that specializes in decadent desserts. Of course you should indulge in the chocolate soufflé at the end of the meal, but maybe you want to pass on the dinner rolls and booze. They may not have the nitrite-free salami you usually buy for keto snacks at the next gas station on the highway, but that doesn’t mean you cave in and eat the microwave pizza they offer instead. My point is that you can’t always control the food around you, but you can control what and how much you eat.

You can avoid being at the mercy of roadside food service by planning ahead and packing foods that will last in the car. Great non-refrigerated options include:

• Nuts

• Seeds

• Beef or turkey jerky

• dehydrated fruit

• dehydrated veggies

• tuna or salmon packets (many of these come pre-seasoned and are tasty right out of the bag)

All of the above are portable and durable, and can fit for most diets. They won’t take up much room in a travel bag, and they don’t mind being squished (should your luggage, or, perhaps, a small child in the backseat, happen to fall on them). They’re also pretty inexpensive; so it’s hard to justify a trip through a fast-food window for the sake of price and convenience. Furthermore, these snacks pack some serious nutrition. The jerky, tuna, and salmon are all protein-rich, which helps keep you full. You might easily eat a whole bag of pretzels or chips without giving it much thought (especially if you’re distracted by the road), but it’s hard to overeat high-protein foods, so you won’t take in huge numbers of calories that you can’t burn off. Protein foods also require more energy to digest than carb- or fat-rich foods, so your body burns more calories just by eating them.

Tuna and salmon have the added bonus of being good sources of omega-3s, essential fats that you have to get from your diet because your body doesn’t make them. Omega-3s offer a huge range of benefits, including supporting brain, heart, and joint health.

Nuts and seeds are high in fat and fiber, which, like protein, can be satiating, making them a better snack alternative than processed foods that are largely devoid of both.

Meanwhile, fruits and veggies—even dehydrated—are all loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help keep your immune system going strong. They’re also high in fiber. Of course, whole fruits and vegetables are fine too, and harder to overeat than the dehydrated variety, but they’re a bit more difficult to travel with (an overripe banana that gets crushed under a seat will make an awful mess and smell up the car in no time). Just think ahead and pre-wash them before you pack, so you can take them out of your bag and start noshing right away.

If you’re going long distances between rest stops and food options, you’ll also need to invest in a good cooler to pack some quality meals that last.

My crew had its share of road trips this summer, and we had two coolers that kept our cold foods cold for days on end—literally. For longer trips, we always take our OtterBox Venture 65 ($350), which, when packed properly, can keep ice for up to 16 days. It holds 65 quarts—that’s 36 12-oz cans, to put it in beer terms (because, well, you’re on vacation after all). It’s 40 inches long, and nearly 19 inches wide as well as high. The Venture 65 features an accessory mounting system so you can attach add-ons like a bottle opener and dry storage tray. Plus, as the video on their website proclaims, the cooler is “certified bear resistant… Can you say the same about your tent?”

And for those shorter trips, our OtterBox Trooper LT 30 ($300) is perfect. At 21 inches long, 17 wide, and 11 deep, this cooler has a soft outer shell and opens easily for quick access. Its main selling point is that it doubles as a backpack, so you can take it out of the car and onto the trails with you. It holds 30 quarts and is leak-proof.

Good food choices that need refrigeration include the following:

• Hard-boiled eggs

• Greek or Icelandic yogurt

• Individual kefir milks

• Organic cheese cubes, sticks, or slices

• Organic nitrite-free deli meats

• Hummus

Eggs have always been a potent and low-cost protein source, and when they’re hard-boiled, you can’t beat the convenience. (Get the organic, omega-3 rich, pasture-raised kind if you can.) Greek and Icelandic yogurt are high in protein but, unlike most other yogurts (such as those with fruit on the bottom), have less sugar per serving. If plain yogurt is too bland for you, add your own fruit or non-nutritive sweetener. (Again, organic dairy is preferable.) As with eggs, yogurt is also pretty easy to eat in a car or RV and doesn’t require much cleanup.

“What the heck is kefir,” you say? It’s essentially a drinkable yogurt that’s rich in probiotics—bacteria that support a healthy gut.

Of course, sandwiches are a traditional road-trip eating staple, and there’s no reason they can’t be healthy if you make a couple smart substitutions. Multigrain bread is a better choice than white, and for the greatest assurance of good nutrition and food safety, use certified organic meats and cheeses. Spread on some grainy mustard, or use hummus for even more fiber, add a tomato slice, and voila—you’ve got yourself a pretty satisfying (and lean) sandwich.

If you don’t have much time to pack before you hit the road and have to stock up at a gas station, you’re not without options. And, no, I’m not talking about the cheese-filled rolling hot dogs that have been rotating under glass since Hulk Hogan was the world heavyweight champ, or anything that leaves your fingers a strange, neon orange glow.

Most gas stations these days have peeled hard-boiled eggs, snack packs with cheese, nuts and dried fruit, deli meat sandwiches, and subs. For the latter, get two sandwiches/subs if you can, double the meat, and halve the bread, so you have one big sandwich that’s protein-packed. Fresh fruit, beef jerky, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate (85% or higher cocoa), protein bars, organic individual milks, fruit pouches, and nut butter packs are almost certainly going to be available as well, so don’t think you have to starve yourself till you reach your destination.

Maintaining a Healthy Diet While Camping Or Hiking

Camping out doesn’t mean you have to leave the discipline of your kitchen entirely behind. When you’re planning to eat out under the stars, think of foods that don’t need refrigeration, even if you do have a cooler. Cans and pouches of wild-caught tuna, salmon, or sardines can be incredibly valuable whether you are out in the backcountry, or just want to keep food options simple while car camping. Grass-fed beef jerky, along with alternatives such as turkey, chicken, and even salmon jerky are all amazing options that are portable, convenient, tasty, and a great source of protein and micronutrients like sodium (which can help replenish what you sweat out on a long hike).

One of my favorite campsite-friendly foods is aged, hard cheese, and not just because I grew up in an Italian family in Jersey. Parmigiano-Reggiano packs 11 grams of protein per one ounce (about the size of a pair of dice), and doesn’t need to be refrigerated! Ounce for ounce, that’s more protein than chicken, beef or fish (those each offer about seven grams per ounce). Parmigiano-Reggiano can be cubed up to make a delicious savory trail mix. (While I argued that gas station fare can be OK earlier, I’d skip their trail mixes. They’re usually more M&M’s and added sugar than nuts and dried fruit.)

What exactly is a “savory trail mix?” I like at least a 2:1 ratio of nuts to dried fruit, a little jerky, and cubes of dry aged cheese. The dried fruit offers some carbs and potassium to fuel your hikes, and the rest of the mix really serves to curb hunger. Added sugar can cause energy crashes later and hinders endurance activities, so a quality fat and protein combination is a better choice to help keep you going on long walks in the woods.

Here’s the exact recipe I make for my family.

Savory Trail Mix

• 4 handfuls salted pecans, almonds, pistachios, or walnuts (we add salt to replace the sodium that’s lost in sweat)

• 3 oz (that’s the size of 3 pairs of dice) cubed Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

• 2 handfuls dehydrated fruit (raisins, figs, dates, apricots, blueberries, etc.)

Athletes and active people tend to obsess over protein and agonize over carbs, but it’s important to remember that whole fruit is good, both for the fluids it provides, which you’ll certainly need when being active outdoors, and for its vitamins and minerals. There are plenty of fruits and vegetables that can withstand a little beating in your cooler, backpack, or even some jostling around in the back of your car. Here’s a reminder of what they are:

• Apples
• Avocados
• Berries (just be sure to pack them in a non-squishable container, or the dry storage top that comes with the OtterBox Venture cooler I suggested earlier)
• Carrots
• Oranges
• Mini peppers (great for snacking!)

Now let’s talk about grilling. Most campsites will have a grill that makes cooking a breeze (or twigs, rocks, and fire starters can make for a safe cooking environment, too). If you want to take it to the next level, consider the Looft Lighter X, a battery-operated fire starter that will light your fire in 60 seconds, guaranteed (thanks to forced air that heats up to 1200 degrees).

Leaner cuts of meat or fish will offer lots of protein with fewer calories, and all can be cooked effectively over a flame. Vegetables and potatoes make good sides.

Here are a few of my go-to camping eats.

Breakfast

Breakfast Skillet Hash

Refrigerated egg products like Egg Beaters® cut down on mess, cook quickly, and can add protein and versatility to many meals. Here’s an awesome recipe for breakfast hash.

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (the smaller the dice, the faster it will cook)

• ½ cup chopped onion

• ½ tsp. dried Italian seasoning, crushed

• ¼ tsp. garlic powder

• ¼ tsp. black pepper

• ⅛ tsp. salt

• 2 cups fresh baby spinach

• ½ cup refrigerated, cooked, crumbled turkey sausage

• 1 ½ cups refrigerated egg product (like Egg Beaters®)

• ½ cup shredded mozzarella

NOTE: Mix all the ingredients from the sweet potato to the spinach together ahead of time in a resealable plastic container.

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Light firewood or charcoal and let the campfire burn down to medium-hot embers, or coals. Top with a grill rack.

Step 2. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over the campfire for 5 minutes, or until very hot. Add the oil to the skillet, and the mixed ingredients noted above, stirring occasionally.

Step 3. Add the sausage. Cook 5 minutes more, or until the vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.

Step 4. Add the egg product. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture begins to set on bottom and around the edges. Using a spatula or large spoon, lift and fold the partially cooked egg mixture so the uncooked portion flows underneath. Continue cooking 2 to 3 minutes, or until the egg mixture is cooked through but is still glossy and moist. Sprinkle with the cheese.

Lunch and Snacks

Camping Charcuterie

Here’s how to bring an assortment of no-fuss foods together for a balanced meal.

Step 1. Pick a cured meat and a cheese

Step 2. Add sliced veggies and fruits

Step 3. Lay out a nut- or seed-based cracker

Step 4. Fill in with olives, pickles, or dips

All-natural deli meats need to be kept cold, but they also pack easily. Rolling up a slice around matchstick veggies, leafy greens, and cheese if you choose makes a quick lunch. Dip in hummus or mustard for a little added flavor. Nut- and seed-based crackers are more fibrous and filling than wheat-based ones, so you should eat fewer of them.

Apple Salami Bites

INGREDIENTS

• 1 apple

• 6 slices salami

• 1/2 avocado, sliced

• Organic cheddar cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Core apple and slice horizontally. Top each slice with a piece of salami. Finish off with sliced avocado. If using cheese, place between the salami and avocado.

Snack Time Skewers

One way to organize a lot of low-fuss, grab-and-go foods is to lay them out ahead of time and run a sword through them, so to speak. Skewering lunch meats, cheeses, fruits, and veggies combines them for a meal you can take on the go, and controls your portions automatically.

INGREDIENTS

Options:

• Thick cut all-natural salami

• Nitrate/nitrite-free deli meat

• Fresh mozzarella or cubed cheddar

• Bell peppers, chopped

• Cherry or grape tomatoes

• Apple, chopped

• Olives

• Cucumber, thick sliced

• Fresh berries

DIRECTIONS

After selecting and cutting your preferred ingredients, carefully add them to snack-sized skewers. As many ingredients as you can comfortably fit on the skewer is one serving. Eat right away, or store in baggies or containers to eat on the trail, or while driving.

Dinner

Grilled Salmon with Sweet Peppers

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ¼ pounds skin-on salmon fillet, cut into 4 portions

• 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

• ½ tsp. kosher salt, divided into two ¼ teaspoons

• 1 pound sweet mini bell peppers

• 2 medium red onions, quartered
  

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Preheat a gas grill to high, build a fire in a charcoal grill, or build a campfire and let it burn down to high heat (about 500 degrees F).

Step 2. Brush or drizzle salmon with the oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle peppers and onions with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Step 3. Oil the grill rack. Place the salmon, skin-side up, on the grill, along with the peppers and onions. Grill the salmon until browned, 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 4. Using a metal spatula, gently nudge one of the salmon pieces: it should release from the grill without much force, but if it feels stuck, continue cooking for another minute. When the salmon releases easily, flip and continue cooking until browned and the flesh is opaque, about 3 minutes more. Cook the peppers and onions, turning frequently, until tender and well browned—8 to 10 minutes total.

Pan-Roasted Campfire Veggies

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp. water

• 1 tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce

• 2 tsp. cider vinegar

• 1 tsp. Sriracha sauce, or more if desired

• 2 tsp. canola oil

• 1 (8 oz) package whole fresh button mushrooms

• 8 miniature sweet peppers

• ½ cup grape tomatoes

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Light firewood or charcoal and let the campfire burn down to medium-hot embers or coals. Top with a grill rack. Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over the campfire for 5 minutes, or until very hot.

Step 2. While the skillet heats, add the water, soy sauce, vinegar, and sriracha sauce to a small bowl and stir together.

Step 3. Add the oil to the skillet. Add the mushrooms and sweet peppers, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to char, stirring once or twice.

Step 4. Add the sauce, and cook until slightly reduced. Add the tomatoes, and cook 1 minute more, stirring to coat the vegetables with sauce. Serve immediately, or at room temperature.

Dessert

Here’s a little twist on a classic treat that includes bananas for some added potassium—always a good way to replenish after a long day of hiking.

Banana S’Mohrs (see what I did there?)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium ripe banana

• 2 tbsp. mini marshmallows

• 1 tbsp. dark chocolate chips

• Graham crackers (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1. Cut through the peel on the inside curve of the banana with a paring knife. Peel the banana open from the cut, but leave the banana in the peel.

Step 2. Being careful not to cut through the bottom peel, cut the banana in half lengthwise; then cut crosswise in 1/4-inch intervals. Gently mash the marshmallows into the sliced spaces in the banana, and then top with chocolate chips.

Step 3. Tear off a 12-inch square of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place the prepared banana in the middle of the foil, and crimp the foil closed.

Step 4. Prepare a campfire and let it burn down to the coals. Cook the packet 4 to 6 inches above the coals until the s’more is warm and melty—7 to 10 minutes. Use graham crackers for scooping, or, to go gluten-free and cut carbs, eat it with a spoon.

If you want to make the s’mores ahead of time, assemble the packets and store in a refrigerator or cold cooler for up to 1 day.

Keto Snacks for the Road or Off the Beaten Trail

Much of what I’ve listed above can fit a keto diet or low-carb lifestyle. If that’s how you like to eat, here are a few more options that you can use to fuel your next adventure.

• Celery sticks filled with nut butter or cream cheese
• Avocado on parmesan cheese crisps
• DIY keto snack box. (Get a portioned container and put a hard-boiled egg, deli meat, chopped cucumbers and zucchini, and cheese in the different compartments.)
• Red peppers wrapped in turkey
• Keto-friendly protein bars

Hydration

Long days on the trails mean you have to be conscious of hydration, especially if you’re drinking alcohol. Have an insulated, refillable bottle topped off with water with you at all times. If you plan to be out hiking or exercising for an hour or more, an electrolyte-containing sports drink like HYDRATech^™ Instant is even better. My favorite non-water, non-alcohol beverage is Health-Ade Kombucha. A fermented tea drink, it contains probiotics that aid gut health, but it also can be used as a mixer for alcoholic drinks, so it serves a dual purpose on my vacations.

How To Stay Fit Without A Gym

For many people, the thing they miss most about being away from home is their gym. It can be hard to find a good one that has the equipment or atmosphere you want, and these days, you can’t predict if they’ll even be open when you want to go. The next best thing is to pack some light equipment to take with you. Bands, kettlebells, selectorized dumbbells, a suspension trainer, and/or weighted vest are all useful options to help you get in a workout anywhere.

Interestingly, the OtterBox Trooper LT 30 cooler I mentioned above can easily double as a weighted vest. It’s about seven pounds by itself, and is surprisingly comfortable when worn as a backpack; it won’t limit your mobility.

Of course, you always have your own bodyweight, which is more than enough to provide challenging workouts for the week or so that you’re away from the weights.

Simple bodyweight exercises include:

• Pushups (all variations)

• Air squats, jump squats

• Plank, side plank, plank walks, inchworms

• Lunges (all variations), with added backpack resistance, if needed

• Stepups onto a table, cooler, stump, rock, etc.

• Pullups, on a beam, pipe, solid tree branch, etc.

To illustrate, check out these sample workouts that require just your bodyweight, light dumbbells, or bands.

Kettlebells and steel clubs can be easy to travel with too, and will expand your workout options. A 16-kilo bell/20-pound club if you’re a man, or 8kg bell/15-pound club if you’re a woman, don’t take up much space in a back seat, trunk, or flat bed, but they’ll provide a multitude of exercises that can keep you fit on the road. See our beginner’s kettlebell workout and steel club starters’ guide if you need inspiration.

Get more nutrition info from Chris Mohr at mohrresults.com.

The post Healthy Snacks & Foods for Road Trips, Camping & Hiking appeared first on Onnit Academy.