recently had the pleasure to attend the Kroger’s Wellness Your Way Festival (WYWF). I had the opportunity of interviewing Tony Horton, American fitness guru and creator of the best-selling fitness series P90X®, a world-class motivational speaker, and the author of top-selling books Bring It, Crush It! and his latest motivational book, The Big Picture: 11 Laws That Will Change Your Life.
Thank you so much for joining us Tony. This festival is about “Wellness Your Way”. What does the term “Wellness Your Way” mean to you?
Wellness is not a one size fits all model. Some people want to do P90X, others want to got to Soul Cycle. Some people are vegan, paleo, Keto, flex-a-tarian or whatever it happens to be so we must understand that as individuals we all need different wellness plans. Just like we all have a different purpose, we all have have a different formula for health and wellness. It’s about helping people regardless of their particular strategy and finding ways to be accountable.
For example, I’ve just done these new workouts called the Next Level with Giam Fit TV and Yoga on Amazon where we offer 3 levels so it’s accessible to everyone. We don’t portray super ripped people jumping through the roof because we wouldn’t be representing the majority of the population and we don’t want to leave anybody out because everybody matters.
We all have fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers aunts, uncles and grandparents that are suffering from chronic illness or obesity or type two diabetes or hypertension or whatever it happens to be.That’s what’s so amazing about Kroger. They’re massive, they have stores all over the country and are accessible to everyone.
When you walk into a Kroger store the first thing you see is the produce department and there are employees called Nutrition Specialists available to help you make healthy choices. You no longer have to drive to a farmers market possibly in a remote suburb, it’s all right there for you.
Was there a story that inspired you to get involved with WYWF?
Kroger is the biggest grocer in the country with over five hundred and ninety thousand employees, for them to take the initiative to put on a festival to promote healthy eating is a big deal. They’re putting a lot of time and energy into helping people get healthy and not only their customers but also their employees. It’s amazing.
A lot of the time companies that are this successful are waiting around for somebody to take the initiative on change then after a movement starts they feel compelled to join in. But not Kroger, they’re the tip of the spear and effecting real change when it comes to health, wellness and mindfulness.
I’m just glad to be here and to be part of it. I was here last year for the first WYWF and now looking at how much bigger it’s gotten in the last year shows that it’s having an amazing impact on people’s lives and that’s what it’s about.
Can you tell me about a wellness challenge you’ve had and overcome?
I think a lot of people at least my fans are aware that I was really ill at the end of 2017. I ended up with something called Ramsay Hunt syndrome which is shingles in your ear which is the last place you want them because a lot of the nerves fifth sixth and seventh facial nerves have a tendency to die and burn up. And so you know and I’m still suffering from something called bilateral vestibular hypo function which is like vertigo but it’s not vertigo it’s more of a shaking and balance issues. And so you know my diet my exercise my mindfulness my yoga my meditation practices have all played a part in my healing and I’m continuing to heal.
What’s one wellness product/routine you can’t live without right now?
I created a skin and hair care line called TH Care with Patrick Dockry, co-founder of Ultimate Salon Professionals Inc. Patrick was doing P90X and invited me to be on the cover of his magazine. We began talking about my dry cracked skin and how much I hate crappy hair and he agreed to formulate some products just for me. We now have six products for hair and skin that I love and use everyday. My wife does too, her favorite is Workout Hair and Body Wash.
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m working on a cookbook now. Very excited about that. We’re in the very very early stages. People love cook. They love cookbooks. I don’t cook but my wife does, my manager does and all my family does so I’m going to be collecting all these really amazing recipes, some of them healthy some not so healthy. We’re going to break the recipies down and create healthier versions. Like my Italian grandmother would cook with a cup of corn oil. We’re not going to do that, we’re going to find healthy alternatives.
Thank you for joining us Tony!
Connect with Tony on Instagram @tonyshorton