‘Tis the season to get all your daily steps in by shopping at the mall, cleaning the house for guests, and cooking delicious traditional recipes with family. With the New Year right around the corner, many of my patients have already started to set goals and think about what they would like to accomplish in 2020. What better way to support the ones you love than with gifts that inspire and support change and healthy habits? I have complied a list of some of my favorite items that can help with weight loss, improved sleep, reduced stress, and increased exercise. Hopefully this list will provide you with novel gift ideas for your family and friends (or even for yourself!) that will bring them joy—and health—during this holiday season.
Gifts to Inspire Meal Prep
- The Instant Pot: This machine will make meal prep and batch cooking a breeze especially for families. It’s an electric pressure cooker, crock pot, and rice cooker all in one and comes in three sizes. You’ll find lots of recipes and meal inspiration online.
- Digital Food Scale: Whether you use this kitchen tool for monitoring your portion sizes at meals or for advanced baking techniques, it should still be a staple in your home. This is my personal food scale of choice. It’s low profile, and the batteries rarely need changing. I hope you like it as much as I do!
- The Ultimate Meal Prep Food Carrier: It’s one thing to prep all your meals and another thing to find something to carry all of them. Six Pack Fitness has perfected the art of fitting LOTS of food and beverages into one bag and keeping it cool along the way.
- The NutriBullet: Nothing makes breakfast easier (other than planning) than this high-powdered blender. Throw fruits, vegetables, protein powder, and liquid in the cup, screw on the top (which is also the blade), blend, and go! The beauty is that you blend the smoothie in the same cup you drink from. I’ve had this in my kitchen for years, and it makes delicious smoothies easy and fast.
Gifts to Inspire Exercise
- Beginner Yoga Cards: If you want to start yoga but feel intimidated or don’t have time to go to a class, these cards will help you begin to learn the poses and how to do them correctly. Pair these with a nice yoga mat and it’s enough to bring Zen into anyone’s daily routine.
- FitBit Charge 3: Wearing a pedometer on your wrist is a great way to ensure you keep moving throughout the day. This newer model of FitBit also monitors your heart rate and has GPS capabilities, so it is a great jogging companion. The free app syncs with your watch, and you can monitor everything from your daily step count to your food intake, and even sleep patterns.
- Workout Journal: Being able to track your progress and watch yourself getting stronger and faster is almost as satisfying and seeing the scale go down. This workout journal got great reviews and comes with some helpful inserts and illustrations.
- Hydro Flask: The perfect water bottle is hard to come by, but this is my personal favorite. It keeps your water ice cold for up to 24 hours and your hot beverages hot for up to 12. With a plethora of different colors, shapes, and sizes there is an option for every avid exerciser on your list!
Gifts to Inspire Relaxation
- Epson Salt Bath Bombs: Nothing feels better then soaking in a relaxing bath after a hard workout. Adding Epson salt to the bath can also aid in recovery and this specific brand includes lavender and chamomile to take the relaxation to another level.
- Bath & Body Works Stress Relief Aromatherapy: The scents of eucalyptus and spearmint are extremely calming. This bath soap helps promote relaxation after a long, stressful day. The lotion will keep these scents with you throughout the day or night, reminding you to breathe deep.
- Weighted Blankets: Nothing will help you beat the winter blues like cuddling up under a warm, weighted blanket with a hot cup of tea. I was a skeptic until I used one myself and WOW. . . instant calm!
- Naipo Shoulder and Back Massager: Who wouldn’t like to come home to a neck and shoulder massage every day? Since many people carry tension in their upper body but cannot get to a massage therapist regularly, this is an easy remedy. This particular model is highly rated and a top seller on Amazon.
Gifts to Inspire Healthy Eating
- Infused Olive oil & Vinegar Set: I personally love different flavors of olive oil and vinegar, but rarely do I spend the extra money on myself. Kits like this are wonderful and can be used to add some variety to salads and other entrees. This is a great gift for the “hard to by for” people on your list.
- Love with Food Snack Subscription Box: I think subscription boxes are so much fun because they provide different things to look forward to each month. This specific subscription box comes with a large variety of healthy snacks, and each box sold provides one meal to a local food shelter. This is a great way to get new ideas for healthy snacks for adults and kids, making it a wonderful family present!
- Vegetable Spiralizer: Spiralizers are wonderful gifts for the low-carb people on your list, since it can make “pasta” out of zucchini, sweet potato, and multiple other vegetables. This brand is the highest rated on Amazon and comes with recipe books. Using this kitchen tool is a wonderful way to get more vegetables into kids’ diets and is a fun way to increase variety in traditional pasta dishes.
- World Spice Kit: This spice kit comes with nine different spice combinations from around the world and is a great way to add unique flavor to some basic food staples, like chicken breast, roasted vegetables, or stir fry. This company’s website is quite comprehensive and offers multiple different spice sets to fit all tastes and preferences.
In Health & Happiness, Jessica Murgueytio