Fun & Healthy Gift Ideas
Share the gift of health with your friends and loved ones this Christmas by giving gifts that promote healthy eating and an active lifestyle. Here is a list of ideas to get you started:• Fill a basket with a variety of fresh fruit. Oranges, apples, bananas, kiwi, grapes, grapefruit, pineapple, and pears are good choices. Line the basket with a colorful kitchen towel. You can even add a small cutting board and knife.• Choose a festive tin and fill it with flavored popcorn. Include a gift certificate for a movie rental.• Fill a new salad bowl with lowfat salad dressings and flavored vinegars. Include your favorite salad recipes.• Make a homemade salt-free seasoning mix and place it in antique or decorative jars.• Load up a colander with various packaged pastas, and include a pasta cookbook or several of your favorite pasta recipes.• Wrap up a heart-healthy cookbook. Your local hospital may have one that includes recipes with local flavor.• Fill a straw hat with packets of herb seeds, a pair of garden gloves, and a book on cooking with herbs.• Give a gift certificate to a healthy class. Consider lowfat cooking classes as well as yoga, aerobics, or belly dancing classes. Include yourself for this gift too!• Combine several varieties of dry beans and lentils-such as pinto, northern, fava, navy, black-eyed peas, and soybeans. Repackage them in decorative jars or tins.. Supply your favorite recipes as well as a dried herbs and seasonings. You can also add a wooden spoon.• Pack a gym bag with exercise gear such as hand weights, a sweatband, a pedometer, an exercise video, or a jump rope. Include a gift certificate to a store that sells athletic clothing.• Fill a basket with cans of fat free refried beans, whole-wheat tortillas, baked tortilla chips, and a jar of salsa. Add a recipe for a healthy Mexican dish.• Bake up a batch of lowfat muffins or a mini-loaf of your favorite quick bread. Place in an antique mixing bowl with a container of lowfat flavored cream cheese.• Make a batch of hot chocolate mix and place in a basket with two holiday mugs.• Make a basket with assorted herbal teas. You can also include a mug and tea infuser.By: Beth Fontenot, MS, LDN, RD
