I loooove doing this Holiday Gift Guide every year for you! It gets me in the holiday spirit and always gives me inspiration for my gift purchasing for friends and family! I've organized this year's list by rough categories and linked each item to the company's website or Amazon.
2017 was definitely the year of matcha! In January of this year I switched primarily away from coffee to matcha. For me, it gives me better energy without the crash. I still drink coffee on vacation or when traveling, but if I'm at home, you can bet this is the matcha I'm drinking! Not all matcha is created equal, and of all the brands I've tried, this is the smoothest, most delicious one!
Ok maybe 2017 was actually the year of turmeric, not matcha! haha! There are sooo many health benefits of turmeric - most importantly that it's incredibly anti-inflammatory. Figuring out a way to get more turmeric in to your diet can be tricky though. I love this blend of turmeric, dates, coconut, cardamom, ashwagandha (helps you manage stress and balance energy), black pepper, and cinnamon! I blend it with some coconut milk and hot water and BAM I've got myself a fancy, homemade turmeric latte!
I think this was on my very first gift guide years ago, but it remains because it's just such a great addition to your kitchen. It's the perfect gadget to make my Alfredo Chicken with Zoodles recipe!
I always had the impression slow cookers were really expensive. NOT TRUE! They go for around $40 for a great one. In fact, this is the one I own. Almost every Sunday, especially during the winter, we make a crockpot recipe as part of meal prep. It's just so easy and gives the dish so much flavour, it's hard not to love it!
I have a massive section of my pantry dedicated to different teas. Can a girl ever have too much tea? A couple of years ago I was gifted Pukka tea and I really think it's one of the best ones out there. They make teas with specific herbal focuses, like the elderberry & echinacea one for immune boosting, or the womankind one for hormone balancing. Some of them are just for taste though and they make strong, delicious tasting teas!
You know I love me some dark chocolate!! Eating Evolved was traditionally only available in the US, but is now available in Canada through a website called Purefeast. I first had Eating Evolved in NYC at Hu Kitchen and wish I could have it in my pantry at all times. It's made with coconut sugar instead of cane sugar (people react less to coconut sugar, but yes it's still sugar). Their tagline speaks to me: "It's Food. Not Candy."
For those of you in Vancouver, my recommendation is Barons of Beef. They provide 100% pasture raised protein, delivered hassle free to your home for as little as $4.30 per meal. For the Holiday season, if you purchase a gift card from them, 5% of proceeds will be donated to The Greater Vancouver Food Bank!
For those of you in Toronto, my recommendation is truLOCAL. truLOCAL lets you shop for clean, locally sourced meat products online, and saves you trips to the grocery store!
Use the coupon code HEAL310 and it will give you $25 off of the regular sized box for the first 3 months (you don’t have to commit to 3 months, if you just want to order once and cancel right after, the code will still give you the $25 off for one box). Just make sure you add “HEAL310” to the promo code section on the checkout page.
Gift the gift of HEALTH to a loved one or friend by gifting them a membership to the HEAL Weekly Meal Planning Program. When you sign up, simply hit reply to the first email you receive and let us know this is a gift for someone. We'll send an e-card that you can use to give your gift and as of Dec 25th, they will be all signed up! We have two options:
Here's what people receive when you sign them up:
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You can read my full review of Fresh Prep here and here's the best part: when you sign up, you get THREE free meals, using this link.
Fresh Prep delivers you portioned out, pre chopped ingredients along with the recipe to save you time cooking. The meals are delicious, it's affordable and is ACTUALLY really easy!
This is the app that I use to meditate. It's a non-hippie, non-granola approach to meditating that works really well for someone who's busy and feels like they don't have time for it!! I've personally noticed benefits including feeling more calm, sleeping better, being able to concentrate better and feeling happier!
Saje is my absolute FAVOURITE indulgence gift (either for someone or for myself!!) I have one of their diffusers, and also love their Pain Release remedy that you can roll on stiff or sore muscles.
I first tried floating this summer in Toronto and was really pleasantly surprised. It's not claustrophobic at all and after a few minutes I really relaxed. I felt like I was in a relaxed trance for hours after it too! A gift card to either of the below locations would be a sweet present!
For those of you who don't know, Beautycounter provides high performance skincare, free of the 1500 toxic or questionable ingredients that most personal care products contain. Where do you start? Well, I basically want everything from Beautycounter, hence why I've now incorporated it into HEAL. I've listed some of my top pics here:
I absolutely love Joy of Joyous Health and she's got a great little shop on her website where she sells healthy products. I've actually asked for this from Santa this year because I want to get back in to the routine of dry brushing. Never heard of dry brushing? It's a very bristly brush that stimulates your lymphatic system. In Ayurvedic medicine, this is a very regular practice for detoxification and some say it's even great for cellulite. Will keep ya posted ;)
If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen I'm obsessed with Classpass. The reason is that I get bored easily doing the same workout or even the same studio. With Classpass, you can visit tons of different studios in the same month! It's also really reasonably priced, with classes from $10-13/class, depending how many you get per month. I've got an AMAZING coupon for you for Classpass. If you use THIS LINK, you'll get $40 off your first month (which will either make it 100% or 80% free, depending on the membership you go with!).
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