Free Healthy Stuff
The National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Surgeon General have come up with a few Internet–based tools for creating a family health portrait. By tracing the illnesses of your family members, including parents, grandparents and other blood relatives, you can provide your doctor with a way to predict (and therefore reduce) your potential risk for particular diseases. According to the site it should only take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Send the link in an e-mail holiday card to someone you care about.
Another health freebie is an electronic book of recipes called Keep the Beat from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. It contains 75 healthy recipes presented in a full–color format. The focus is on heart–healthy dinner entrees and side dishes influenced by Asian, Latino, Mediterranean and American cuisines and includes dishes such as Thai–Style Chicken Curry, Greek–Style Flank Steak With Tangy Yogurt Sauce, and Cinnamon–Glazed Baby Carrots. You can download the book for free here and send it with your e-mail holiday greeting card.
Foodies
I'm really impressed with this line of portion–control food utensils from Jokari called Healthy Steps. The Healthy Steps gadget line has 24 products that range in price from $2.99 to $12.99. Examples of these products include a Portion Control Dressing Lid that fits directly onto a store–bought bottle of salad dressing and dispenses one serving at a time, plus single–serving utensils for ice cream, butter, pasta, starches and more. I love the soup server, the vegetable server and especially the pasta basket, which allows you to cook, strain and serve a single portion of pasta — very cool. The pasta basket even lets you pre–measure and cook up to four single servings all in one pot. Buy at www.myhealthysteps.com.
Another fabulous foodie gift is available from the healthy food clothing company FoodTee.com (affiliated with the Diet Detective). FoodTee.com offers more than 20 healthy designs, including sweatshirts, long– and short–sleeve T–shirts and tank tops for women, men, children and toddlers, as well as baby onesies. Some of the cute images/sayings: Celery + Stalker; Cherries + No Sugar Added; Cauliflower + Flower Child; Peapod + Live Green; Broccoli + Veggin'; Hot Pepper + Spicy; Carrot + Bite Me; Doughnut + Think Before You Eat; Broccoli + Tree Pose; Upside Down Banana + Downward Dog; Two Beets + Heart Beet; Leek + Warrior 11 Pose and more. These wearable food products are available at www.FoodTee.com.
Healthy Books
I really think that giving books is a great way to stimulate health. Recipe books are great, and once again the editors at EatingWell magazine have a wonderful new offering called The Simple Art of EatingWell (Countryman Press, 2010). The step–by–step techniques show you healthier ways to cook, including how to oven–fry favorite deep–fried foods like onion rings; how to make a lighter, healthier pie crust; make–at–home tacos, freezer pops and fat–free cookies. There are more than 400 recipes for all courses, from soups and salads to main dishes and desserts, and they all include notes and tips on how they were made healthier.
There's also healthy cooking guru Holly Clegg’s newest Trim & Terrific cookbook, Too Hot in the Kitchen: Secrets to Sizzle At Any Age (Holly Clegg, 2010), which features 200 healthy and flavorful recipes specifically designed for busy women. All the recipes include nutritional information and diabetic exchanges. I particularly love the fact that there are symbols to highlight freezer–friendly and vegetarian recipes. Some of the interesting chapter headings include: Table for Two: recipes with two servings; Lovin’ No Oven: only cold recipes; Food for the Mood: satisfy cravings or romance recipes; and Diva Dermatology. Available at Amazon.com and bn.com.
Then there is Cooking Light Mix & Match Low–Calorie Cookbook: 1500 Calories a Day (Oxmoor House, 2010) — a very cool recipe book with a simple premise: You can choose any three meals plus two snacks from the 150 recipes in the book, and no matter what combination you select the total will be no more than 1,500 calories. Unfortunately, it's not coming out until after Christmas, but you can always pre–order, or if you're sending it as a gift, it might be worth the wait. Available at Amazon.com and bn.com.
The last book is not a recipe book, but it can be pretty helpful in the kitchen. David Joachim’s newly updated second edition of The Food Substitutions Bible (Robert Rose, 2010) has more than 6,500 substitutions you can use in any recipe. It’s great if you don’t have a particular item on hand but can also be used to find healthier alternatives. For example, under the heading "For Better Health" you’ll see that you can use a combination of coconut water and coconut milk instead of all coconut milk. Available at Amazon.com and bn.com.
Fitness and Yoga
There are free weights, sandbags, kettlebells, medicine balls, grip bags and now a new tool, Hyper Wear's SandBell — which, as the company describes it, combines all of the above. Think of a circular sack made of tough but soft, stretchy neoprene (used to make wetsuits). The sacks range from 2–pound to 50–pound sizes. You can purchase them filled (which can be a bit costly) or fill them with sand yourself. You can buy the sand at most hardware stores. The SandBell is available at www.hyperwear.com. Prices start at $9.99 for the 2–pound unfilled sack.
Manduka, which makes fabulous yoga gear, just launched a few great new products. The inSight Eye Pillow, made with Tanboocel fabric spun from 100 percent natural fibers and filled with lavender oil, organic barley, flax seed, lemon balm and orris root, is $29. The Manduka PRO Black Beauty yoga mat is dense and thick, with incredible cushioning and great non–slip fabric. Oh, and it comes with a lifetime guarantee for $100. Both products are available at www.manduka.com.
Another really cool, underrated fitness device is The Gaiam Fitness Trainer 2.0 heart rate monitor and watch that allows you to monitor your heart rate without having to wear a chest strap. Just press the watch bezel with your fingers and get a read–out of your current heart rate — pretty cool. The watch also has a super soft, comfortable silicone strap, and you can simply tap on the lens to toggle through the various functions. You can purchase it online for $99.
Tired of contributing to the plastic bottles ending up in landfills? Ready to make an eco–difference? Here are three cool water–related fitness products. The first is the Filtrete Water Station from 3M, which includes four BPA–free, dishwasher–safe, reusable water bottles with a "fast-flow filtration technology" that filters water and fills the four bottles immediately. The Filtrete system reduces chlorine taste and sediment from tap water to improve taste, odor and clarity. You can even order extra bottles and stock up. The filters last for about 100 gallons, or for about three months, and there is a "Change Indicator" that lets you know when it's time for a replacement. And the whole thing costs less than $50. Go to www.filtretewaterstation.com.
Another great water product is the Vapur water bottle. Lugging around a heavy rigid plastic or traditional reusable water bottle is just bulky. But this one you simply fold–and–go. The plastic, foldable bottle stands upright when it's full, and when empty it folds up and is as light as a few sheets of paper. It comes in green, purple, blue, pink, orange and smoke, is dishwasher–safe, long–lasting, BPA–free and costs only $8.95 for a 16–ounce bottle. Available here. If you're looking for a sturdier, traditional reusable water bottle with a twist, The Bottle Shop will customize your stainless steel Sigg bottle starting at about $20 plus shipping. Go to www.greensender.com and click on the Bottle Shop link.