Person shopping online and sitting next to gifts.

Holiday Gift Guide [2022]

Gift giving is a powerful way to show how much you care. With a million things on your to do list, it can be overwhelming to hone in on just the right gift for those you care about most. I created this holiday gift guide to take some of the leg work out of shopping for that perfect gift!

Or maybe you want a gift for yourself! This guide may also provide some inspiration to request a holiday/birthday treat for yourself that will also boost your health and wellness!

Holiday Shopping #goals

How we shop impacts not just the economy at large, but also local communities and the environment. I like to keep a few simple goals in mind while shopping, especially around the holidays, when shopping lists can get quite extensive. 

  1. Support small, local businesses: buying local means keeping your dollars in your community, so that it can thrive!
  1. Promote health & wellness: I enjoy giving gifts that support the health and wellness of those I care about.
  1. Won’t break the bank: I believe we can give meaningful, thoughtful gifts that don’t necessarily come with an enormous price tag.
  1. Give high quality: I also believe in paying for quality for a number of reasons. One reason is environmental: if we buy things that last longer, we’ll create less waste. 

Let’s dive in! Below are some of my favorite health and wellness oriented gifts of 2022. 

Scroll to the bottom for the quick list of recommendations.

Natural Skin Care Products

We don’t just absorb nutrients from the food we eat. We also absorb things through our skin, the largest organ in the human body. As a gut health dietitian, I teach a lot about internal organs, such as the intestines, the stomach, the gallbladder, etc. But, I also help clients understand that what they put on their skin impacts our health as well. 

My very favorite line of skin care products is Hudson Valley Skin Care, a small business that happens to be local to me.  

You can shop their hand-picked gift sets here.

My favorite set is Skin-Dulgence, which includes their Pure Perfection Facial Potion, Perfection Moisturizing Balm, Body Oil, Solid Lotion Bar and 100% Organic Shea Butter!

You can’t go wrong supporting this business, which checks all of the boxes for my holiday shopping goals.

Shopping goals this product meets

  • Supports small businesses
  • Promotes health & wellness
  • Won’t break the bank
  • High quality

Dumbbells

I often recommend increasing (or adding in) strength training for clients, as it is essential for building and maintaining lean body tissue. I own and love PowerBlock stackable dumbbells. Their products are high quality and durable. Plus, being able to change weights quickly during a workout opens up lots of workout options and keeps things interesting. They were definitely a game changer in my home workouts.

These sets are an investment, but your health is worth it! I own the Sport 24 set, which suits my needs. If you’re going to lift heavier, you’ll need to choose a heavier set. For most of my clients, working out at home is the most convenient option and therefore the best way to guarantee success with physical activity goals!

Shopping goals this product meets

  • Promotes health & wellness
  • High quality

Homemade Salad Cruet

Small changes can have a big impact! Cooking at home is a great way to ensure you have healthy, high quality meals that line up with your tastes. 

Salads are full of fiber and don’t ever need to be boring! Plus, if you’ve got dressing made ahead, a salad is a fast and hassle free way to increase your vegetable intake. 

Folks, I feel like this dressing bottle (or cruet, if you prefer) changed my life. And I want you to try it, too! 

Shopping goals this product meets

  • Promotes health & wellness
  • Won’t break the bank
  • High quality

Immersion Blender

I have another recommendation to make life in the kitchen easier. Next to my coffee maker, my immersion blender is the small appliance that gets the most use in my kitchen. I use it for smoothies, soups, dressings, sauces. It’s just easy. It stores neatly in a drawer and cleanup is a cinch. 

I recommend immersion blenders to my clients over countertop blenders because:

  • Detachable wand is easy to clean
  • Blades are contained inside the casing, making it easier and safer to handle and store
  • Doesn’t take up space on the countertop
  • Less expensive
  • You can blend right in the vessel you’re using, whether it’s a cup, bowl or pot, etc

My favorite brand for small kitchen appliances is Cuisinart. This is the version I have and love at home. It’s well made, super durable, gets the job done and is yours for under $50!:

Smart Stick Two-Speed Hand Blender

I’ll just take a moment to say that there are lots of flashy blenders out there that, in my opinion, are not worth the high price tag. I won’t name names, but these are heavily marketed and over-priced. One is honestly claiming it will “transform” your life. Save your money. Get an immersion blender. Enough said.

Need a good smoothie recipe? Check out this one for a low FODMAP creamsicle smoothie that won’t disappoint!

Shopping goals this product meets

  • Promotes health & wellness
  • Won’t break the bank
  • High quality

Cookbooks

Cookbooks make great gifts. So, I’m including two of my favorites in the holiday gift guide.

Dinner in an Instant

Melissa Clark is one of my favorite food writers and cookbook authors. She delivers the perfect balance between sophistication and simplicity, and she knows how to write a recipe that makes sense, is easy to follow, and makes food taste good. So, when I finally relented and started using an Instant Pot, I ordered a copy of “Dinner in an Instant” and now have several go-to recipes that I use. 

Fair warning: these dinner recipes are not ready in an instant, or even close. That said, you can set it and forget it, and come back to a finished product in less time than conventional methods. 

I would also love to pick up a copy of her more recent “Dinner in French.” Hint, hint in case anyone reading this owes me a gift.

Cook 90

When I first came across this book, I was NOT interested in buying it. It seemed a little gimmicky, to be honest. The concept of Cook90 is that it’s a guide to cooking all your meals for 30 days straight, kind of like a challenge. I was skeptical. Once I dove into the recipes, however, I grew to truly appreciate the author’s approach. Inside you’ll find some innovative ways to repurpose leftovers, as well as some of my favorite bowl recipes.

Cook90 is a collaboration of the author, David Tamarkin, and the editorial staff at Epicurious, and I 100% endorse their efforts to inspire readers to support their health with home-cooked meals.  

Shopping goals these products meet

  • Supports small businesses (authors are small businesses, IMHO)
  • Promotes health & wellness
  • Won’t break the bank
  • High quality

Summary

With gift giving, we have the opportunity to support local communities, the environment and ourselves and our loved 

Here’s the quick list of my gift recommendations:

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