Healing Cuisine 2010 Holiday Gift Guide

Hi all!

I have been asked in several emails about Christmas gifts and what to get for your loved ones.  I'm going to break down some of my top favorite gift ideas for you.  These are wonderful gifts to give any Maximized Living foodie or anyone interested in health & wellness.  Dave and I own and use almost all of these items and have actually gifted our friends and family with a lot of these over the past years.  Can't rave enough about these companies and products...so I'm just going to list them.  Hope you, too, can discover the great quality and usefulness!

Homemade Gifts  Save time.  Save money.  Show you care.

- A few bottles of flavored Kombucha, perhaps even share a baby SCOBY?

- Raw Chocolate Fudge

- Make your own lip balm

- Assorted box of Advanced Plan cookies (12 Days of Cookies post coming at you tomorrow!!)

- Mixed box of dark chocolate truffles & almond butter balls

- Classic gifts-in-a-jar.  Share your knowledge of gluten-free, sugar-free baking.  Gift your loved ones with a jar of all the dry ingredients and tag the recipe to the jar, in cute fashion of course (dare I suggest breaking out the scrapbooking materials??).  Some great gifts-in-a-jar recipes: Gluten Free "Candy Cane" Cookies (recipe to come next week!), Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free Loaded Chocolate Protein Bars, Gluten Free Coconut Flour Bread, or Gluten Free Banana Bread.  Just remember to include my URL on the tag so they can come back for more! :)

- A quart or two of chili (Healing Cuisine Chili, Pumpkin Chili, White Bean Chili) in a decorative glass container.


Gold Category  A major splurge.  Much appreciated by all.

- VitaMix

- Food Dehydrator

- P90X or Insanity home fitness programs

- Sink Water Filtration System

- KitchenAid stand mixer

- Cuisinart food processor


The Foodie  For the kitchen savvy.  And the aspiring.

- Raw Food Spiralizer

- Cast Iron Skillet or Stainless Steel Skillet

- Basic ceramic knives set

- Salad spinner

- Indoor herb garden kit

- Membership to an organic wine club

- Good bamboo cutting board

- Natural waxed paper or parchment paper.  Introduce others to the all-natural alternatives.


Kitchen Supplies  Stuff healthy peeps always need.

- Organic/all natural protein powder or meal replacement powder (Maximized Living Perfect Protein, Garden of Life Raw Protein, Sequel Vega, Sun Warrior Raw Superfood)

- Bulk coconut oil

- Coconut flour, almond flour, hemp seeds

- Organic spices -- a must!

- Clean, organic, low-to-no sugar protein bars (PaleoBars, BioGenesis bars)

- Organic powdered greens antioxidant drink (Dynamic Greens)

- Stevia (pure liquid, spoonable powder)


Body Care  Organic.  Natural.  Health-inducing.

- Any Wyndmere organic lotions, essential oils, air diffusers, soaps 

- My absolute favorite personal care line: MiEssence from ONE Group.  ANYTHING from this company would make a great gift -- all certified organic to the FOOD GRADE level!!  I've tried it all, can't say enough great things about the company and its products.  Makeup, lotions, shampoo, baby line....love it ALL.  A great place to start is their skin essentials pack.

- All natural Crystal deodorant.  Encourage your loved ones to make the switch.

- Spry fluoride free toothpaste, mouthwash, gum

- ChiroFlow water pillow -- all of the neck support with none of the toxic chemicals or off-gas.


For the Readers  Mixed bag of my favorites.

- The Love Dare

- Cooking with Coconut Flour

- Body by God

- Easy Green Living

- Pushed

- Sugar Free Cooking with Stevia

- In Pursuit of Peace

- Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition


Movies  More of my favorites.

- The Business of Being Born

- King Korn

- Food Matters

- Food, Inc.

- The Future of Food


Stocking Stuffers All natural and healthy.

- A blow up fitness ball

- Blender Bottle

- Indoor Sunshine light bulb -- create vitamin D naturally year round!

-  Jar of coconut butter

- All Natural nail polish (FancyPolish, PeaceKeeper, No Miss) & natural remover (Honeybee Gardens)

- Set of reusable, eco-friendly totes

- Pacifica soy candles -- scented naturally with essential oils

- Gift card to Whole Foods or a local co-op

- Organic t-shirt

- Klean Kanteen

- Organic lip balm, lip gloss, lipstick


You can also visit TreeHugger for some other great eco-friendly gift giving guides.  Do YOU have any other great gift suggestions??  Happy gifting! :)