The gift of health is in! If you’re anything like many of us, however, you’ve waited until the last minute to purchase your gifts and you want to make them count. Here’s a solution: Many of these healthy gifts can be purchased on your way home, at the last minute, and inexpensively… right from your local CVS or Rite Aid! This year, stop yourself from spending a fortune on the new X-Box and instead make a difference in your friends and family members lives by investing in gifts designed to keep them healthy and feeling good with these 5 last minute healthy holiday gifts. Trends come and go, but good health will always be in style.

5 Last Minute Healthy Holiday Gifts

Healthy Cooking Magazine Subscription

Found right in your drugstore, next to the craft magazine section, are a great selection of heart healthy and healthy living magazines. For that person who is vowing to change their unhealthy ways for next year, forget the People Magazine subscription and go instead for one like Eating Well ($4.99 over the counter or a $9.99/year subscription). Wrap it up with a pretty bow and tell the recipient to expect a year of them showing up in their mailbox. P.S: Don’t forget to send in the subscription card and pay for it!

Reusable, Filtered Water Bottle

It may sound simple, but they’re making them with all kinds of bells and whistles these days, such as water bottles with filtration systems, and fun features like a secret spot for your debit card, or sensors that track your water intake! Besides being a must for good health, did you know that every time you drink from a throw-away water bottle you are risking harmful chemicals leeching from the plastic, into your system?  Keep your loved ones healthy and keep the environment healthy as well by keeping plastic water bottles out of landfills by giving a reusable, BPA free water bottle; it will save money as well. Also emerging on the market are reusable water bottles with filtration systems,  which screen out many of the toxins found in some tap water.

Fitness Tracker

A fitness tracker, like a FitBit  or the Basis Peak offers a wealth of information on your daily activity levels, including how many steps you’ve taken, how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed and how many hours you slept. There are other, much less expensive choices however, such as  the Misfit Flash Link by Dell that sells for $19.99 or the Jawbone UP24 for $30 that will do the trick as well, if not quite as many tricks as the FitBit. Some models offer heart rate monitoring as well. A great gift for that person who is vowing to make a healthy change for 2016.

Scented Reed Diffuser

Not only are these a lovely gift that will help brighten up any room in the house, many of the reeds are now being sold with therapeutic herbal fragrances,  called essential oils. A popular one is lavender, which has been shown  to calm the nerves…especially important at this time of year. Research has shown essential oils can have a profound affect on the hypothalamus and the limbic system, systems that control hormones, emotions and reason. When it comes to balancing mood and emotions, the inhalation method is preferred, which is what you’ll get from a reed diffuser.

Vitamin D and B12 Test

We get  that a blood test may not exactly be what your recipient had in mind as a “gift”, however if you have a friend or family member who is suffering from the blues or depression this holiday season, it could be due to a Vitamin B12 deficiency . Often times, when someone is deficient in the B vitamins they are also low in D Vitamins as well. A simple blood test can determine their levels of deficiency and AFC will administer them with no appointment necessary. You could be giving a bigger gift than any Chia Pet on the shelves.

Many people resolve to be healthier in the new year. By giving your friends and family the gift of good health, you are helping to get them one step closer to that goal. Nowadays there are a wealth of tools out there that make healthy living easier and more fun than ever before. So this holiday season, show your loved ones how much they mean to you by giving them a gift they can use to reach their health goals!

If you or a loved one need help achieving better health in the new year, our providers at AFC/ West Hartford are here for you to discuss your personal personal needs, in a confidential consultation.

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