As a mother 👩❤️👩and a very health conscious doctor 👩🔬 I worry about my children’s and my grandchildren’s health. The teacher in me also wants to share the health tips I have learned with every woman I meet 😇
THANKFULLY my family and friends are very tolerant of my frequent health advice and my tendency to give them “ healthy gifts”.
Growing up my girls didn’t have to worry about air and water quality – I made sure we had the best purifiers. I did the shopping for groceries and home products and always chose healthy options. When they left for college they knew about healthy living but honestly at that time in their lives it just wasn’t a priority. I knew better than to preach to them but dang 🤦♀️- those moldy dorm rooms, the questionable tap water and the cafeteria food put momma bear into overdrive. That’s when I started gifting air purifiers and other healthy living options such as gift certificates to healthy grocery stores. My girls were very grateful for the healthy living gifts and I was very grateful for the opportunity to help them establish basic healthy living habits especially later in life as they set up their own homes.
In the many HEALTH IS WEALTH newsletters I have written for my daughters social media account I have laid out health habits that can be adopted to improve health and I have outlined the science behind these recommendations – so I won’t belabor the science today.
I just want to point out – if you are working on improving your own health or you’re interested in improving someone else’s health don’t sleep on the holidays…..
THE HOLIDAYS ARE A GREAT TIME TO ASK FOR HEALTHY LIVING GIFTS OR TO GIVE THEM TO OTHERS. AN ADDITIONAL BENEFIT is that during the holidays healthy gifts are usually on sale.📉💰
🌲🌲 HEALTHY HOLIDAY GIFT RECOMMENDATIONS
🎁Air Purifiers – since air purifiers don’t work thru walls we should ideally have one in each bedroom and the main living space. I like Blue Air and Air Doctor purifiers but due to recent advances in technology my favorite is Air Doctor. Air Doctor purifiers can remove particles as small as .003 microns – which includes bacteria and viruses.
🌟🌟🌟Air Doctor is having their deepest discount of the year right now if you use the link above.
🎁Water purifiers – look up your zip code at EWG’s tap water data base if you don’t think this is important‼️
To purify water the gold standard is installing a whole house filter with a reverse osmosis unit for drinking water but this is more expensive and only for home owners. I like Aqua True for water purification units – they have countertop units that are portable and less pricey but they also offer a unit you can install under your sink if you’re handy. Even a water pitcher such as Clearly Filtered is a healthy upgrade compared to tap water.
🎁Low-Tox Home Products – this is a big category. I will list several healthy living products that are a great place to start.
Laundry detergent – clothes and linens are right next to your skin where toxins can be absorbed into your bloodstream and tissues. I like the Truly Free brand where you can find unscented or low- tox scented options.
🌟🌟🌟Use the Truly Free link above to get their biggest sale of the year. Enough detergent for 600 loads of laundry plus 2 bags of their oxyboost for 99$.
Dishwasher detergent – we don’t want to eat or drink chemicals and micro plastics that can be left as residues on our dishes. I like Truly Free Home’s dishwasher powder. This isn’t currently on sale but at checkout if you use the code MONEYTALKMAL (since my daughters online business is all about smart money moves she has set up many discounts with retailers) you will get a discount.
Low-Tox cookware – coatings on cookware can release chemicals into the air and into our food. I try to use stainless, glass and ceramic options when cooking but I do use Caraway pots and pans when I need a low- tox nonstick option. You can buy individual pans or sets.
🌟🌟🌟To get Caraway’s Black Friday sale use the link above or the code MONEYTALKMAL at checkout.
🎁Pampering Products – as women we expose ourselves to dozens if not hundreds of chemicals when we apply products to our skin and hair. We also tend to use fragranced products in the home. We all have PREFERENCES when it comes to what products we like to use and what products actually work for us. If I give a gift in this category I try to keep it simple – such as my preferred jojoba oil for the skin or squalene oil for the face, an organic essential oil or a healthy lip balm. I also like to give healthy candles . When you burn candles that contain synthetic fragrances – hundreds of chemicals can be released into your air. My new favorite (since I finally gave up toxic fragrances) is the beeswax candles from BlueCorn Candle Company or the essential oil scented candles from Fontana Candle Company.
I get asked about what products I use all the time. Gifting my favorite low tox swaps to friends and family is a great way to share my real life tips with them. YOU CAN SEE MANY OF MY HEALTHY LIVING OPTIONS AT MY AMAZON HEALTHY LIVING STORE and create your own healthy gift basket.
I’m a “GIVER” at heart – like most women are! I like to put thought and INTENTION into gifts especially for those who are close to me💞This type of gift giving is not appropriate for everyone on your list but for that like minded or at least open minded 😄recipient – giving HEALTHY LIVING GIFTS is a WIN-WIN
The Happiest of Healthy Holidays to You and Yours,
Dr Brenda Smith M.D.
