Healthy Gift Giving

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If you’re looking for a gift for a friend or family member who has cancer, chances are you’re searching for something special. Traditional temptations, such as sweets or spirits, may provide comfort, but don’t support the healthy lifestyle essential to treatment and recovery. To lift up the person you love, think outside the box.

Free Friend Time

Gifts of time don’t cost anything, but come with priceless memories. You could:

  • Create a handmade coupon for “quality time,” where the recipient chooses what to do

  • Plan an active outing, where you walk, jog, swim or play a game

  • Set aside time to go through photos and make a scrapbook together

  • Give a gift of service, where you offer to do errands, clean house or cook a meal

Fitness Fare

Options abound when it comes to encouraging fitness, including:

  • Membership to a health club

  • Personal fitness tracker, such as a Fitbit

  • Gym bag or workout clothes

  • Yoga mat

  • Handheld weights

  • A walking stick for stability

  • Gloves for special activities, such as golf, skiing, biking or weightlifting

  • Exercise videos or a subscription to an online service like Daily Burn

Healthy Foods

Food is always a welcome gift, especially when you make it easier to purchase and prepare nutritious meals. Consider:

  • A gift card to an online vendor, such as Home Chef or HelloFresh, that sends the recipient everything they need to prepare a meal at home, including ingredients

  • Fresh or frozen pre-made meals from a local source like Naomi’s Kitchen

  • A gift card to a store that offers grocery delivery service. One example is Hy-Vee’s Aisles Online service.

  • A fruit basket with herbal teas, coffees, spices and healthy breads

  • A gift certificate to healthy local markets such as Natural Grocers, New Pioneer Co-op or other health market

A Breath of Fresh Air

Plants make wonderful gifts and can also function as room purifiers. Numerous houseplants are known to absorb airborne toxins, eliminate respiratory irritants and reduce the effects of gases, fumes and exhaust that may sneak into the house. A few plants that are powerful air cleaners are English ivy, peace lily, Boston fern, wax begonia and spider plants. Check the following resources to see additional plant names and their health benefits.

Additional Health-Conscious Options

Still stuck? You can’t go wrong with these choices:

Wishing you and yours the healthiest of holidays!

Leesa Morrison
Ghosh Center Health Coach