Episode 85: Holiday Health & Fitness Guide (with a special offer and FREE giveaway)

In this episode Jo discusses a variety of health and fitness gift ideas for the holidays, catering to all budgets. The episode highlights tech gadgets like fitness trackers and walking pads, kitchen tools like the Ninja Creamy and milk steamers, as well as experience-based gifts such as personal training sessions and gym memberships. Jo also introduces a holiday promotion offering discounts on January coaching packages and announces a giveaway of a 12-week coaching package. Finally, the episode wraps up with three healthy holiday recipes that wil be fan favorites at any holiday gathering. 

00:00 Welcome to the Annual Holiday Gift Guide
01:07 Exciting Holiday Promotions
03:41 Tech Gifts for Fitness Enthusiasts
06:43 Kitchen Gadgets for Healthy Eating
08:36 Experience-Based Gifts for Fitness
10:07 Budget-Friendly Healthy Gifts
13:43 Delicious and Healthy Holiday Recipes
16:38 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

Links:
Sign up for the New Year, Strong Start holiday promotion here.  Choose a coaching package (12 weeks, 6 months, or one year) and use the code NEWYEAR to get 10% off and a gift box in January.

Sign up for the chance to win 12 weeks of FREE coaching here.

Buy a subscription to Lauren Fit Foodie's Fit Cookie Club and get healthy, printable meal plans delivered to your inbox EVERY week. Use the code COUTURE20 for 20% off monthly membership and COUTURE10 for 10% off a yearly membership.   

Use the code COUTURE to get 10% off any purchase from Baker & Olive.

Cottage Cheese Spinach Dip Recipe

Unstuffed Mushrooms Recipe

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Transcript

0:43

Hello everyone and welcome back to the boost your metabolism after age 30 podcast. You've got Joe here today and I'm here to dive into a fun and practical topic today, health and fitness gift ideas for the holidays. This is our annual gift giving podcast so whether you're shopping for a loved one or treating yourself, we've got you covered with ideas for every budget. So also today, I want you to stick around until the end because I'll be sharing some fantastic healthy recipes you can bring to your holiday gatherings. These dishes will impress your friends and your family while keeping your goals on track. So let's dive in. I've polled our coaches about fitness items that they use the most or were game changers and their fitness routines this past year and also their favorite recipes to make for the holidays. So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Full disclosure. I did. Record this episode previously with 2 of my coaches, but unfortunately, we had some technological glitches and that recording is not available. So you've just got me today. Okay. I do 1st want to mention a fun holiday promotion. We're running so we know that the holidays get busy and sometimes we get off track with our fitness and health goals. But instead of stressing out about getting out of shape or losing sight of your goals during the holiday rush, we want you to spend this next month enjoying your family and making memories and soaking in the season. And then once the tree is down and the holiday wrapping is close, a way we've got you covered with our new year strong start holiday promotion. Here's how we will set you up for success in January. If you join our one on one coaching program in January, our metabolic makeover program, you will get 10 percent off of any coaching package that you buy. Plus you will receive an early January, a gift box filled with our coaches, favorite fitness things to help you crush your new year's goals. In that gift box, you'll get items like a meal planner, a shaker bottle, a digital food scale, and lots of other surprises to support your health journey. This package has a fair market value, of more than 50. So make sure you sign up for our new year strong start holiday promotion. If you know that you want to work with us this year. This is a great way to get started in the new year and get back on track. Also the other thing that's happening is we are giving away a free 12 week coaching package. In our metabolic makeover program in January, so 1 lucky winner will receive 12 weeks of personalized coaching and the New Year strong start gift box. And that package that free package that we are giving away has a total value of over 900 dollars. If you've been thinking about working with this, know that you want to work with us, make sure you sign up for that. Now, spots in our January coaching program are limited. We have limited spaces with our coaches. So don't wait to secure your spot if you know you want to work with us. And if you sign up now and end up winning the giveaway, we'll credit you the full amount of your coaching package. So there's no risk in reserving your spot early. So you can sign up for coaching and the holiday promotion and the giveaway through the links in the show notes. We will announce the winner on January 1st. So again, make sure you sign up. So you're in the running. This really is your chance to start the new year strong, supported and ready to reach your health and fitness goals and make 2025 your best year yet. Okay, so on to holiday gift guide. So the first thing I'm going to cover are tech gifts that will help a person elevate their fitness tracking habits. I personally have an Apple watch and I love my Apple watch. These are really good gifts for anyone serious about their fitness goals. Also really good gifts for someone just looking to get started. A fitness tracker, like an Apple watch or Garmin smartwatch is always a hit. With these devices, you can monitor your heart rate, your steps, your workouts, and even your sleep. The way that my mind thinks about my Apple watch is I put it on in the morning and then I get credit for all the steps I take, whether I'm cleaning the house or when I'm out grocery shopping. And so it's a very motivating for me to reach my goals. And it's always telling me how close I am to my goals, or I can look down and see how close I am to reaching my step goal for the day. I also use it when I do zone 2 cardio to monitor my heart rate. Really helpful. I know the Garmin smartwatch is very sophisticated and really great for your active hiker or someone who maybe is doing triathlons or those sorts of things. I know one of our coaches, Coach Leanne has a Garmin smartwatch and she is even able to track her lifts on her smartwatch. And the Garmin, a bonus to the Garmin is that it stays charged, I think, for a week at a time. So the Garmin smartwatch or the Apple watch those, of course, are a little bit higher end gifts. If you're looking for a more modest fitness tracker, The Fitbits are really great. And with those, you can monitor your steps. And I think some of them even track your heart rate. So that would be a great gift to so those are some tech ideas for your fitness enthusiast or someone that's really into tech. Or if you want to up your fitness game, this would be a great gift for you to ask for the holidays. Okay, the other tech gift idea that our coaches had is the walking pad. These are compact treadmills that are an amazing addition to a home gym set up or just a home office set up. So these are perfect for someone who works from home. Or wants to stay more active throughout the day, they're lightweight, they're easy to store their low impact and are something you can put under your desk and just hop on when you have, tasks that you need to get done. Or maybe you are watching Netflix or scrolling social media. It's a real easy way to get extra steps in during the day. I know that I always use it also use it when it's really cold outside and I don't really want to get to the gym, or I can't get to the gym, or I'm not getting outside as much as I want. I can get lots of steps in just doing 10 minutes here and there on my walking pad. So highly recommend the walking pad. It really is a great way to make movement more accessible, especially for busy people. So those are some of our tech gadget moving on to the kitchen. If you are a foodie, or if you have foodies in your life who also like to make healthy recipes, I highly recommend the Ninja Creamy. This kitchen gadget makes high protein ice cream. It makes any type of ice cream, but you can make your ice cream base high protein using ingredients like protein powder, yogurt, or you can also add in fruit and all sorts of mix ins, and so it is a way To get your protein in that feels like you are eating soft serve ice cream. So we often make protein ice cream for dessert. My husband, who is not a cook at all, is probably the biggest fan of the Ninja Creamy because he makes himself a protein ice cream every evening. It has about 40 grams of protein and he likes to mix in fun things like an Oreo cookie or some chocolate chips and it feels really decadent. So we love the Ninja Creamy as a gift. The other thing that I really love which is at a much lower price point than the Ninja Creamy is my milk steamer. So I can heat up protein shakes in my milk steamer to make warm protein coffees. I also like to make cold foam. With my milk steamer to make my protein coffee every morning. I think you can get these for about 30 bucks on Amazon and you can really almost make a copycat Starbucks with a milk steamer at home. Protein Shakes don't really heat up well in the microwave, so it's a way that you can make a protein creamer out of a protein shake, or a protein based cold foam, or just a cold foam to add to an iced coffee that makes it feel pretty decadent and like you are having a Starbucks treat. So those are our ideas for the kitchen. Okay, the next category of gifts we have are what we are calling experience based gifts. So These are more personal gifts that can be incredibly thoughtful for someone who is just getting started with fitness. Or maybe if you are again, are looking to uplevel your fitness experience, you can give a gift card for a personal trainer or coach. If you belong to a gym, just go to the front desk and ask if you could buy a gift card to work with one of their trainers. You can also give someone a gift card for a gym membership and then also the boutique fitness. Studios out there like Orange Theory or Power Life Yoga or F45 also, I'm sure have gift cards that you could give to someone if they just want to mix up their fitness routine. So these are really fun gifts to give and to get. They really tell someone that you believe in their goals. And can mean a lot more than a physical item that might just collect dust in the corner. So we really love giving experience based gifts. Of course, if you are a long time listener, or maybe you just found us and you really want to work with us, you could ask for a coaching package with us for your holiday gift. And we have definitely had clients who've done that, and it really helped them get them on their fitness and wellness journey by having 1 on 1 coaching with 1 of our coaches. So a lot of the gifts that I've been talking about are, higher ticket items. And so I also we also wanted to include some gifts that are at a lower price point, but are also support a healthy lifestyle. So we're going to talk about some budget friendly options that, like I said, still support a very healthy lifestyle. So here were some ideas that we came up with. So number one, Stanley or Yeti cups. These are great for staying hydrated throughout the day. I got a Stanley last year for Christmas, and I love it. I drink a lot more water just having a Stanley. It's cold. It has a wonderful straw. I'm sure I drink more water with my Stanley than I would if I didn't have that. So these are great gifts. Epsom salts or bath soaks are great for soothing sore muscles after workouts. Macro friendly cookbooks like Lily Eats and Tells or O Snap Macros. Both of those bloggers have amazing cookbooks and amazing recipes. We also have an affiliate code for LaurenFitFoodie and you can buy a meal planning membership from her. We will include links to that discount in the show notes. Digital food scale is great for precise measuring and portioning your food. If you buy our holiday package, you will get one. So maybe cross that off your list. If you know that you're going to participate in our holiday promotion. A really nice set of measuring cups and spoons can be a really nice gift for someone who's going to be doing some food prep or if you are going to be doing food prep, having a nice set of measuring cups and spoons can be really nice. A pedometer is a great gift for anyone who wants to track their smartwatch, also very affordable. We also like gourmet vinegars, salts and spices to give us gifts. We do have a discount code for baker and olives. So we will include that in the show notes. I've given that many years as gifts, a set of. Gourmet vinegars and oils, and people report that they love them. Gourmet coffees or teas are a cozy but healthy, health conscious treat. And then gift cards for fitness apparel, like from Lululemon or Athleta or Aerie. It's great at the beginning of the year to be able to throw out some of your stinky workout clothes and start the year fresh with some new workout clothes. I really can't think of any woman that wouldn't love a gift card to 1 of those stores. And also a nice journal for tracking your strength training progress. We're jotting down fitness goals is a nice gift as well. Like I said, I love my Stanley cup. I have it with me. I almost all the time. I think I would get be very sad if I lost it. So that's a great gift. And then 1 of the favorite, my favorite gifts that I've ever received was a tee box, like the tee box that you get at a restaurant that was full of of different flavors of teas and it felt so luxurious and was such a thoughtful health conscious gift that I loved that gift. And again, it's to me, a much better option than running to target last minute and buying, the five pound Reese's peanut butter cup. Any of these I think are going to be better than the last minute panic reactive gifts that you find when you just run to the store last minute and don't know what to buy someone. Think of those as you are doing your last minute shopping. Okay, finally, I'm going to talk about some healthy holiday recipes. Holiday food can be very caloric. It can be very heavy in carbs and fat. One of our best strategies for staying on track during the holidays is to bring a dish that you love that aligns with your goals. So I polled my coaches and here are a few of their favorite healthy recipe ideas. The first is a cottage cheese spinach dip. This is a lightened up take on the classic spinach dip from Osnap macros. I will include the link to that recipe in the show notes. And it's, it is a complete game changer. Cottage cheese is blended into the base for a creamy texture. It also adds a boost of protein. If you're not aware, cottage cheese is really having its moment right now, maybe taking the place of cauliflower rice. It's almost in every recipe I think I see on Pinterest. But again it's a great way to replace cream cheese or sour cream that gives you some protein is much lower in fat and we love serving this recipe with some fresh veggie sticks or whole grain crackers. And everyone loves this appetizer. The next recipe, if you're asked to bring aside. To maybe a holiday dinner this is a side that we really love. It's very fancy, but doesn't pack much of a calorie punch. So these are roasted mushrooms with garlic and herbs. This is a recipe from Skinny Taste. This is a very simple recipe to make. It's delicious. And again, it's perfect as a side dish or appetizer. The mushrooms are roasted to perfection by tossing them with garlic and fresh herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. So even people who don't like mushrooms tend to love this recipe. So again, I will include that recipe in the show notes. And then the final recipe that our coaches love to make is for the people with a sweet tooth. So it's dark chocolate bark with nuts and dried fruit. So all you have to do for this recipe is melt high quality dark chocolate, spread it out on a baking sheet and then sprinkle it with any variety of nuts that you like. This could be almonds or pistachios and then some dried fruit like dried cranberries, dried cherries I would say chopped up. apricots. You can really go with whatever flavor combo sounds good. And it's, then you break you cool it, set it in the fridge, and then when it comes out and it's hardened, you can break it up. And so this again, feels very fancy. I think that Barefoot Contessa has a version of this recipe, but it's one that I like to make. And It definitely satisfies your sweet tooth without, being so full of calories and fat and carbs. All of these recipes are simple, they're healthy, and I guarantee you that they will impress your guests if you bring them to a holiday function. This wraps up our 2024 holiday gift guide. We hope that you will use some of these ideas and find that you can celebrate health and wellness while enjoying the holiday season. Now if you are ready to take your health and fitness to the next level and get one on one coaching like I said earlier, we will have limited spots in January. So sign up for coaching in January and take advantage of our New Year Strong Start holiday package. We don't. often do things like this. So it's a really fun way to like I said earlier at the beginning of the podcast, enjoy your holidays, not stress about getting out of shape. And then we will get you started working out and with a fitness and nutrition plan in January, and you will get a box of goodies that will help you along the way. And also don't forget to sign up for the 12 weeks of free coaching links to sign up for the holiday promotion and for the giveaway are both in the show notes. So thanks for tuning in today and we will catch you next time. We hope you are enjoying your holiday season. Thank you.