If you’re living with a chronic illness such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, thyroid disease, Lyme, mold toxicity, or any other complex medical condition, gift-giving — and receiving — was probably a whole lot easier before you adopted a wellness-oriented lifestyle and became a health-conscious consumer. You know you need to be especially mindful of the ingredients you expose your body to each day. Some of the more common holiday gifts (like scented candles, lotions, perfumes, and candies) could trigger a symptom flare-up and further disrupt your immune system.
What’s more, you know that certain ingredients in the gifts you give could be harmful to your loved ones — even if they aren’t yet aware of it. No holiday gift is worth that, especially when there are so many clean alternatives to choose from in 2022.
Thyroid-harming toxins are everywhere, but we can limit our exposure by purchasing clean, organic, and environmentally friendly products for ourselves, the homes in which we live, and our loved ones. Here are our top gift recommendations from some of our favorite wellness brands of 2022, complete with ideas for yourself as well as the following loved ones in your life:
Clean Beauty Gurus
This holiday season, it’s easier than ever to give the gift of beauty without all the health-harming toxins commonly found in cosmetics and personal care products.
Clean Beauty Brands
- Credo Beauty: As your one-stop shop for all things clean beauty, Credo sells only the safest and most sustainable products for the face, body, skin, and hair. Find clean, eco-friendly, and cruelty-free beauty products from ethical brands like Exa, Goop, Kosa, ILIA, Juice Beauty, and more.
- Beautycounter: Find clean and cruelty-free cosmetics, moisturizers, shampoos, and skin care products for all the beauty gurus in your life. Makeup kits, skincare sets, and mini duos or trios all make great gifts, and you can even use Beautycounter’s Holiday Gift Guide as inspiration.
- Annmarie Skin Care: Many Annmarie products contain the MADE SAFE® seal of approval, meaning they’re formulated without known endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, neurotoxins, heavy metals, and other toxic ingredients. Find handcrafted and organic cleansers, moisturizers, masks, cosmetics, and hair care — or shop for trial-size products and gift sets.
- Eco Lips: Better for your health and the planet, Eco Lips offers a wide range of natural skincare products to moisturize the lips and body. Non-toxic insect repellents are also available.
Tools for Lymph Drainage & Detoxification
- Jade Roller & Gua Sha Tool: Treat your skin to a few minutes of jade rolling and gua sha to promote lymphatic drainage while increasing circulation, smoothing fine lines and wrinkles, and depuffing the face.
- Skin-Loving Handmade Bath Bombs: Melt away stress, detoxify the body, and moisturize dry skin with dye-free handmade bath bombs. These cruelty-free bath bombs are natural, vegan, free of gluten, and made with skin-loving ingredients like sea kelp, organic shea butter, and Epsom salts.
Food, Wine, Coffee & Tea Connoisseurs
You can still enjoy good food, a hot (or cold) cup of coffee or tea, and a nice glass of wine without harming your health. Here are a few of our favorite gift ideas for food, wine, coffee, and tea connoisseurs.
Groceries for Any Diet
- Thrive Market eGift Card: Give yourself or your loved ones the gift of healthy, organic, and autoimmune-friendly groceries with a Thrive Market eGift card. You can find organic groceries suitable for more than 70 diets and lifestyles, including gluten-free, paleo, autoimmune paleo, low FODMAP, and vegan diets. Thrive Market also sells frozen foods, supplements, wine, beauty products, household cleaners, and pet foods. Gift card options include shopping credits, one-year memberships, or a combined membership and shopping credit.
Wine Without the Additives
- PureWine™ Wands: Know someone who loves wine but can’t enjoy a glass without experiencing headaches and other unwanted side effects? TheWand™ Wine Purifier removes histamines and sulfites from each glass to help to prevent wine headaches, hangovers, and other unwanted side effects. What’s more, each single-use wine purifier is made from recyclable materials and free of BPA and other chemicals.
- Dry Wine Farms: Dry Farm Wines is a natural wine subscription box for all the oenophiles (AKA wine lovers) in your life. Featuring no sugars, toxic additives, or animal products, Dry Farm Wines sources only the best wines from small family-owned organic farms. And since their wines contain less than two grams of carbohydrates per glass, Dry Farm Wines are also keto and paleo-friendly.
Coffee & Tea With Benefits
- Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee: Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee is as good for you as it is delicious. Each cup contains organic and fair trade coffee from Arabica beans plus functional mushrooms like lion’s mane, chaga, turkey tail, and reishi — giving you the delicious coffee flavor you crave while simultaneously supporting your health.
- Pique Tea Crystals: Sip on Pique Tea to experience benefits such as immune support, seamless digestion, radiant skin, and improved energy. You can find Pique Tea Crystals to suit nearly any tea lover on your shopping list: black, fermented, green, herbal, white, and mushroom varieties are available. Use code: GREENPAPAYAHEALTH for 5% off your order
Cooking Tools for a Healthy Kitchen
- Glass Air Fryer: This easy-to-clean air fryer makes it possible to create your favorite fried, baked, grilled, and roasted foods with 75 percent less fat. And since our favorite model comes with two shelves, you can cook two foods at once to create a full meal in a flash.
- Vitamix: A Vitamix is a must-have kitchen tool for any health-conscious cook. You can do just about anything with a Vitamix, from making smoothies, soups, and sauces to nut butters, batters, and non-dairy milks.
- Ninja: Perfect for daily smoothie makers, Ninja blenders make it super easy to blend your favorite fruits, veggies, and superfoods into a nutrient-packed breakfast or mid-day snack.
- Lodge Cast Iron & Enameled Cookware: A big part of living a low-tox lifestyle has to do with upgrading your cookware. Lodge Cast Iron offers a fantastic selection of naturally nonstick cookware that’ll last a lifetime.
- Matfer Bourgeat Black Carbon Steel Fry Pan: This high-performing pan contains no harsh coatings or chemicals, evenly distributes heat, and is available in nine sizes to meet every cooking need.
Health & Fitness Junkies
Whether you’re looking for ways to improve your health and well-being in 2023 or you’ve been following a low-tox lifestyle for years, these are some of our favorite gift ideas for health-conscious consumers.
- Vital You VIP Consult: Book a 90- minute deep dive session to create your roadmap to better health and well-being. We’ll take a deep dive into your health to help you advocate for yourself at doctor’s appointments, adopt a low-tox lifestyle, and better understand any recent lab results you’ve completed.
- LMNT Electrolyte Drink Mix: Hydrate and replenish with LMNT Electrolyte Drink Mixes, available in flavors like Citrus Salt, Mango Chili, Lemon Habanero, and Watermelon Salt.
- WYLD CBD: Reap the health benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) with these THC-free gummies and sparkling waters. All WYLD products are lab-tested and infused with real fruit.
- Down Dog Subscription: Available for download on Google Play or the App Store, Down Dog is a fabulous app for home fitness enthusiasts. Users can find a variety of fitness classes and workouts ranging from yoga and barre to HIIT and running — and each class can be customized to suit the user’s preferences. Gift subscriptions are not currently offered, but you can purchase a subscription and share the login information with the recipient of your generous gift.
- Ōura Ring: The Ōura Ring can help you to improve your health and feel your absolute best: the wearable smart ring tracks your sleep, movements, heart rate, and body temperature and shares insights to boost your sleep, workouts, menstrual cycles, and more.
- Local Yoga Classes: Practicing yoga is great for the mind, body, and spirit. Look for yoga classes at your local gym or yoga studios, senior centers, colleges and universities, or recreation centers.
- Light Therapy Lamp: Blue light therapy is a godsend during the gloomy winter months. Using a light therapy lamp for just a few minutes each day helps to fight seasonal affective disorder (SAD), increase energy levels, and reduce fatigue.
Chronic Illness Thrivers
Living with a complex, chronic medical condition such as Hashimoto’s, Lyme, or mold biotoxin illness doesn’t mean we have to settle for a life of pain, fatigue, anxiety, brain fog, and poor digestion. Practicing self-care, supporting our metabolic and endocrine health, and increasing detoxification can all make a positive difference in how we feel each day.
Stress & Anxiety
- Journal: Living with a chronic illness is stressful. We don’t always know when our symptoms will flare — and living with pain, fatigue, and anxiety can be exhausting. A journal is a great gift for the chronic illness warriors in your life, as journaling can help to track symptoms and improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Metabolic & Endocrine Health
- Winter Wellness Holiday Supplement Bundle #1: This supplement bundle from Designs for Health features Immunitone Plus™, Liposomal Glutathione, and Vitamin D Supreme for added immune support this holiday season.
- Winter Wellness Holiday Supplement Bundle #2: In addition to containing Immunitone Plus™, Liposomal Glutathione, and Vitamin D Supreme, this Wellness with Hashimoto’s supplement bundle from Designs for Health also features BioCap Immune™ and Thyroid Synergy™ to boost immunity, reduce inflammation, and support thyroid function.
- LEVELS Continous Glucose Monitor: This small wearable device connects to the Levels app, helping you to track your blood glucose levels in real-time and make dietary and lifestyle choices to optimize metabolic health.
Detoxification
- Queen of the Thrones® Castor Oil Pack: Castor oil packs are the perfect gift for the chronic illness warriors in your life, as castor oil packing can be quite messy without the right materials. Queen of the Thrones® sells castor oil packing kits for the liver, thyroid, and pelvis, helping to reduce inflammation and support detoxification with a lot less mess.
- Relax Infrared Sauna: Several Relax Far Infrared Saunas and Lamps are available to choose from, including the Portable Far Infrared Sauna, Black Relax Sauna with an ungraded tent, Lie-Down Sauna, Medical Grade Far Infrared Lamp, and Far Infrared Table Lamp. Use code: DRFOX
Vegans & Cruelty-Free Shoppers
If you have any vegans, plant-based eaters, or cruelty-free consumers on this year’s holiday shopping list, these gift ideas will be perfect for them:
Clean & Cruelty-Free Scents
- Vitruvi Essential Oil Stone Diffuser: Transform any space’s look, feel, and scent with a beautifully designed essential oil diffuser. The Stone Diffuser features a matte ceramic cover and BPA-free plastic — and all Vitruvi essential oil blends are cruelty-free, vegan, and completely natural.
Plant-Based Treats
- Unreal Chocolates: Look for Unreal Chocolates with a Certified Vegan logo on the bag to treat your plant-based loved ones to fair-trade coconut bars, peanut or almond butter cups, and peanut gems — without all the added sugars and sugar alcohol. Gluten-free chocolates are also available.
Clean & Compassionate Beauty
- Eco Lips: In addition to being perfect for all the beauty gurus on your holiday shopping list, Eco Lips products are also suitable for cruelty-free consumers. Many Eco Lips products are vegan and none are tested on animals.
- Credo Beauty: As a completely cruelty-free store, Credo Beauty only sells products that are not tested on animals. Many of the products they sell are also vegan.
- Beautycounter: All Beautycounter cosmetics and skin care products are cruelty-free; many are also vegan.
- Annmarie Skin Care: As a Leaping Bunny-Certified brand, all Annmarie products are cruelty-free. Aside from using honey and beeswax in a few of their creams and masks, most of their products are also vegan.
Eco-Conscious Consumers
These eco-conscious gift ideas are great for the environment, our thyroids, and the people and animals we share our homes with.
Home & Office Air Purification
- AirDoctor: Create a healthier home or office with air purifiers that capture even the tiniest particles of smoke, bacteria, viruses, pet hair and dander, pollen, dust, and mold.
Water Filtration & Purification
- Berkey Water Filter Systems: Remove more than 200 contaminants from your cooking and drinking water and ditch disposal plastic water bottles once and for all: a win-win for your health and the environment. Use code: GREENPAPAYAHEALTH for 10% off.
- AquaTru: Filter and purify your drinking water with a reverse osmosis filter that sits on your countertop or underneath the sink.
- Clearly Filtered: Remove contaminants from your drinking water with pitchers, bottles, or under-sink water systems that filter out fluoride, lead, chromium, and glyphosate.
Organic Bedding
- Naturepedic Mattress: Sleep more soundly at night knowing you’re sleeping on a bed of certified organic cotton, wool, and latex. Naturepedic offers wool-free vegan mattresses as well.
- Avocado Pillow & Mattress: Create a healthier bedroom environment with certified organic mattresses and pillows that keep you cool and comfortable while you sleep. Avocado mattresses contain non-toxic ingredients like certified organic latex, wool, cotton, and kapok fiber, though wool-free vegan mattresses are also available.
Stocking Stuffers
Looking for some smaller gifts to slip into a loved one’s stocking? Try these:
- Wellness Journals
- LMNT Electrolyte Drink Mixes
- Unreal Chocolates
- Jade Roller and Gua Sha Tool
- WYLD CBD Gummies or Sparkling Water
- Eco Lips Body Oils, Insect Repellents, or Lip Care Products
- Gift Cards from:
- Thrive Market: Give the gift of shopping credits, one-year memberships, or a combination of the two.
- Credo Beauty: Electronic gift cards are available from $25 to $300.
- Your local massage studio: Support your local massage studio by purchasing a massage gift card for anyone in your life who would welcome benefits such as pain and stress relief, improved immunity, and increased circulation.
- Your local sauna spa (city sweats/local): Even if you or your loved one don’t have access to an in-home sauna, you can still reap the health benefits of infrared saunas by visiting a local sauna spa near you. Many sauna spas offer single sessions, monthly memberships, punch cards, and sauna packages.
Choosing the right gifts for yourself and your loved ones takes a bit more effort once you’ve adopted a wellness-oriented lifestyle, but it doesn’t mean you have to enjoy the holiday season any less. These ideas from some of our favorite wellness brands will allow you to give — and receive — the gift of health this holiday season and all year round.
For even more gift ideas and advice for healthy living, check out our favorite wellness companies of 2019, and be sure to follow the Green Papaya Health Blog.
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