So. are the holidays a stressful time for you or are they a fun time for you? Like what, what's your overall mood? This year, I'm just really excited to be able to actually travel back home. But my celebrations are definitely pared down this year with the pandemic. So it's almost going to be like a lot more chill. I think when I come home, I'm always stressed about leaving my dogs. But other than that, things are feeling like fairly manageable. I don't want to jinx it. I'm sure it's going to like get crazy in a second. I'm excited to come home and see you. me too. I'm really excited for that. The holidays for me are like not a stressful time at all. I feel like they're mostly just fun. And I think that all depends on, I don't know how you grow up and I mean, of course, like your financial situation and if you have like 10 kids that you have to buy Christmas presents for, I don't have you know, I just have a dog, so I'm rolling pretty well in that area. Totally. Yeah. I think it's like all about how much responsibility you have and like, luckily for you and I were at a space where we don't really have too much so great for us, but luckily we are here with a lot of last minute gift ideas that you could get for really anyone on your list. So should we get. Yeah, let's get. right into it. Welcome to wellness myths. This is our special Christmas episode with all of our wishlist items relating to wellness. For me, I chose gifts that can lower your stress, make your life easier, or also make your life more pleasurable. That was like kind of my main focus when I was selecting these gifts. But. Yeah. mine. A lot of Things that I, either that I use that I have and that I use frequently or that I want. Yeah. Things that are like on your personal wishlist this year. So like luckily Matt edits the podcast. Hopefully Craig is like a devoted listener. And if you guys need last minute ideas, these are it for us. So. Actually Craig and I decided to not get gifts for each other this year. Oh, really? What are you doing in stem? or just going on. Oh, that's fun. And Yeah. I think moving forward, we might just do this. Cause I don't know, it's so much more fun and the couple of things that I had on my list, I was like, I kind of want to just like buy that for myself right now. So, Yeah. You don't that. Yeah. don't want to wait. Yeah. awesome. Okay. Well, how should we start? Like maybe like, I guess I'll start, I guess I can respond to us and say my first one, my ideas are also a mixture of things that I currently use and also things that I would want The first thing that I have that I don't possess currently, but think would be cool. Is a sauna and a bag. Have you heard of these? Oh, I have not, I would love a real life sauna, but that would be a very big ticket, a Yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing the sauna and the bag is a little bit more realistic. Yeah. So basically there's a lot of different brands and you can look into the different materials that they're made with. You want something that's made of non-toxic material since you're heating it up. And your body's sweating a lot. Your pores are super open. Sweating. It was really making me think today. Like we talk so much about how there's no detox pathway and that your body's working and all of that, but there are ways that you can support those natural detox pathways and sweating is definitely one of them. I know Vanessa is talked about Sweating and being really good for hormone health. There's like a whole plethora of options, general body tension. But especially with the pandemic, it hasn't always been easy to like just pop in a public sauna. We're so spoiled in Portland. If you're local to here, you're like, yeah, I've got it covered. I'm at loyally. I'm at not Springs. There's a lot of really fun ones. But this is something that you can do at your home. And these blankets really range in price. They can be anywhere between a hundred bucks to like 500 bucks. And the specific one that I've had my eye on is by a brand called higher dose. It seems like it's a really easy cleanup. Not gonna lie to you. I was influenced by Rachel breath in the yoga girl on Instagram a little bit for this one. Because she uses it all the time. But looking into all the different brands and stuff, and really seems like a reputable one. And we're also going to link to all of these items in our show notes, just so, you can easily click on it if you're interested in more. So just so you know about that for, that goes for all of the items that we'll talk about today. So yeah, sauna and a bag. That's like the top of my list really. Yeah. that's really interesting. I have never heard of that, but I'm going to look into it now because you know, I love to sweat and, you know, I love a sauna. I was actually reading a study the other day that I'm sitting in a hot bath can be just as beneficial as light exercise like heating your body up and like cardiovascular can be like super beneficial. So that. was good news for me too, because I love a hot. Yeah, that's so awesome. I think like my only worry or potential con about the sauna in a bag is the cleaning of it. Like, I'm worried about how you would like really get like all of your sweat off of it, but they claim that it's easy. I don't know. That's my only hangup, but it's worth checking out, especially if like you are doing a lot of big detoxing things or you want to support the body in that way. It's a cool. And I mean, I guess one of the things for me to a con to that, sorry to be ripping on your, on your wishlist here, Oh, this is the nuance in this situation. We have room for nuance here. Part of going to the sauna is like the experience, like the smell, like the feelings, which obviously you get like the end result with a sauna on the bag, but you don't get like the experience of being in a sauna and smelling the smells and feeling the feels. You know what I mean? Yeah, totally. I think this is definitely more of like a utility purpose than a like, oh my gosh, this is going to be the most relaxing day of my life. And really, I mean, saunas, like at least around here in my city can cost anywhere between like 30 and 50 bucks per time. So really you'd have to like use your bag 10 times and then. Even if he bought like one of the more expensive end and you'd already recouped. So yeah, I think it depends definitely on what you use your sauna for or how aggressively you want a sauna. But yeah, good point. Cool. I love it. All right. So one of the things I have on my list is something that I do have would be a great gift for someone in your life that likes to cook is a nice set of knives. And if. Person already has a nice set of knives taking their knives and getting them sharpened would be a great low, low cost gift. The knives that I have are global knives I really, really liked that. They're definitely a little bit more pricey. So it's a little bit of an investment, but something you could have forever. And I know Craig that we're not getting each other presents, but like I think you could go get my knives sharpened and that would barely even be a present, please. And thank you. a no new item. That's not a new item. I definitely think you be so happy though, Emily, if like Matt, just like one got your knives sharpened and you just like came back in your kitchen one day and you were like, wow, there's nothing better than a great knife. Yeah, so true. So true. So that is very high on my list. I'll throw it back to. Okay. So kind of to go along with that kitchen theme, mine is definitely a Vitamix blender. I knew you were going to have that on your list too. I was literally like thinking in my head, I was like, just because like, I was the one who brought the Vitamix and our college apartment, and everybody got to like read the benefit. I was like, I'm going to like, let myself be the one to talk about. This was like, I feel like I've earned this. Right. So. I use it every single day and also does too. You can make so many different things in it. And also like something that I was really thinking about when I was naming, like what's going to make your life easier and more pleasurable and really a good Brent blender is fine. Like a Vitamix. Yes. Obviously that's like a top tier really awesome investment, but also like a NutriBullet or a ninja stuff like that. Like a good quality blender. Also a fun gift item because maybe you wouldn't buy yourself that intense and that fancy of a blender. But I was really thinking about the Vitamix in regards to like making your life easier. And when we think about nutritionist self-care, which is something we talked about on our podcast and identifying, what are your gaps, you know, is it really difficult for you to have breakfast ready to go? Is it really difficult for you to have like a post-workout meal, something like that? I feel like a blender can really fill in those gaps and make your life a lot easier. You're not sitting there like constantly trying to like shake your blender. Bucket trying to like, get your strawberries, your frozen foods to like blend up. So it kind of makes everything a lot easier in that regard. And you might even be able to open up yourself to different foods that way, too. By having such a powerful kitchen appliance. And I don't know if you feel this way too. Emily. I also, I have a food processor as well. Like, you know, the food processor for like certain things, maybe if you want to like tread something. But if you're just like using the normal blade, your nice blender kind of makes your food processor obsolete. So if you're going to invest in one or the other, I would just get a really nice blender. And then actually you're saving money because you don't have to get a food processor. Yeah, I do think that it's way better to get like a mini, like 30 bucks food processor for like those times. Where you need to just like crumble things up. Because definitely a Vitamix, I will say like liquefies. Like you're not just like, generally, like, you know, if you were trying to like, make like breadcrumbs or something, like they'll, they're fine and admitted. Like they're not, you're not gonna have any mezcal, just like rustically chopped their But yes, totally agree. It's way more advantageous for most scenarios to just get your blender, if you want to get like a little cheapy food processor. Cool. But the blender can really work for like everything and for things that you didn't even know that you would need your blender for. So yeah, highly recommended Vitamix is what I use. Also. I literally still use my parents that they gave me. What year was that? Probably 2014. Yep. So I've used the same exact one, same motor, same everything. It works just as good as the day that I bought it, that my parents bought it and gave it to me rather. And it's like seven years later. So there's a that's amazing. That is amazing. Okay, so this is something else that is actually on my list that I don't have, but I'm going to buy for myself. So as we all know especially if you live in the Northern region it gets it's really dark and cold. It's kind of our time where we start to hibernate during the winter, it can be harder to go outside. So, but you might still want to go outside or it might feel really good to go outside. So to make sure you're safe when you're going outside like a glow in the dark slash lighted runners Fest this is something that I'm going to invest in for myself because I'm just out there like, you know, Dangling my life by a thread in the streets. But I think this is a really great gift for someone in your life that likes to run or walk. Even I've seen, they make like the dog leashes that are glow in the dark, or that have lights on them. If you have a dog that you want to walk at night. So just things to like get you up out of the house. Cause it can, you know, especially during the winter months, you can start to feel like night never. And that can be kind of isolating, so it can feel really good to get up and get outside, even if it's dark outside. I really love this recommendation because it's so practical. Like, you'll think, oh, what are my barriers to movement? Okay. I don't want to go outside late at night when it's dark. And I'm worried about someone like clipping me with their car. Yeah. This is like a great solution and could really open yourself up to a lot more outside time and a lot more active time. I also have the glow and the dark leashes for my dogs, but. Matt has like a gigantic headlamp that he wears and like he also in the house, like if I have the lights kind of dimmed, you know, it's like evening, I'm not trying to like turn on the big overhead light. Last during quarantine, especially. I would like have all these cozy lights on, but he would want to do a puzzle. So he'd like where the headlamp inside, like, just so you could like see the puzzle pieces. So, I mean, like this kind of gear, like really can be a multi-purpose. I love, like, I love this idea. Yeah. And building off of that too is just good quality winter gear in general. It's cold outside and there's nothing you can do about it. You're going to have to adjust yourself to that. So having good quality winter gear that you can go outside in and feel comfortable in That's always a really good thing to put on your list. I hate when people go outside and complain about how cold they are. I, I don't know. That's like a pet peeve for me, Emily and I kinda both always complain about this. Like you like mother nature is not going to adjust herself to you. You have to adjust yourself to her. I was like TA I was literally just talking about this with my cousin, how it's like, you know, the winter comes every. And it's going to keep happening. And, you know, you can either start taking your vitamin D early. You can get yourself a nice reflective year to go out at night. You can do all these things, or you can sit inside and, you know, be really upset about it. But this is something that's predictable, that happens every year. And so giving yourself a couple extra tools is going to make your life. So much better. And at the same time, like you can also just sit inside and really lean into the fact of like doing it at home, work out or not going outside as much. That's totally okay too. But you need to kind of take an assessment of yourself and decide, okay, what is my nature? What do I need more of and how can I get myself there so that I'm not feeling terribly the entire winter. And I want to encourage you to, if you're someone that doesn't like to go outside on cold nights. I understand that it might be hard to, you know, you're in your cozy house. It's hard to get out, but the feeling of being outside when it's cold, a lot of times, it's really clear when it's cold outside. So the, like the star in the moons moon looks really beautiful. The fresh air feels just like really good, like coming into your lungs, all cold. I find personally. Find things that you like about it. Try to appreciate your surroundings as much as possible. I think you'll feel, feel better even if it's just for, you know, 15 minutes. Yeah, totally. It's like getting outside early in the morning. You'll be glad you did it. I'm kinda just like laughing, thinking about all the things that you said are definitely say that like can't be accomplished in the city. I'm like, I haven't seen a star like six Yeah. go, I can't walk at night cause it's like relatively unsafe, but like, I just love this. If it's available for you. Yeah. Yeah. I should add the caveat of obviously that is not possible for everyone, but I actually have something else on my gift. Wishlist. If you are someone who the outside is not accessible to you in the winter time, but you still want to move your body in the evenings or in the morning or whenever you can get to it. I think a really great present for someone is a workout subscription. So that could be an app. Personally, I've been loving the Cate app. It's not called the K app anymore. It's called move and meditate. So it's called move and meditate. It's $20 a month. I believe you can buy a whole year subscription and it's a little bit cheaper if you do it that way, it might be like $160 a year, something like that. But it has more intense workouts. It has stretching meditation, it has running workouts. So there's a big variety. And I really, really enjoy. Yeah, I think something like that is a really good gift idea too. But as to knows, and most people know is, although I'm a little quieter than most, I think about my Peloton experience because sometimes they, you know, wish there was more body diversity in their instructors and You know, all that. I don't always agree with them, so I'm not like, you know, standing them or anything. But I do think that some sort of exercise app or exercise Subscription is a really good idea. Even if like you're lucky enough to be in person. That's something that people sometimes don't want to spend the money on for themselves. So that could be a really cool gift idea and also something that is thoughtful enough. Like you can get something that they particularly enjoy, whether it's yoga or spin or you know, maybe some, a virtual option to And then I have a couple stacking stuffers as well. And while we're on the topic of exercise or moving the body in a really intentional way I want to talk about recovery and the foam roller. So I only got into foam rolling this year because my massage therapist was like, you literally have no other option. And it's been super helpful. I get a lot of tension in my feet which is from my calves and the foam roller has been such a game changer. It's good for recovery. Like if you are someone who's doing a lot of active. Strength training or something, but also like pretty much everybody's carrying a lot of tension in their body right now. It's getting colder. It's, you know, this time in history. So you have a lot of stress in general. And a foam roller is like under 20 bucks. You can get it off Amazon even real quick. And it's a really fun way to find some release in your muscles. You can use it really in any part of the body. I like it on lower half, but you can really use it for your back. You can use it for your side bodies. It's a great addition to a yoga practice as well. You can kind of like do. Different yoga poses in it. And there's a lot of resources online, like YouTube videos and everything that will kind of guide you through how to use your foam roller. If you're a beginner. Yeah, I actually don't have a foam roller, and I really wish I did. Because I am like definitely someone who needs it. Yeah, I think there's just so many different activities that people do that are complimented by foam. Rolling like regular old, existing, and specific things. I know it's particularly really great for cycling running to stretching out like that hip flexor. So highly recommend a good foam roller. And it would be like a really fun gift to open because it's like, like a cylinder, if you don't know what it looks like, they're usually like a little like tubes. So people would be like, what the hell is this? And that's always kind of fun. Yeah. And something like the whole family can use to. Yeah, totally. I definitely got my dad. I brought my foam roller on my last family vacation and I had my dad using it, which was before. Love it love it. Okay. So I have a couple stocking stuffers now just like little things to pop into people's stockings that are easy, or, you know, if you're just doing little gifts may be, or a secret Santa kind of gift things in general. I think a lot of people would really enjoy. So one of them is blue light blocking glasses. You can get those really cheaply. I mean, you can spend more money on them, but usually you can spend like$20 or less can be really helpful, especially for people that you know, are going to be looking at screens late at night, which honestly who's not. Most people are like watching TV or looking at their phone or doing something. So really helpful to have those glass straws. So some people like metal straws personally. I'm a glass straw girl. I have metal straws as well. I don't like them as much. I think that's more of a personal preference. I don't like how the metal feels on my lips. I don't know. Yeah, I feel the same. I, I prefer a glass straw as well. Sometimes I like a little metal straw because the glass straws are always like really big. At least the ones that I have, they're like really tall. So I have like mini metal straws, but I think glass is a preferable experience. You just have to deal with it, like clanging around in your cup, which like we definitely have had like, but like I'm sure Matt has edited so much of like glass straws clinging on the cups, like out of our Oh yeah. A hundred percent. But yeah, I personally like when I'm at home, I'm always drinking out of a straw. I find that I drink way more water that way. So you may find the same situation for yourself. A lot of people. An even harder time staying hydrated during the winter. So, make it easier for yourself and any way that you can. Another thing, and this is something that could be a stocking stuffer, could be a big gift to, depending on what kind you get. But as just a good old fashioned alarm clock most of us use our phones as alarm clocks. We think like, why would I need an extra alarm clock? But I mean, as much as possible, we want to get our phones out of the bedroom. And especially if you're someone who needs it to be out of the bedroom to not look at it you know, if you wake up in the middle of the night or whatever it might be, your impulse might be to grab your phone and start scrolling, which we know is going to disrupt your sleep even further. So using an alarm clock instead, just to keep that out of the phone and minimize any distractions. Yeah, that's really cool. I feel like there's so many different alarm clocks on the market these days. Like ones that start to slowly light up your room. I mean, they they've really gotten pretty fancy with it. Yeah. And then I have one more little thing, and this is something that you probably shouldn't buy for someone else. It should be for yourself because of. You don't well, you don't want to just buy supplements for people, Willy nilly, but if you're someone who gets really stressed out during the holidays as long, you know, talk to your own medical provider before you take any supplements but ashwagandha can be very helpful if you find yourself really stressing during the holidays. Yes, that is a great adaptogens for sure. Yeah, it can help like decrease your stress response lower your cortisol levels. So if, yeah, like I said, if the holidays are a super stressful time For you might be a good thing to add in your room. For sure. I have like a couple of little gifts too, that I think would be a good idea for stocking stuffers. I feel like these are very winter themed, which I love because this is just kind of like a whole like guide to like surviving winter and the holidays with these items basically I had on my list, a dry brush. And if you're unfamiliar with dry brushing, it's basically like you can buy once I have a little handle on it. So it can be like really long handled. You can really reach like all those tough spots in the body. But basically it's helps with increasing circulation in the winter and you can see the result immediately. Like if you dry brush one half of your body, you basically start at the bottom and then you always brush towards your. And you can automatically see increased blood flow after you do it. Like one side will be like pink and one side will be like, still kind of like blue and white and like fluorescent because it's the middle of winter. Hey, Emily. Remember I'm in college when I just like a Neanderthal used your dry brush. In the shower. So like wash myself. I don't remember that. Did you ever tell him that. No. I did tell you, well, no, I don't think I told you. I think you were like, what the hell are you doing? But I was like, oh, I did it. It was like, I need something to like scratch my back with. And it was like a long, It's like, Hey, no, I'm pretty sure you said something because I mean, it was what, like it would get, Yeah, right. I was like, why is my, why isn't my dry brushed was like, right. oh my God. Yeah. It really, it looks like a shower accessory. That's like, what, what they basically look like. And they haven't like a lot of grocery stores or even like Walgreens and stuff has dry brushes lately. Widely available. Yeah. So, that's another like cheap little gift. And then also cups for the face. We've had an episode about cupping before. This is like literally, almost a year ago now. So you could scroll back and find cupping therapy, but cups for your face, like little tiny suction cups. And they can help release a lot of tension too, that we can build up just because of. Stress in the body. Like if you're cleanser clenching the jaw or if you have kind of lymph buildup and you feel like your face is kind of puffy maybe you've had like a lot of fun holiday drinks, a lot of fun holiday foods. And they can help kind of start to redistribute and get things flowing again in the face. So I love those as well. And those were recommended to me by the person we had on the podcast who is a Acupuncturist. And she does a lot of cupping therapy, so it comes from a very reputable source. So I love those as well. Yeah, I feel like I need to try those out. I've never, I've never used them before. Yeah. They're so fun. And I feel like they're really helpful, especially if you are doing a lot of teeth grinding at night, or if you just like someone in general who like holds the jaw really tightly, they can be super helpful. And who isn't doing that right now. Right. So that's our wellness wishlist. So if you have someone in your life that you're buying for that's into wellness or wants to be into wellness, that's a good place to start. Or if you just want to buy some stuff for yourself, this holiday season, by all means those are great things to put on your list. Yeah. As a gift from you to you. That's the absolute perfect idea. Love that happy holidays. Happy holidays. And if you're curious about any of these items, we have put all of the links to these products in our show notes. And so if you're curious and looking to get those last minute gifts on your list taken care of, then we've got you. So head down there and click away happy.