Want your gift to stand out in the assorted crowd of dinner sets, gadgets and the likes this Diwali? Follow the spirit of giving in the right spirit and make it a health-giving gift. Also enough of packed mithai dabbas. Really!
Here are 10 unusual gift suggestions to boost your loved ones well-being:
A Bicycle
Heard friends talk about how they used to love cycling when they were young? This Diwali make sure you bust their excuse of not owning one – by gifting them one.
Health Payback: When they cycle they will expend calories instead of boring fuel – an absolute win-win! Plus they’ll gain mental peace, besides saving money and netting a complete body workout. It is a healthy, low-impact exercise that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
A Pack of Green Tea
Know someone with a bad caffeine fixation? Help them break their habit with some health-giving green tea.
Health Paybacks: The antioxidants found in green tea help boost metabolism, slow down the rise of blood sugar after eating (prevents high insulin spikes and the resulting fat storage), improve the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol in the body and also function as effective anti ageing agents.
Brain Healthy Spices
To all the cooks on your list, spice up their life with a gift of brain healthy spices. Put together a gift box of sage, saffron, cinnamon as well as herbs like thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, and marjoram, and put in a recipe book too that details dishes made using these. Or better still give them a Herb Garden Kit so that they can spice up their cooking with fresh herbs grown right at home (a pretty pot, soil, plant food, and herb seeds).
Health Paybacks: All of these herbs and spices are loaded with polyphenols, phytonutrients, antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. These are great for our brain's health too.
A Frisbee
Who doesn’t love to play frisbee! It’s an excellent contact sport, and a frisbee is light, compact and can be carried everywhere.
Health Paybacks: Running, jumping and throwing are combined to give the body a complete workout from head to toe. Plus it improves agility, speed, reflexes, and can be enjoyed and played by all age groups. Besides, it’s just plain fun as it boosts your mood and leads to the production of endorphins and other happy hormones.
Gift a Holiday
This Diwali, gift good times to your loved ones. With the holiday season starting, there are interesting packages that you could choose from. You could also opt for holiday gift vouchers.
Health Paybacks: A vacay is a time out for the mind and body both, and they’ll thank you loads when you give them this opportunity to take a break and get away from the city dread.
A Bunch of Microgreens
With these a little goes a long way. Microgreens are young seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs harvested less than 14 days after germination. They are usually about 1-3 inches long and come in a rainbow of colors. They are used as a garnish, can also be tossed into a salad or eaten by themselves as a mini-salad.
Health Paybacks: Microgreens definitely provide more nutrition than their counterpart mature leaves. Some like red cabbage, cilantro, and radish contain up to 40 times higher levels of vital nutrients than their mature counterparts. They have abundant Vitamin C, are loaded with beta carotene and are often good sources of Vitamin E and K.
Basket of Whole Grains
Do your friends and family a favour and convert them to brown foods. Gift them brown rice, red rice, whole wheat pasta, couscous, oats, assorted whole grains flour and quinoa. Once they get a taste of it, they’ll never revert to refined ever again.
Health Paybacks: Whole grains are an excellent source of complex carbohydrates, fibre and B-vitamins. The fibre in these helps in maintaining a regular bowel movement, prevents cholesterol build-up and maintains the blood sugars.
Go to the Seed
Giving seeds as a Diwali gift is a great way of familiarizing someone who doesn’t already eat them. Put together an assorted lot of sesame, flax, pumpkin and the likes and gift your loved ones brilliant health.
Health Paybacks: These are extremely small, compact yet very potent and deliver magnified health benefits: from heart health to lowering blood pressure and blood sugar.
Also Read: Know Your Seeds: Small Things, Big Benefits
The Home Truth
Sometimes the best gifts are those you can sink your teeth into. People just go nuts over homemade chocolate covered cherries, chocolate dipped spoons. Get hold of these recipes, make them and gift with love.
Health Paybacks: Homemade gifts ensure pure stuff, and will keep them safe from unnecessary additives preservative, colourants etc.
Gift a Kitchen Makeover
Gift a health-giving kitchen appliance. Choose from a soup maker (to help them make a delicious soup in a jiffy), a sprouts maker or a steamer.
Health Paybacks: A soupmaker will boost their veggies intake while a sprouts maker will help increase their consumption of health-giving micronutrients and enzymes. Meanwhile, a steamer will help them cut their fat intake and make delicious steamed dishes (dhoklas, idlis) that cut calories from their meals.
(Kavita is a nutritionist, weight management consultant and health writer based in Delhi. She is the author of Don’t Diet! 50 Habits of Thin People (Jaico) and Ultimate Grandmother Hacks: 50 Kickass Traditional Habits for a Fitter You (Rupa).)
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