Wellness Gift Guide: The Best of Sweat, Nourish & Glow 2021

I didn’t discover Peloton in 2021, my indoor cycle is actually 7 years old. I have been raving about it for that long and I am still so blissfully in love with it.  However, there are so many new features that come with my Peloton subscription that it deserves another plug from me. So I have added it once again to my annual round-up. Back in 2015, I used to ride with 3-5 other Peloton riders,  now there are thousands of people riding together.  Plus, Peloton’s new Strive Score makes me work a little harder, and I have started doing the supplementary core and strength classes also. If you love cycling class, bring it home with your very own Peloton.

 

Discount: Save $100 off accessories with my referral code: JCZDQ4

Tonal is the smart home-workout device that uses digital resistance that adjusts and adapts to you.  The interactive touch screen display is a portal to a library of exercises, as well as a completely interactive, intuitive coaching platform. I have rejected so many fitness tools over the years for their redundancy, their poor quality,  or their minimal function. The Tonal system piqued my interest and after a visit to Tonal’s LA showroom, I was sold.

This Fall I converted a corner of my guest bedroom to a home gym and have been doing some serious strength training on my Tonal. Beginner exercisers will appreciate the intuitive coaching. Advanced exercisers will appreciate the smooth, consistent feel of the movements as well as the hyper-fast responsiveness and advanced spotting techniques that digital resistance infuses into the workouts.

My Micro Rollga is under my feet right now as I type this. I discovered a tender spot on my left foot and the dense, rubber mini fascia roller gets deep into the intrinsic parts of the feet.  I have been using the full-size Rollga myofascial roller for a few years now and this pocket-sized little guy is one of my new favorite tools!

 

 

 

 

 

I longed to do pulling movements (rows, pull-ups, etc.) during the intense quarantine when I couldn’t get to the gym. Pulling movements are always the hardest to perform outside of the gym, and they are so important for balanced posture and a great physique. After years of playing with Lebert Equalizer bars at fitness conferences, I knew a pair was the answer for my quarantine home workouts. I scored a gorgeous, special-edition Rose Gold set and I haul these lightweight beauties into my backyard for an upgraded home workout.

 

I came home to a sweet holiday surprise from my husband, a Haibike e-mountain bike (eMTB) sitting in my front yard. I had no idea how much I would come to love it despite being very resistant to go electric.  Now, I  joyfully blast around town on my power-assisted bicycle.  It’s my perfect post-leg workout commute home from the gym when I don’t have any energy left, and it’s my favorite way to cruise the hood and hit the trails. 

 

Vuori

Allbirds

My Sandbells are not new, but this year I have used them in so many new ways that I have fallen freshly in love with them. They are awesome for outdoor and mobile training! Lately, I use them in a new outdoor circuit fitness class that I host. Every week my participants push, pull, kneel and sit on them in fun and novel ways.

 

 

 

 

If you have been following me for a while you know how much I love soup. I make at least one big batch of hearty plant-based soup every week. Yet all this time I did not have an immersion blender. I have been transferring my soups to the blender in awkward messy batches. I finally invested in the Vitamix immersion blender and wow,  it is powerful.  In true Vitamix form,  the motor on the immersion blender is insanely powerful. At level 3 (of 5) I need two hands to operate it.

 

~$149

 

 

I found that I was tossing out a lot of my delicious homemade plant-based soups because I made such huge batches that I became tired of the same flavor after a bowl or six. I was so happy to discover Souper cubes, the silicone tray for freezing blocks of soup in perfect bowl size chunks. Hooray for homemade, plant-based yummy soup on demand!

 

~$19.99 (1 cup)

 

Are bleach and plastic micro-particles leaching from the tea bag into my daily cup of tea? No thanks. Those reports made me look a whole lot closer at the companies I buy tea from. During my label reading, I discovered Numi. Numi uses unbleached plant fiber (manila hemp cellulose) tea bags and strings made from cotton. Numi also gets several additional ‘clean and sustainable living’ checks for their line of teas. They are all certified organic, fair trade, GMO Verified and kosher.

 

My favorites so far are:

Moroccan Mint for a true mint experience.

Jasmine Green for daily antioxidants and an energy boost.

Emperor’s Pu-err for a super caffeine dose (thanks to Tim Ferris).

 

 

A little bit of caffeine is OK, right?  I dropped my daily cup of coffee and feel so emotionally great about not being a slave to it anymore. However, I have replaced it with MudWTR, a mushroom beverage which does contain a wee bit of caffeine (1/7 th compared to a cup of coffee).   Thinking about Mud? You must love Chai. This cozy beverage contains all of the authentic elements of Masala Chai: cinnamon,  turmeric, organic ginger, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves,  black tea powder (hence the caffeine), and Himalayan pink salt.  Yup, it’s 100% organic,  non-GMO,  kosher, and vegan. I drink a mug daily with frothed almond, cashew, coconut, or oat milk that I make myself in my Almond Cow (see the next item in this guide).

 

Save $10 off your first order  http://fbuy.me/v/shari_2125

 

So many terrific, wellness-minded people in my neighborhood own an Almond Cow nut milker that I knew I couldn’t go wrong with it. A few years ago, I tried to make almond milk in my blender. I knew instantly that I would never deal with nut milk bags ever again and continued to buy almond and oat milk from the market even though I was always bummed about all the extra stuff on the ingredient list. Now, I make 2-3 jugs of fresh, preservative, and additive-free nut/oak/coconut milk each week at home with my Almond Cow.  Goodbye rapeseed oil (canola), which is found in the oat milk I had been drinking!

 

~$277 (Starter set)

 

Once I learned that I had been destroying all of the vital elements in my wellness drinks (lemon, tea, herbs, mushrooms, etc…) I jumped online and bought a kettle where I could control the temperature. With its ‘to the degree settings’ and gorgeous design I fell for the Stagg EKG variable temperature kettle.  (Read why a variable temperature kettle is a must for your wellness drinks)

 

 

The Korean Vegan, Cookbook

ION Biome

OSEA has been my go-to skincare brand for a few years now. This year I tried their new Seabiotic Water Cream. It doesn’t contain fragrance or essential oils which I appreciate as I learn more about the toxicity of synthetic fragrance. It’s a matte cream which is new to me, I am so accustomed to super smooth creams. However, I love the refreshing and hydrating feeling without being tacky or oily. And of course, it’s squeaky clean with no parabens, phthalates, and other chemicals that should never be put on our bodies.

 

 

Along my clean beauty journey I used to skip Sephora, there wasn’t much ‘clean beauty’ there. Now it’s my favorite place to discover non-toxic beauty brands. That’s how I discovered Youth to the People and their fabulous Kale and Spinach cleanser. I had recently tried a few cleansers that didn’t leave my face feeling clean and they definitely did not remove all my make-up. Kale and Spinach cleanser removes my make-up yet leaves my skin soft.

 

 

 

 

A hundred dewy and polished faces scroll up my Instagram page every single day as the clean beauty brands I follow pitches their face oils. What a challenge it is to decide which of them to try next. I tried MARA Universal face oil earlier this year after I received it as a free sample.  I just picked up my second full-size bottle because I keep going back to it. It is the first face oil that I will use in the morning under make-up because while it is oil, it’s not too oily and absorbs quickly. It features all-natural ingredients, a luxurious gliding feel and the bottle lasts a really long time.