December 2006 Edition

Topics: Earth Friendly Holiday Tips, organic gifts,earth friendly gifts, holiday tips,earth friendly shopping,green gifts, green holiday, natural gifts,green christmas,green xmas,green holiday

I'm Dreaming of a Healthy and Green Holiday Season… | Holiday Wellness and Stress Relief Tips | Poll | Earth-Friendly Stocking Stuffers | Green- Earth-Friendly Holiday Greeting Cards | Tips for Making Holiday Gift Wrapping More Eco-Friendly | Buy Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap | Easy Green Gifts Ideas | Share your Green Ideas

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Healthy And Green Holiday Guide

The concept of being a healthy, aware and earth-friendly shopper has taken on new meaning and importance this holiday season. The Mambo Sprout’s “Green and Healthy Holiday Guide” is packed with our favorite tips to simplify the season: “green” eco-friendly gift ideas, green stocking stuffers, recycled gift wrap ideas, healthy holiday organic recipes, holiday wellness & stress relief tips, instant savings coupons, and easy earth friendly shopping links. New and exciting choices exist to make the holidays simpler, fulfilling, and more “green” for today’s earth-friendly lifestyle.

I'm Dreaming of a Healthy and Green Holiday Season…

The original song, written by Irving Berlin many decades ago may be taking on a new twist in words and meaning. This time of year has been celebrated by cultures far and wide as a time of rebirth, renewal, and the coming of the warm seasons. This year the ‘warm seasons’ in the News is one of global warming. As our planet sees changing weather and rising temperatures, the very notion of a white holiday season is in question even in our most northern states.

Earth-friendly groups and health and earth conscious consumers have been ahead of the pack with their words and actions. Green and healthy lifestyle choices such as conserving energy, buying organic, sustainable and recycled products make a difference. Never before in our culture have we had such a wide array of choices at our disposal. With our ever-growing Internet resource, we provide and share worthwhile and useful information with a host of alternative choices for today’s healthy, natural, and earth friendly lifestyles. Health E-News provides easy tips and ideas so we can all take steps to be healthier and more “green” this holiday season.

I'm dreaming of a Healthy and Green Holiday Season and an Earth Friendly, Peaceful New Year"....

Irving Berlin would be “green” with envy.

Holiday Wellness and Stress Relief Tips

With the holiday season comes a host of stress that seems to lead invariably to the balancing act of new resolutions for the coming year.

So this year, here is a thought to merge the two. Rather than a New Year’s resolution, try a Healthy Holiday Season Resolution. Why wait until January 1st when we can all get a jump on the New Year with some early resolutions that can help reduce stress during the holiday season.

Here are some tips to get the Holiday wheels in motion, reduce stress, and increase wellness this holiday season.

1. Get the edge on your co-workers and friends with healthy treats to pass around the home or office that will reduce stress and your waistline at the same
   time. Mambo Sprouts Healthy Holiday Guide has recipes for low calorie and low sugar desserts, or you can try substituting healthier ingredients, like natural cane sugar or maple syrup instead of sugar for those once-a-year indulgences.
   
2. Exercise is usually tops on everyone's resolution list. There are great tips to incorporate regular exercise into your holiday tasks. Some ideas are chop down your own tree (from a sustainable farm). You can make it a family event that will have everyone working together and staying fit. Also, park your car as far as possible from the stores, so by the time you return to it with gifts, you'll feel like you've been on the treadmill for an hour. Take a winter walk, sign up for a local exercise calls, or try a new sport like yoga, snowshoeing, or cross-country skiing.
   
3. To escape the bombardment of advertising and shopping, take some time out to do meditatation or yoga. This will help you better deal with all the shoppers and bargain hunters.
   
4. The holidays are first and foremost a time for family and friends. Make extra time for social events but try not to over extend your commitments. Learn to just say, ‘yes’ to the events that will increase your well-being. In addition, other holiday wellness tips include family shopping trips, a game of seeing who can get the most done on their list in the shortest time, or take a night to eat and sing holiday songs together.
   
5. Lastly, as the holiday is also a time of thinking of, and sharing with, others, try to set aside some time for yourself and to share with charitable organizations. You can volunteer your time to help an earth-friendly organization or other charitable donation. There are a number of charitable organizations that need extra help during this time. Included in our links are a number of eco-friendly charitable organizations to consider.

Any and all of these ideas can help to restore balance to this hectic time of the year, and can help you to begin the New Year with health and good cheer!

Top 10 Earth-Friendly Stocking Stuffers

Looking for great new earth friendly stocking stuffers?
Here are some unique Holiday ideas to stuff your stockings with green goodies (click links):

1. Organic Fair Trade Chocolate .
2. Organic Christmas Apple (Pomme d'Api)
3. Organic and Earth Friendly NATUREPOPS lollipops
4. Organic seeds
5. Beeswax candles
6. Movie tickets
7. Hearth Song kids stocking stuffers
8. Fair Trade stocking stuffers
9. Great stocking stuffers @ Shop The Rainforest Site
10. Share your own green stocking stuffer ideas here!

Top 10 Green Earth-Friendly Holiday Greeting Cards - Save Trees and Simplify Your Holiday Card Shopping

1. Send e-cards or create a personalized holiday e-newsletter. Share your news, photos, favorite quotes and “healthy living green tips” electronically.
2. Make your own holiday cards. Buy recycled paper blank cards, a fun stamper, and a soy-based ink pad.
3. Buy green cards that support environmental causes.
4. Support Sierra Club. All cards are printed in the USA with soy-based inks on recycled paper.
5. Support NativeEnergy. Each holiday card purchased fights global warming.
6. TerraPass gift certificates and holiday cards- guaranteed way to offset the global warming impact of your driving, flying, and home energy use.
7. Send a New Dream Holiday e-card.
8. Send a World Wildlife Fund e-card to support conservation
9. Send a Holiday e-card from Care2 .
10. Send a Grow-a-Note holiday card - a card that actually grows!

Top 10 Tips for Making Holiday Gift Wrapping More Eco-Friendly this Year

1. Wrap in newspaper - use the comic pages for color!
2. Use brown paper bags
3. Gift baskets require no wrapping and the basket can be reused
4. Give gift certificates for a local yoga class, play, restaurant etc.
5. Use jars, containers, tins that are reusable.
6. Wrap gifts in a scarf
7. Put gifts in a large cloth bag and let people reach in and choose present.
8. Use natural raffia or natural yarn instead of bows.
9. Remember to save your gift wrap & bows to use next year!
10. Buy recycled wrapping paper- (see below).

Links to Buy Earth Friendly Gift Wrap and
Recycled Gift Wrap

• http://eartheasy.com/shop_giftwrap.htm
• Vegetable Based Ink – hemp blend paper
• Earth Friendly Cloth Gift Bags
  

Easy Green Gifts Ideas

From gifts you make yourself to gifts you can buy online – these gifts make shopping easy and simplify the season while being earth-friendly!

1. Make a homemade gift certificate. Download, print and personalize your gift of time or talent such as: breakfast in bed, gourmet goodies, green housecleaning, trip to a museum, or gardening help.
2. Homemade food like breads, jams, or cookies.
3. Make your own Gift basket (fill it up with special green and organic goodies- no wrapping needed!)
4. Organic chocolate.
5. Make your own fruit basket.
6. A living plant or lucky bamboo.
   
7. Photo album
8. Use your child’s photo or artwork to create a unique calendar, mousepad, or t-shirt. at www.cafepress.com
9. Unique vintage gifts from antique or consignment stores.
10. Organic wine
11. Gift certificate to a health spa or exercise club.
12. Tickets to a play or movie.
13. Membership to local science museum or arboretum.
14. To make a battery-operated gift greener, include a set of rechargeable batteries.
15. Buy organic, natural product gifts.
16. Gift membership to an earth-friendly organization
17. E-gift subscriptions for iTunes music, ebooks, magazines.
18. Green themed DVD movies
19. Earth-friendly books, games, or toys.
20. Green board games.
21. Eco-Themed computer games.
22. Science kits and books.
23. Solar gifts.
24. Organic holiday flower or wreaths.
25. Share your favorite green gift ideas with us!

Mambo Sprouts will usher in the New Year with “Go Green in 2007” offering information and tips on being more green and healthy while buying and living a more organic and sustainable lifestyle. Take part in the Mambo Sprouts “Go Green in 2007” challenge by sharing your tips on living a green and natural and eco-friendly lifestyle. We're creating the Best-of Green Tips in 2007!

Share your ideas on how we can all live a healthy lifestyle and care for our planet – including green tips, activities, recipes, shopping and money saving ideas, environmentally responsible products and companies… and more.

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Miss the last few newsletters? (Here they are!!)

• Healthy Thanksgiving and Holiday Guide
• Healthy Halloween? Is it Possible?
• Honey - Treatment For Bad Ailments
• The Health Aspects Of Chocolate
• Mambo Sprouts Summer Tips
• Healthy Dining Out

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