Gifts for the Health Conscious

After a holiday season of mowing down cheeseballs and hoarding Christmas cookies in your cheeks, you might need to hit the reset button on your health around the first of the year. And chances are, you’re not alone in feeling like a giant cesspool of butter and ham and cheese. For those on your list who might be looking to shed a few pounds or cleanse themselves from the inside out without diet pills or starvation, consider these health-boosting items.

OMEGA JUICER

It’s a no-brainer that a really awesome ginger-packed green juice is better afternoon pick-me-up than a sugary latte or a soda from the office kitchen. Problem is, buying juice gets pricey. So why not make them for yourself at home? The Omega Juicer isn’t the priciest one at the Kitchen Engine, but it’s a good one because it’s a “masticating” juicer — meaning your juices will have a lot more fiber in them than the old Jack Lalanne models. Experiment with making your own juice concoctions, and toast yourself on your renewed health.

$299 • The Kitchen Engine • Inside the Flour Mill, 621 W. Mallon Ave. #416

LULULEMON YOGA MAT

Fitness freaks will yak your ear off about how awesome Lululemon products are — and from the ones I’ve tried, their yakking is absolutely justified. In addition to solid workout clothes for men and women, the downtown fitness boutique also sells a top-flight yoga mat, according to manager Amy Rose. It’s thick, reversible and will also absorb your sweat. That means less slipping as you move through your vinyasas, and more om-ing.

$68 • Lululemon Athletica • 117 N. Howard

NEW BALANCE MINIMUS SHOES

Barefoot or “minimal” running trends have exploded in recent years, and local shoe shops are on-board with the trend. According to Nate Kinghorn, manager at the Runner’s Soul, minimal shoes like New Balance’s are great “training tools” that help with straightening muscles and enable runners to get good contact with the road. Many companies make minimal shoes, but we think the New Balance ones are the coolest looking.

$100 • Runner’s Soul • 221 N. Wall St. • 10208 N. Division St.

THE BAR METHOD GIFTS

If you’ve got a fitness junkie on your list — the type who’s at yoga on the weekends, running in the mornings, pumping iron at lunch — give them a gift card to the Bar Method, a brand-new gym in Spokane. What they’ll get there is a full-body workout that is part interval training and part dance conditioning, that supposedly “quickly and safely reshapes your entire body.” Gift cards and gift baskets are available, and so are discounted new member plans.

$99, one month unlimited new client special • The Bar Method • 2023 E. 29th Ave.