Bruce's Personal blog: 10 Great Gifts to Give (Some of these are very creative)

Top 10 Healthy, Long-lasting, Christmas gifts – 2009

1. Investing in the East Van. Living Hope Jan. 2010 India Mission trip!¹

2. Buy a “Blue”² exercise ball or balance ball, or maybe a Kettlebell^2a w DVD³

3. Pick up two pair of “Snow shoes” or “Cross Country Skies” for winter fun.⁴

4. Send someone a subscribe to Nutrition Action Healthletter (www.cspinet.org).⁵

5. Look for cheep Yoga and Palates DVD’s at Target, Fred Meyer as a “resource” gift.⁶

6. Create a card that pays for (& joins them) the STP Bike Ride in 2010.⁷

7. Give a subscription to a cycling, running, hiking, or golf magazine.⁸

8. Purchase a Pedometer along with 52 “Free Walks” certificates.⁹

9. Buy a quality Body Fat/Water scale.¹⁰

10. Buy two heart-rate monitor watches and add 52 “activity card invitations.”¹¹

^{¹ Think of someone you love who needs Jesus in their life. If God has someone who would be able to connect with them and the result would be life-changing, how much would you pay to see this happen? What if it would only cost a dollar to connect them together and see Jesus’ love flood this person’s life? How quickly would you invest this dollar? For every dollar Laura and I now take with us to India (Jan. 14) one person will receive a new life in Jesus! Email me – bruce.lhceast@gmail.com. $25 per month rents a new church in an area where there are NO churches; $50 per month gives full-time support to a pastor and his family to serve an instant congregation of hundreds! Your endorphins will thank you. You invest even more wisely into what God has given you to manage in the future. Others will be inspired and their spiritual, emotional, and physical health will be directly or indirectly improved.}

²These are the “exercise balls” that are used for sit-ups, push-ups, waist/side-strengthening exercises. Get the Large size (about $14) and keep it in your Family Room. The color doesn’t matter :-). Use while watching a movie or TV. Strengthening the “core” is critical to protecting back injury or healing damaged back, hips, & knees!

^2aThese are unique exercise weights that are excellent for flexibility, strength, and speed. You can get them with a DVD/CD at Kohls for a good price (Big 5 has them too). I’ve seen people use them to do both cardio and muscle strengthening at the same time. Remember, if you or your friend doesn’t have a workout partner it’s not going get used.

³With all exercise equipment, you need first build a “team plan” or it’s going to be a worthless gift/investment. Buying any exercise, weight-loss, or health-improvement “tool/system” is silly unless you have a detailed plan to grow a team around you to help develop this new discipline into your life! Catch up with Bruce for details as to how to start. This will change big areas of your life! Promise!

⁴Costco has them! REI has a bigger selection at a much bigger price!

⁵This little public Health letter is one of the very best – readable, fun, practical help in every issue. AND they have received no money in their 35 years of print, from the Government or Industry. They don’t sell any advertising space. It’s a very trustworthy source for health tips. It’s the largest Health letter in the world, and oldest.

⁶I like to buy these, then glean off of it some exercises that really work for me. This is a cheap way to find some great stretching and core strengthen exercises. My hip flexor exercises came off this.

⁷The STP is a fully supported bike ride from Seattle to Portland. Bruce and Laura will be doing this ride in 2010. We will be doing the two day ride. We camp half way. We will have a great time – also having made our own Living Hope Jerseys with the finest European materials :).

⁸The people you hang with and what you read and view does influence your lifestyle changes!

⁹Get a good quality Pedometer, like the Tanita (www.thecompetitiveedge.com). Making up 52 certificates that promise to “walk or hike” is what makes this a great gift. Having a measurement to set goals does help a lot of people aim for something and actually reach it!

¹⁰Again I love the Tanita brand – quality. Measuring fat, muscle weight, and keeping track of your H²O hydration levels is a much better way to measure health. I set a goal to reach before I bought my scale – I love it. It really motivates me and gives me the right goals to focus on.

¹¹This is one of the very best gifts for anyone who exercises regularly – walking, running, hiking, going to the gym. Why? Almost everyone’s body reached a level after a few weeks of repeated activity. We have no way of knowing if we’re improving or not. Buy a heart-rate watch that also measures calories burned and you can see your heart rate, see how much you burn and now do something about it. When I’m about to take a walk with family visiting for the holidays I often climb our stairs before leaving the house. I then jump around, play around and get my heart rate up to about 128 bpm before we even leave. My entire leisurely stroll will see more calories burned because of this quick 2 min. warm-up. I can swing my arms or jog up and back if I desire. These monitors are now very affordable and really can improve your health. Timex and Polar are two pretty good brands.