National Heart Health Month 2006

February is National Heart Health Month--a time to implement heart-healthy lifestyle choices and habits as well as to increase awareness regarding the warning signs and symptoms of heart attack, stroke, and cardiac arrest.

Diet can have a major impact on heart health. Healthy food habits can help reduce high cholesterol and high blood pressure as well as help maintain a healthy weight or shed excess pounds. To increase public awareness of the relationship of diet and heart health, Wellbaskets.com features a variety of heart-healthy gift baskets that are as esthetically pleasing as they are healthful.

The gift baskets are appropriate as get well gifts after a heart related illness, or as birthday gifts, and holiday gifts for heart patients and those on special heart-healthy diets (including sodium-restricted diets).

Well Baskets will also donate a portion of the proceeds from each heart health basket to the American Heart Association.

Healthy Valentine's Day Gift Baskets

Looking for an alternative to flowers and candy this Valentine's Day? If so, Wellbaskets.com has the gifts you seek!

Wellbaskets.com offers a full line of healthy, gourmet gift baskets for your valentine that are as good for you as they are tasty. Some of the unique Valentine's Day Baskets include:

Gluten Free

Low Sodium

No Added Sugar

Fat Free


They also offer specialty baskets for:

Diabetics

Heart Patients

Dieters



This Valentine's Day visit Wellbaskets.com for a gift that will really make your valentine smile.

All-Natural Snack Bar

Tired of overly-processed snacks that are full of unhealthful ingredients? For a completely natural pick-me-up, try a LÄRABAR. These delicious snack bars are a blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts, and spices. No sugar, no corn syrup, no kidding!

Each flavor contains no more than 2-6 ingredients, and is chock full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, good carbohydrates and healthy fats. They're also gluten free!

Flavors include:

Apple Pie — just like mom's … satisfying as well as nourishing. Spiced with cinnamon and paired with juicy raisins, the apples deliver 3 grams of natural fiber. Almonds contribute Vitamin E and protein while the dates add 14 essential vitamins and minerals. Omega 3 & 6 essential fatty acids come from the walnuts. With all this goodness occurring naturally, you can eat Apple Pie every day! Ingredients: Dates, Walnuts, Unsweetened Apples, Almonds, Raisins, Cinnamon

Cherry Pie — tart and tasty! The mouth-watering experience begins with unsweetened cherries abundant in Vitamin A, flavanoids and antioxidants. All are vital for disease prevention and good health. Dates and almonds add pleasing texture along with Vitamin E and 16 essential vitamins and minerals. Each bar helps the heart with 2.7 grams of Omega-6 fatty acids and tantalizes the taste buds with off-the-chart flavor. Ingredients: Dates, Almonds, Unsweetened Cherries.

Chocolate Coconut Chew — you'll swear you're eating a brownie! The unsweetened cocoa, however, is actually good for you, providing more antioxidants than green tea. Harmonizing with the dates and refreshing coconut are almonds and walnuts. All told the bar is a whole-food source of 16 essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, Vitamin E, folic acid and more than 2 grams of Omega 3 & 6 essential fatty acids. So satisfy that sweet tooth … and be healthier for it. Ingredients: Dates, Almonds, Walnuts, Unsweetened Coconut, Unsweetened Cocoa Powder.

Banana Cookie - with its blend of organic bananas, dates and almonds — it's like biting into a slice of luscious banana bread. Each bar, in fact, contains one whole banana and enough dates to meet 12% of the daily recommended allowance of potassium. Almonds, meanwhile, provide Vitamin E, antioxidants and 2.7 grams of heart-healthy Omega-6 fatty acids. Healthy, yes, but delicious, too.

The bars retail at $1.99 and can be purchased online at Wellbaskets.com.

January is Oatmeal Month

This January, celebrate Oatmeal Month with a delicious bowl of McCann's Steel-Cut Oats! Steel-Cut oats are high in B-Vitamins, calcium, protein, and fiber. They are also low in fat, contain no sodium, and may help reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.

Steel-cut oats are whole grain groats (the inner portion of the oat kernel) which have been cut into two or three pieces using steel discs. They are heartier than rolled oats, which are flake oats that have been steamed, rolled, re-steamed and toasted. Less processing gives steel-cut oats a chewy texture and a glycemic index lower than that of rolled oats. The quality of Irish Oats and the distinctive crunchy texture make McCann's Steel-Cut a gourmet delight.

To purchase McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, visit Wellbaskets.com.

New Year's Resolutions

Two of the most popular New Year's Resolutions are losing weight and quitting smoking. If you've chosen either of these healthier ways to begin the new year, Wellbaskets.com can help!

For those determined to lose weight, Wellbaskets.com offers Belleruth Naparstek's Weight Loss Guided Imagery CD that is a great accompaniment to an exercise and diet program.

To help break the smoking habit, Belleruth Naparstek's Stop Smoking Guided Imagery CD can aid your efforts.

If you want to help support someone with either of these goals, Wellbaskets.com offers Weight Loss Baskets and Stop Smoking Baskets. These gifts help celebrate small victories and provide much needed encouragement.