If you’ve got a Zumba fanatic on your holiday shopping list this year, look no further. We’ve gathered a list of goods that every Zumba lover out there would be ecstatic to receive.

Exhilarate Body Shaping System (DVD set of 5)

These at-home workout DVDs will get their body dancing into shape. The original set contained only four DVDs, but this bonus set includes a fifth (20 minute warm up) plus a set of toning sticks. Each DVD contains a different workout with multiple intensity levels for the beginners, intermediates, and advanced. Also included is a 10-day weight-loss program for the Zumba lover to take advantage of. What a deal!

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We all have that one person in our life who refuses to take no for an answer. Perhaps it’s the office baker who simply can’t understand why you turn down her famous chocolate peanut butter pie. Or maybe it’s Great Aunt Helen who ends every visit with a care package of cinnamon rolls, somehow still warm yet you never saw her turn on the oven.

We all have a food pusher in our lives. They love us but don’t understand us. For them, food is the ultimate expression of love. For us it’s fuel, nothing more and nothing less.

This conflict is never as pronounced as it is during this festive time of year. Not only is food love, it’s tradition. It’s a gift. And it’s not easy to say no to a gift.

But to stay true to who we are and to keep our hard-earned fitness we have to learn to say no. You need to have a holiday defense strategy that includes ways to say no politely but firmly. Here are my top 5 ways to say no to food:

No, thank you. Simple and quick. No need for a detailed reason on why you refuse cake, just move on to the next topic of conversation.
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By Chrissa Hardy for HelloGiggles.com

It’s strange that a day filled with giving thanks can end in regret, isn’t it? Yet every year, that’s the feeling I experience before I go to bed. And Thanksgiving is a mandatory day to over-indulge, so why do I torture myself with this annual guilt? It’s because I know that the over-indulging won’t end on Black Friday. Really, that’s just the beginning. From Thanksgiving until New Year’s Eve, we’re shopping, snacking, cooking, baking, noshing, drinking, dessert-ing and then digesting. We’re plagued with decorating, gift-buying, hosting parties, mingling at the parties of others and we’re trying to juggle all of these additional tasks on top of our normal hectic schedules.

We don’t even have time to ease out of our extra holiday “padding” before we need to squeeze into our snazziest cocktail attire and set goals to better our lives as the ball descends into the new year.

That is some serious pressure.

Wouldn’t you like to ring in the new year without the padding AND the guilt? I know I would. Here are four ways for you (and for me!) to stay on track through the holiday season and make your resolution list that much shorter and more manageable.

1. Get organized with to-do lists.

I make to-do lists for everything and I find that in times of chaos, creating these lists not only makes it possible for me to complete all of the necessary tasks, but it also calms me down. Seeing the big picture broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks is a stress-reliever. That goes for shopping lists down to dinner menus, and we’ve got 3 free meal planner worksheets you can download now.
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The holidays are undoubtedly a stressful time of year and many folks become highly vulnerable to anxiety and depression when the sleigh bells start to ring.

Instead of reaching for food, try rolling out your yoga mat. Studies have shown that a regular yoga and meditation practice can reduce stress and help fight depression.

The following is a short list of three must-do yoga poses that beat the holiday blues. Practice them at least once a day or as needed. This short series will help tame your tension and get you back in to a cheerful holiday spirit.

Child’s Pose

When you are ready to take a mental vacation from the mayhem, begin your yoga practice with child’s pose.

Come down on to your hands and knees, reach your hips back over your heels, and rest your forehead on the mat, your stacked forearms, or on a pillow. Close your eyes and stay in the pose for up to ten long, slow, deep breaths.

Child’s pose will instantly induce a state of calm and help get you feeling centered and ready to face any challenges that may lie ahead. When you are ready to exit the pose, do so slowly. Coming up too fast will negate the benefits of the pose and could be agitating to your state of mind.
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It seems like the holidays bring out some more unique flavors in our food. If you roam the aisles in the store right now you’ll easily find a pumpkin spice flavored version of many things, while others have released their limited edition peppermint or gingerbread flavors, too. While cookies and coffees make sense, we’re seeing these holiday flavors in some extraordinary places.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the holiday flavor rage is coming from Pringles, the potato chip company. For the 2012 holiday season you can find the tubes of chips in a Cinnamon and Sugar, White Chocolate Peppermint, or a Pumpkin Pie Spice flavor. Once you pop we hope you’ll be able to stop – a serving of 16 chips in the cinnamon and sugar or white chocolate flavors match the nutrition facts for their original with 150 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 2 grams of sugar.

Since those chips will probably leave you thirsty, why not wash them down with a Jones Soda? Every year the soda company releases the wildest holiday flavors. While nothing may ever top their Turkey and Gravy flavor that was first released in 1994, the annual sodas are typically a huge hit. This year the sodas are Gingerbread, Pear Tree, Candy Cane, and Sugar Plum. While we couldn’t find nutritionals for these seasonal flavors, we imagine it can’t be too far off the traditional options. A Jones Soda cream soda has 190 very empty calories and a shocking 48 grams of sugar!
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