Sarah’s Favorite Things 2022

Sarah’s favorite health and wellness products from 2022. Great ideas for home or for friends and family as holiday gifts!

My annual list of “Sarah’s Favorite Things” is here!

The lineup below represents the new food and health-related products I’ve enjoyed during 2022 that are excellent quality, affordable, planet-friendly, and wellness-enhancing.

No green-washing allowed!

I hope you enjoy browsing through to hopefully get some good ideas for your own home or the upcoming gift-giving season.

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Mushroom Immunity

In 2022, I added this mushroom immunity powder to my smoothie-making routine. It is an easy way to enjoy the immune-boosting benefits of therapeutic mushrooms in the diet.

This powder is the highest and best quality I could find of Chaga mushrooms. Research has shown Chaga is extremely high in melanin, the “Holy Grail” of EMF-radioprotective food compounds. (1)

The other two therapeutic mushrooms (Reishi and Turkey Tail) are a bonus!

The taste is mild and easily blends with whatever beverages you wish to mix it with!

EMF Protection Blanket

Many people these days…especially teenagers and young adults…regularly scroll their smartphones while sitting in bed.

This is problematic to health when the phone is propped up on the abdomen exposing vital organs to cellular and Wifi signals. This cumulative exposure really adds up quickly.

If one of your loved ones has this habit, an EMF and 5G protection blanket is a great way to easily help them protect themselves (along with blue-light blocking glasses!).

Pssst…each of my kids is getting one for Christmas!

These blankets are great for protecting babies or traveling on long-haul airplane flights with radiation exposure from hours at high altitudes.

Dressy Faraday Purse

I’ve used a small EMF-blocking faraday pouch for many years so that I can carry my cell phone without negative health effects. These types of bags prevent location tracking so they are a safety strategy as well.

This year, my favorite vendor of these EMF protection products introduced a dressy EMF protection faraday purse that doubles as a clutch!

It is perfect for fancier nights out where your daytime tote is too casual.

Turmeric Sourdough Bread

Want to get more anti-inflammatory turmeric into your diet? Try this new offering of turmeric sourdough bread from my favorite family bakery that ships fresh to your door.

The turmeric flavor is subtle adding enjoyable flavor complexity to the authentically baked loaf.

This particular sourdough is especially amazing for French toast and grilled cheese!

Sprouted Burger Buns

Decent buns for hamburgers are not easy to find.

My favorite family bakery that delivers fresh to your door has these sprouted hamburger buns available as of this year that give you a healthier option to consider.

They are hearty, filling, and digestible…an easy upgrade to the home menu.

Sleep Support Supplement

Most people occasionally experience issues falling or staying asleep. The reasons can be many, but usually, it is stress that is the cause, either emotionally or environmentally triggered.

I have trouble falling asleep in hotels where the hotel WiFi signal is very strong. I rarely if ever have this issue at home, because we turn off all EMF sources at night and have none in the bedroom area.

These sleep support capsules that contain magnesium, L-theanine, Reishi mushroom, and passionflower work very well without the concerns of dependency or permanently altering the brain’s natural neurotransmitter production (like what can happen with melatonin, which is best avoided).

They are incredibly effective yet very gentle, and are a good idea to have on hand at home or when traveling!

Face and Beard Stick

This face and beard stick made of safe, nourishing ingredients is a wonderful gift for the men in your life who are no fuss and health conscious.

Easy to apply “skin food” that is literally just swipe-and-go.

Grassfed tallow blended with essential oils combine to moisturize deeply. Can be applied in a thin protective coating before and after shaving or to the beard alone.

Teeth Whitening Powder (non-nano)

With so many toxic tooth whiteners on the market, it is important to know which brands are safe and effective!

This remineralizing and tooth-whitening powder is what I use (cinnamon or mint … actually on sale right now too). It contains hydroxyapatite as the active ingredient, but unlike competing products, it does not contain nano-particles. (2)

Any personal care product with nanoparticles is to be strictly avoided (this includes sunscreens with nano zinc oxide). This fact is usually not disclosed on the label, so you must research each one to know for sure. Nanoparticles easily get into the bloodstream with unknown long-term health effects.

This whitening powder gently removes stains and will leave your teeth healthy looking and natural with regular use, without the blindingly white, synthetic look of chemical whiteners.

Black Balm Intensive All-Body Moisturizer

According to a study published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Public Health, the skin absorbs an average of 64% of total contaminant exposure. (3)

For this reason, I am very careful about what lotions I use because they stay on the skin for hours. For deep moisturizing, this all-body deep moisturizing black balm is my absolute favorite.

During the colder months, this balm is a safe and effective tool to repair skin issues of all types from chapped lips, cracked heels, and other areas of dry skin to minor burns and eczema.

Spring-Free Organic Mattress (deeply discounted)

The Hope spring-free organic mattress is my favorite to recommend to those who are concerned about EMF exposure and who want to sleep on a safe, sturdy mattress that doesn’t have metal coils that can magnify negative EMF health effects.

All sizes of the Hope organic mattress are deeply discounted right now, so definitely take a look if you are in the market for a safe bed.

The King mattress is 74% off, the Queen is 67% off, the Full is 60% off, and the Twin is 50% off!

Dried Chaga Nuggets

Another addition to my routine in 2022 is to add Chaga tea to the menu several times a week to ensure sufficient melanin needed for EMF protection. (4)

These wild Chaga nuggets are brewed into therapeutic tea by simmering 1/3 cup of nuggets in 4 cups of filtered water on the stove for 3-4 hours.

The tea is stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. Up to one cup per day is consumed.

What does Chaga tea taste like? It’s extremely mild tasting and very easy to sip!

Bonus: Used Chaga nuggets can then be frozen and reused up to three times to make fresh pots of tea.

Great stocking stuffer for herbally-minded family members!

A2 Heavy Cream

Grassfed cream is a health food, full of nourishing fats for your brain and stabilizing lipids for your blood sugar. It is an essential food for reducing and eventually eliminating cravings for sugar and refined carbs.

That said, decent cream is hard to find!

The best cream is direct from your local dairy farm, but if this is not available or temporarily not available, then low-temp pasteurized cream is the next best thing (never buy UHT or ultrapasteurized cream as it is denatured from high heat processing).

This brand of heavy cream is from a dairy herd of “A2 cows” (old-fashioned cows that have the genetics to produce less allergenic dairy) and it is delivered all over the United States. I discovered it this year and have been using it in a pinch whenever my local farm is running low during calving season or weather changes.

The delivery drop in my community is only 2 miles from my house! Check and see if one is available close to you too so you have access to this amazing food.

Acupressure Flip Flops

I love my acupressure flip flops! I wrote about them a few years ago, but I recently realized I’d never put them in a “Sarah’s Favorite Things” list!

These therapeutic sandals (that you use around the house only) give you a reflexology massage on important acupressure points while you’re walking short distances from room to room or standing in the kitchen washing dishes or folding clothes.

At first, you may only be able to wear them for a minute or two. You might even find them a bit painful as toxins are getting released and the tight plantar muscles are stretched.

As your feet get stronger and the gentle acupressure relieves energy blockages, you will be able to wear them comfortably for much longer!

Any sore spots you experience link to specific organ systems in the body and potential weak areas to work on. A reflexology or foot zoning map identifies these for you.

Regular use can help relieve plantar fascitis, improve circulation, reduce back pain and facilitate better sleep!

Date Syrup Jug

Date syrup is a very healthy whole sweetener that, other than fruit and honey, is the only acceptable sweetener for those healing their gut.

I use it to minimize more difficult-to-digest whole sweeteners like sucanat and coconut sugar. Many specialty diet dessert and snack recipes on this blog use it as an ingredient.

Inflation has really skyrocketed the price over the past year, so I started buying it in the half-gallon jug which has kept the price unchanged on a per-ounce basis.

Check it out here. If you’d like to try it, use coupon healthyhome to get 15% off your first order or healthyhome2 to get 5% off repeat orders.

Ozonated Oil in Squeezable Bottle

I’ve written in the past about how biological dentists recommend slathering a small amount of ozonated oil on unwaxed dental floss for optimal plaque removal, tartar prevention and gum care.

The trouble is that the ozonated oil comes in small glass jars that weren’t so easy to handle.

My favorite brand of ozonated oils recently introduced this tooth and gum care ozonated oil specially packaged in a squeezable tube!

So easy to use! I love this product and use it daily. You will be amazed how it improves/maintains optimal oral health.

Compostable Garbage Bags

I’ve tried a variety of compostable garbage bags over the years. Unfortunately, I was consistently disappointed as they were not only insanely expensive but also ripped easily, causing a mess to cleanup in the kitchen or curb.

This brand of compostable bags is finally worth using. It is strong and durable, inexpensively priced, comes in small bathroom size too, and is truly compostable even in your backyard bin.

No need to ever use plastic trash bags again!

Bamboo Cotton Swabs

Conventional cotton swabs are typically made of plastic or cardboard, neither of which is acceptable.

The plastic ones are not sustainably made or compostable and the cardboard ones are not sturdy enough as they bend really easily.

These bamboo ear swabs are my favorite alternative to these problems. They are sturdy, sustainable, and biodegradable. The price is reasonable too.

Fermented Black Garlic Cloves

I recently tried these black fermented garlic cloves and love them!

The flavor is very mild…surprisingly, even milder than the fermented garlic cloves recipe despite the higher potency.

The black garlic is self-fermented through a four-week aging process. The controlled humid conditions at low heat eventually caramelize the cloves, which turn black.

The process brings out a natural sweetness and converts the odor-causing allicin to a more potent form.

Note that this product comes from China, but is produced under strict German quality controls.

Need more ideas?

If you’d like some more practical home, food and gift ideas, here are links to my lists from previous years! These ideas are as evergreen today as they were back then!

• 2021 Favorite Things
• 2020 Favorite Things
• 2019 Favorite Things
• 2018 Favorite Things
• 2017 Favorite Things

Need even more ideas?  See my shopping list with products conveniently grouped by category.

References

(1, 4) Melanin: The Holy Grail of Radioprotective Compounds

(2) Minding Your Gut (and Mouth) Microbiome. Thoughts on Nano-technology in Oral Care Products

(3) The role of skin absorption as a route of exposure for volatile organic compounds