The Healthy Choice in Holiday Gifts : Presents: This year, pamper someone with gym passes, bath products for after the workout and spiritual music for the mind.

Forget the fruitcake. Cancel those cookies and take a pass on the pies. This year, why not think health when choosing holiday gifts?

In this nutritionally correct, physically fit era, a gift certificate to a health club could be just what the doctor ordered. And baby boomers aren’t the only ones interested in good health these days. So, healthy shoppers, grab your gift list, your checkbook and go for it!

Is there a couch potato at your house who’s been promising to work out but can’t stand going to gyms?

Check out one of the many exercise equipment stores around town and choose something to use at home.

For starters, there are stair climbers, treadmills and free weights, says Mark Czapski, a salesman at an exercise equipment store.

“We find that the manual stair climbers are very popular. We are selling many, many of them,” he says.

According to Czapski, although some people still prefer stationary bicycles, stair climbers are the hot items of the moment. “People are going away from stationary bicycles,” he says. “Maybe their behinds hurt.”

Using a stair climber with an arm attachment regularly provides “a great all around workout,” he says.

Manual stair climbers range from $200 to $500. For those with fancier tastes and bigger wallets, computerized stair climbers offer options such as heart-rate monitors. But be prepared to spend upward of $1,000, Czapski says.

Treadmills are another popular item. “You get an aerobic workout, and it is smooth and quiet to work on,” Czapski says. They range in price from about $800 to $2,800, he adds.

For those who want to really go for the burn with one piece of equipment, there’s always the “home gym.”

“A popular one that you can do all of the exercises on and has a good price is called the ‘Eagle Home Gym,’ ” says Patty Liston, manager at Fitness Concepts.

“You can work just about all of the muscle groups,” Liston says. The “Eagle Home Gym” sells for $795 and others go up to $6,000, she says.

After a good sweaty workout, what could be better than a relaxing bath to soothe those aching muscles and give skin a healthy glow?

People are buying bath gels, milk baths and the “very moisturizing” bath pearls at Crabtree & Evelyn, says Audrey Cullip, manager of one of the chain’s stores. Small bath cubes can be yours for 95 cents. Other bath products range in price from $5.25 to $13.50.

You’re glowing with good health and smelling great. How about setting the mood?

For peaceful vibes, look for recordings on the “Hearts of Space” music label, says Roberta Cowan, a buyer for a music store.

“They are all very soothing,” she says. Also, a hot-off-the-presses Windham Hill sampler “has been selling like crazy,” Cowan says. The sampler, titled “Impressionists,” features soothing piano music.

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It might be just the thing to mellow out after all that Christmas shopping.

If your musical tastes lean more toward religious recordings, try something soothing and seasonal like “Lift Him Up” by Ron Kenoly, “A Cappella Christmas” by Glad or “Home for Christmas” by Amy Grant.

“These are big items right now,” says Chris Long, a manager of His Way Christian Book.

Children’s toothbrushes with their favorite characters on them make wonderful stocking stuffers. For Sesame Street fans, there are toothbrushes with the smiling faces of Big Bird, Cookie Monster and other characters on them. Or pick up a toothbrush with Donald Duck or other Disney characters. Children may even want to brush.

Also for the young set, “The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body,” by Joanna Cole with illustrations by Bruce Degen (1990 Scholastic, $3.95) could be a wonderful learning experience. The book, for ages 6 through 9, takes children on a colorful “tour” of the human body.

Gary Tavin, spokesman for the Maryland Office on Aging, says senior citizens might enjoy foot care products and a foot massager.

“A lot of older people have foot problems. As you age, the skin on the feet literally wears away,” Tavin says. Foot massage machines, such as Dr. Scholl’s, run about $30 at department or drug stores.

Also, Tavin suggests memberships at a “Y” or fitness club. “It will help keep people active,” Tavin says.

Kits that measure blood pressure and pulse can be purchased at pharmacies.

Now, instead of turning on the tube, how about a good mental workout?

“Life’s Little Instruction Book,” by H. Jackson Brown Jr. (Rutledge Hill Press, 1991, $5.95 paperback or $12.95 hardcover) has been a popular self-help book for a year, says Maryanna Skowronski, manager of a Maryland Waldenbooks.

John-Roger and Peter McWilliams’ “Life 101” (Prelude Press, 1992, $9.95) is also selling “very well” right now, Skowronski says.

For women--and the men who love them--there is “The New Our Bodies, Ourselves” (Touchtone Books, 1992, $20), an updated version of the 1984 book by the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective. It discusses topics ranging from AIDS to Norplant to breast implants.

For information on reducing stress, try “Your Healing Mind” by Reed C. Moskowitz, M.D. (William Morrow & Co., 1992, $22).