Loving Yourself to Great Health: Thoughts & Food – the Ultimate Diet may be the most influential book you will ever read. It definitely has had that effect on me and left a long lasting impression. In a nutshell, after reading this book, you will feel empowered, determined to keep a healthy body, and best of all, you will learn to love yourself.

It is not another diet or nutrition book. Rather, it is a collection of wisdom, affirmations, experiences, stories, facts, research, resources, and recipes, all combined in one!

Loving Yourself to Great Health was written by 3 influential women: Louise Hay, who is a power house on her own having sold 50+ million books worldwide with her most famous, You Can Heal Your Life, Ahlea Khadro, who is the founder and owner of Solstice, a Center for Optimal Living & Rehabilitation where her unique ability to see inside the body has helped thousands of patients, and finally, Heather Dane, who is a certified health coach specializing in resolving chronic health conditions and who designs delicious recipes to nourish the body and soul.

Now let me explain why this book is so great.

The book is divided into 2 parts: the first part talks about the 7 steps to eat, think, and love yourself to great health while the second part offers sample menus and meal options and includes 70 pages of delicious healthy recipes.

Each chapter is devoted to a specific step toward loving yourself.

Chapter 1 is about creating a new perspective on health. It delves into why symptoms, illness, and dis-ease occur and discovering how to create health, happiness, and longevity.

Your body, like everything else in life, is a mirror of your inner thoughts and beliefs. Good health is about connection: to ourselves and our bodies, to nature, and to other people. And the most important step you can take to build your connection is establish a relationship with yourself. Change is one of the greatest teachers. It scares us and asks us to reach deep inside ourselves for courage we didn’t even know we had. It asks us every day to prove our commitment to ourselves.

Chapter 2 has had the most profound effect on me. It is about loving yourself and your body. The authors explain how all illnesses start from disconnecting from the self and offer examples how severe acne, alcoholism, and depression were beaten by a change in attitude (“I am worth it”) and the nutrients being absorbed.

Every cell in the body relies on nutrients from food. If we feed the body with synthetic/processed food, it doesn’t know how to digest it properly. If we do this over a long period of time, the body and the brain can no longer function at their optimal levels. Louise’s mantra is: if it doesn’t grow, don’t eat it.

It’s becoming a well-known fact that medical doctors are not taught nutrition in medical school. In 2010, researchers did a study of medical schools and found that only one quarter of the schools offered the recommended 25 hours of instruction in nutrition, and some made it optional or offered none at all.

Chapter 3 is about knowing how your body works. It explains the digestive system in detail and lists some symptoms related to digestive challenges, such as bloating, back pain, arthritis, constipation, fatigue, headaches, sleep problems, and others. The chapters also reviews vitamin B12 deficiency, pancreatic deficiency, leaky gut, colon challenges, and liver issues. There is even an illustration of Bristol Stool Form Scale for reference!

Chapter 3 further talks about willpower, gut feelings (the gut-brain connection), and methylation (MTHFR) which is estimated to affect more than 40% of population. It also explains why diets never work (hint: because people start them for the wrong reasons).

This chapter includes a handful of wonderful tips for improving how you digest life. Some of them are eating mindfully, choosing to stop engaging with media that is violent or reinforces negative thoughts, doing affirmations, keeping a gratitude journal, moving from suffering to simplicity, feeding yourself love instead of misery, and a few others.

When we grab food without thinking, without ritual, there is a loss of meaning… When food is commodified and processed, it retreats into a black box. We are what we eat and if we don’t know what we eat… When you choose real food that grows in nature, you’re giving your body something that it understands.

Chapter 4 is about learning how to listen to your body and inner voice. It discusses dreams, instincts, intuition and extrasensory perception (ESP) and how to attune to it as we all have this ability. Some of the ways that Life will be speaking to you is through feelings, emotions, dreams, thoughts, symptoms, words, and patterns. A great way to practice the above is through meditation and the authors offer a thorough listening meditation of the body.

Sometimes results happen from the inside out. In the wintertime, when we think a tree looks dead, there are actually amazing things happening inside. In a process that even scientists call magical, the cells inside the tree transform so that they can live and thrive through the winter.

Chapter 5 is about what foods to avoid and what foods to eat, all the while listening to your body for a reaction. There are sections on sugar and other sweeteners, excitotoxins, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pesticides, phytonutrients, gluten, trans fats and refined fats and oils, soy, factory-farmed animal meat and dairy, farmed fish, and processed food and food additives.

There is a useful table listing all the no-no foods and additives which I took a picture of and now carry with me on my mobile phone whenever I go grocery shopping.

The chapter further talks about how to eat healthy on a budget and how to nourish yourself.

Everything is thoughts and food. When you get both right, you have the real secret for perfect health. – Louise Hay

Chapter 6 is about home remedies for what ails you. It includes herbs and spices that can be used to eliminate some common digestive symptoms and health conditions. It talks about gallbladder challenges, improving stomach acid, and food combining. The authors further discuss some common vitamins and magnesium and the importance of choosing the right brands.

What impressed me was the table depicting stages of magnesium deficiency, where stage 1 is a mild daily challenge, stage 2 is a greater daily challenge, stage 3 is severe daily symptom, and stage 4 is life-threatening challenge. Some of them were pretty scary and eye-opening!

Chapter 7 is about taking action to loving yourself.

Nature has given us everything we need to be healthy and happy. When we nourish ourselves with natural foods, we are aligning ourselves with nature and creating balance.

If I haven’t convinced you yet that this is one of the best books you can read this year, I dare you to read it and find a better one on the same topic. 🙂 Or better yet, read the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon and see for yourself! Here is one Amazon review:

i don’t do reviews on book, I am always too busy. But in this case, I have to. This is by far one of the best books on health I’ve ever seen. It talks from the point of view, knowledge and love of a mother. I am reading it and I feel like is my mom speaking to me with tender and caring words. To the point that I can see what should I do and why. And guess what? I am following her advice and I am feeling so much better just with small modifications to my lifestyle and state of mind, that simple. I highly recommend this book. Don’t miss on it. Is a life changer. In the most amazing way.

Do yourself a favour and get this book today or gift it to a loved one who may benefit from it.