How We Came Together to Write This Book
by Ahlea Khadro and Heather Dane
Louise has brought to the world such a profound and incredible gift with her affirmation work, and this book takes those teachings to the next level. One of the most significant secrets to Louise’s personal success is how she eats and cares for herself every day, in the small moments. When people say that affirmations don’t work for them, she always asks them, “What did you have for breakfast?” In this book, we are going to share the many reasons why this simple question reveals great wisdom about how you think and feel.
We all want to feel our best every day. We want to wake up energized and excited for the adventures ahead. We want to enjoy life, at every stage. And this is our natural state. Unfortunately, what we are seeing too often today are habits, beliefs, and messages that separate people from their health and happiness. We wrote this book to unravel the messages that separate you from feeling your best, to reveal how much nature is here to offer you everything you need, and to remind you that everything you need for health and healing is within.
Having worked successfully to bring hundreds of clients back to their natural state of wellness, we both were overjoyed to meet a shining example of the secrets of health, happiness, and longevity that have seemed to be mostly forgotten. This shining example is Louise Hay. She came into our lives because she has a commitment to feeling her best at every stage of her existence. One of the ways she does this is by surrounding herself with experts who become part of her wellness team. She is a true partner in her health and, therefore, a true team member. Louise models her commitment to health in the way she thinks, eats, exercises, and enjoys life. She is one of the most balanced people we know, and believe us—we’ve seen her blood tests and traveled the world with her—she is definitely the “big, strong, healthy girl” she says she is!
Over the decade we’ve known her, we’ve watched her move through her 70s and 80s with strength, grace, and a joy for life. She celebrates everything from waking up in a comfortable bed, to starting her car (“Hello, baby, we’re going to have a great ride!”), to eating healthy meals. These may seem like little things, yet it’s thousands of simple, little things that make up a life worth living. She is our inspiration, and we are thrilled to share her secrets, our knowledge, and a whole lot of delicious fun in the pages of this book.
Allow Us to Introduce Ourselves
Ahlea: Over 15 years ago, I started my business, Soulstice, a center for optimal living and rehabilitation, specializing in yoga, reformer Pilates, meditative practices, holistic nutrition, craniosacral therapy, and visceral manipulation. Almost 11 years ago, I got a call from Louise Hay about working with me. You can imagine how exciting that was! From the start, I could see that Louise was willing to do whatever it took to love and support her healthy body. What I didn’t expect was that we’d spend so much time laughing! And yet that’s what makes Louise special—she brings a sense of fun to the serious work of healing.
I don’t think Louise realized that in addition to Pilates and bodywork, she was going to experience the part of my work that keeps my clients coming back for more. You see, for most of my life, I could see the stories that lie beneath the surface of people’s lives and under the layers of the human body. I can hear the stories that people’s organs, tissues, and bones want to tell. It’s listening to these stories and sharing them with my clients that has such a profound effect on their health. Responding to the stories with love is how healing begins.
My deepest desire is to serve others, so I am grateful to be a conduit for the body’s messages. My mission is to support others in learning to listen to the body, so that they can lovingly respond to its needs. You will learn that here in this book.
Heather: I started my career in the corporate sphere, specializing in identifying and resolving patterns that got in the way of people and companies performing their best. Whenever there was a team in crisis or a problem that no one could figure out, I was the one whom senior management called to find out what was happening and how to fix it. I found that I had a unique ability to discover the root cause of large-scale human and organizational performance issues because of a passion for what they called “systems thinking” in my graduate program—not to mention a love of detective work!
Systems thinking is about looking at symptoms as part of a whole system, rather than pieces and parts. It’s not unlike the call for “holistic” health, where we view a person as a whole being and assess health from that level in order to promote wellness. One of the most challenging issues I saw in my 15 years in the corporate world was a buildup of stress and overwork that was having an adverse effect on people’s health. I was swiftly climbing the corporate ladder when I came to the realization that no one around me from the vice president level and above was healthy. People were collapsing in stairwells, missing work due to major surgeries, coming to the office exhausted, and suffering from chronic health conditions. And honestly, I was one of them. That’s when I decided that my own health had to be more important than the job, the to-do list, and everything else.
In this book, you’ll learn the journey I took to heal myself of so-called incurable illness and addiction, and how I used my knack for identifying the root cause of symptoms to transform my health. A decade ago, I left my corporate career; became a certified professional coach; and received additional certifications in nutrition, digestive health, yoga, and energy healing. I have had the great fortune of researching with and writing hundreds of articles for some of the top experts in nutrition, medicine, digestive health, and energy medicine. And I was blessed to find two soul-sister health experts, Louise Hay and Ahlea Khadro, who were living and practicing similar lifestyles that enabled them to not only achieve their best health, but to help millions of others achieve theirs, too.
I met Louise eight years ago at a nutrition seminar in Los Angeles. We bonded over how delicious healing food could be and a love for learning all we could about health. A year later, Louise introduced me to Ahlea, and it was like finding my giggling and wellness soul mates. We have been giggling ever since, all while unlocking the secrets—both ancient and new—that help people heal. Having these two amazing women come into my life has been the greatest gift.
About This Book
When you’re passionate about something, it tends to find its way to the center stage of your life. The three of us are passionate about health, and we’ve often found our way into deep conversations with each other about how simple good health could be with the right ingredients. Two of them, as Louise has always taught, are thoughts and food. If you get both right, good health follows.
The three of us have spent years together in continuous discovery, studying things like homeopathy, genetics, nutrition, cooking, and energy healing. We work as a team on Louise’s health, and we both have busy practices working with clients. You’ll hear several of our clients’ stories here in this book, so that you can see how strong the human body and mind are, even when it looks like the chips are down.
A couple of years ago, while Ahlea was pregnant, we birthed the idea for this book. As we talked about how to bring a new life into the world and nurture its health and happiness, we had so much to say that we felt compelled to write it down. From the beginning to the end of life, good health—feeling good—gives us the foundation we need to work with our thoughts, to grow, to develop, to live, and to love. And in the center of good health is one key principle: loving yourself. If you can start there, everything else is so simple.
The three of us gathered over nettle tea and bone broth and shared our experience, wisdom, and love for life and each other in this beautiful and rich book. While there are many “diet” books available, this one is unique in its scope—inviting you to listen to your body and tune in to your unique wisdom, while having the support of affirmations, recipes, practical lists, and an education about how your body works.
What makes our book different is it’s a health book that addresses how to heal the body and the mind and how both really matter (in Louise’s words, “getting your thoughts and food right”). We gently teach you why making better, loving choices is your greatest tool for health and healing. We focus on ancient yet time-proven health tips that are dogma-free and transcend fads.
Most people are confused about what to eat, especially if diagnosed with illness, such as an autoimmune disease. We teach you to listen to your body, first and foremost, and to make more loving food choices. We teach you that nourishing your body makes affirmations, good moods, willpower, and better decision making much easier.
We have separated this book into two parts. Part I teaches you 7 steps to eat, think, and love your way to good health. And each chapter begins with a quote from Louise that sets the tone for that chapter:
Chapter 1 invites you to rethink what health really means and create a perspective that embraces your innate power to heal. We take the mystery and fear out of illness and share tips on tapping into your body’s natural healing process.
Chapter 2 teaches you how and why making more loving choices is key to your ability to feel your best. If you haven’t been able to make changes in the past, we give you simple exercises to take those small steps that produce big results.
Chapter 3 educates you about how your digestive system works and why it’s so important for every system in your body, including your brain health, moods, ability to sleep, ability to maintain a healthy weight, and even your willpower and decision making! You will learn why Louise always says, “If it doesn’t grow, don’t eat it!”
Chapter 4 supports you in learning how to listen to your inner voice, or as Louise calls it, your “inner ding.” Learn about intuition, gut feelings, and other symptoms and sensations you can become aware of and what these signals can mean. Find out how they can help you have better health and a better life.
Chapter 5 takes you on a journey of food. You will find out about the psychology, deceit, and trickery the manufactured-food industry uses to get you to eat more; the toxic additives in processed food; and which foods to avoid and which foods to emphasize for your wellness and longevity. You’ll even learn tips for eating healthy on a budget, how to reduce or eliminate cravings, and the kind of sweet treats that are simultaneously loving toward your body and taste buds.
Chapter 6 reveals some home remedies, supplements, and natural practices that can help dissolve common ailments—as well as improve your overall health!
Chapter 7 gives you a road map for moving forward with your new, healthy habits. By this time, you will be ready to take the first step and continue to build, one small step at a time. Or maybe you’ll be ready for giant leaps … either way, we have some practical tips for you wherever you are in your journey.
In Part II, we give you everything you need to start loving your body with delicious, home-cooked meals, snacks, and desserts. You’ll get kitchen tips and suggested tools to make things easier, sample menus, shopping lists, and a whole bunch of our favorite easy recipes that taste delicious and nourish your body.
The three of us wrote this book because, most of all, we want to support your best health. Like Louise said, we love you!
— Ahlea and Heather
♥ ♥