From my last blog, you learned that I am far from perfect when it comes to Self-care. You also learned that I used to be pretty hard on my Self when I found my Self too busy to practice my abdominal breathing, yoga, and journaling – all things that help me relieve stress and stay grounded. Fortunately, I have read a lot of books that help remind me that returning to my imperfect Self-care strategy is not only helpful but necessary for my overall health and wellness.
I have more than a few books on health, wellness & Self-care – and am constantly reading and collecting new books to keep me inspired. It was hard to narrow it down, but I’ve chosen 5 books that continue to guide me in terms of my own Self-care. There are many, many, (many), more. I will share them from time to time in upcoming posts in the future!
But for today, here is my fab 5 list of Self-care books I could not do without:
“When I Loved Myself Enough” By Kim McMillen with Alison McMillen
For me, this is the book that started it all. As in, this little book helped inspire my journey of Self-care, Self-awareness, and wellness. I found this book in Indigo about 15 years ago at a time when I had graduated from university and was trying to “find my Self”. I don’t even know how I found this book. As cliché as it sounds, I feel like this book found me because I was just browsing the self-help section and this tiny book somehow caught my eye amongst all of the other books. It only took me a few flips of the book to realize – I must have this book. And here’s why.
It’s beautifully simple – on each page is a thought starting with “When I loved myself enough…”
It’s an easy read and resonated with me because it introduced me to the idea of Self-love. This book doesn’t give you concrete steps for Self-care like some of the other books on this list do. But what it does, is provide inspiration for Self-care that many of us are missing when we are knee-deep in our to-do lists. After working to improve my own health as well as working with so many women to help improve theirs, I have realized that Self-care is at its core about Self-love.
This book reminds me that when we love our Selves enough – we take care of our Selves. The book’s author, Kim McMillen, felt the urge at 40 years old, to finally start living her life for herself. In the moving introduction and acknowledgments, it still gives me goosebumps to learn that Kim died at 52 years of age, shortly after writing this book. It was her daughter, Alison that had the book published – and I am so grateful that she did.
“Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom” by Christiane Northrup MD
This is a must-have resource for women’s health and Self-care. As an OB/GYN, Dr. Northrup shares her conventional medical knowledge but discusses the need for a more holistic approach to health that integrates nutrition, acupuncture and mind-body medicine. She covers everything from fertility to menopause, providing practical tips for physical and mental-emotional Self-care.
What I love the most about this book is that Dr. Northrup shares her struggles with her own health and Self-care, making her easy to relate to. I also enjoyed the way she challenged the way conventional medicine historically medicalizes women’s health. She invites women to understand, appreciate and respect their bodies as beautiful and strong – not something to be considered taboo. She has inspired me to do the same in my own naturopathic practice, as well as for my own Self-care.
“You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay
This book provides a different view of health than most people are used to taking. It helps people understand the possible mental-emotional patterns that may be linked to their health. What I like the most about this book is that it helps you reframe your thinking and create new thought patterns using affirmations.
I have personally found affirmations vital to my own Self-care. I often tell patients we talk to ourselves more than anyone else does in the day. And unfortunately, most women don’t speak very kindly to themselves. In fact, many times we attack ourselves with negative thoughts of “I’m not good enough”, “Stupid me”, and “I’m such a dummy”. Sound familiar? It is hard to break this negative self-talk because we’ve often been speaking this way to ourselves our whole lives, but I found that working through the practical exercises in this book can be very helpful in reprogramming your thinking into more positive self-talk. I’ve taught affirmations to patients using this book, and recommended this book to many who have found it helpful in improving their Self-awareness and Self-care. (P.S. The illustrated version, like the one I have, is even easier to read because it’s so darn pretty!)
“The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods” by Michael Murray ND, Joseph Pizzorno ND with Lara Pizzorno MA, LMT
I am a firm believer in good nutrition as the foundation for a healthy body and mind. The right foods can be very nourishing and I recognize healthy eating as one of the most basic forms of Self-care. This book introduces readers to a naturopathic approach to nutrition. It provides a comprehensive foundation in nutrition and explains how various foods, vitamins and minerals can be eaten to improve a variety of health conditions. Dr. Murray does a great job of explaining the nutrient content of various foods as well as providing practical recipe ideas. While nutrition is a continually growing field, this book provides an excellent resource to appreciate how the healing power of real food can be used in your daily Self-care.
“Ancient Healing for Modern Women” by Xiaolan Zhao CMD
(Sold in Canada as “Reflections of the Moon on Water”)
It is no secret that I love acupuncture and Chinese medicine and believe it is essential to women’s Self-care. This book is fantastic because it helps introduce acupuncture & Chinese medicine to North American women in an easy to understand format. It explains the Chinese medicine approach to women’s health in a poetic and beautiful way – words that are never associated with periods and menopause in North America! It makes Chinese medicine theory more accessible and understandable to women, and there are recipes and mind-body techniques that can be very helpful for women at various stages of their lives from pregnancy to menopause. I have encouraged many women who are interested in learning more about Self-care from a Chinese medicine perspective, to start with this book.
So there you have it, my fabulous Self-care must-read list. If you have read any of these books – what did you think about them? Or if you have your own favourite Self-care books, I would love to hear about them in the comments section below.
See you next week for my last official post in this Self-care Series on My Fab 5 Self-care Apps. You’ll find out next week what I mean by “official”!
Take good care of your Self until then!
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YES! I’m ready to take care of my Self!
