Top 13 Books About Healthy Eating Updated 04 /2024

There are a lot of things to think about when you choose a nutrition book that's right for you. After all, you'll want something that's written by a source you can trust, teaches you in an interesting way, and meets your needs when it comes to food. In this case, we asked people who work in the field of dietetics to tell us what the best nutrition books are for people to start reading so they can get healthy.

Some nutrition books are information-based and act as a guide to help you make changes on your own. This way, you can make changes on your own. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' Angel Planells says that if you're looking for a book like this, ask yourself if it will help you learn. Do that and make you want to learn more, which are his favorite picks.

The other nutrition books on our list can also be used as cookbooks to help you start on a healthy path with healthy recipes. Check out the recipes before you buy them to make sure you like how they're laid out, they're easy to follow, and they can be changed, says Planells. Make sure the book is well-written and has photos and recipes that will make you hungry, like a book about Mediterranean or Indian food, says the author.

As you start your journey, you should also know that nutrition books don't always go hand-in-hand with weight loss books. They focus on different aspects of nutrition, like nutrition for specific conditions like diabetes, or your relationship with food. She usually doesn't read books that don't feel long-term, offer quick-fix solutions for weight loss, or are too strict.

Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach

St. Martin's Essentials

For people who think they've tried every diet out there and failed, this book, written by two registered dietitians, is the best place to start. Those who want to work on their relationship with food while also honoring nutrition will love this book. It has a lot of specific steps and reflections.

It's good for people who don't have a good relationship with food or who have been on a lot of diets. Andrea Mathis, a registered dietitian and author of The Complete Book of Smoothies, says this: "This is a great book for people who don't have a good relationship with food or who have been on a lot of diets." "This book talks about how to have a healthy body image, make peace with food, and learn how to treat your body at any age, weight, or stage of growth."

The MIND Diet

Ulysses Press

There is a lot of evidence that the MIND diet, which is a mix of the Mediterranean and DASH diets, can be very good at lowering the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Planning to learn more about this brain-boosting diet and how to do it? Maggie Moon, a registered dietitian, has written The MIND Diet, which is a good book for that. So once you understand how the diet works, Moon gives you recipes for tango fish tacos, sweet potato lentil soup, and banana chocolate cookies to help you get started.

Eat What You Love Diabetes Cookbook

Sonoma Press

To help insulin-dependent diabetics make healthy choices and keep their blood sugar in check through cookbooks, Planells recommends Eat What You Love Diabetes Cookbook by registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator Lori Zanini, R.D., C.D.E. She is a certified diabetes educator. Learn how to make healthy choices when planning your meals, but never give up the flavors and foods you enjoy. Plus, this book is great for visual learners because Zanini includes icons that show which macronutrients each food has. This makes diabetes management as tasty and easy as ever.

The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition

Bloomsbury Sport

Nutrition isn't always about losing weight or the number on the scale. It's also important to eat a lot of different foods. Fueling your body properly, especially if you're an athlete, is very important to achieving your goals and keeping your body healthy and strong. RD and L.D. Rachael Hartley, who is a certified intuitive eating counselor and the author of Gentle Nutrition: A Non-Diet Approach to Healthy Eating, thinks you should read this book too. Because each person's body needs different nutrients based on things like their age, goals, and activity level, each page helps athletes figure out what they need with calculations, explanations, and advice that is specific to them.

For athletes, Hartley says, "Googling information about nutrition rarely works, and that goes double for athletes." "The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition by Anita Bean is a great resource for athletes and people who do a lot of physical activity who want to use nutrition to help them get better at what they do." This book is good for kids who like to play soccer, and Planells recommends it.

Good Food, Bad Diet

Langer recommends her own book to people who want to get rid of their guilt about food and lose weight for good with real food. It's not a typical diet book. "It helps you understand why you make the food choices you do, so you can heal your relationship with food and your body and stop dieting for good," she says. Because Langer doesn't just tell you how to eat, he breaks down your own barriers so you can stop dieting and start making healthier choices.

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Complete Food and Nutrition Guide

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Planells recommends going straight to the source for science-based nutrition. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Complete Food and Nutrition Guide is a good place to start. Nutrition is a very important subject, and this guide is the "everything you need to know" resource for starting your health journey and eating a healthy diet. This is the fifth edition of this guide. Each page has the most up-to-date nutritional research on it, but it also lets you customize it and look at the nutrition industry from a wide angle.

Gentle Nutrition: A Non-Diet Approach to Healthy Eating

Hartley is so excited about not dieting that she wrote a book about it. This is for people who want to get healthy instead of just hit a number on the scale. People who loved the first book on our list, Intuitive Eating, but don't know where to start, Hartley has 50 recipes that are both healthy and tasty. Plus, strategies and tips for making your new diet a long-term habit.

There are a lot of nutrition books out there that talk about losing weight as the goal. Gentle Nutrition is different from other nutrition programs because it focuses on the role of nutrition in intuitive eating. "It shows people how to have a healthy relationship with food and take care of their bodies without trying to change their shape or size," says the author.

How to Eat to Beat Disease Cookbook

RD Ginger Hultin, M.S., R.D.'s How to Eat to Beat Disease Cookbook is a great way to learn how nutrition can help your body fight off disease. For people who want to use their bodies to fight disease and become their healthiest selves, this book shows how to get the most health benefits from every meal you eat and gives you a 14-day meal plan to get started.

---