As ultra-processed food becomes more accessible than ever and nine-to-five jobs become increasingly demanding - not to mention our highly sedentary lifestyles, our modern preoccupation with all things nutrition and healthy eating-related slowly falls to the wayside before being left behind entirely.
“I’ve got plenty of years before I need to get serious about my eating habits”, “I’ll run it off in the morning”, “I’m burnt out because of work” – we say, manipulating ourselves with self-placating mantras to lure our minds and bodies into a false sense of security as we chug coffee and energy drinks before downing ‘nutritional’ meal replacements to make up for the healthy calories we haven’t had time or energy to consume yet.
Breaking news! You’re not just tired from your demanding job, you’re exhausted because you’re not treating your body right. Now, it’s important to note that there’s no one-size-fits-all nutritional solution for everyone. From subtle gluten intolerances that may require professional intervention, to microbiome-balancing diets that will reignite your struggling metabolism, myriad nutritional solutions are circulating in dietician circles.
You shouldn’t dive straight into something restrictive, but rather practice mindful eating while educating yourself on what’s good and bad for your body. This may involve taking notes on how certain foods make you feel, eating when you’re hungry instead of suffering through a long day at the office, and shopping for fresh whole foods instead of pre-made meals whenever you can.
Not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered. Keep scrolling for a selection of the best books about nutrition and healthy eating on the market which will demystify the world of dieting and reveal the dangers of relying on ultra-processed goods.
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Food for Life: The New Science of Eating Well by Tim Spector
Founder of cult-favourite personalised nutrition programme ZOE, scientist, epidemiologist and Professor of Genetics, it’s safe to say that Tim Spector can be relied upon as an authoritative source for all things gut health.
In Food for Life, the renowned author draws on cutting-edge research to empower readers who are keen to make simple, effective and science-backed changes to their diet. Spector answers questions like, “What should we avoid to protect and support our gut microbiome?” as well as “Which foods can help to boost our immune system?”.
Buy now £10.99, Amazon
Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
If working towards a healthier lifestyle in Western society feels like a thankless task in contemporary society, it’s because it is. As Chris van Tulleken explains, it’s not you, it’s the food. While he doesn’t have all the answers, Tulleken takes readers on a journey of discovering how to exist when we’re living in a food environment which is out to destroy us.
Buy now £5.49, Amazon
The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer
For a neuroscientific approach to understanding gut health, look no further than Emeran Mayer’s The Mind-Gut Connection. The Executive Director of the UCLA Centre for Neurobiology of Stress takes the well-known concept of trusting your gut and breaks down the scientific reasoning behind that feeling while also linking through to Aryuvedic and Chinese medicinal traditions. The author then offers a practical guide to healing the microbiome by delving into the benefits of a plant-based diet, fermented foods and so much more.
Buy now £11.99, Amazon
The Glucose Goddess Method
Another bestseller by Jessie Inchauspé, this time with over 100 new and improved recipes. In this book, the founder of the Glucose Goddess movement offers a four-week, step-by-step program for integrating simple and science-backed solutions to managing blood sugar.
It’s void of any nasty calorie-counting lingo and even includes a recipe for ‘ice-cream breakfast’ – proving yet again that diabetics can still enjoy delicious, varied foods.
Buy now £18.00, Amazon
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders
The instant New York Times bestseller by Giulia Enders has been revised with even more life-altering information, including an entire chapter on the brain-gut axis. With easy-to-follow explanations and captivating illustrations by Jill Enders, readers will be able to explore everything from the connection between our mental health and the gut microbiome to why exactly acid reflux happens and the groundbreaking discovery of psychobiotics.
Buy now £15.41, Amazon
Fiber Fueled by Will Bulsiewicz, MD, MSCI
Don’t be discouraged by the American spelling of fibre on the cover of this best-selling gut health book by Dr Will Bulsiewicz, otherwise known as Dr B. The author makes abundantly clear from the get-go just how dangerous elimination diets are, and instead works to illustrate how gut health is the key to boosting our metabolism, balancing hormones and taming inflammation. The key? Fibre, of course.
Buy now £19.67, Amazon
A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet and Disease by Shipla Ravella
According to Ravella, inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury and foreign microbes. However, with changing environments and modern processed diets altering the way our organs function on a day-to-day basis, contemporary human beings appear to be suffering from low-level inflammation at all times. This inflammation stays quiet and undetected but may lead to illnesses from heart disease and cancer to autoimmune diseases. How do you put out a silent fire?
Dr Shipla Ravella is a specialist in gut transplants, nutrition and the microbiome. The insightful author guides us through the history of immunology while debunking ‘anti-inflammatory lifestyles’ in order to reveal the surprisingly simple ways in which we can heal our relationship with our gut. Think of her as a microbiome firefighter.
Buy now £11.35, Amazon
A Statin-Free Life by Dr Aseem Malhotra
Described as ‘revolutionary’, Dr Aseem Malhotra’s Statin-Free Life gets its name from the medication prescribed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood. The number one bestseller offers a diet-led way to get yourself off the medication for good (with your doctor’s supervision, of course). His heart health plan includes a prescriptive low-cholesterol diet with a whole lot of scientific evidence to back it up.
Buy now £6.49, Amazon
Mind Food: Plant-based recipes for positive mental health
Eating healthily isn’t just good for your body, but your mind too, which is why this revolutionary cookbook “helps you reimagine the way you think about mental health in parallel with food”. Sharing her mental health journey, author Lauren Lovatt presents a host of plant-based recipes that are creative, informative and most importantly: delicious.
We’re big fans of the seasonal ingredient pages that help us align our mind and body to what we eat. The recipes encourage you cook with freshly-grown produce and we were blown away by the Pumpkin Arancini - packed with healthy fats and vegetables. Her creative approach to holistic eating is nothing like we’ve seen before and we love the number of superfoods we’re getting thanks to these great meal ideas.
Buy now £14.31, Amazon
Eat Green by Melissa Hemsley
Cut down on food waste thanks to Melissa Hemsley’s progressive cookbook, starring more than 100 veggie-based recipes, such as a warming squash and lentil curry with Thai gremolata, fridge raid frittata and melt-in-the-mouth tahini choc chip cookies.
After the foreword from Guy Singh-Watson, founder of Riverford’s seasonal organic recipe boxes, the book is split into sections including family favourites, 30 minutes or less and one pot or one tray meals, all focusing on using UK-grown, easy-to-buy ingredients. It also has chapters dedicated to ideas for using up off-cuts you may normally chuck, batch cooking advice and easy swaps to bring into your cooking to limit waste.
Buy now £20.21, Amazon
The Hairy Bikers Eat to Beat Type 2 Diabetes
Si King and the late Dave Myers collaborated on this brilliant Type 2 diabetes cookbook back in 2020 in an effort to prove that you can still eat delicious food while staying healthy and adjusting your diet to suit a new, improved lifestyle – and the bestseller certainly succeeded.
There’s a great section on snacking foods and the main body of the book is split up into recipes to enjoy at different times throughout the day.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome by James Kinross
An authoritative and easy-to-digest (pardon the pun) guide to what exactly that ‘microbiome’ that everyone seems to be talking about really is, the microbiology expert Dr James Kinross takes us on an enthralling scientific and historical journey into the discovery and understanding of microbes of all types.
Buy now £9.94, Amazon
