When many of us set health or fitness goals, we often overlook the option of consulting a book on the subject. However, it is important to recognize that there is a wealth of health, fitness and nutrition books available, filled with valuable information that can help us in achieving our desired goals.
Many of my friends are gym freaks and focus on their fitness and nutrition and one of them has turned out to be a fitness coach as well. Among all this, I researched about it and learned a great deal about it. Although almost none of my friends are readers, some of them did suggest some of the books. Many gym freaks and readers on internet have suggested some of the best books on fitness and nutrition as well and with my deep research I have written this article for you.
This list includes the ideal books to explore for maintaining your health and diet. All fitness-related texts are comprehensive and authored by qualified professionals, meeting the specified criteria.
All the fitness freaks, excited much? How about you scroll on and keep reading further to get what you came for?
Finest Books to Read About Health, Fitness and Nutrition
1. The China Study
Full Title: The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-term Health
Author: T. Colin Campbell, Thomas M. Campbell II
Genre: Self-help
Publishing Date: 11th December 2014
Description:
The author describes the link between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer in this book. The research also looks at the causes of nutritional uncertainty caused by vested interests, the government, and shady experts.
The study has been dubbed the “Grand Prix of epidemiology” and the “most extensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease,” according to the New York Times.
A diet book is different from what The China Study is. Anyone dealing with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or obesity, or those worried about the impacts of ageing, will find Dr Campbell’s message informative as she breaks through the fog of false information.
2. Becoming a Supple Leopard
Full Title: Becoming a Supple Leopard: Movement, Mobility, and Maintenance of the Human Animal
Author: Kelly Starrett, Glen Cordoza
Genre: Fitness
Publishing Date: 10th February 2010
Description:
This book teaches you how to hack your human movement, enabling you to live a healthier, happier, and more satisfying life. The author reveals his ground-breaking approach to mobility and maintaining the human body in this book. The human animal is driven by performance, but defective movement patterns can suddenly stop the human animal.
Most athletes, coaches, and the untrained eye frequently need to see the factors that reduce performance. Developing into a Supple Leopard makes the hidden apparent.
In this one-of-a-kind training guide, Starrett outlines a thorough method of more than 200 techniques and highlights frequent movement mistakes that can injure you and sap your strength, power, speed, and endurance.
3. In Defense of Food
Full Title: In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
Author: Michael Pollan
Genre: Non-fiction
Publishing Date: 2008
Description:
Because food has been supplanted by nutrients and common sense by confusion in the so-called Western diet, the majority of what we eat today is not a product of nature but instead food science.
The result is what Michael Pollan calls the American Paradox: We regard ourselves as becoming less healthy the more concerned we are about nutrition. In his book, Michael Pollan offers a fresh response to what to eat, summed up in just seven uncomplicated yet empowering words: “Eat food. Not excessively. Mostly plants.”
In his provocative and eloquent manifesto, Pollan demonstrates how we may begin making deliberate food decisions that will improve our lives, broaden our understanding of what it means to be healthy and restore the joy of eating.
4. The Body Book
Full Title: The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength, and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body
Author: Cameron Diaz
Genre: Fitness
Publishing Date: 1st January 2013
Description:
This book thoroughly analyses the human body and psyche, starting at the cellular level. Readers will learn why it’s crucial to accept the feeling of hunger and to fulfil it with whole, nutrient-dense foods by demystifying and dispelling the myths surrounding food types and describing the importance of vitamins and minerals.
Additionally, Cameron discusses the significance of exercise, the necessity of solid muscles and bones, and the necessity of some daily perspiration.
5. How Not to Die
Full Title: How Not to Die
Author: Gene Stone and Michael Greger
Genre: Diet book
Publishing Date: 8th December 2015
Description:
Dr Michael Greger, a world-famous nutrition expert, physician, and founder of Nutrition F, examines the top fifteen conditions that lead to early death in the United States, including heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, Parkinson’s, high blood pressure, and more, and explains how dietary and lifestyle changes can sometimes be more effective than prescription drugs and other medical procedures in preventing and treating these conditions, allowing us to live more fully.
The plain fact is that while most doctors are proficient at managing acute illnesses, they struggle to avoid chronic conditions. Every year, 1.6 million Americans lose their lives to the top fifteen causes of mortality. It’s not necessary to be like this.
6. Fast Like a Girl
Full Title: Fast Like a Girl: A Woman’s Guide to Using the Healing Power of Fasting to Burn Fat, Boost Energy, and Balance Hormones
Author: Mindy Pelz
Genre: Nutrition
Publishing Date: 27th December 2022
Description:
This book is a standard fasting guide written by Dr. Mindy Pelz, a well-known authority on women and fasting, whose rapidly expanding YouTube channel has emerged as the go-to resource for women seeking fasting information and tailored specifically to address women’s needs based on their hormones and menstrual cycle.
In this book, Dr Mindy shares the tried-and-true methods, specific protocols to use if you’re trying to overcome a condition, fasting hacks, and tools that she used to help hundreds of thousands of women thrive with their fasting lifestyles. Most fasting advice has been a one-size-fits-all approach that leaves women with more questions than answers.
7. The 4-Hour Body
Full Title: The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman
Author: Tim Ferriss
Genre: Fitness
Publishing Date: 14th December 2010
Description:
This novel focuses on one profound question that will revolutionize your life: What are the slightest modifications that yield the most significant results for everything physical?
This book has solutions for both men and women after decades of testing and thousand of hours of personal experimentation. Ferris has finally perfected the way to rapid body transformation.
8. The Art of Ayurvedic Nutrition
Full Title: The Art of Ayurvedic Nutrition: Ancient Wisdom for Health, Balance, and Dietary Freedom
Author: Susie Colles
Genre: Nutrition
Publishing Date: 16th June 2020
Description:
Dietitian and ayurvedic practitioner Susie Colles offers a self-guided, modern reconnection with food, body, health, and the natural environment we are a part of. She combines Western science with the age-old knowledge of Ayurveda.
The Art of Ayurvedic Nutrition offers a different perspective on the body you live in, the food you eat, and what it means to be genuinely healthy through the prism of India’s traditional healing method. In-depth practical knowledge and actionable strategies are provided in this book to help you better understand and experience both yourself and the food that nourishes you.
9. Body for Life
Full Title: Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength
Author: Bill Phillips
Genre: Self-help
Publishing Date: 10th June 1999
Description:
People who accepted a personal challenge from Bill Phillips and, with his assistance, regained control over their bodies and their lives after once suffering from obesity, alcoholism, and other serious illnesses. You will demonstrate that amazing transformations are also within your reach when you start putting the advice in this book into practice.
10. Flawless
Full Title: Flawless: The 10-Week Total Image Method for Transforming Your Physique
Author: Bob Paris
Genre: Fitness
Publishing Date: 1st January 1993
Description:
Thanks to this exclusive “accelerated gains” programme from champion bodybuilder Paris, who follows his Beyond Built, the reader will have the body he wants in just ten weeks. Step-by-step instructions are provided on how to speed up the body-shaping process, get a complete image, motivate the mind, customise one’s diet, feel fantastic, and maintain the results.
11. Prescription for Nutritional Healing
Full Title: Prescription for Nutritional Healing: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements
Author: Phyllis A. Balch
Genre: Health
Publishing Date: 1st January 1990
Description:
This book features an A-to-Z guide to ailments and contains: How omega-3 fatty acids and exercise could benefit people with Alzheimer’s, information on the newest medicine treatments for AIDS. What you must understand about the H1N1 virus is information about diet to prevent prostate cancer, leading studies on bioidentical hormones and menopause, and much more.
12. Light on Yoga
Full Title: Light on Yoga
Author: B.K.S. Iyengar
Genre: Fitness
Publishing Date: 1st January 1996
Description:
This book has become a holy book for hundreds of thousands of people who practise yoga every day using the Iyengar method for relaxation, fitness, or meditation. It is still the most comprehensive, useable, and lavishly illustrated guide by the world’s top yoga teacher, with more than 600 photos showing all the postures and breathing exercises.
“Light on Yoga” is a comprehensive reference work for experts and the most fantastic introduction for a beginner interested in learning about yoga’s positive effects on the mind, body, and spirit.
13. Bigger Leaner Stronger
Full Title: Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body
Author: Michael Matthews
Genre: Health
Publishing Date: 13th January 2012
Description:
Bigger Leaner Stronger is a super well-researched and practical guide to strength training that quickly cuts through the massive amount of BS and misinformation put out by the strength training, bodybuilding, weight gain and weight loss industries. Regardless of age, you should read this book to swiftly gain muscle, burn fat, and look fabulous without using drugs, good genetics, or wasting time and money on supplements.
14. The End of Overeating
Full Title: The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
Author: David A. Kessler
Genre: Health
Publishing Date: 1st January 2009
Description:
Incredibly startling information about how we lost control over our eating behaviours—and how to regain it—is revealed in this book. The industry that continues to feed a country of overeaters—from well-known brand manufacturers to advertisers, chain restaurants, and fast food franchises—is subject to Dr Kessler’s pioneering study and what is sure to be a contentious viewpoint.
15. Indian Superfoods
Full Title: Indian Superfoods
Author: Rujuta Diwekar
Genre: Food
Publishing Date: 1st January 2016
Description:
Statistics show that less than 20% of people maintain weight loss. In addition to statistics, your personal experience will show you that losing weight is simple, but maintaining it isn’t easy. It appears to find its way back to your body, creeps into areas where fat has never existed, and this time stays as though it intends to do so permanently. Nothing seems to match it, no matter how pricey, cutting-edge, or crash.
The superfood, a food item that claims to work miracles and frequently originates from an exotic location, is added to this mix. The world finds a new superfood every week, such as acacia seeds, goji berries, or kale. They are the subject of so much press coverage that appears meaningless. What exactly is a superfood, and do they even exist? These and other issues are covered in this book.
16. Good to Go
Full Title: Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery
Author: Christie Aschwanden
Genre: Health and Fitness
Publishing Date: 5th February 2019
Description:
Readers are taken on an exciting and instructive tour of the most recent research on athletic and fitness rehabilitation by Christie Aschwanden. She analyses promises made about sports drinks, chocolate milk, and “recovery” beer; she looks at the newest recovery trends; and even puts some of them to the test, such as cryotherapy, foam rolling, and infrared pyjamas recommended by Tom Brady. Does any of this genuinely aid in the body’s ability to heal and operate at its best?
17. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle
Full Title: Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Transform Your Body Forever Using the Secrets of the Leanest People in the World
Author: Tom Venuto
Genre: Health
Publishing Date: 1st January 2003
Description:
You will learn all the techniques for long-term fat loss from this manual. It was written by a man who had to learn these tricks the hard way by making mistakes over a long period. By “modelling” others who have gone before you and learning from an expert, you can master the art and science of shedding body fat by taking a quicker and less expensive road using the knowledge in this guidebook.
This book serves as straightforward but comprehensive instruction manual for you. Step-by-step instructions are given, such as “Do this, don’t do that,” “Eat this, don’t eat that,” and so forth.
18. Outlive
Full Title: Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity
Author: Bill Gifford and Peter Attia
Genre: Medicine
Publishing Date: 28th March 2023
Description:
Despite its achievements, mainstream medicine has made little headway in the fight against the age-related illnesses that account for most fatalities: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too frequently, it delays treatment and prolongs life at the expense of quality of life.
Dr. Peter Attia, the foremost authority on longevity, thinks we need to replace this antiquated paradigm with a customized, proactive approach to longevity.
Final Words
These books are pure gold, I’m telling you! Though these books are remarkable and exceptional, you need to understand that you must read them and follow as told. That’s the only way they’re going to prove beneficial for you.
Also, please take a look at the other articles mentioned below:
