7 Great Books for Losing Weight ...

When it comes to ideas for losing weight, some of the books for losing weight out there can seem like just another health scam. Most of them don’t interest me one bit. I come from a past of unhealthy eating and dieting issues and have struggled with everything from anorexia to binging, and even orthorexia. I’ve read every book out there for weight loss, overcoming eating disorders and more. The funny thing is, most books for losing weight don’t work, and here’s why: they emphasize a “diet” rather than a simple, smart way to eat. I’m going to introduce you to 7 books for losing weight that aren’t conventional diet books. These books offer healthy, real advice that works, and help keep you from unhealthy diets or temporary weight loss schemes. Never diet in a way that is harmful to your body or creates an unhealthy self image. Check out these books to find your best weight naturally, and drop pounds the right way.

1. Food Matters by Mark Bittman

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If you’re looking for one of the smartest, best books for losing weight - this is it. The answer for healthy weight loss is found through eating more seasonal, local produce and by limiting our animal intake. Not only will your waistline shrink, but your reasons for eating more produce are not just about dieting by eating this way. It can be difficult to eat healthy when we focus only on losing weight, but when we consider we’re also saving our ecosystem, animals, helping our economy and enhancing our appreciation for plant foods, we can have a deeper devotion to eating produce as the main parts of our nutrition plan and quit noshing on carrots just because they are low in calories. I definitely recommend this book if you want to nourish your mind, body, and the planet on what healthy living really means. There is also an accompanying cookbook called The Food Matters Cookbook with over 500 recipes for living and eating healthy.

2. The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno

barnesandnoble.com
This book is a little old, but one of the best books for weight loss out there. Tosca Reno is well known for her healthy body and beautiful face, but even more so for her approach to weight loss. Tosca’s simple advice is to eat clean! No need to go without versions of your favorite foods. This cookbook provides everything you need to know about how to eat clean, lose weight, and feel better. This book doesn’t emphasize phases or stages or any kind of restrictive properties. It is all about cleaning up the foods you eat, and I don’t mean washing them! Think picking real foods over fake ones, and using real ingredients in your foods instead of processed ones. I love the beautiful pictures and recipes in this book. There are also 4 continuing books to the Eat Clean cookbook series by Tosca, all available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

3. Clean by Alejandro Junger

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I am in love with this book. If you’ve ever felt less than your best, or some foods make you bloated, sick, depressed or even give you headaches, I definitely recommend checking this book out. Many of us can’t lose weight or find our best level of health because we’re addicted to foods that we’re actually allergic, or sensitive to. Growing up in the United States, our culture has taught us that sugar, fat and carbohydrates from fake or unhealthy sources are the normal way to live, yet all the while, they’re making us the least healthy country there is and our obesity risks are number one in the world. There is a connective link, and this book shows us what that is. Dr. Junger found himself extremely sick and in poor health after working a stressful job and living off fast food and processed food. He took himself on a journey to finding real, healthy foods and found which ones make us sick, tired, and overweight. This book is not about restrictions or dieting, but more about knowing the truth behind our foods. It has recipes included and lists of every type of food to avoid and include in your eating plan. There is a shopping list included as well. If you want a straightforward approach to losing weight, check out this book. It won’t disappoint and you’ll feel amazing.

4. Slim Calm Sexy Diet by Keri Glassman

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Keri Glassman is my favorite nutritionist out there. She is smart, incredibly beautiful and naturally thin. Keri does not emphasize phase diets or stage diets. She emphasizes real, delicious foods that are quite easy to make. In this book, Keri makes eating healthy fun by categorizing nutritional properties behind foods. Each food is either called a slim food, a calm food or a sexy food. Keri emphasizes why we need all of these foods to make us the best woman we can be. For instance, salmon and leafy greens are great slim foods, while yogurt and green tea are calm foods, and chocolate and cayenne pepper are sexy foods for their libido enhancing properties. We live in a stressed world that can make us eat unhealthy, so emphasizing calm foods help to relax us and keep our stress levels low. Slim foods keep us lean, while also keeping our blood sugar down, and sexy foods keep our stress down and keep us feeling beautiful. All of these properties are important for successful weight loss, as Glassman states in this book. Keri puts a spin on eating healthy as she teaches women to eat for more than just the amount of calories in foods. This book is not only fun to read, but full of great recipes and shopping lists. The photos are stunning and the book is a great reference guide as well.

5. The Beauty Detox Solution

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If you live in a cycle of binging and restricting, not only is your body malnourished, but so is your mind. When we diet and restrict, we are not living at peace with our plates. Our culture has taught us everything is about calories, which simply isn’t true. In Kimberly Snyder’s The Beauty Detox Solution, she gives the answers to losing weight for life, and gaining energy for life. This book is not about juice-fasting, calorie counting or spending hours in the kitchen preparing meals. Kim shares her secrets for detoxing our bodies and minds from unhealthy dieting, and finding true weight loss that lasts. I have this book and love it so much. It always reminds me that nature gives us the best weight loss foods possible, and has incredibly delicious recipes to enjoy.

6. Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman

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Dr. Joel Furman is extremely popular now and with good reason. He has been featured on Dr. Oz and his book, Eat to Live, teaches us the real reason we can’t lose weight- we aren’t nourished. Dr. Oz calls this book a “medical breakthrough” as Dr. Fuhrman reveals scientifically proven ways to lose weight quickly and healthy. His six week plan teaches us that health equals nutrients, which equals less cravings and unhealthy weight gain. I love this book because calories are not focused on, nor are certain “food groups.” The advice is smart, practical and some of the recipes in this book are ones I use every day, such as smoothies, soups and even desserts!

7. Eating for Beauty by David Wolfe

amazon.com
If you’re mentally drained in the world of dieting, who the heck could blame you? Sometimes we hear so much information, we get confused and discouraged. Whenever I know I want to look and feel my best with smart advice, I turn to Eating for Beauty by superfood guru, David Wolfe. If you haven’t heard of David, this book will show you why he is so popular in the world of health. This book teaches women to eat for beauty, not around calories, carbs or fat intake. It isn’t a diet book, but a book more about what foods nourish us on a deep level and make us beautiful and slim naturally. The result is, the pounds drop off effortlessly and naturally when you eat highly nutritious, beautifying foods. You’re satisfied, feel amazing, and the diet mentality is gone along with the unhealthy weight. I highly recommend this popular book to every single female out there.

Weight loss can be such a hard thing to deal with as women in our culture. The array of dieting books on the market don’t help, and if anything, they cloud our judgment. The great thing is, there are books for weight loss that actually work, and don’t promote a quick-fix, unhealthy solution. Do you have any favorite books you have found that led to healthy weight loss without deprivation? Share them!