9 best healthy eating cookbooks

Healthy eating cookbooks are specialized books that focus on providing recipes and guidance for preparing nutritious and balanced meals. These cookbooks are often designed to cater to specific dietary preferences, restrictions, or health goals. Here are some key points about healthy eating cookbooks:

  1. Dietary Specializations: Healthy eating cookbooks cover a wide range of dietary specializations, including but not limited to:

    • Vegetarian and Vegan: These cookbooks focus on plant-based recipes that exclude animal products.
    • Gluten-Free: They provide recipes that do not contain gluten, suitable for individuals with gluten sensitivities or celiac disease.
    • Low-Carb: These cookbooks offer recipes that are low in carbohydrates, which can be helpful for managing blood sugar levels or weight.
    • Paleo: They feature recipes based on the principles of the paleolithic diet, emphasizing whole foods and avoiding processed ingredients.
    • Keto: These cookbooks provide recipes that adhere to a ketogenic diet, which is high in fat and very low in carbohydrates.
    • Heart-Healthy: Cookbooks focused on heart-healthy eating often include recipes low in saturated fats and sodium, promoting cardiovascular health.
    • DASH Diet: The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet cookbooks provide recipes that aim to lower blood pressure through a balanced and low-sodium diet.
  2. Nutrition Information: Healthy eating cookbooks typically provide nutritional information for each recipe, including calorie counts, macronutrient breakdowns (e.g., protein, carbohydrates, fats), and sometimes micronutrients (e.g., vitamins and minerals).

  3. Meal Planning and Portion Control: Many healthy eating cookbooks offer meal planning tips and portion control guidance to help individuals manage their caloric intake and maintain a balanced diet.

  4. Ingredient Substitutions: These cookbooks often suggest healthier ingredient substitutions to reduce the use of processed or high-calorie ingredients, making recipes more nutritious.

  5. Cooking Techniques: Healthy eating cookbooks may include cooking techniques that maximize nutrition while minimizing the use of unhealthy cooking methods, such as frying.

  6. Tips for Eating Out: Some cookbooks provide advice on making healthier choices when dining at restaurants or ordering takeout.

  7. Health and Wellness Goals: These cookbooks often align with specific health and wellness goals, such as weight loss, managing chronic conditions, or promoting overall well-being.

  8. Variety of Cuisines: Healthy eating cookbooks may feature a variety of cuisines, ensuring that individuals with dietary restrictions can still enjoy diverse and flavorful meals.

  9. Author Expertise: The authors of healthy eating cookbooks may include registered dietitians, nutritionists, chefs, or individuals with expertise in specific dietary areas.

Healthy eating cookbooks can be valuable resources for individuals looking to improve their diet, address specific health concerns, or simply explore new, nutritious recipes.They can provide inspiration and guidance for making healthier food choices and cooking delicious meals that align with dietary preferences and goals.

Below you can find our editor's choice of the best healthy eating cookbooks on the market
  

The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You'll Want to Eat

Avery

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Classic comfort foods get a healthy makeover

Erin's beloved recipes use simple, healthy swaps to create crowd-pleasing flavors—adding whole grains, healthy fats, and ripe fruits and vegetables to everyday indulgences. No need to sacrifice taste in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle or an efficient kitchen!

Affordable, attainable ingredients with tips for leftovers and storage

Erin's budget-friendly meals can be made with everyday items from any store or market. Her recipes are intelligently designed to eliminate remainder ingredients so you'll never be left with a half-empty can of beans. She includes "Leftover Love" tips throughout the book to enable you to use leftovers efficiently and deliciously, as well as tools to store and reheat previous meals perfectly.

One-pan meals for tonight + meal-prep tips for the whole family

Erin brings fun and flexibility to your kitchen. Her recipes include features like "Market Swaps" that list easy substitution tips so you can use items you have on hand, and recipe spin-offs so that you can make a single recipe multiple ways, like Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (5 Ways!) and the Ultimate Creamy Mac and Cheese (4 Ways!), pictured above.

Gordon Ramsay's Healthy, Lean & Fit: Mouthwatering Recipes to Fuel You for Life

Grand Central Publishing

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The Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy and Wholesome Meals to Cook, Prep, Grab, and Go

Rockridge Press

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Tart Cherry-Almond Breakfast Cookies

These cookies are filled with so many good-for-you ingredients like whole grains, nuts, and fruit. Enjoy them with nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt or skim milk.

Tuna Niçoise Salad

This version uses traditional Nicoise ingredients like potatoes, green beans, eggs, and tuna but in smaller portions for easier meal prep.

Coconut Lime Flounder in Parchment Paper

In this simple parchment paper–cooked dish, coconut cream is combined with lime, soy sauce, and basil to give you a melt-in-your-mouth fish.

The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavor

Clarkson Potter

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Buttermilk Oven 'Fried' Chicken

Fried chicken is one of my biggest weaknesses, so naturally I’ve been perfecting this lighter version for years. I’ve managed to achieve the same crispy golden texture you get from frying from my oven. Yep, it’s skinnier, easier, quicker, and (bonus) there’s no greasy mess to clean up. Soaking the chicken overnight (sometimes two nights) in a buttermilk bath is a must for meat that’s moist and juicy. To easily remove the skin from the drumsticks, use one paper towel to grasp the joint end and a second one to pull off the skin.

Clean Treats for Everyone: Healthy Desserts and Snacks Made with Simple, Real Food Ingredients

Fair Winds Press

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The Basics of Clean Eating and Baking

For the purposes of this book, the treat recipes avoid ingredients that are highly processed; meaning, that they are so far from nature that they lack any nutrition. This includes ready-made mixes and items with preservative-filled, mystery ingredients.

When it comes to using a sweetener for the treats in this cookbook, I’ve chosen to test and create recipes with honey, maple syrup, and coconut palm sugar. Coconut sugar also contains zinc and calcium, plus antioxidants and probiotics. So, for these reasons, along with the fact that it’s unrefined, I’ve chosen it as the replacement for granulated (white and brown) sugar in this cookbook; it’s my favorite clean sweetener to use.

This is not a sugar-free cookbook, however. It’s a desserts cookbook that includes recipes made with clean ingredients. Of course, ingredients will always vary by brand, such as the case with chocolate chips. So make sure to check the label whenever possible.

When it comes to clean meals, it’s easy to follow a recipe and stick with a plan. The key word: plan. But when the craving for something sweet sets in, it’s tempting to grab a candy bar while waiting at the check-out line or to throw a box of cookies in the grocery cart.

I hope the recipes in this cookbook help you avoid purchasing convenient, processed desserts while letting you enjoy a sweet treat from time to time with your family and friends.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free

These are my favorite muffins to make during the holidays when cranberries are abundant, and I go overly zealous in purchasing them. Since they store in the freezer for a long time, you’ll find me making a batch of these muffins also in mid-March (seriously). The fresh cranberries and fresh orange zest give these muffins the holiday flavors we all love, and their scent will fill your home. With a hearty texture, they are just the kind of muffin that I enjoy eating while I sip a cup of coffee.

Lemon Bars

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free

These lemon bars have a thick lemon filling over a sweet crust.

They’re perfect for parties, family gatherings, and bake sales.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies

Gluten-free, Dairy-free

My original “flourless” chocolate chip cookie can be found inside my cookbook The Best Grain-Free Meals on the Planet. This recipe was supposed to make it into that book, but after many rounds of testing, I ran out of time to make baking magic and saved it for later.

This fudgy, cake-like cookie with crispy edges is one I’m happy to make when I want a simple, one-bowl recipe without flour.

Matcha Green Tea Bites

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free

If you enjoy matcha green tea, you’re going to love this portable, full of nutrition, bite-size option!

Blueberry Cheesecake

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free

Don’t let the no-bake method fool you. This cheesecake is just as good (or even better) than the laborious traditional recipe.

With a creamy, smooth texture that takes over your taste buds without overpowering in sweetness, this cheesecake is bursting with blueberry flavor, thanks to the added pureed blueberries, making it a simple yet decadent dessert.

Chocolate Fudge Pops

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free, Vegan

My family loves these so much that they disappear faster than I can make them!

The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners: A No-Stress Meal Plan with Easy Recipes to Heal the Immune System

Rockridge Press

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Anti-inflammatory diet basics

Get essential information to jump-start your progress, including foods that can help with inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis, how to stock your kitchen, and more.

A kick-start meal plan

This anti-inflammation cookbook features a two-week meal plan, complete with shopping lists, simple recipes, and nutritional information.

Recipe hacks

Find suggestions for getting the most out of these recipes, from substituting ingredients to storing leftovers.

Eat Better, Feel Better: My Recipes for Wellness and Healing, Inside and Out

Day Diabetic Smoothie Cookbook: 365 Healthy Affordable Tasty Diabetic Smoothie Recipes for Healthy Eating Every Day

Veronica Stockton

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Instant Loss: Eat Real, Lose Weight: How I Lost 125 Pounds―Includes 100+ Recipes

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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