It seems that every day there is a new fad diet on the health and wellness scene. Whether it’s the paleo diet, the keto diet, or a wave in more selective or ethical styles of eating such as veganism, there is a general consensus among health professionals that fad diets tend to offer a short term solution for patients’ long term goals, and thus can easily discourage them from eating healthily.
In fact, many claim that following a fad diet is only useful when treating specific medical conditions. For example, the ketogenic diet can be useful in treating epilepsy, and an adherence to a Mediterranean diet can lower the risk of weight gain in obesity treatment. And yet, even with these concerns in mind, fad diets remain to be extraordinarily popular in the United States.
What’s the difference between a fad diet and a lifestyle choice? For most, it’s the ability to be consistent and incorporate the new way of eating into your life in the long term. One way to achieve this is to not follow predetermined meal plans for your diet and instead purchase a cookbook focused on that diet to choose your own recipes to make each week. That way, you won’t feel overwhelmed by the barrage of recipes available on the internet, and you’re more likely to actually eat the food, since you choose the recipes that sound the yummiest to you!
We collected the best cookbook available for some popular diets in the U.S. today. Check them out below!
- Whole30
Whole30 is a diet that is similar to the popular paleo diet. It emphasizes whole foods and eliminates sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, soy, and dairy, typically challenging dieters to follow the method for 30 days (which can be repeated whenever necessary). The idea is to use the method to recharge your food choices by slowly reintroducing these foods once the diet is complete, in order to determine which of them don’t make you feel good so you can cut them out completely.
The Defined Dish is a New York Times bestselling cookbook by blogger-turned-cookbook-author Alex Snodgrass and includes dishes that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and grain-free, since it’s a completely Whole30 cookbook. This book was recently named one of the most popular cookbooks of 2020, which makes it an even greater cookbook for those looking to jump start this diet.
- Mediterranean
The Mediterranean diet is inspired by the eating habits of Italian and Greek people, and contains a proportionate approach to the different food groups that are available in the region. Followers of the diet typically focus on consuming olive oil, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and fish, while moderately consuming dairy and infrequently consuming meat. This diet is notable for its association with a lower risk of mortality and may reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
An excellent cookbook to follow and purchase for this diet is The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Published in 2009, this book contains 92 recipes that sweep the Mediterranean region to offer a significant variety of flavor. In fact, Cooking Light named The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook one of the top three healthy cookbooks of the last twenty-five years.
- Vegan
The vegan diet has been popular for decades. As you likely know, vegan diet followers don’t consume any animal products or byproducts, including meat, eggs, dairy, and any other animal-derived substances (many also don’t purchase any household or clothing products containing these ingredients). Veganism can be an ethical decision as much as it is a diet for health or weight loss.
One of the most popular vegan cookbooks is Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. In fact, the beloved cookbook author’s recipes are wildly raved about online –and she has plenty to choose from to get your fix.
Going forward, don’t forget that many of these diets also have a community you can be a part of on social media or through local meetups and groups. These can make achieving a healthy lifestyle all the more simple and fun. So the next time you’re looking for a change in your diet, consider one of these cookbooks as your guide, and find some buddies along the way!
