10 Books for Improving Your Relationship To Food

Taking the leap into intuitive eating can feel anything but intuitive at first. Consuming anti-diet content – like books and podcasts – that delve into intuitive eating and the non-diet approach can be really helpful. Here is a list of 10 of the best intuitive eating books to help you integrate the principles of intuitive eating and the anti-diet approach into your life. 

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When you are on your intuitive eating journey, it becomes important to build a sort of “anti-diet bubble”. With all the diet culture around you, it can be really helpful to read books that align with or help teach you intuitive eating and the anti-diet approach.

Over the years I pulled together the below list of some of my favorite intuitive eating books. Each book approaches the topic a little differently, and they each do a great job translating the principles of intuitive eating into realistic recommendations. Each author has a unique perspective and offers something different to the journey of intuitive eating and the anti-diet world.

Please note: some links below are affiliate links. I only use affiliate links for products I use and trust, a category in which all these books fall into 🙂

Happy reading!

The 10 Best Intuitive Eating Books

1. Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

The original Intuitive Eating book by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch was published in 1995 and has since been updated four times to reflect the latest research. This book is the gold standard for starting your intuitive eating journey.

2. The Intuitive Eating Workbook: Ten Principles for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship with Food by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
The Intuitive Eating Workbook is a companion to the book, and helpful for putting the principles of intuitive eating into practice.

3. Unapologetic Eating: Make Peace with Food and Transform Your Life by Alissa Rumsey (aka me!)

Using a relatable four-step approach, this book walks you through how to reconnect with your body using your relationship to food as the entry point. It provides actionable tools that you can use to confidently nourish yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

4. Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison

Christy Harrison, a dietitian and host of the popular Food Psych podcast, challenges the hidden diet messages within the health and wellness industry. She exposes all of the ways diet culture penetrates our everyday lives.

5. Gentle Nutrition: A Non-Diet Approach to Healthy Eating by Rachael Hartley

Rachael explores what healthy eating looks like from a non-diet perspective, and her book teaches you how to improve your relationship with food and how to take care of your body with real life tips and tools that have helped her clients.

6. The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America by Virginia Sole-Smith

In this book, Virginia explores the variety of ways we struggle with food and shares her own process of healing after a traumatic event.

7. Decolonizing Wellness: A QTBIPOC-Centered Guide to Escape the Diet Trap, Heal Your Self-Image, and Achieve Body Liberation by Dalia Kinsey

One of the few fully inclusive books to discuss intuitive eating and body liberation, Dalia offers suggestions, tools, and resources specifically for Queer, Trans, and BIPOC folks. As a white cis-het woman, this book helped me to continue to decolonize myself and continue to question the mainstream approach to health, nutrition, and wellness.

8. Eat to Love: A Mindful Guide to Transforming Your Relationship with Food, Body, and Life by Jenna Hollenstein

Jenna, a dietitian and mindfulness teacher, challenges the deeply held beliefs behind our relationship with food and dieting in order to heal and regain sanity around food.

9. Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life by Kelsey Miller

Kelsey Miller is a writer and speaker. In her memoir, she discusses her journey into self-loathing and disordered eating-and how she got out of it utilizing intuitive eating and a non-diet approach. 

10. Healthy Eating for Life: An Intuitive Eating Workbook to Stop Dieting Forever by Cara Harbstreet

This easy to follow workbook, written by a registered dietitian, offers exercises to help us approach food in a nonjudgemental, compassionate way.

For more book recommendations related to body positivity or Health at Every Size, check out my Favorite Food Freedom & Body Liberation Books. 

What books am I missing? Share your favorites below!

Looking for more intuitive eating support?

Check out my Unapologetic Eating 101 Course, an online, self-paced program to liberate yourself from dieting and make peace with food and your body.

My team and I also offer virtual one-on-one support – you can check out our virtual intuitive eating nutrition coaching packages.

Author Bio

This article was written and reviewed by Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CSCS, a registered dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. She specializes in weight-inclusive care, intuitive eating, body image healing, mindfulness, self-compassion, and healing from chronic dieting, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Alissa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science, and a Master’s Degree in Health Communications, and is also an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.