10 Best Books on Intuitive Eating for Holistic Wellness

Intuitive eating is just what it sounds like— an anti-diet approach to eating intuitively. But in a culture full of food rules and restrictions, that can be a bit easier said than done.

This list of books will help guide you to holistic, intuitive eating for holistic wellness.

"Intuitive eating" and "mindful nutrition" can be such refreshing terms in the wellness landscape full of rampant diet mentality. If you want to ditch restrictive eating, endless food rules, and a non-stop diet cycle, these may be some empowering and insightful reads. 

Several of these books are ones I have personally read, while others have been recommended to me and I plan to read (why is there never enough time for the stack of books on my nightstand 😅). These books, written by prominent health professionals, share the latest research, inspiration, and encouragement to help foster a healthy relationship with food.

What is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive eating is an approach to food and nourishment that emphasizes listening to your body’s internal cues rather than relying on external diet rules or restrictions. It’s rooted in the idea that our bodies are naturally equipped to regulate hunger, fullness, and energy needs when we learn to trust them. Developed by dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, intuitive eating encourages rejecting diet culture, honoring your hunger, and making peace with all types of food. 

Unlike traditional dieting, which often focuses on weight loss and calorie counting, intuitive eating prioritizes a holistic connection between mind and body, fostering a healthy and sustainable relationship with food. It’s not about perfection or eating "right" but about tuning in to what your body needs in a compassionate, nonjudgmental way.

These are some of the best intuitive eating books I've found and will cover topics including healthy eating, emotional eating, gentle nutrition, hunger, and fullness cues. As always, nothing on this blog is medical advice, and you should speak with your own personal care provider about whether intuitive eating is appropriate for you (keep reading if you're curious about signs that intuitive eating is NOT right for you). 

10 Best Books on Intuitive Eating Principles

It can be so overwhelming trying to learn anything health, nutrition, or food-related online. There are so many contradictory messages and for so long, I found myself stuck in this cycle: binge-consuming health content > confused by the conflicting recommendations > and ultimately not doing anything because I don’t know where to start 😅 It wasn’t until I learned about nutrition and bio-individuality that I felt equipped to make healthier choices for my holistic wellness.

These books are all a great place to start if you are interested in taking a more intuitive approach to eating and nutrition.

Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach
Authored by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, this updated edition delves into the principles of intuitive eating, providing practical tools to break free from diet culture and rediscover the joys of eating. The book will also guide you to:

• Follow the ten principles of Intuitive Eating to achieve a new and trusting relationship with food
• Fight against diet culture and reject diet mentality forever
• Find satisfaction in their food choices
• Exercise kindness toward their feelings, their bodies, and themselves
• Prevent or heal the wounds of an eating disorder
• Respect their bodies and make peace with food—at any age, weight, or stage of development

Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food
Zen teacher Jan Chozen Bays offers insights into how mindfulness can transform eating habits, helping readers develop a balanced and joyful relationship with food. In this book she shos you how to:

• Tune into your body’s own wisdom about what, when, and how much to eat
• Eat less while feeling fully satisfied
• Identify your habits and patterns with food
• Develop a more compassionate attitude toward your struggles with eating
• Discover what you’re really hungry for

Intuitive Eating for Life: How Mindfulness Can Deepen and Sustain Your Intuitive Eating Practice
Jenna Hollenstein integrates mindfulness practices to support and sustain intuitive eating, offering a holistic approach to nurturing body and mind.

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn to practice intuitive eating using the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, a classic Buddhist framework. The Four Foundations include:

• Mindfulness of body, in which you will examine how the body awareness enhances your ability to practice the principles of intuitive eating—honor your hunger, respect your fullness, and exercise.  

• Mindfulness of feeling, in which you will explore the ways that mindfulness and meditation can provide stability and self-awareness, allowing you to experience the full spectrum of your emotions in real time.

• Mindfulness of mind, in which you will examine your own beliefs and misconceptions about eating and the body and respond to them with compassion

• Mindfulness of dhammas (or phenomena), in which you will learn how phenomena such as the impermanence of life can shift our focus from improving our bodies to caring for them.

The Mindfulness-Based Eating Solution: Proven Strategies to End Overeating, Satisfy Your Hunger, and Savor Your Life

What are you really hungry for? Is it food, happiness, or something else? In this unique book, mindfulness expert Lynn Rossy offers an effective, whole-body approach to help you discover the real reasons why you’re overeating. 

Dr. Lynn Rossy presents mindfulness strategies to address overeating, emphasizing satisfaction and savoring life through a balanced relationship with food. I think of any of the books on the list, I felt like this one resonated with me the most. I appreciated that it was not only a holistic, but an evidence-based approach as well. I can see how this book would help to foster body trust, food freedom, and help you to tune in with your body's signals (and emotional cues). 

The Intuitive Eating Workbook: Ten Principles for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship with Food
Have you tried fad diet after fad diet, only to gain weight back? Maybe you’ve tried the protein diet only to move on to vegetables only? Raw almonds and coconut water every forty-five minutes instead of big meals? Or perhaps you’ve tried counting calories, but the numbers on the scale still don’t add up. If you are ready to throw in your hat and give up on dieting for good, take heart. You can enjoy food again—you just need to pay attention to your body’s natural hunger cues. Based on the authors’ best-selling book, Intuitive Eating, this workbook can show you how. Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch provide a hands-on guide with exercises and strategies to implement the principles of intuitive eating in daily life. 

Eat, Drink, and Be Mindful: How to End Your Struggle with Mindless Eating and Start Savoring Food with Intention and Joy
Dr. Susan Albers offers techniques to cultivate mindful eating habits, aiming to transform the way readers experience food and address mindless eating patterns. This comprehensive guide and workbook is a tool used by intuitive eating counselor practices, physicians, and other professionals. It is a practical guide that helps you check in with your mental health and physical health and eat mindfully for wellness. 

Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung combine teachings on mindfulness and nutrition to guide readers toward a more conscious and healthy way of eating and living.

The Mindful Eating Workbook: Simple Practices for Nurturing a Positive Relationship with Food
Vincci Tsui provides practical exercises to help readers develop mindfulness around eating, aiming to build a healthier relationship with food.

Intuitive Eating for Every Day: 365 Daily Practices & Inspirations to Rediscover the Pleasures of Eating
Evelyn Tribole offers daily practices to support the intuitive eating journey, providing inspiration and guidance throughout the year. If I had to pick just one book from this entire list to recommend to "an intuitive eating beginner", it would be this one. It takes a lot of the messaging, ideas, and recommendations and presents that in really easy-to-understand, bite-sized chunks. And I find that rather than bashing the diet cycle, or just promoting food neutrality, it really shares the information in a positive, empowering light--which I really appreciate. 

The Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating
This was one of the first books I read about the world of intuitive eating years ago. And I think it was a great first step in ditching binge eating and fostering a more peaceful relationship with my food habits.

Christy Harrison challenges diet culture and promotes intuitive eating as a path to reclaiming well-being and happiness, offering a comprehensive critique of dieting and its impacts. As much as I wish that restrictive diets were a thing of the past, I feel like they are inevitable on our looks-obsessed world. Everyone wants to be the thinnest and eating whatever "promises" to get them there. I appreciate this non-diet approach that supports healthy ways to nourish holistically. 

Is intuitive eating right for you?

While this approach can be great for some people, it may not be right for others. If you are curious and want to learn more about whether or not intuitive eating is right for you, check out this blog post:

4 Reasons Intuitive Eating May Not Be Right For Your Health Goals

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