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The best lighter eating cookbooks

by Jessica Lockyer-Palmer

published on 4 January 2018

From nutritionist-led meal plans to batch cooking tips, plant-based bowls to lighter twists on your comfort food favourites, these cookbooks are brimming with recipes, advice and guidance for lighter eating.

Simply Good For You

by Amelia Freer

In Simply Good For You, nutritionist Amelia Freer showcases simple, fresh and uplifting food. In place of complicated dietary advice and restrictive plans you’ll find nutrition packed but laid-back recipes. Dishes include comforting slow-cooker meals and one-pan ideas, game-changing seasonal roasted salads, speedy and filling breakfasts, and packed-lunches to look forward to. There are also plenty of ways to use leftovers, ingenious ‘instant’ soups, as well as tempting sweet things (hello gooey courgette chocolate brownies) and weekend and special occasion dishes.

With 80 batch-cooked recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks, plus a 21-day meal plan, and tips on how to store, freeze and reheat your meals, The Meal Prep King Plan is an extensive resource for meal prepping for weight loss.

The Fitness Chef: Still Tasty

Graeme Tomlinson is the nutrition coach behind the popular Instagram account, The Fitness Chef, where he dishes out easy-to-digest nutrition facts and busts diet culture myths. His cookbook, Still Tasty, is founded on the simple belief that you don’t need to make extreme changes to your diet to lose weight and can enjoy lighter versions of your favourite foods with a few simple tweaks. With pasta and pizza, toasties and subs, curries and kebabs and a whole chapter dedicated to desserts, Still Tasty is not about shaming food groups and guilt-tripping you for wanting a sticky toffee pudding.

Eat Happy

Eat Happy is Melissa Hemsley’s first solo cookbook. With a focus on 30-minute recipes that make you feel as good as they taste, it’s also full of handy tips and tricks for using up leftovers.

Buddha Bowls

by Hannah Pemberton

If you are behind on the trend for colourful plant-based bowls brimming with vegetables and meat-free protein, Buddha Bowls will bring you up to speed in no time. Each recipe is packed with produce to help you eat more fruit and veg and there are ideas for every meal of the day, including enticing breakfast bowls. Plus, with a dedicated section on substitutions for vegans, it’s also suitable for anyone following an animal product-free diet.

Rainbow Bowls

Rainbow Bowls

by Niki Webster

For more inspiring bowl-based ideas, try Rainbow Bowls a collection of vibrant, nutrition-packed recipes for every meal of the day. Designed to help you eat the rainbow, each recipe is packed with different fruit and vegetables and just happens to be vegan too.

Mindful Chef

by Myles Hopper, Giles Humphries

Myles Hopper and Giles Humphries are the talented team behind Mindful Chef, the UK’s most popular healthy recipe box service. This, their first cookbook, is packed with recipes that take under 30 minutes and use less than 10 ingredients. It’s all about fresh, healthy recipes that don’t demand hours in the kitchen.

Eat Better Live Longer

by Dr Sarah Brewer, Juliette Kellow

Written by registered dietician, Juliette Kellow, and medical nutritionist, Dr Sarah Brewe, this cookbook comes with recipes, tips, meal-plans and advice that you can trust is founded in scientific research. Recipes include: prawn, pomegranate and quinoa bowl, banana pancakes with spiced apple rings and barley risotto with roasted squash.

Feel Good

Feel Good is speedy, accessible and flexible cooking at its finest. You’ll find vibrant, flavoursome recipes designed with both mental and physical health at the forefront with favourites including Spring Veg Broth with Miso-Ginger Drizzle and One-Tray Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion Salsa.

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