From Kayla Itsines to Clean Eating Alice and Paul McKenna, some of the year’s most anticipated health and wellbeing books are published today. Here’s what you need to know…
Whether you follow Fitness on Toast on Instagram, are one of Kayla Itsines’ #BBG crew or simply have a bit of a thing for nut butter (more on that later), the health and wellness industry goes into publication overload today, with a whopping twelve particularly notable releases to bookmark. Here’s our edit of the post-Christmas reads to get your teeth into. Put their wisdom into practice now, or just mull it over until the New Year if you’re not quite ready to let go of those festive feels.
The Scandi Plan by Faya Nilsson, AKA, Fitness on Toast
If you’ve embraced hygge, enjoy working out outdoors and are partial to a herring every now and again, this is the fitness and nutrition tome for you. Written by Swedish personal trainer and blogging sensation Faya, The Scandi Plan takes in everything from sleeping well to foraging and getting fit, sans gym membership.
Buy online , £16.99
Pip and Nut, The Nut Butter Cookbook
The pre-order that we’ve all been waiting for, if you thought that nut butters were confined to smoothies and toast, think again my friends. From almond fudge to cheesecake to potato gratin (for real), if you live, eat and breath nut butter, or know someone who does, this is pure nutty protein heaven.
Buy online , £15
Strong by Zanna Van Dijk
Time to work off that nut butter cheesecake. Strong is a no-nonsense, practical guide to building a healthy level of fitness, and maintaining it. Penned by personal trainer and founder of the Instagram #girlgains movement Zanna Van Dijk, if working out using weights, maintaining a social life alongside staying healthy and staying positive when life gets hectic elude you from time to time, Zanna’s grounded advice will keep you on the straight and narrow. Plus, there are over 40 recipes to support your training and speed up repair.
Buy online , £16.99
Kayla Itsines The Bikini Body 28 Day Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Guide
Possibly the most phenomenal social media fitness sensation of our times, Kayla Itsines has built an empire on 28 minute HIIT sessions using minimal equipment and sensible, realistic meal plans. Anyone who’s tried a BBG workout will be well aware that it’s not an easy programme, but this workout guide with 200 recipes will make ‘sweating with Kayla’ a veritable breeze.
Buy online , £18.99
The KillerBody Plan by Fajah Lourens
Like Kayla only edgier, Dutch DJ, actress and fitness sensation Fajah’s workout and nutrition plan is a bestseller in her native Netherlands, having sat firmly in the top five since its launch in April. The ‘My Killer Body’ way focuses on establishing your loose body ‘type’ and devising a training routine accordingly to get quick, effective results over a 12 week period. There’s a particular focus on the building up your butt here, if that floats your boat.
Buy online , £16.99
Eat Well Every Day by Clean Eating Alice
If Alice’s cut-glass abs don’t sell this 100 recipe cookbook, the variety of meals, snacks and drinks on offer will. With post-workout, rest day and ‘cheat day’ recipes broken down, you’ll never be at a loss as to what to make, and meal planners with further enhance your new year organisational goals. No food groups are omitted, and recipes include balsamic steak, smoked salmon breakfast feasts and Thai specialities. In short, about as far from a limp salad leaf compendium as you could get.
Buy online , £14.99
Get Control of Sugar Now! by Paul McKenna
From making you smarter to creating a ‘hypnotic gastric band’ (I’m serious), Paul McKenna aims high with his hypnotherapeutic methods, but many report life-changing success after being McKenna’d, so this mindpower focused guide could be just the thing if you suspect, or know for a fact, that your sugar consumption is spiralling out of control.
Buy online , £12.99
The Fast Days Cookbook by Laura Herring
If you’re a 5:2 devotee, or indeed a newbie, inspiration for your low calorie days can be hard to come by. This collection of filling but calorie controlled recipes will relight your 5:2 fire, with additions to many meals included to cater for non-fasting days or non-5:2 followers. With honest, practical advice as to how to put the 5:2 plan into action, not to mention recipes for curry, chilli and and pizza, we promise that low calorie needn’t equate to doom and gloom or aggressive ‘hanger’.
Buy online , £12.99
Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal by Terence Kealey
We’ve long been advised that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis and subsequent blood sugar monitoring, biochemist Professor Kealey noticed that breaking fast in the morning made his blood sugar levels soar more than at any other time of day- waiting until lunch to eat kept them on more even keel. This prompted him to investigate whether there’s a greater health benefit to skipping breakfast altogether. This new release goes against the grain, there’s no doubt about it.
Buy online , £12.99
This is Not a Diet Book by Bee Wilson
If you’ve got this far down the list and are feeling the diet despair kicking in, this is the launch for you. Award-winning food writer and journalist Wilson is aiming for sustainable, wise, happy and healthy eating, with no allusions to six-packs or supermodels. Instead, she focuses on retraining the palate and making broader choices than lunchtimes sandwiches. In short, this is lifelong healthy eating for foodies.
Buy online , £6.99
Unf*ck your Habitat: You’re better than your mess by Rachel Hoffman
There’s quite a trend going on for frank, sweary and ‘keeping it real’ self-help books of late- think achievable rather aspirational. Rachel Hoffman taps into this with a side-eye at Marie Kondo and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, adapting organisational advice to those with kids, housemates, poor health or a more hectic lifestyle. Expect 20 minute clear-out challenges rather than pant-ironing dictates and a healthy dose of non-preachy motivation. If you feel like you’re losing your grip on the day-today stuff, Hoffman will get you off the sofa and sorting your sh*t, with a strong emphasis on gender equality and the importance of genuinely shared housekeeping.
Buy online , £8.99
Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon
The paperback edition of this witty, insightful and at times shocking account of Gordon’s struggles with OCD, bulimia, drug addiction and depression is released today, and will offer great comfort to anyone who has ever suffered with mental health problems, or who knows someone who has. Journalist Bryony spares no details in describing both the dark times and coping mechanisms, from starting a walking group for those in recovery from mental health issues on Twitter to simply writing down fears and feelings or forcing herself to take a shower. Brave, big in scope and banging the drum for an improvement in nation mental health services, Mad Girl is essential reading for anyone touched by mental illness, but especially women, mothers and anyone frantically paddling under the surface, trying to endure. Bryony’s message is that you’re not alone, and that you’re most certainly not mad.
Buy online , £7.99
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