The Top Meal Prep & Meal Planning Books by Registered Dietitians

Top healthy meal prep adn meal planning books written by registered dietitians; healthy family meal planning, organize your meal planning, make ahead meal prep with freezer meals
Top Meal Prep and Meal Planning books written by registered dietitians

Nutrition Books for Specific Conditions Written by Registered Dietitians

 I hope you have found this series an invaluable resource of nutriton information. 

This is the fifth post in the series…

Best Books Written by Registered Dietitians

(Note: At the top of each post in this series, I have provided a description of what a dietitian is; therefore, if you have read any of the other posts in the series, you may want to skip down to the list portion.)

You may be asking…

So what exactly IS a Registered Dietitian, and why do I want to take note when a health and wellness book is written by a Registered Dietitian?

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A registered dietitian, by definition, is considered the expert in the field of nutrition science. The term Registered Dietitian is actually different than a nutritionist. In fact, the term nutritionist is not a regulated term and has a more general meaning. The term registered dietitian, however, is regulated much like the terms doctor or lawyer. In other words, you are not allowed to call yourself a doctor unless you are a doctor, and you cannot call yourself a registered dietitian unless you have completed all the academic and professional requirements.

Requirements for Registered Dietitians

So what are the requirements? Is there some kind of certification you need to be a registered dietitians?

Actually, you cannot just get a certification to become a registered dietitian. Whereas there might be certifications available for nutritionists.

To become an RD you must:

  1. Complete a Bachelors Degree at a college accredited by the Commission of Accreditation of Dietetic Education. Some of the required courses generally included are:

  • Microbiology
  • Medical Nutrition Therapy
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Anatomy and Physiology
  • Evidence Base Nutrition
  • Human Nutrition and Metabolism
  • Nutrition Counseling
  • and more

2. Complete 1200 hours of a competitive internship (The internship is usually completed in hospitals, community service agencies, medical clinics, etc)

3. Pass the CDR Exam

Just like a lawyer can’t practice law without passing an exam, an RD cannot become a registered dietitian without pasing the CDR.

4. By 2024, all register dietitian will be required to have a master’s degree as well. Many RD’s already do.

5. Complete Continuing Education Units throughout their career to keep their registered dietitian credentials.

So you can see why it is a plus when a health and nutrition book is written by a registered dieitian. I want to preface here that just because an RD is considered the expert, doesn’t mean you can’t get great nutrition information and advice from non-dietitians. People who have a passion for nutrition or people who have discovered something that works for them can write insightful nutrition books.

Many health and wellness enthusiasts have done extensive research on their own and have valuable information,  but if you are getting advice from non-dietitians, I would recommend looking for the following:

  1. Are they getting their information from a Registered Dietitian? Are they seeing what multiple registered dieitians have to say about the topic before giving advice?
  2. Do they know when it is time to refer their clients to a registered dietitian? Many informed people have general nutrition knowledge, but when a client or customer needs medical nutrition therapy; then, a dietitian may be needed. Dietitians are trained in nutrition as it relates to diseases, drug-food interactions, tube feeding, enteral nutrition (nutrients through the veins), and various other medical conditions. These topics can get complicated and even be dangerous if incorrect information is given.

For example, someone may tell a client to eat more bananas because bananas are healthy, after all, BUT if a person has kidney failure and is on dialysis, too many bananas could put someone in the hosptial or worse!

One Final Note..

So one final thought before we move on to the book lists. If a book is written by a non-RD, you may want to see if a registered dietitian has written a review about the book, recommended the book, or even written a forward for the book.

Nutrition books written by non-dietitians are not a deal breaker, by any means, but you can see why seeing that RD beside an author’s name in a nutrition book is a plus.

Okay now for the good stuff…

The fifth post in this series is…

Meal Planning & Meal Prep Books by Registered Dietitians

52-Week Meal Planner: The Complete Guide to Planning Menus, Groceries, Recipes, and More

I LOVE to feel organized. Getting organized takes the weight off your shoulders, doesn’t it?!?! That is why I love this book! The goal of this book is to help you organized your meals for a whole year! This meal planner includes:

  • One year’s worth of weekly templates to plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
  • Grocery lists and price comparison sheets
  • Recipe pages

This wonderful origination tool is written by registered dietitian, Jessica Levinson, MS, RDN, CDN.

Your 6-Week Guide to LiveBest: Simple Solutions for Fresh Food & Well-Being

This book also made an appearance in my “Healthy Living Books Written by Registered Dietitians,” but I thought this book fit well in this list as well. This 6-week guide includes more than 100 breakfast, lunch, and dinner solutions. In this book, you will find simple, realistic solutions as wells as assessments, food tips and meal ideas to help you live a happier, healthier, and stronger life. 

Plant-Powered for Life: 52 Weeks of Simple, Whole Recipes and Habits to Achieve Your Health Goals―Starting Today

If you want your meal plan to be full of flavorful, nutritious plant-based foods; then, this is the book for you. This guide, which is broken down into 52 weeks, provides 125 A-MAZING plant-based recipes!

 

The Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook: Easy and Wholesome Meals to Cook, Prep, Grab, and Go

Our lives are so busy that we often don’t have much time to plan and cook our foods. This is why meal prepping is soooo beneficial! Toby Smithson provides so many meal prepping tips and solutions in her book. This book is perfect for busy families who want to find a way to eat healthy on a busy schedule.

This book includes:

  • Helpful tips,
  • Meal plans,
  • Shopping lists,
  • Storage solutions
  • Healthy recipes
  • Healthy Grab and Go Snacks
  • And More…

The Nourishing Meal Builder

The Meal Builder Cards included in The Nourishing Meal Builder takes the stress out of meal planning. In fact, you don’t have to do much meal planning ahead at all!

In this ebook, you get a list of anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory nutrients and foods that support the immune system; boost mood; reduce the risk of chronic disease; and promote cognitive function, focus, attention, and memory. You simply use these list to grocery shop! Then when you are ready to cook a meal, you use the meal builder cards to create a nourishing meal on the spot! It’s so easy and the meal possibilities are endless!

The Nourishing Meal Builder
Create anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, mood boosting, immune supportive meals that reduce the risk of chronic disease and promote cognitive function, focus, attention, and memory.

Diabetes Meal Planning and Nutrition For Dummies

As soon as I discovered this book, I knew I had to include it here. Deciding what to eat on a diabetic diet, can feel overwhelming. This books takes out the guesswork by helping you easily plan your meals. Diabetes Meal Planning and Nutrition for Dummies includes tons of helpful information like healthy eating tips for diabetes, food swap ideas, and of course, yummy recipes!


Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals by (yours truly) Lacy Ngo, MS, RDN

This IS the ultimate meal prep book! Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals shows you how to prep ALL your meals for a month in ONE DAY!!! I developed this book because, although I LOVE to cook, I couldn’t find the time to cook healthy meals everyday. Life. Gets. Soooo. Busy, and figuring out what to eat everyday can sometimes be one more mentally draining decision you have to make.

That is why I began prepping and freezing a month of meals in one day. Over time I became extremely efficient at making all of these meals at once. I can now get all my breakfast, lunch and dinners for a whole month prepped and frozen in only 6 hours!!! This book teaches you the tricks and the steps to take in order to prep and freeze your meals efficiently too. When it’s actually time to eat breakfast and lunch, you simply throw one of these meals in the microwave for 2 minutes and IT. IS. DONE!!!! For dinner, I usually put the family-style meals in the crockpot while I am making my kids lunches in the morning. It’s so simple! With Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals, you have one less thing to think about each day. Now you can enjoy healthy meals and focus on your family instead of trying to figure out what to cook!

Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals includes the some of the most popular family recipes. From Pizza Bites and Southwest burrito dip, to Asian Chicken and rice; there is something for just about everyone.

Meal Prep and Meal planning, weight loss, freezer meals ebook, mindful eating, healthy freezer meals, healthy meal planning for busy families
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals eBook

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