Intermittent fasting has taken the world by storm, but the truth is that intermittent fasting (IF) books and the whole concept of fasting are much older than most would like to believe.
Like everything else, the concept of fasting has evolved over time, and IF has emerged as the most popular fasting protocol. Intermittent fasting comes in various forms, each with its unique approach.
Books are an excellent avenue for learning about anything, whether rocket science or intermittent fasting. But the question is: which intermittent fasting book should you invest in to master the subject and get the most out of fasting?
After 50-hour research and consulting with certified dietitians while also incorporating my intermittent fasting experience, I have curated a list of the 11 best intermittent fasting books to achieve your personal goals. Let’s dive right into them below.
Top 11 Best Intermittent Fasting Books You Should Read
Below are the 11 best books on intermittent fasting in different categories:
- Best Overall: The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore
- Best for In-Depth Analysis: Eat Stop Eat: Intermittent Fasting for Health and Weight Loss by Brad Pilon
- Best for Long-Term Health: The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo
- Best Practical Guide: Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle by Gin Stephens and Dr. Kenneth Power
- Best for Quick Results: The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer
- Best for Sustained Fasting Practices: Fast. Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens
- Best Collaborative Approach: Life in the Fasting Lane by Eve Mayer, Jason Fung, and Megan Ramos
- Best Scientific Insight: The Scientific Approach to Intermittent Fasting by Michael Vanderschelden
- Best for Female Readers: Intermittent Fasting for Women by Melany Flores
- Best Holistic Approach: Intuitive Fasting by Will Cole
- Best for Weight Management: The Obesity Code by Jason Fung
How Much Do the Best Intermittent Fasting Books Cost?
The best intermittent fasting books cost anywhere between $7.88 and $21.37. The prices below are for the paperback editions.
| Category | Book | Name | Price | Why We Love It |
| Best Overall |  |
The Complete Guide to Fasting | $19.79 | The book is a comprehensive guide on intermittent fasting backed by scientific research and practical guidance, making it suitable for beginners and experienced fasters alike. |
| Best for In-Depth Analysis |  |
Eat Stop Eat: Intermittent Fasting for Health and Weight Loss | $19.99 | This book offers a straightforward approach to intermittent fasting, emphasizing flexibility and simplicity for those seeking long-term benefits. |
| Best for Long-Term Health |  |
The Longevity Diet | $14.96 | Focuses on longevity and improving overall health by following evidence-based fasting mimicking diets (FMDs). |
| Best Practical Guide |  |
Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle | $15.29 | Tailors intermittent fasting to suit the modern lifestyle. The author also shares personal experiences to inspire success. |
| Best for Quick Results |  |
The Fast Diet | $18.99 | Combines scientific insights with practical advice and meal plans for effective weight management. |
| Best for Sustained Fasting Practices |  |
Fast. Feast. Repeat. | $7.88 | This book offers a holistic view of intermittent fasting and blends scientific information with the author’s anecdotes and practical strategies. |
| Best Collaborative Approach |  |
Life in the Fasting Lane | $21.37 | The book combines the author’s anecdotes with expert insights to make fasting more accessible and engaging. |
| Best Scientific Insight |  |
The Scientific Approach to Intermittent Fasting | $17.28 | Offers unique insights into the scientific mechanisms of fasting, catering to those seeking an in-depth understanding of the subject. |
| Best for Female Readers |  |
Intermittent Fasting for Women | $11.65 | Focuses on the unique fasting requirements of women and addresses important hormonal questions. |
| Best Holistic Approach |  |
Intuitive Fasting | $21.00 | This book combines fasting with intuitive eating principles, encouraging mindfulness and a tailored fasting approach. |
| Best for Weight Management |  |
The Obesity Code | $14.39 | Explores the root causes of obesity, shedding light on the role of insulin and providing a unique perspective on effectively losing weight. |
Best Intermittent Fasting Books Review
Below are the best intermittent fasting books to help you stay healthy and lose weight faster.
Best Overall
The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore is our pick for the best overall title, as it is the best comprehensive resource on intermittent fasting.
The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore
This is the best book on intermittent fasting, as it is an exceptional resource and knowledge base for anyone seeking to explore the world of intermittent fasting.
Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore are well-versed in the field, and their combined expertise has consistently delivered substantial value to the IF community. Fung is a renowned nephrologist, while Moore is a popular health advocate, and this book is an excellent practical guide to help you better understand complex fasting concepts and methods.
This book allows you to dive head-first into the science behind fasting and learn about its potential health benefits. What I liked the most about this book was that it covered numerous fasting methods, such as time-restricted eating and alternate-day fasting, leaving you with multiple options.
The Complete Guide to Fasting offers a clear path and instructions on how to start and maintain an intermittent fasting regime while also including valuable tips and sample meal plans.
The Complete Guide to Fasting Coupon
The Complete Guide to Fasting Coupon
Best for In-Depth Analysis
Our pick for this category offers an in-depth analysis that will blow your mind in terms of the value you get from fasting methods, tips, and common misconceptions.
Eat Stop Eat: Intermittent Fasting for Health and Weight Loss by Brad Pilon
In my opinion, Eat Stop Eat provides an incredibly in-depth analysis of intermittent fasting that you won’t find in any other book on fasting. Pilon puts simplicity first and explains how a straightforward approach that combines sustainability and flexibility is the best long-term fasting option.
Pilon is a proponent of adopting 24-hour fasts because of their numerous health advantages. However, the part I liked the most is that he supports all his claims with scientific evidence and up-to-date research, making the book a valuable and trustworthy resource for learning about intermittent fasting.
Eat Stop Eat addresses common fasting misconceptions while offering alternative options and tips for a healthy lifestyle.
Eat Stop Eat Coupon
Eat Stop Eat Coupon
Best for Long-Term Health
Are you committed to improving your long-term health but find the prospect of fasting overwhelming? This book delves into fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) and techniques to trick your brain into producing fasting-related benefits, even when you’re not entirely abstaining from food.
The Longevity Diet by Valter Longo
Valter Longo is a leading expert in the field of fasting and human longevity. The Longevity Diet combines personal experiences and research findings, ultimately forming a comprehensive guide to a fasting diet that promotes longevity and health.
This book also delves into the popular concept of fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) and their primary role in reversing insulin resistance and promoting overall well-being [1]. The best part is all concepts Longo puts forward are supported by a corpus of evidence and scientific research.
The Longevity Diet is an essential resource for anyone looking to make informed choices regarding their long-term health and well-being and how fasting can fit into it.
The Longevity Diet Coupon
The Longevity Diet Coupon
Best Practical Guide
Theory can be interesting, but most people prefer practicality and real-life advice backed by personal experiences. Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle offers precisely that.
Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle by Gin Stephens and Dr. Kenneth Power
To achieve the best results with fasting, you must remodel your lifestyle around it.
Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle contains valuable insights and an easy-to-follow guide to incorporating intermittent fasting into your day-to-day regime. This book perfectly blends authors’ personal experiences and scientific expertise, making it credible and accessible.
The success stories in this book motivate you to commit to intermittent fasting. While the authors outline specific guidelines, they also highlight the importance of flexibility and tailoring your intermittent fasting plan to your unique needs.
Delay, Don't Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle is a valuable resource for anybody seeking health benefits from fasting while customizing their approach.
Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle Coupon
Delay, Don’t Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle Coupon
Best for Quick Results
The name says it all. If you want quick fasting results, this book is for you!
The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer
The Fast Diet is an efficient and quick introduction to fasting for weight management and improving overall health. This book is captivating and provides a user-friendly guide to fasting, courtesy of Dr. Mosley’s scientific expertise and Spencer’s engaging writing style.
The 5:2 method is the primary IF method explained in this book, which simply means fasting for two non-consecutive days a week while eating normally on the remaining days. A wealth of scientific research backs everything, so you don’t have to worry about the effectiveness of the overall approach the authors put forward.
The Fast Diet is a very informative and well-rounded book that deserves a shot if you want to see quick results with fasting.
The Fast Diet Coupon
The Fast Diet Coupon
Best for Sustained Fasting Practices
Fast. Feast. Repeat. is a must-have if you want to take up fasting for the long run. Gin dives deep into different concepts and methods you should use to make the intermittent fasting approach sustainable and more effective.
Fast. Feast. Repeat. By Gin Stephens
This book is a practical and comprehensive guide to intermittent fasting. The author, an extremely experienced faster, offers invaluable insights and strategies for successfully adopting intermittent fasting as a new lifestyle.
This book emphasizes flexibility, respecting individual differences, and the necessity for a tailored approach. Stephens shares her fasting journey throughout the book, helping readers better understand the whole path and what it takes to succeed with this diet approach.
Lastly, Fast. Feast. Repeat. effectively addresses common challenges intermittent fasters face while also offering practical solutions.
Fast. Feast. Repeat. Coupon
Fast. Feast. Repeat. Coupon
Best Collaborative Approach
If you need to hear multiple professional insights and success stories before trying something new, then Life in the Fasting Lane is for you. This book summarizes years of experience and scientific research from multiple authors.
Life in the Fasting Lane by Eve Mayer, Jason Fung, and Megan Ramos
I believe there is no better way to learn about IF than listening to three experts offer a comprehensive deep dive into it as a transformative and sustainable lifestyle.
This book offers a holistic approach to learning about different fasting methods while backing all the concepts with scientific research. What I liked the most about this book is it is highly relatable, full of success stories and author’s anecdotes.
Life in the Fasting Lane is suitable for people of all experience levels. The book emphasizes community and support, encouraging readers to find their own fasting lane to transform their current lifestyle into something even better.
Life in the Fasting Lane Coupon
Life in the Fasting Lane Coupon
Best Scientific Insight
While subjective experience is one thing, objective truth is the bedrock of every serious health and diet-related decision. If you want the best scientific insights into fasting, try this book.
The Scientific Approach to Intermittent Fasting by Michael Vanderschelden
What particularly appeals to me about this book is how the author presents his intermittent fasting guide while offering a corpus of scientific evidence to support all of his assertions. This approach leaves no room for uncertainty and forces you to acknowledge the concept as highly effective.
As an experienced healthcare professional, the author carefully examines every nuance behind the science of intermittent fasting and how it can potentially yield numerous health benefits. It is rigorous in its scientific approach, offering readers incredible insights into the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of fasting.
The Scientific Approach to Intermittent Fasting is an excellent book for anyone seeking to develop a deep understanding of intermittent fasting and its most popular methods.
The Scientific Approach to Intermittent Fasting Coupon
The Scientific Approach to Intermittent Fasting Coupon
Best for Female Readers
Girls, buckle up because this one is for you. Even though plenty of intermittent fasting books are dedicated to women, this book is the best at addressing the hormonal and physiological challenges a woman might encounter when fasting.
Intermittent Fasting for Women by Melany Flores
Intermittent Fasting for Women provides the ladies with a tailored intermittent fasting method that is designed specifically to address their distinctive requirements.
Melany adopts a comprehensive approach to implementing fasting for women, ensuring they derive the maximum benefits for their health and overall well-being. In addition, the book offers a plethora of evidence-based insights into how fasting affects women’s hormones, weight, and overall health.
You should definitely give Intermittent Fasting for Women a try if you are seeking a supportive but informative companion looking to effectively harness the benefits of fasting while keeping in mind your unique health and hormonal considerations.
Intermittent Fasting for Women Coupon
Intermittent Fasting for Women Coupon
Best Holistic Approach
Many people want to understand the impact of fasting beyond simple physical benefits and explore its effects on mindfulness, spirituality, and overall well-being. This book offers exactly that, a holistic approach to fasting.
Intuitive Fasting by Will Cole
This book offers an incredible insight into the intersection between mindfulness, fasting, and overall health and well-being. The author is one of the leading experts in functional medicine, carefully exploring more of a holistic approach to intermittent fasting with certain intuitive eating principles.
Cole advises readers to emphasize intuition while listening to their bodies. The author also suggests a unique approach that involves developing a deeper connection with your body to achieve potential health and mental benefits.
Intuitive Fasting encourages using a holistic and balanced approach to fasting, offering invaluable insights for promoting self-awareness, health, and overall well-being.
Intuitive Fasting Coupon
Intuitive Fasting Coupon
Best for Weight Management
You will definitely like this book if you like thought-provoking concepts and methods. The Obesity Code offers a unique approach to weight gain problems through different dieting practices and intermittent fasting principles.
The Obesity Code by Jason Fung
The Obesity Code is one of the most thought-provoking books on the root causes of obesity that I have ever read.
Fung, a fasting expert and nephrologist, challenges traditional beliefs about losing weight while offering a unique approach to tackle the same. You will learn the role of insulin and insulin resistance while exploring how these mechanisms and factors contribute to the obesity pandemic.
The Obesity Code offers theoretical and practical guidance on breaking the obesity cycle by addressing different hormonal imbalances through intermittent fasting methods.
The Obesity Code Coupon
The Obesity Code Coupon
Why Read Intermittent Fasting Books?
Reading intermittent fasting books can help you gain valuable insights on the subject and will motivate you to make the most of it. Most IF books delve into the most popular and efficient fasting methods and their mechanisms.
Additionally, there is no better way to learn about a subject than to read a book by a field expert. IF books usually include practical steps, tips, meal plans, and sample schedules, which help you overcome common challenges and difficulties most people experience.
These books often include numerous success stories and testimonials, which can motivate you to embark on your own intermittent fasting journey. The best thing about the books in this article is that they are based on proven scientific research.
What to Look for When Purchasing an Intermittent Fasting Book?
Below are all factors you should consider before purchasing an intermittent fasting book.
Author’s Qualifications
Look for books authored by intermittent fasting experts, healthcare professionals, or experienced nutritionists to guarantee their credibility and overall safety.
Content Quality
The book should be backed by scientific evidence and be well-organized. Plus, the book must explain the main intermittent fasting principles and their benefits.
Fasting Methods
There are numerous fasting methods, such as 16/8, 5:2, or alternate-day fasting. If you know which method you are looking for, pick the book where a particular approach is tackled the best. Also, if you are a vegan, look for vegan intermittent fasting methods since some differences might apply to you.
Practical Guidance
While scientific evidence should be the standard for books on fasting, personal experiences and practical guidance are something you shouldn’t underestimate. Look for books that offer comprehensive guidance and come with a plethora of meal plans, strategies, and practical tips so you can implement your intermittent fasting plan effectively [2].
Safety Precautions
A book about fasting should address the potential risks behind fasting and provide guidelines for a safe fasting experience.
Updated Information
Having access to the most up-to-date information is another crucial factor. Scientific and technological advancements are progressing rapidly, and reading the latest books keeps you updated.
Realistic Expectations
A book should set realistic expectations. Setting overly ambitious goals increases your odds of dropping off a fasting routine.
How We Ranked the Best Intermittent Fasting Books
Here are the criteria we used to rank the best intermittent fasting books:
- Author: We made sure only to put books on the list from credible authors.
- Clarity: We selected well-written books that simplified complex concepts.
- Reviews: We analyzed hundreds of reader reviews and picked the books that stood out because of the remarkable success stories and positive experiences they generated.
FAQs
Which is the number one book on intermittent fasting?
In my opinion, the best book on intermittent fasting is The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore because of its comprehensive coverage. It combines Dr. Fung’s medical expertise with Moore’s practical insights, offering a well-rounded guide for readers looking to start their intermittent fasting journey.
What is the 5:2 intermittent fasting method?
The 5:2 method involved eating normally five days every week and fasting for two non-consecutive days.
Why am I not losing weight on the 16:8 intermittent fasting method?
If you’re not seeing the desired results with the 16:8 method, you must adjust your intermittent fasting routine. The most critical factor for weight loss is maintaining a calorie deficit. If you haven’t made any changes to your routine and have hit a plateau, increasing the calorie deficit might be necessary. Additionally, various factors, such as age, gender, and activity levels, can influence your progress.
Wrapping Up
Reading is one of the best ways to learn about the best intermittent fasting methods and their real-world application. While choosing the best book for yourself, it is important to consider different criteria, such as the author’s qualifications and content quality.
You must also consider factors like the book’s alignment with your specific goals and personal preferences. Additionally, consider the depth of scientific evidence the book presents, its applicability to your daily life, and whether it provides comprehensive guidance for various stages of your intermittent fasting journey.
I recommend reading The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore but feel free to choose the book that best meets your personal needs, preferences, and health and fitness goals.
References:
- Attinà A, Leggeri C, Paroni R, et al. Fasting: How to Guide. Nutrients. 2021;13(5):1570. Published 2021 May 7. doi:10.3390/nu13051570
- Longo V. PERIODIC FASTING MIMICKING DIET, LONGEVITY, AND DISEASE. Innov Aging. 2022;6(Suppl 1):91. Published 2022 Dec 20. doi:10.1093/geroni/igac059.362
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