While spending time in the gym and gaining muscle is important, it’s also incredibly vital to get brain gains as well.
What we mean by that is reading up on the leading research and experts in the fitness and nutrition industries.
For the nitty-gritty, here are the keto books we love:
Seeing as your health is the most crucial aspect of your life, it only makes sense to read the best information and fill your mind with how to eat, drink, lift, stretch, recover, and everything in between.
One of these factors – nutrition – is incredibly necessary to have nailed down if you want to achieve an outstanding physique.
And, as we have covered previously, the ketogenic diet is one of those ways you can simply and effectively drop body fat and remain strong and alert in the process.
So, getting really ingrained with the ketogenic diet and being in ketosis through reading is top priority for any serious bodybuilder or elite athlete.
Here, we’ll go over the broad aspects of the keto diet and give you our top recommendations for books to dive deep into the diet.
More in-depth reviews and information is below!
What Is The Keto Diet: An Overview
(For the ultimate in-depth guide on the ketogenic diet, check out our full-length article.)
The ketogenic diet is a trendy nutrition protocol aimed at reducing body fat, elevating mental clarity and energy, and protecting from serious diseases.
When you follow a keto diet, you’re forcing your body to switch and stay in ketosis.
In one sentence, ketosis is where your body burns ketones (energy stored in fat molecules) as the main source of fuel.
This means depleting yourself of all carbohydrates save for some sparse intake and the majority of your protein sources.
At least 70% of your calories come from fatty foods, such as nuts, fatty meats, oils, coconuts, eggs, dairy, and low-carb vegetables with tiny amounts of low-carb fruits.
It’s hardcore, but if you do it right, you can remain in ketosis for as long as you want, burning fat for fuel.
This should give you a heightened amount of clarity, plus the added benefit of shredding unwanted body fat, especially from those trouble areas like midsection or upper thighs.
Why You Should Read These Books
Because they are a treasure trove of information.
While you can easily get the gist of what a keto diet is straight from an article off the Internet, we strongly believe books hold the key to implementing these nutrition tenants.
For one, you can physically hold the book in your hand. It’s a tangible thing that you don’t simply “X” out of.
Whenever you want to remember a certain fact or detail from the volume, all you have to do is take it out and peruse the pages.
Two, you can write notes on it. As sacreligious as it might be, putting your own thoughts in the margin can help future you understand what you were thinking when you first read through.
Everybody needs a personalized nutrition protocol, specific to their needs and body. Therefore, it only makes sense to customize your books to fit your dietary DNA.
Lastly, you should read these particular books because they are the premier sources of researched material on the ketogenic diet.
Everything from the biology to implementation to FAQs are all within these books.
If you have any questions – which we’re certain you do – these volumes most definitely have the answer.
Best Ketogenic Books
Below are brief summaries and recommendations for each book:
War On Carbs
First up on our list is a comprehensive how-to guide written by jacked, camo-clad Mark Bell called War On Carbs.
Self-proclaimed as “the best nutrition book I’ve ever written,” Mark goes deep into eliminating “dieting” and guilts you into becoming accountable for your actions.
Specifically, he makes you sign a page and suggests you share it with the world on social media, to prove you’re serious about making a nutritional change in your life.
He begins with the basics, letting you know who he is, how this book came about, what the diet, ketosis, and ketones are, and then shows you how this diet can benefit you.
Then he gives you the diet, giving you typical days on each protocol (cyclical, War-on-Carbs, performance enhancing, and fasting methods).
Finally, he goes into the nitty-gritty, covering everything from cheat meals to alcohol to sleep and exercise.
The wonderful thing about War On Carbs is that Mark is extremely thorough in his information. And while it’s chock full of facts and implementable advice, it’s only 68 pages!
You can literally read this in roughly an hour and become smarter than you were before on the ketogenic diet.
It’s quite pricey to get as a paperback, but War On Carbs is available on the Kindle Unlimited Program and is decently priced for the normal Kindle version.
For a full coverage on one of the best diets out there, that’s a great deal.
Get War On Carbs on Amazon.com
Keto Clarity
Next up is another full-fledged overview of the ketogenic diet, clearing up any confusion you may have.
Written by health blogger Jimmy Moore and Eric Westman, MD, Keto Clarity gives you a therapeutic perspective on ketosis.
What if I told you that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat intake diet could give you the power to defeat and eliminate health conditions that normally take medication to control? (Insert Morpheus meme.)
This is the basis of this book. Moore and Westman are all about giving you crystal-clear information about ketosis and physical therapy.
They first go over the keto diet in today’s society: What is it, what do people in the industry say about it, how do you get started?
Then they show personal trials with ketosis and the conditions they themselves had, going deep into how the diet helped them with their diseases.
However, the biggest benefit to this book could be later on, where they take a look at eight different success stories, as well as detailed assistance with keto specifics – producing adequate ketones, science and evidence for the therapeutic advantages of ketosis, food shopping, recipes, meal plans, and so on.
A thick volume at over 300 pages, Keto Clarity is a must-read for those who feel tremendous on a ketogenic diet. The Kindle version is super affordable, and it’s well worth it to pour over the various sections in this book.
Get Keto Clarity on Amazon.com
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living
Up next is an educational book that wants to shake up how people think about low-carb living, instead grounding an opinion based on real science.
Jeff S. Volek, PhD & RD, and Stephen D. Phinney, MD & PhD, provides you with the definitive resource on a healthy ketogenic lifestyle.
They want to show you what a ketogenic diet can do for you, including:
- How carbohydrate restriction is ideal for maintaining insulin sensitivity
- How it improves blood glucose and lipids while reducing inflammation (drug-free)
- Dietary sugars and refined starches are 100% unnecessary for your brain or exercise
- You can’t simply “cut carbs” to experience long-term health success
And much more!
They begin with the perspective you should have when considering a ketogenic diet.
After that, they go into the physiological effects ketosis has on the body, from fuel partitioning to how it alters your body composition and physical performance.
Then they go into clinical application, such as treating Type 2 diabetes as carbohydrate intolerance and the importance of dietary fat.
What’s different about this book is the guest chapters at the end, where they talk about various aspects of the diet, including controlling seizures (the original reason for the keto diet), 30 years of clinical practice with the protocol, and how the patient views the diet.
This is a thick read, with 316 pages in paperback form.
Roughly the price of three coffees (Bulletproof, of course), The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living deserves a post on your bookshelf.
Get The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living on Amazon.com
Essential Keto Cookbook
Last on our keto diet book list, we have the Essential Keto Cookbook by Louise and Jeremy Hendon.
This is by far the definitive source of delicious, simple recipes you can make on a keto diet.
With over 124 recipes, Louise and Jeremy are all about creating a tasty ketogenic experience.
Essential is full color, has helpful cooking tips, includes high-resolution photos of the recipes, and – most important – gives you the nutritional info… plus the net carb count!
Of course, what’s a cookbook without a meal plan these days?
The Essential Keto Cookbook adds in a meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, designed around the 20 grams of total net carbs you should be shooting for in a day.
They also have recipes that are sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and legume-free, so it works for any palette and biology.
Another great advantage of this cookbook is they have tons of low-inflammatory recipes, limiting the foods that cause inflammation, such as nuts, seeds, and all dairy.
Their food creations sound incredible:
- Fiery Buffalo wings
- Jalapeno “corn” bread
- Chocolate biscotti
- Easy bone broth
- Coconut ghee coffee
- Fish tacos
- Popcorn shrimp
- Chocolate coffee coconut truffles
And a whole hell of a lot more!
Through this link, you not only get the cookbook at its normal price, but you get a ton of bonuses too, like a keto diet guide, how to eat out like a pro when you’re keto, the complete list of acceptable foods, and a 2-week plan to get you started on a ketogenic diet.
This book has so much value, it would be crazy not to add this to your nutrition information collection. Become a keto chef in no time!
Get The Essential Keto Cookbook Now
Conclusion
Read any (or all) of these books on the ketogenic diet and get more informed on your nutrition.
These are extremely valuable tools you can use whenever you get stuck on the diet or want a healthy recipe or two for the week’s meals.
Go crazy into the science behind ketosis or simply implement the practical stuff; either way, the four keto diet books we lay out above are worth their weight in gold.
Get some brain gains into your daily training routine and watch your physique transform with every page!
