On a GLP-1? These Cookbooks Can Make or Break Your Nutrition

When you’re first starting out on a GLP-1 medication, it can be overwhelming to manage all the changes, from appetite shifts and side effects to new nutrition priorities. Having reliable support is critical to staying healthy, and The GLP-1 Kitchen: A Cookbook for Living Well on Weight Loss Medications is perfect for this time. Written by dietitians, the book features a combination of educational info about what to focus on and recipes to put that knowledge into practice.

While the book does have fewer recipes than others on our list, people who are just starting out on a GLP-1 journey may find it less overwhelming to have fewer options, which gives them the opportunity to lean into more guidance. The book is bright and attractive, with recipes for smoothies and smoothie goals, snacks, mini meals, and sweet treats. No overwhelming, complicated recipes here — these are all geared toward realistic, approachable options.

If you’re at a place where you feel comfortable navigating the nutritional complexity of GLP-1s and just want ideas for what to make, The GLP-1 Diet Cookbook is a good choice. Written by coauthors and dietitians Marie Feldman, RD, CDCES, and Jodi Dalyai, RD, CDCES, the nutritional quality of these recipes is vetted for your needs, prioritizing protein and fiber, in each of the 150 recipes.

Recipe categories cover everything from breakfast to dinner, snacks to sweets, with detailed instructions for each and helpful tidbits of info, like how certain flavors can enhance satisfaction, plus serving tips for items that may need to be eaten right away. While some recipes can feel a bit on the basic side, that means they might be more approachable for those dealing with nausea or reduced appetites, common with weight loss medications. The book even goes so far as to outline recipes for transitioning off of the medication, which can be a time when extra guidance is needed.

If you’re looking for a book that is equal parts guidebook and cookbook, The Everything Guide to GLP-1s: Lose Weight, Build Healthy Eating Habits, and Achieve Lifelong Weight Management is a great read. The guide covers everything from how this class of medications works to daily habits that can help support staying healthy while on them. There are helpful tips for managing side effects, as well as a brief discussion of the history of weight loss medications in general.

As a full-fledged GLP-1 companion, this book, of course, includes recipes to go along with the advice on offer. Author Kayley George, RDN, includes options such as tomato-mozzarella baked eggs, cookie dough energy bites, feta cheese turkey burgers, and plant-based options like a warm chickpea salad with spinach. There are also meal plans and useful information for managing blood sugar while on a GLP-1, for those managing conditions like diabetes.

Some of the most enticing recipes we’ve come across in a GLP-1 cookbook come from Simple Meal Solutions for GLP-1 Diets by Summer Kessel, RD, LDN. If you enjoy quick and easy meals but don’t want to give up bold flavors, this is the cookbook for you. Recipes lean into comfort-food flavors, using easy appliances (like an air fryer) and even some sheet-pan meals, so you have plenty of meals to look forward to.

Breakfasts include dishes like turkey sausage hash and chocolate banana overnight oats, and the entrées are big on flavor but easy on prep, with recipes like air-fried salmon bites with chili-oil cucumber salad, a sheet-pan BBQ pork tenderloin with ranch sauce, and smash burgers with air-fried potato wedges and burger sauce. There are some great options for make-and-take lunches, like a cozy autumn roasted salad and an herby quinoa salad with chicken, as well as yummy sweets like a protein tiramisu.

The GLP-1 Plant-Based Cookbook includes a seven-day meal plan, with recipes designed for plant-based protein, easy digestion, and promoting overall wellness while on these medications. Recipes prioritize softer textures and mild spices, high protein content, and tips for swapping out common ingredients for higher fiber or nutrient-dense alternatives. The cookbook includes a pantry checklist and has four chapters, each devoted to breakfasts and shakes, soups and salads, lunch and dinner bowls, and, finally, high-protein snacks and treats. While it’s a smaller book, with only 16 recipes, we do like that it includes a pantry guide and tips for navigating family dynamics throughout this experience as well.

When you’re ready to start increasing fiber content (or just keeping things up), we love the recipes in this book. They cover every mealtime imaginable and even include snacks, sweets, and some sippable soups for those days when food is a bit tougher to handle. Focused on abundance and variety, the recipes are mostly plant-based and will help keep up the diversity of your diet, as well as its fiber totals. While the book is not necessarily written for GLP-1 users specifically (so use caution and be sure to add in nutrients if you need them), we think it’s an invaluable resource for this audience or for anyone who wants a little more fiber to their life.

Meal planning and prepping can be really helpful strategies for ensuring that you meet your nutrition needs while on a specialty diet. These strategies include prepping ingredients to make cooking easier later, making a few proteins ahead of time, and even fully preparing meals for later consumption, and the Downshiftology Healthy Meal Prep cookbook helps you leverage them all, for healthy meals made easy.

Far from a simple book with just a few recipes, this cookbook offers more than 100 recipes, ingredient guides, tips for reinventing leftover meals, and even information on recommended kitchen products. Recipes go beyond just “serve now” instructions to include storage and reheating instructions too. One caveat is that you’ll want to ensure that the meals provide what you need from a nutritional perspective, as some might not include all the nutrients required for GLP-1-specific diets.

While you may be eating a bit differently on a GLP-1, that doesn’t make you exempt from cooking for others, and the need for a quick and easy weeknight meal never goes away. This cookbook from author Dana Angelo White, RD, highlights more than 100 recipes that come together simply and keep dishes to a minimum. Recipes rely on cookware like Dutch ovens, baking pans, and sheet pans to cook a full meal in “one pan,” and while not every recipe will have precisely what you need nutritionally as a GLP-1 user, they are sure to please the family and are easy to add on to.

Recipes include sheet-pan ginger shrimp with carrots and snap peas, chicken enchiladas, and Thai chicken lettuce cups. There are recommendations for meal prep options, storage, reheating, and even repurposing leftovers. Recipes fall into categories like freezer-friendly meals, under 30 minutes, vegetarian meals, and more, to make it simple to find what you need. This cookbook is a no-fuss resource for getting dinner on the table and tackling nutrition along the way.

This cookbook from Elena Paravantes, RD, is a true guide to not only Mediterranean recipes but also menu planning and much more, including a full 14-day meal plan, shopping tips, ingredient information, and lifestyle recommendations. Recipes offer bean- and legume-rich stews, grain-filled salads and bakes, lean but flavorful proteins, and some sweet treats, too. Adopting some of this Mediterranean approach during GLP-1 use will likely mean vetting recipes to ensure that your specific needs are met, but with protein and fiber at the forefront, this book provides an excellent foundation in Mediterranean eating that can last you for the long haul.