Books

An anthology that gathers open sources on body weight, nutrition and movement, then turns on the readings themselves: how medical research and journalism feed and are fed by social stereotypes about bodies, food, and the choices people make inside a system. It is split into an informational half and a theoretical half to make that argument. By Sarah Gilleman, ROTEL, revised edition 2023, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

A hands-on lab manual for upper-division and graduate sports nutrition, built to reinforce the core concepts by measuring them: exercise intensity and substrate utilisation, glycemic responses to selected foods with and without exercise, designing sports drinks and testing rehydration responses, and metabolic health. By Mary P. Miles, Stephanie M.G. Wilson and Morgan L. Chamberlin, TRAILS 2022, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

The lab book for the introductory food preparation course at Iowa State University, usable in the lab and in the kitchen. Each section carries learning objectives, lab problems to solve, the recipes, questions, and observation charts where you record your own data. By the Iowa State University Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, 2025, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

For anyone who wants to understand health and fitness rather than inherit slogans: goal setting, physical activity and exercise, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, body composition, flexibility, nutrition, stress management, self-care and sleep. It carries self-assessment assignments and reflection prompts, so the reader measures themselves instead of only reading. By Jessica Alsup, ROTEL 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

The course textbook for Personal Wellness at Fanshawe College, working through the eight dimensions of wellness — physical, emotional, social, financial, spiritual, occupational, intellectual and environmental — from a practical, evidence-informed angle rather than as a list of resolutions. By A.J. Stephen, Fanshawe College Pressbooks 2025, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

A study guide built from more than twenty years of teaching animal nutrition. It covers the six fundamental nutrients — their structure, digestion and metabolism — then bioenergetics, feed additives, nutrient analysis, the digestive organs and processes of monogastric and ruminant animals, and how nutrient utilisation is measured. Each chapter carries a new-terms box and key points. By Gita Cherian, Oregon State University 2020, CC BY-NC licence.

Twenty chapters in nine units, written so nutrition can be taught as its own course or folded into an existing nursing unit. It stays evidence-based and assessment-led for pre-licensure students, and builds the clinical judgment to spot when nutrition is the thing driving a patient's outcome. By Emerald Charity Bilbrew, Jody Vogelzang and Kelli Whittington, OpenStax 2024, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

An introductory nutrition text used in colleges and high schools: the basics of nutrition and metabolism, how to judge whether nutrition information is any good, body weight and health, nutrition through the life stages, dietary supplements, each macronutrient in depth, and what the vitamins and minerals actually do. By Alice Callahan, Heather Leonard and Tamberly Powell, Open Oregon Educational Resources, CC BY-NC licence.

A short foundational text on Canada's 2019 Food Guide and how food labelling works, for health professional students who never met the revised guide in their own training. It sets out what changed, what the strategies for healthy eating mean in practice, and uses a relational inquiry approach to shape the conversation with a client about food instead of handing over a list of rules. By Jennifer L. Lapum, Oona St-Amant and Michelle Hughes, Ryerson University 2019, CC BY-NC-SA licence.

A short resource that teaches first-year nursing students how to take body measurements without the measurement becoming a moment of harm. The technique is deliberately informed by culture, race and ethnicity, gender, sex and sexual orientation, body size and type, and ability and disability. It is part of the first health assessment resource built on clinical judgment, with interactive activities and formative checks that train students to recognise cues, prioritise care and act, which is also what national licensing exams ask for. By Shelly Philip LaForest, Michelle Hughes and Lisa Seto Nielsen, Toronto Metropolitan University 2024, CC BY-NC licence.

An introduction to nutrition for undergraduates, written as the open textbook for the FSHN 185 Science of Human Nutrition course at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. It covers the basic concepts of human nutrition, what we know about the essential nutrients, how to carry out a basic nutritional assessment, and how nutrition needs change across the lifespan. By Marie Kainoa Fialkowski Revilla, Alan Titchenal and Jennifer Draper, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 2020 edition, CC BY licence.

A culinary medicine text for nutrition students and anyone running food-based disease prevention programmes. The 2025 edition covers kitchen skills, food safety, menu planning, shopping and budgeting, popular diets, supplements, food demonstrations, seed-to-table projects, community partnerships and culturally centred approaches, with recipes and case studies alongside chapters on macronutrients, micronutrients and bioactive compounds. University of Arizona, CC BY-NC licence.