Naked Nutrition: An LGBTQ+ Guide to Diet and Lifestyle

by Daniel O'Shaughnessy

As a gay man living in London and working as a nutritionist, Daniel O’Shaughnessy knows that the LGBTQ+ community has specific dietary and health needs. Yet while there is huge demand for this kind of information in his private practice, there is very little reliable public information out there for the community to access – and not everyone can afford a Harley Street nutritionist like him.

Naked Nutrition seeks to change that: it is the first LGBTQ+ focused guide to diet and lifestyle, taking an honest, inclusive and non-judgemental approach to the questions Daniel is asked most frequently. It covers a wide range of subjects, giving detailed, practical advice on matters including: weight loss and muscle gain, digestive health issues, addiction, sex, fertility, nutrition for balancing hormones while transitioning, how to eat if you have a chronic condition, and how to mitigate against the party lifestyle.

304 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

About the author

Daniel O’Shaughnessy is a London-based, award-winning nutritionist, a functional medicine-certified practitioner, mindset coach, author and public speaker with more than fifteen years of clinical experience. His work sits at the intersection of physiology, psychology, identity and lived experience, with a particular focus on queer health, body image and trauma.

His first book, Naked Nutrition, was one of the first comprehensive guides to diet and lifestyle written specifically for the LGBTQ+ community. A fully revised and expanded edition, The Queer Guide to Nutrition and Lifestyle, will be published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in September 2026. It brings together nutrition, functional medicine, mental health, body image, sexual wellbeing, transgender health, HIV, addiction, recovery and family building through an inclusive and evidence-informed approach.

His second book, Letting Go of Perfect: A Gay Man’s Guide to Healing from Body Dysmorphia, combines lived experience with professional insight to explore how body image, shame and control develop. It offers a grounded and compassionate alternative to quick fixes, helping readers understand what sits beneath the pressure to perfect their bodies.

Daniel’s work is shaped by clinical practice, an earlier career in drug addiction counselling and his own lived experience. He supports people in understanding the patterns behind their symptoms and rebuilding their health without shame, restriction or one-size-fits-all rules.

Reviews

[Karsten Fatur · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t generally write reviews for books, but really felt I needed to after this one. It contains a lot of great and useful information, but unfortunately seems to play into some very toxic elements of Western queer culture. Some parts included blatant body shaming, and discussions of weight and body fat completely ignored natural variation, genetics, and the concept of set weight. In addition, in discussing nutrition (and for some reason, also exercise programs) the focus fell on those trying to build excessive amount of muscles for aesthetic reasons with very little space given to trying to build muscle simply to the point of having a healthy muscular system to support your body. This section also failed to provide an overview of the dangers (mental and physical) of this particular toxic trend in the queer community, or the concept of orthorexia. As a result, it seemed to reinforce toxic muscle/gym culture instead of combatting it. The book also often goes off topic, with extended sections on drug use and of mental health, for example. Though good sections, they were not really connected to the book’s theme. The author takes a harm-reduction stance for substance use (which is great) but then failed to apply this same filter to other aspects (such as over building of muscle). Eating disorders were barely discussed, and were touched on in such a superficial way as to not be of much practical use (as well as being largely separated from the nutrition context). This ties in with a broader theme of great oversimplification in subject matter beyond the author’s field of expertise, such as the discussion of neurotransmitters and of mental health more broadly. I was very excited when I came across this book and dove into it with great expectations only to be let down very early on.

[iina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Naked Nutrition is a good starter source on nutrition, particularly for those with little prior knowledge (as it covers all the basics of good nutrition), and for those with a special need. The more specialised topics the book covers include: transgender nutrition, HIV and nutrition, nutrition & fertility, LGBTQ+ mental health, and even how to support your health with nutrition if you take party drugs.

I understand this is meant to be an all-rounder, a starting point, but here and there the book would mention and interesting topic and cover it in only a couple of sentences, perhaps pointing to further resources at the back (sometimes not), and I really wished it would’ve been more in-depth at times. I was also not a fan of the fatphobia, the outdated idea that a certain BMI = health, but to be honest I expect these from any nutrition book unless they specially state otherwise.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book.

[Daniele Marinucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naked Nutrition is an outstanding resource for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. This is an extensively well-researched book full of wisdom and practical advice that goes beyond nutrition and fitness. It tackles specific health requirements related to the LGBTQ+ population, including HIV Support, fertility, sexual and mental health, weight management, substance use and addiction, and transgender nutrition.
I’ve found the book really informative and helpful in many ways. It’s written with passion from first-hand experience both as a gay man and clinician in an informative tone that makes it easy to understand and implement. Recommended!

[Jean Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book honest and a humble approach to a very complex subject. The author is inclusive and makes you feel at ease with the overwhelming nutrition world. I liked how he spoke open and freely about lifestyle behaviours in the community which aren’t discussed normally.
The book has key sections which discuss themes like the party lifestyle, transgender health, HIV, sports nutrition etc but brings it all back to key foundations which need to be tackled and integrated.
I now use this book as a reference book which I dip into.

[Miguel Toribio-Mateas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is extremely difficult to write a book about such a complex subject as LGBTQIA+ health. You'd need an encyclopaedia to cover everything you could say about every different flavour and variation within each of the colours of our rainbow. The author does an outstanding job of condensing this information in a coherent format that stimulates the reader to look for more where they need it, while still getting some beautiful "a-ha" moments of self-realisation. For all those reasons, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

[Adam Marzheuser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally

A book about nutrition but targeted for the LGBTQ community. Plus, Daniel covers subjects that I haven’t seen discussed in nutrition coaching before, including drug use, transgender health and fertility. This book is essential to all under the Pride flag and our allies.

[Boka]

some good basic information, sometimes redundant, sometimes a bit shallow, sometimes rather normative