The 3-Season Diet: Eat the Way Nature Intended: Lose Weight, Beat Food Cravings, and Get Fit

by John Douillard

Fitness and diet expert John Douillard helps you restore balance to your daily life with The 3-Season Diet

Derived from a 5,000-year-old traditional medical system, the 3-season diet does what no other diet work along with the body's natural response to the changing seasons to feed the body what it craves and can best utilize at all times. In winter, for instance, we crave soups, nuts, warm grains, and other high-fat and protein foods such as fish and meat. In spring we want salads, berries, and leafy a naturally low-fat diet. And in summer, when long days and outdoor activities require high energy, we desire fruits, vegetables, starches, and other high-carbohydrate foods.

By following The 3-Season Diet 's simple instructions for eating foods appropriate to each season, adjusting your diet to your body type, eating at the optimal time of the day, and exercising without triggering a survival response, The 3-Season Diet will become an easily sustainable way of life that lets you look and feel better than you've ever imagined.

Genres: Health, Food, Nutrition, Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Reference, Science

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2000

About the author

Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP, is a youthful 60-year-old globally recognized leader in the fields of natural health, Ayurveda, and sports medicine. He is the creator of LifeSpa.com, the leading Ayurvedic health and wellness resource on the web with over 4.5 million views on YouTube. LifeSpa.com is evolving the way Ayurveda is understood around the world, with over 700 articles and videos proving ancient wisdom with modern science. Dr. John is the former Director of Player Development for the New Jersey Nets NBA team, author of 7 health books, a repeat guest on the Dr. Oz show, and featured in Woman’s World Magazine, Huffington Post, Yoga Journal and dozens of other publications. He has seen over 100,000 patients, and directs LifeSpa, the 2013 Holistic Wellness Center of the year in Boulder, CO.

Reviews

[Kalimorgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t endorse all his theories but I love this guy because he talks about how important and natural it is to actually relax when you’re eating food. Goodness knows I need to work on that. I find his ideas about circadian rhythms relating to eating really interesting. You could skim through this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really enjoying this book. John Douillard spoke at school & was excellent. His information and approach to food/nutrition just makes sense on an intrinsic level of knowing. How out of sync have we gotten with the natural rhythm of life and our place in the global ecosystem!? Our advances in technology & usage of rational thinking are wonderful... yet we have changed things in a really short period of time and come to view humans as operating separately from the rest of life/existence. I think we are slowly waking up to the havoc this approach to life creates & our place in the universe, recognizing that we are part of an integrated whole & need to reassess our approach to technology and what really serves. This book helps address these issues as related to how we nourish ourselves and how we have veered off from the natural way of things.

I have just been jumping around in this book & am looking forward to examining it closer.

[Aevalle Galicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convoluted simple ideas

I wanted to like this book after seeing the author on an alternative healing show. Basically, the principles boil down to: 1) eat in season, 2) with the lunchtime meal being the biggest of the day and 3) breath deeply and fully. He spends 338 pages complicating and convolution these simple ideas. Maybe a ghostwriter should have been hired?

[Son Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book I have ever read

He explained everything logically with Ayuverdic concept. It can be applied on any aspect of life. I love the breathing part because it is the easiest thing we usually forget but it is also one of the most important thing in our life

[Lee Ann Robinson-Boswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensible

I have begun incorporating many of the recommendations in this book and having good results so far. I appreciate the sensible approach to some very difficult issues. My only criticism is that the exercises do not have an alternative for those who cannot kneel.

[Kelli Reddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally done!!! Required reading for my yoga teacher training, was pleasantly surprised to find I agree with his diet. It is a very similar cycle I already follow with my training and off season, definitely going to pay attention to the specific foods he notes for each season.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joh Douillard is really good. He packages traditional ayurveda and deep knowledge in consumer-friendly packaging (note the title of this book) - but he is an excellent teacher and practitioner.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recognize that I have a strong bias toward western medicine, but it was enjoyable to read a different perspective. However, it felt like reading an infomercial.

[Missi Wendt · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great way to slow down and enjoy your life!

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and useful application of Ayurveda to the western world. I would have liked to see Douillard stretch some of the Ayurvedic principles further for western application - for example, he encourages the use of many Indian spices to help with digestion. I imagine, though certainly don't know for certain, that there are more familiar options available to the west that may be more accessible. Douillard dabbles in exploring the positive aspects of the Mediterranean diet and the French Paradox, but without drawing many strong comparisons between their approach and an Ayurvedic one besides encouraging large mid-day meals and taking the time to enjoy one's food. I would have liked to have seen a closer look at how WHAT the Mediterraneans and French eat benefit us as he does with Indian spices.

Overall, as a Westerner who is beginning to learn more about Ayurveda, I found this book to be a nice bridge between these worlds.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great, simple read that will teach you how to get back in tune with your health by eating what's in season and following a daily rhythm. You don't have to have any prior knowledge of the concepts of Ayurveda to start this simple program, the book will give you everything you need. Though it sounds very cliche, this book is not so much a diet as it is a lifestyle. I have tried several diets in the past to no avail and this one is simple and effortless. The point is for it not to be a struggle so you don't stress out your body any further than it already is(which makes you put on weight.) I have also read his book Perfect Health for Kids, which I also highly reccommend!

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives great insight into not only the seasons of different foods (and how we should generally eat what is in season), but also gives some good recommendations to the manner in which we eat. There is a suggested eating plan (though I haven't followed it to it's entirety), that is realistic and easy to follow. It gives tips on breathing, eating, stretching, and exercising. Very informative! One last thing that is pretty interesting is how he describes the seasons and how various people align to different seasons...I'm a Summer!

A good read - albeit difficult for me to read quickly due to the factual content. (I'm more of a novel fan).

[Laurasmoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I hadn't heard Douillard speak at my school last year, I would've never picked up this book or read it very far because it's got that creepy bestseller thing going on. But turns out its a super-accessible intro to Ayurvedic nutrition and lifestyle concepts, and has really useful menu ideas and appendices with recommended food lists for each season. His website www.lifespa.com is also a good source for some of that.

[Belann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new approach to the Ayervedic approach to eating for body type, vatta, pitta, kapha. Douillard uses seasons to describe the types. The idea still boils down to eating what is in season, which makes good sense. It you tend to be more of one type than another, you emphasize that season more. Douillard also suggests eating the largest meal of the day between 12 and 3 or possibly 4. That one change alone would help people lose weight. Interesting.

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, well-written book about living with the cycles of nature, rather than against them. I probably would have appreciated it a little more had I not just finished the author's other book, Body, Mind, and Sport, which really blew me away. This title covers some of the same material, but I recommend reading the other one first. Overall, a great book for anyone interested in holistic health and wellness.

[Ani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book still focuses waaaaaay too much on the "importance" of weight loss, for it to be a non-trigger book. However, I really did like reading a more Western-friendly interpretation of Ayurveda. I've been struggling with how to incorporate things I'm learning about Ayurveda into my own actual daily life, and this book provides a very nice path for doing just that.

Just be careful if you are trying to avoid problematic language surrounding weight loss and obesity.

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book and is flying totally under the radar. I almost wish it wasn't called a "diet" because it's not really a diet. Dr. John Douillard covers the basics of ayurveda and that eating food in season and according to your constitution (vata, pitta or kapha) is essential. It's so simple and it's really common sense. Highly recommend.

[India Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite one insufferable chapter on the history of fad diets, this book reveals the indisputable wisdom of nature in a way that makes so much sense, it's at once perplexing to not have been living an Ayurvedic lifestyle all along and comforting to imagine how easy it will be to adopt.

[Kirstin Nice · Rating 5 out of 5]

My FAVORITE book on health. It affected me the most during y year of studying at IIN. Very easy to understand way of living according to Ayurvedic tradition, and integrates it into the Western world. John Douillard is awesome!

[Loripdx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've finally found a way to eat to stave off the cravings and the craziness. What a concept: eating foods according to the seasons. I've already instituted several of John Douillard's suggestions into my daily routine because they work AND because they make sense to me.

[Francine Apollo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book helpful to adapt Ayurvedic philosophy to modern day America. It is written clearly and simply and conveys a large amount of information.

Highly Recommended if you are interested in modifying the way you eat and live.

[Joan Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's nice to have a seasonal eating help. What when and why. He also covers things like exercise.

[Karyn]

Woo-hoo! This is a grrreat guide to eating, sleeping, breathing and exercising in harmony with your body and the rest of the natural world.

[Beth]

I would recommend readers new to Auyerveda and interested in exploring the subject try his book: Fit for Life. It is an easier to understand application of Auyervedic principles.

[Loree · Rating 4 out of 5]

seasonal approaches...diet and energy...

[Catrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice take on a modern way to apply ayurveda

[Ginny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how he looks at eating and seasons. I particularly enjoy his 51% rule that is do it right 51% of the time.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows a wonderful application of Ayurvedic principles in our Western lifestyles. Clear instructions too.

[Katie Hilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this in conjunction with Mind, Body, Sport and the Yoga Body Diet Book. There are some good principles to follow and I hope to put some of them into practice

[Margery · Rating 3 out of 5]

helpful- moved to organic delivery of mostly local foods & avoid processed but...its hard to eliminate entirely - have managed to give up coffee!