Forget the 90s: Why Fat is Good
Vata season (fall/early winter) is in full swing. I've been out soaking up the last of our warm weather here in Denver. As a reminder, the qualities of vata are cold, dry, mobile, and erratic. All transitions contain vata qualities/energies. I’ve also talked in the past about how perimenopause is like fall.
This newsletter pertains to everyone, but doubly so for those of us in perimenopause. As we move into colder weather, and/or getting older, you may be noticing dryness: dry skin, constipation (the sign of a dry colon), anxiety (the sign of a dried out, airy mind) or a dry vagina. Ayurveda’s remedy: internal and external oleation. And, of course, the obvious: hydration, which oleation aids in, as it holds the water in.
Ayurveda has always taught (even through the 90s fad of low fat diets) that we need good fats in our diet. Every tissue in our bodies requires it. The mainstay oil is ghee. Ghee has some amazing benefits, and it is good for all constitutions (with kapha types needing less). It can help nourish and hydrate all of our cells, help with microbiome balance of the gut, and help with general immunity. By the way, ghee can also be used externally, on rough skin patches, as a balm for dry eyes, and as a carrier for medicinal herbs (external and internal).
Other good fats include olive oil (make sure it’s extra virgin olive oil, and add it in after cooking cold), avocado oil (high smoke point, good for cooking), and coconut oil (though this oil can be cooling and quite drying, so it’s one more for the summer). In the case of all oils, it’s important to invest in oil that is as unrefined as possible. Look for words like cold-pressed, organic, unrefined, and unfortunately, in this arena, you get what you pay for. Eating refined oils, or oils cooked above their smoke point, can result in inflammation/heat (pitta!) accumulation. Stay away from canola, vegetable and seed oils.
Ayurveda also recommends daily external oleation, also known as self-massage with oil, also known as abhyanga. It’s a lovely practice of massaging your entire body with oil (from head to toe, or even just the feet).
Benefits of oil self-massage include:
Keeping moisture in the skin, helping it stay supple
Decrease of vata, including anxiety in the mind and general stress reduction
Moving lymph (helping to support immunity and detox pathways)
Improved circulation
Deeper sleep (especially if done just before bed)
Indirectly, it can help with weight loss by grounding vata and letting earth element (kapha) release if it is in excess
An adage in Ayurveda is that whatever we put on our skin, we should be able to eat. This makes a lot of sense, as our skin is our largest organ and absorbs what we place on it (the beneficial and the toxic). For self-massage oil, the general recommendation for vata and kapha types is sesame oil; for pitta (and also vata), sweet almond oil is a good choice. There are many places selling oils that are also infused with herbs.
So how do we work with internal and external oleation?
Cook with at least 1/2-1 tsp of ghee at every meal; if vegan, add olive oil to the meal after cooking
You can also play around with taking a little oil first thing in the morning, again, preferably ghee, and waiting 20 minutes before eating or drinking
Warm up your oil of choice by placing a bottle of it in hot water, then massage your body, saying words of love to yourself
Slather oil onto the feet and put some socks on just before bed to help with decreasing vata for sleep
We require more oil as it gets colder and we move into winter. We also require more oil as we get older.
Happy oiling!