Why Fat Is Your Friend In the Winter Months (And All Year)
Image source: Unsplash
Welcome to the new solar year!
I hope it brings abundance, beauty, joy, and connection for you and yours.
Between the holidays and living in snowy Washington state these days, I've spent a lot of time thinking about cold-weather self-care.
There are of course the basics, like staying warm, staying hydrated, and staying moisturized inside and out (especially with strong winds and drying heaters!).
One of my favorite rituals for the latter is blending massage oil with my favorite scents, warming it up with the flame of a candle, and taking the time to massage it onto my body from head to toe with presence.
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Why fat is your friend
Another important way to stay moisturized and nourished during cold weather is by eating healthy fat.
In Tibet, it's common to consume po cha, a blend of pu-ehr black tea, milk, and yak butter. The tea provides extra calories for weathering the cold as well as support for living in high altitudes. The buttery consistency can even help chapped lips!
One of Ayurveda’s favorite fat sources is creamy ghee, clarified butter with the milk solids removed. My favorite is Ancient Organics, and Banyan Botanicals offers a lovely chai spiced ghee as well.
And of course, multiple holidays from many different traditions make this time of year one of celebrating and feasting.
This isn't just a coincidence, either.
It's another way to protect the body, heart, and mind from the cold and stark weather outside. This is why it's very natural to gain a bit of weight when the weather turns cold. It's the body's natural wisdom helping to insulate us from the cold, protect against pathogens (flu season, right?), and store up energy when it's otherwise scarce to make it through to spring.
It's also a source of emotional comfort when the sun is slumbering and the landscape is sparse. Isn't nature just incredible?
As I've put on an extra layer of warmth and nourishment this season, I've allowed myself to enjoy and embrace it.
I thank my body for its inner wisdom in keeping me cozy and protected, for increasing my immune response, and for doing this so naturally. I feel comforted both by the feeling of softness enveloping me as well as the trust in my body that it cares for me in this way without any conscious effort on my part.
If you've found yourself gaining a little weight this winter, I invite you not to fight it.
Instead, you can see it as a reflection that you ARE nature, and that nature intrinsically knows what's needed as we navigate this season.
Love will keep you warm
Additionally, winter has traditionally been a time for turning inward toward the hearth, often with family and loved ones by our sides.
This is just another version of increasing that warm, gooey quality in an otherwise chilly and stark time.
In Ayurveda, the quality we derive from all this healthy fat and healthy relating is called ojas.
It's the refined essence of our immunity, our connectedness, and our love.
It's that warm-and-fuzzy feeling the holidays often give us, as well as the literal ooey-gooey substance that sheaths our nerves and moisturizes our skin, making it supple, soft, and comforting.
So I pray that this season brings you lots of ooey-gooey love, lots of time and connection with loved ones, and plenty of nourishing, protecting, comforting ojas.
Be well and be nourished.
