An Ode to Oil

Oily (adj.); (of a person or their behaviour) unpleasantly smooth and ingratiating. Synonyms include; bland, slick, cajoling, coaxing, compliant, hypocritical, ingratiating, and obsequious.

From this dictionary meaning of the word "oily", is it any wonder that growing up I had a negative opinion of oil. To top it off, oily food was the apex of the food pyramid, thus revealing itself as a "least wanted" food for those who wished to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Oil was bad.

As I developed my eating disorder, my relationship with oil worsened. I would say I rarely consumed any oil in my diet; food was steamed, dry and raw. Toast, crackers, potatoes and salads were eaten as they were. Without oil. Becoming a vegetarian, I even excluded myself from the naturally occurring oil in animal products.

And I wasn’t alone. It seemed society at large was anti-oil. I had taken this aversion to an extreme.

Contrast this with human interactions with oil in the past. Throughout ancient history, oil was recognised for its importance, revered and respected; oil was sacred. The Babylonians – modern day Iraqis – used oil to waterproof their boats and as mortar in building construction. The Egyptians also used oil in the preparation of mummies to help preserve corpses; almond, myrrh and frankincense oils were used for religious rituals and as a natural odour deterrent. Olive oil in particular, is found even in the earliest writings in Greece, Linear B tablets, which describe the uses of olive oil in Mycenaean Greece (c. 1,600 to 1,100 B.C.E.). Throughout ancient Greek history, olive and other types of oil performed a variety of functions. It was perfumed and worn on special occasions and was used in cooking or consumed as a part of a meal. A Roman-period author and traveller named Pausanias (8.42.11) described the use of oil in the practices of religion and it was also used as a source of fuel for lamps. Finally, oil had a prominent place in ancient Greek funerary rituals, as it was used to anoint bodies before they were buried. Oil was openly adored, not an evil enemy, that was consumed secretly and with all the guilt of a sin, as it is today.

Before expanding on my journey with oils, and explaining the various uses of oils inside and outside the body, let us first ask, what is oil?

Both oil and fats are macronutrients, along with carbohydrates (fruit and veg) and protein; this means, we need oils and fats to survive. Both are made up of Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. The main difference between fats and oils is that fats are composed of high amounts of saturated fatty acids which will take a solid form at room temperature whereas oils are composed of mainly unsaturated fatty acids which will take a liquid form at room temperature. Depending on whether the final molecule on this chain of fatty acids is Carbon, Hydrogen or Oxygen, determines whether the oil or fat is saturated or unsaturated. This article is not concerned with explaining the difference between the types of oils/fats, but in case you don’t know, saturated fats are generally the "bad" fats and mainly animals based, versus unsaturated fats are generally the "good" fats and mainly plant based.

As I explained, I hated oil. And now, 10 years later, I love it!

How did I fall in love with this demonised devil?

Backstory; 1 year ago, I was suffering from chronic constipation; other complaints at the time were dry eye, osteoporosis, lack of menstruation, poor circulation. A dinner with a friend, who I found out later was studying Ayurveda, an ancient Indian Medicine. Sharing with her my issues, she made one overarching observation about me; I was super dry, lacking oil, in Ayurvedic terms, I was in excess of Vata (the air and ether element). "How can you help me poop though!?!" I inquired, "I’ve been eating all the fibrous foods and drinking tonnes of water". She explained, "Just like a desert experiences flash floods and doesn't absorb the water after torrential rain, so happens to a dry body, a body lacking oils and fats. Even though you are drinking a lot, the water isn’t being absorbed, you need oil and salt to help the water absorption ".

The triad of hydration is it called, with probiotics being the final vertex of the triangle; oil, salt and probiotics help to keep us hydrated by aiding absorption of water.

Why oil? Oil and fat at play role in stimulating motility – or forward motion – in the colon, which in turn promotes more regular bowel movements. Foods that contain oil stimulate the gastrocolic communication reflex, essentially informing the colon that a significant amount of food has just entered the system and in response the colon ramps up its motility to make some room for what's headed its way.

Why salt? To ensure that the water you drink actually enters your cells, you need an electrical charge in the form of electrolytes, or otherwise known as minerals. Some essential minerals to consume are sodium, potassium and magnesium; all trace minerals occurring naturally in sea salts.

Why probiotics? These microorganisms in the gut reduce intestinal permeability and improve nutrient status by making more nutrients such as minerals available to absorb from food.

To sum up, it is not enough to simply drink water, we must be able to absorb it, and salt, oil and probiotics aid this absorption.

To add, my lack of menstruation, or Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, was a consequence of my low body fat percentage and the fact that my reproductive hormones needed fat in order for the hormones to be transported around my body. Not to mention, my osteoporosis was a knock-on effect of my Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (I was not making estragon; thus, my bones were degenerating), and because my body didn’t have enough body fat, it was digging into my calcium reserves in my bones instead of my body. I was literally so deprived, so dry, that my body was turning on itself in order to survive.

I was convinced. I needed to lubricate myself from the outside in. Oil me up, and the engine may ignite.

Inside my body

• Using Ayurveda as a guide, I began with the foods I ate. Ghee is a staple of the Ayurvedic diet and a nightly mug of warm milk and ghee, is a common constipation reliever. Ghee is clarified butter, butter which has the water and milk solids removed. I added ghee to my porridge, to my toasts, onto my vegetables and a dollop into my soups and curries. And I discovered that ghee is delicious!

• Drizzling olive oil (extra virgin or cold pressed) on pastas, salad leaves and vegetables, I embraced the culture of the Mediterranean. I learned that an oily taste can be beautiful and not bad.

• Each oil has a smoke point, a point at which it begins to smoke and burn-this means the oil has broken down into harmful compounds called aldehydes which can be detrimental to the human body over time. So, you should be conscious of the smoking point of the oil you use and the temperature you cook it at. Both ghee and olive oil are good options, which the former having a smoking point of 200-240C (465F) (refined) and 160-190 C (375F) (unrefined), and the latter of 250C (485F) (refined)and 232C (450F) (unrefined).

• I became more conscious of adding fat based foods to my diet such as nuts, seeds, avocados, eggs, dairy, meat and oily fish. After initial guilt, fat become a beautiful and basic element of each of my meals.

Outside my body

• Abhyanga is the ancient Ayurvedic ritual of oil massage to the body, performed by the self to the self. The various benefits of this massage include; toning muscles and tissues of body, firming limbs, lubricating joints, increasing circulation, stimulating internal body organs, assisting in elimination of toxins, moving lymph, increasing stamina, calming nerves and improving sleep; these effects all help to oil the entire body, outside in, thus making the process of elimination smooth. We sometimes forget but the skin in the bodies largest organ and can absorb externally anything we put on the outside, allowing it to travel to the inside. Experiment with various oils but sesame, almond, sunflower and coconut are best. Warm the oil and massage from feet to heart, hands to heart, and in circular motions, especially over joints.

• A weekly oil salt scrub is the perfect combination; the salt will help exfoliate and eliminate any dead, dry skin cells, and the oil will hydrate and moisturise the new skin cells. Again, the skin absorbs the oil and can transport this oil to organs, such as the digestive organs, creating a well-oiled machine, able to eliminate excess.

• Another great use of oil is for hair; our hair follicles produce oils naturally but as we age these oil glands weaken, so applying oil to hair before or after washing, provides much needed moisture and hydration to the scalp.

• Our nails and cuticles are another body part which can benefit from a nightly oil massage.

• The Ayurvedic Petchoti Method is the belief that you can absorb oils via your belly button. As a foetus in the womb, you absorbed nutrients from the mother through the umbilical cord, so the theory goes that the bellybutton performs the same role, after you leave the womb. This practice is said to rebalance the body, relieving suffering such as constipation.

• My dry eyes improved through my uptake of oil. Now, I did not go squirting oil into my eyes, but I did find that my well-oiled diet and my well-oiled body, poured their effects into my eye health, as my burning and sensitive eyes upon waking disappeared. Ayurveda actually offers a specific treatment for dry eyes which I have yet to try called Netra Tarpana or a Ghee Eye Bath. First, a dough or an eye cup is placed on the eyes so the liquid will not pour over the face. Then, lying down, the warmed ghee is poured into the eyes while they stay open.

• Nasya is another oil-based Ayurveda practice where medicated oil is dropped and sniffed into the nasal cavity, alleviating respiratory tract infections and allergies.

• Kaval, or oil pulling, is an Ayurvedic practice, in which you swish oil around your mouth for several minutes, spit it out and then rinse. This helps remove bacteria from your mouth, prevent bad breath, tooth decay and gum problems.

• An oil practice, which specifically targets the condition of constipation in the Ayurvedic tradition, is an oil Bhasti, or enema. Oil and other herbal substances are entered into the rectum. This ensures that the colon receives that oil so as to form soft faeces, and stimulates the gastrocolic communication reflex so as to produce a bowel movement. An oil-based enema provides nourishment, as well as elimination.

• In my opinion, the Queen of all oil based Ayurvedvc practices is Shirodhara, or oil dropping. During Shirodhara, the person has to lie down on the Shirodhara table and keep their eyes closed and covered. Then a stream of warm herbal oil is poured on the person’s forehead. The slow dripping of the oil helps create vibrations and helps the oil penetrate deep down into the nervous system. It helps improve blood circulation to the brain. I experienced this treatment myself, and indeed found it extremely relaxing, both during and after the session. However, I cannot pinpoint any specific long lasting after effects of the Shirodhara.

So where am I now? Is “oils” well that ends well?

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I feel guilty, indulgent and fat, as I plop a spoon of ghee into my soup, or question whether I really need that second spoon of yummy peanut butter on my oats. However, I breathe and I reflect; why should this particular food group be ostracised?

Now that I understand why we need fat, how fat works in our bodies, how I have been self-creating my constipation, my osteoporosis, my Hypothalamic Amenorrhea by minimising my oil and fat intake, I can learn to love this unctuous underdog, this lubricating liquid. And I am learning.

Not only am I witnessing the physical benefits, but I am noticing a more relaxed nervous system and a sensual sensation, an erotic encounter with my body.

Say yes to oil. Say yes to anointing yourself with this sacred staple. Always oil.

From Yoga to Ayurveda: Mapping our body, mind and spirit

(how Ayurveda came into my life)

Part 1: Yoga

We all have that something. That something that gets us through the tough times. For some, it is a sport, for others its strumming their guitar. For some it is creating on a canvas, for others it is the solace of substances such as alcohol and drugs. We cannot judge. None are better or worse than the other. When taken to excess, all distractions can be detrimental. Run too much, your bones suffer. Oblivion in music, cloud the expansion of life. Passion for painting, missed opportunities for other expressions. Dependence on substances, mental and psychological damage.

Something in our human nature seems to turn comfort into compulsion.

Yoga has been my “saviour”. Yoga has gotten me through my difficulties. Following a sequence, focusing on my breath and body, listening to the calming music; these allow me to transfer my troublesome thoughts to a entity other than my mind, to leave my problems behind. And it worked.

It worked when I felt lost in life, when I didn’t now where to go, what direction to take. I knew where my yoga mat was so I got onto it daily. I did not need to think about it. It feels good not to think, doesn’t it?

So, I practiced yoga when I was underweight and malnourished. I practiced when I broke my arm, creating one arm flows and striving to put little weight on the fracture. I practiced through bouts of acid reflux, enduring the pain as it accelerated with a downward dog. I practiced almost immediately after I had my spinal injury and surgery, going against doctor advice and ignoring the darts of pain or “clicks”. I practiced on despite of these difficulties because “yoga is my saviour”. Relationships suffered, and so did my anxiety, as I became obsessed with my daily morning yoga practice; I had to squeeze it in. I couldn’t leave the house until my flow was done, I couldn’t envision holidaying if my hostel didn’t have a place when I could practice yoga. My “saviour” had changed to an awkward addition.

Attachment to yoga and attachment to the idea that “yoga is my saviour” meant I would rather be right than admit I was wrong, that sometimes yoga was not my saviour, that moving my body this way might be my “devil”.  

Throughout my yoga years, I became aware that the word yoga comes from the Sanskrit language and means “union”, union of the mind, body and spirit. So, could you say I had been practicing yoga all that time? Yes, I was moving my body, but was moving in connection with my spirt and mind? Not at all, I was moving my body to disconnect from my mind and my spirit. The very reason I loved yoga was because though it, I was able to focus on my body, and forget about my mind and my spirit who were causing me sadness and pain. I simply wanted to keep on moving my body, moving further away from my inner soul. So I moved and kept moving. Downward dog, upward dog. Child’s pose, cobra. Moving and moving. Until, I had to stop.

For a while anyway. Falling though the roof and breaking my back, chronic constipation and depression; both of these “trauma” disrupted my yoga flow, forcing me to practice yoga in her truth, uniting my mind, body and spirit. Intention is at the core of yoga. Moving the body, or even the breath, with awareness of your heart, your soul, your thoughts, that is my new understanding of yoga.

This new interpretation of yoga has been a difficult transition for me. Grieving the loss of my old addiction, my yoga to obliviate my thoughts, and accepting that I can find peace in being with the pain, the joy, the anger, the love.

This new yoga, uniting the mind, body and spirit is the only true way that I can use yoga “to get through the tough times” in my life. As I have recently experienced, we are not our bodies, they are always changing. You can lose bodily abilities and functions. So I your yoga practice is dependant on the body solely, attached to the physical, if the body changes, so odes your happiness, your way to get through the tough times in life. Do you want your happiness to be dependent on the body, the body that is forever changing? Not me anyway.

Ayurveda was a term I had come across in my yogic years. Aare that it was a form of Vedic Medicine, my knowledge did not go much deeper than knowing that I was “Vata” or air type, from taking an online Dosha quiz from Deepak Chopra’s website!

Part 2: Ayurveda

Ayurveda came into my life when I needed her most. Let me explain.

Living in Lisbon, I received a message from a woman called Abbey, who I had only communicated with via texts and voice notes. Abbey was an permaculture apprentice at the ranch in Costa Rica where I had been also the year before her. I bought her tools from her and that is how we began our relationship. Anyway, living in Lisbon, this message from Abbey informed me she would be in Lisbon soon taking a “herbal course” and invited me to meet with her for dinner. So, we did.

Abbey explained on her “herbal course”. In fact, she was studying Ayurveda in northern Portugal. Ayurveda, I responded please tell me more. And that is how the ancient art of ayurveda entered my life.

Ayurveda, she told me is a system which is based on the universal scientific stance that there are 5 elements: ether, air, fire, water, and earth. Take the physical planet, first there was empty space (ether). Then, matter fields the void; air allows movement (gas), fire (energy) can change matter from one form to another, and water (fluid) and earth (solid) work together to also allow movement and can slow or speed up this movement dependant on their form. Using this examples to characterise our human body; inside and outside of us we have empathy cold space, air is outside and inside of us, we breathe air in, and release air out as gaseous waste, fire can destroy and absorb in our physical outside world, but fire inside of us can “destroy” and digest food and absorb into our blood stream; water in our body, just like a river, moves essentials like blood and nutrients around our body, and just like a river forms a riverbank of earth, so to our river of blood and lymph, create passages and channels, which five shape to this river of life.

WOW. Such a strangly simple system. For the first time in my life, I understood how my body worked. My body is a conversation of these five elements. Too much ether and air, we become dry. Dryness brings dry skin, constipation, dry breathing, dry bones, and an airy anxiety overall. Too much fire, we become hot. Heat brings high blood pressure, heated headaches, fiery bowels, hot skin, inflammations of every sort. Too much water, we become too wet. Wetness, make the earthy riverbeds “dam”, creates stagnation, low blood pressure, enemas, slow digestion and a sluggish in general.

This is the language of Ayurveda. And how do we treat these illnesses of excess air, heat, wet? By working in opposites! If you are too dry, become wetter. If you are too hot, become cooler. If you are too wet, become drier. And how do we change these states? Through mind, body, and spirit. Through diet, movement, herbs, spiritual practices, relations. Through connecting them all. In union. Yoga.

Abbey confirmed what I already suspected. Indeed, I was a “vata” (too cold and too dry). I had too much air. How was this true for my complaints? How was I too cold? My feet and body in general are always cold, my thin frame had too much empty cold space where blood did not flow. How was I too dry, too much air? My chronic constipation was because my food did not have enough heat and water to flow through my system. My lack of menstruation was due to lack of fluid in my body. My dry eyes, my osteoporosis from my dry bones, my angular cheilitis from my dry lips, my anxiety and indecision attributed to excess air in my mind. Totally cold and dry! So, simple! Let’s start getting hot and wet!

Firstly, I signed up for a 6 week online course with Abbey’s Ayurvedic teacher and employer DeAnna Batdorff entitled “Body Mapping”. Through modules on the elements, the breath and chakra, diet, self-care practices, skin, tissues and so forth, my knowledge and understanding of this ancient art deepened. I would highly recommend engaging on a similar course with DeAnna’s whose passion and playfulness in contagious. Her aim is for us to learn to navigate the map that is our body, so we can travel throughout ourselves with confidence, without dependence on western medial doctors; coming home to bodies; re-establishing the relationship with ourselves.

So, how have I been getting hotter and wetter?!? How have I been using Ayurveda and it’s elemental and opposite theory to treat my cold and dry symptoms?

With this learning, I have begun to treat my symptoms. For my chronic constipation, I changed my diet to a wetter and warmer one. My breakfast of cold overnight oats changed to warm, wet porridge; my lunch of cold wraps and sandwiches changed to warm, spiced soups with bread and protein and dinners of rice and curries with grounding roots such as sweet potato and nourish herbs like cinnamon and cardamom. Ghee was added to most meals, adding more juice to my system (If you haven’t tried ghee on toast, in curries, in hot chocolates and so on, you don’t know what you are missing!).

An example of how Ayurveda takes a whole-body picture of symptoms. Western medicine will say, “Constipated? Drink more water to flush it out!”. But, I was drinking litres upon litres of water each day! Abbey explained, “If there is a flash flood in the desert, will the soil become fertile and nourished?”. No, the dry desert soil will not absorb the rainwater, thus becoming flooded. So too was happening in my body; my body was too dry to absorb the water I was pouring into her, my water intake was coming straight out though urine! How could I make my “soil” wetter so it would absorb the “rain”? Abbey explained the Ayurvedic triad of hydration; for water to absorb into our system we need minerals, essential fatty acids, and probiotics. I never used salt on my food, followed a “clean” diet which excluded oils and butters, and wasn’t taking probiotics as a food source or supplements. So, I started adding sea salt to my food, cooking with, and adding olive oil and ghee to meals and eating kefir and sauerkraut along with probiotic supplements. I was preparing a fertile soil to soak up the rain.

Indulging in warm evening baths, protecting my frame from the cool air with scarves and layers, receiving oil massages (abhyanga) and oil dripping on my forehead (shirodhara), salt scrubs on my body; my self-care routine increased, and as it did, so did my self-love. To increase my juiciness in hope of strengthening my dry bone and stimulating my menses, I slowed down, I moved my body sensually in yoga, I lived life like I was a princess, creating beauty everywhere I went. To supplement my general health, I took Ashwagandha, practiced tongue scaping and oil pulling for my dental health, added gua sha massage to my skin care and mediated daily. And I allowed the juiciness of dreams to destress me, getting 9 hours sleep a night with no alarm in the morning.

Has it worked? Has Ayurveda changed my body, just like it has changed my mindset?

I still have osteoporosis, I still feel the pain in my back. But I know I am eating enough so my bones are now getting enough nutrients. With time, hopefully they will improve. My mediation and self-care and self-love mean that I can manage my back pain and rest when it is aggravating me. I can listen to my body.

I still am not menstruating. But I know that my body is still rebuilding trust in me. It needs to know that I will stick to this new lifestyle of enough food and enough rest to expend even more energy and commence menstruation. Practicing patience is part of the journey. I already feel more of w woman in the fact that I am giving myself permission to be kind to myself. Not too mention, I have noticed my vaginal mucus is wetter and stringier, and only this morning did I observe and pang and a protruding pressure in my female reproductive area…fingers crossed!

And the chronic constipation? I still…No, I am not suffering from chronic constipation!

As much as I am sure that daily probiotics and my new wet and hot diet helped stimulate my bowels and juice up the desert, I am certain that my constipation was a mind-body problem (like most problems!), and that leaving my job, that giving myself permission to press pause and practice giving myself love and leisure, was at the core of the return of my daily poos. Really, what a physical and mental relief!

Am I an ayurvedic expert? Anything but! I know I have only begun to scrape the surface that is a deep dive into the ancient wisdom of this tradition. Herbal recipes, Panchakarma detoxes, essential oils, diffusions, marma points and koshas…there is so much more for me to discover. Which I do hope to discover by pursuing my passion for ayurvedic by taking an ayurvedic course of some sort in her birth country, India. But for now, I will continue to use ayurveda as a philosophy, as a way of observing my elements in my body, notice how they show up, and balancing them through opposition.

Part 3: Union of Yoga and Ayurveda

I began this blog by admitting that I used yoga as a way to block out my mind and spirt. I continued on to list all of my “dry and cold” physical problems I was suffering from; suffering from because I was blocking out my mind and spirit. To put it bluntly, I was not listening to my body, mind, and spirit as one, I was not uniting them, I was not in union, not practicing yoga.

I have explained how Ayurveda has taught me to observe, notice, feel, describe and treat accordingly my body. This begins with the breath, using the breath to observe, notice and feel. Using the breath is the foundation of yoga. Using the breath is the foundation of how we can check in with our body, mind and spirit. Using the breath is how we become our own doctors, our own masters of the body.

How wonderful would it be if this daily breath, this daily observing, noticing, feeling, describing, and treating our bodies accordingly was natural too us? How beautiful would it be if we used the language of the elements in our everyday speech? Imagine living in a world where you would reply to “How are you today?” with “I’m feeling a bit heated in my head”, “I’m a bit dry in my blood” or “I’m a bit clogged up in my digestive system”. It is my dream to teach children the language of cold, hot, wet, dry, the awareness of the elements within them, and the power they possess to balance their body, mind, and spirit. As one. In union.