A few years ago there were different versions of a popular post going around called Why Your Smoothie is Making You Fat.

The articles all talked about how smoothies are generally larger than we plan, more calories than we know, full of sugar, and digest quickly, leaving us hungry.

Those are all good considerations about your smoothie. But I'm talking about ditching the smoothie for another reason.

If you think about winter in elemental or weather terms, our climate here has been cold and dry. Hopefully, we're are headed into some wetter months ahead, which will change how we ideally care for the physical body and our overall health.

There's a system of health and healing out of the Indian/Tibetan lineage and related to Yoga called Ayurveda. Ayurveda in Sanskrit translates to “Science of Longevity” or “Knowledge of Life.”

People throughout history have celebrated the winter solstice as a symbol of hope, promise, rebirth, and the ongoing cycles of life. Monuments, tombs, and temples have been constructed to celebrate and capture the solstice light since as early as 3200 B.C.E.

So what does "celebrating the solstice" mean?

The shift from winter to spring can be tricky for the body, digestion and sleep. In our climate, winter is cold and spring is generally wet — qualities that together can create mucous, heaviness and sluggishness in energy and digestion.