We have brought together in this article the views and recommendations of doctors and expert dieticians regarding healthy nutrition during Ramadan. It is our hope that the entire Islamic world will spend this blessed month in health, peace, security, abundance, and solidarity. Please share and help!!
Beware of Poor Nutritional Habits!
In order to fulfill the fasting obligation without suffering any health problems, a number of unwise dietary habits need to be avoided.
For those fasting during Ramadan, it is of great importance to pay
close attention to what they eat during the two main meals; before
sunrise (sahur) and after sunset (iftar). They need to be carefully
aware of changes that take place in their bodies when fasting throughout
the day. Since eating nothing for long hours increases one's appetite
and satiation threshold, the typical result is the quicker consumption
of more food than normal. Therefore, the believers should avoid sudden and excessive food consumption, especially during the evening meal.
Increased consumption of such foodstuffs as meat, bread, rice, pasta, baked goods, desserts, and pastries is common during Ramadan, while the consumption of fruit and vegetables decreases. However, the levels of protein, vitamins, and minerals that the body requires for a healthy, energetic life do not alter during this month. In addition, behaviors such as overeating, eating too wide a range of foods too quickly, failure to get up for sahur meal, and eating too much before sunrise, may lead to ulcers and other disorders, even abdominal bleeding. For these and other similar reasons, the following basic points need to be borne in mind in order for you to fast in a healthy manner and not to tire your bodies:
•► 1. What Health Issues Need to be Considered When Fasting?
Those who fast during Ramadan need to be careful to drink enough water and must pay attention to their sleep patterns. Insufficient sleep can lead to headaches and low blood pressure.
- Since metabolism falls rapidly during Ramadan's daylong fasting, it is easy to gain weight. Therefore, high-calorie, rich foods should be avoided.
- In the evening, sudden consumption of large quantities of food may lead to indigestion.
- Be keen to have the sahur meal, since fasting without eating a predawn meal prolongs the length of time one goes without food, and this results in a quick fall in metabolism and a possible occurrence of fatigue and headache.
- Whether or not you get up early for the sahur meal, eat slowly, chew your food well, and drink enough water. In the evening, avoiding eating to complete fullness will improve the quality of your sleep. Avoid rich, fatty and spicy foods at both meals.
- Since the body of a fasting person will be deprived of water for a long period, it is important to drink often between evening and dawn.
- In order not to become very thirsty while fasting, be careful to avoid salty foods such as pickles and peanuts at your sahur meal.
- Blood sugar levels drop during fasting. However, they rise very fast when food is consumed suddenly in the evening. If you do not get up before dawn to eat, your blood sugar levels begin to fall in the very early hours of the day and soon reach even lower levels. After the evening meal, therefore, you should follow the principle of eating little and often.
- During Ramadan, be careful to avoid inactivity. You can have a walk two hours after the evening meal, as long as it is not too strenuous.
- On an empty stomach, however, you should avoid walking, jogging, or putting in excessive effort in the gym as a means whereby to burn off excess food intake.
•► 2. What Should We Eat When Breaking the Fast?
- The ideal recommended evening meal is to begin eating slowly and moderately at sunset, followed by a main course a few hours later.
- Begin with dates, water, soup and light foods.
- Do not eat too much or too quickly.
- The main course should be eaten a few hours after sunset. Give priority to fruit and vegetables, and take care to consume yoghurt, buttermilk (diluted yoghurt) or milk.
- Preference should be given to vegetables such as fresh green beans, spinach, aborigines, purslane, Brussels sprouts, white cabbage, lupus, and broccoli, as well as small quantities of fat-free fish, low-fat chicken, and dried beans and seeds.
- Traditional desserts at the evening meal should be eaten two hours afterwards. Prefer milky puddings to syrupy desserts.
- In the sahur meal, avoid eating spicy, fatty, or salty foods that will make you feel thirsty during the day.
•► 3. What Foods Should We Consume in Limited Quantities?
- Instead of gorging yourself before sunrise, choose light foods, such as whole-wheat cereal products, vegetables and salads that get absorbed slowly into the bloodstream.
- During Ramadan, especially before dawn, consume high-fiber products and avoid heavy, spicy foods and all kinds of fried and fatty foods, such as fried chickens and kebabs.
- Do not neglect to consume at least two portions of fruit as snacks between your evening and sahur meals.
- Consume nourishing liquids and foods such as fruit juice and buttermilk during the night between evening and dawn. Avoid acidic drinks.
- Also avoid refined carbohydrates, too much table sugar, jam, honey, treacle, and products made from white flour, heavy desserts, carbonated drinks and ones containing caffeine.
Additionally, experts recommend consuming limited quantities of flour-based desserts, and they say that milky puddings are preferable. Dried fruit in syrup made from normal sugar is very popular, but it raises insulin levels and, for this reason, dieticians say that dried fruit in syrup should be cooked with very little sugar. They also recommend vegetable-based pastries in sahur meal, instead of ones containing meat or cheese.
Be careful not to consume too many of ready-to-eat meals, flour-based foodstuffs, and fried foods during Ramadan. Unfortunately, Ramadan pita bread is one of the hardest foods to digest, and experts recommend whole wheat bread instead.
•► 4. What Foods are the Healthiest to Eat During Ramadan?
After fasting and going without food all day long, instead of overeating, it is best to choose low-glycemic foods that are digested and absorbed slowly into the bloodstream, such as dark cereal products, vegetables, and salads. The following are some of the healthiest foods that you can choose:
- High-fiber foods (apples, pears, and grapes with the skin on; dried apricots, prunes, and dates; cereal products and dried cereals; green beans, peas, and spinach).
- Foods rich in Omega 3 and folic acid (products made from whole-wheat flour and breakfast cereals such as meusli; asparagus, spinach, peas, and tomato juice; salmon, tuna fish, sardines, and mackerel; linseed, purslane, lentils, walnuts, and almonds).
- Foods made with non-saturated oils, especially filtered olive oil.
- Fruits like oranges rich in Vitamin C.
•► 5. How Can One Avoid Gaining Weight During Ramadan?
Foods high in carbohydrates —that are consumed in the evening— trigger the release of the insulin hormone, which plays an important role in stimulating the appetite. Therefore, people who overeat in the evening can easily put on weight and also risk increased blood fats and blood pressure that in turn can lead to many diseases, such as heart and circulatory disorders.
Delicatessen products, baked goods, pita bread, and desserts are all high-calorie foods that can lead to weight gain. Dietary experts, therefore, recommend that the ideal early-evening meal should be eaten slowly and moderately, followed by the main course a few hours later. Another way to avoid putting on weight during Ramadan is to drink plenty of water.
By Harun Yahya
With Best Wishes
