Ramadan means avoiding all food and drink under daylight, but that doesn’t mean you should gorge when the sun goes down
Some evening meals at Ramadan can be heaving feasts
Each day before dawn, Muslims observe a pre-fast meal called sahur. After stopping a short time before dawn, Muslims begin the first prayer of the day, the Fajr prayer. At sunset, families hasten for the fast-breaking meal known as iftar.
[two_third last=”no”]The iftar is often associated with some of the most lavish meals seen in Turkey and the Muslim world. The tables often groan under the weight of the delicious meat, savoury and olive oil dishes that large parties tuck into after sunset.
But there’s an important warning from the experts: keep your feasts to a minimum – or you could end up putting on weight rather than losing it, and threaten your health in the process.
Oxford anaesthetist Dr Razeen Mahroof says feasting during the non-fasting hours can be unhealthy. He recommends approaching the fast with discipline, or an opportunity to lose weight and be healthier could be wasted.
“The underlying message behind Ramadan is self-discipline and self-control,” he says in literature from the National Health Service. “This shouldn’t fall apart at the end of the day”.
Those observing the fast should have at least two meals a day, the pre-dawn meal (sahur) and a meal at dusk (iftar).
Carbs and fibres
Dr Mahroof says your food intake should be simple and not differ too much from your normal diet. It should contain foods from all the major food groups.
Complex carbohydrates are foods that help release energy slowly during the long hours of fasting. They are found in foods such as barley, wheat, oats, millet, semolina, beans, lentils, wholemeal flour and basmati rice.
Fibre-rich foods are also digested slowly and include bran, cereals, whole wheat, grains and seeds, potatoes with the skin on, vegetables such as green beans, and almost all fruit, including apricots, prunes and figs.
Fewer processed foods
[/two_third][one_third last=”yes”][otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-silver-border” border_style=”bordered” background_color_class=”otw-silver” border_color=”#2B5243″ background_color=”#2B5243″]What to eat over Ramadan?
Doctors recommend keeping as much as possible to your regular diet and eating foods from all the major food groups.
Do eat…
• fruit and vegetables
• bread, cereals and potatoes
• meat, fish, or alternatives
• milk and dairy foods
• foods containing fat and sugar
Avoid…
• deep-fried foods
• high-sugar and high-fat foods
• high-fat cooked foods
• excessive use of oil in cooking[/otw_shortcode_info_box][/one_third]Foods to avoid are the heavily processed, fast-burning foods that contain refined carbohydrates – such as sugar and white flour – as well as fatty food, which would include all manner of cakes, biscuits, chocolates and sweets.
Fasts are traditionally broken with dates
It’s also worth avoiding caffeine-based drinks such as tea, coffee and cola. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it stimulates the faster loss of water through urination and other means.