From the South African Independent:
Poor dietary and lifestyle habits during Ramadan pose grave health risks to fasting Muslims, local doctors and dieticians have warned.
Night-time binge eating and consuming too much sugar and cholesterol-rich food may have a severe effect on the health of many Muslims observing the fast, health experts have warned.
“High incidences of diabetes and hypertension in the Muslim community are aggravated by bad diets during Ramadan,” Dr Faisal Suleman said.
“Lots of people break their fast with oily savouries that cause high cholesterol. There is also a lack of exercise during the month.”
I can’t really imagine how people can eat such stuff after a long day’s fasting; I need the energy boost, and although I sometimes eat curry, I make sure it’s got plenty of vegetables in it. Otherwise it’s pizza (of my own making) or pasta with tomato and vegetable sauce with fish. I’ve also cut out all the diuretic stimulants (tea, coffee, hot chocolate), excepting the days when I’m travelling and therefore not fasting (but still have to get up early, so I drink coffee). A few difficult days at the beginning excepted, I think this has been a very healthy Ramadan for me ma sha Allah.
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I am not sure how people can eat so much during Ramadan. They must have huge stomachs to begin with. Because of the late iftar I am lucky if I even get my evening cup of tea, much less seconds on dinner. Where do they find the time to eat? I will say this, fasting definitely makes the body crave carbs. I am on Atkins and have found it impossible not to eat carbs after fasting all day. People need to make sure that their foods are nutrient dense during Ramadan, esp when our calorie intake is usually cut in half. For suhoor I have been making huge batches of scrambled eggs with sauteed onions, spinach, peppers and mushrooms. It makes all the difference. Also water! Lots of water in the morning and throughout the night. Thought that kind of thing was common sense.
And to tie in a comment on your previous post: fasting has been made much easier due to my tremendous lack of appetite while listening to news of McCain/Palin. Can’t eat OR sleep because of those two!
the lack of excercise makes sense. Who’s going to go to the gym in the late evening or workout during the day when they can’t drink water?
As for food, who’s going to forego the whole community atmosphere by not partaking in greasy surgary iftar with their family or at the local mosque? The previous commenter mentioned tea, which is a huge part of lots of Muslim cultures. You just have to have your caffeine, especially in Ramadan. Couple that with reduced fluid consumption, reduced calorie intake and a generally bad diet, and ramadan is unhealthy all round.
Salaam alikum,
I think those diets were okay when folks had to do hard manual labor all day, but in general the traditional iftar food in immigrant Muslim cultures is pretty darn heavy. e. I’ve been trying to have a healthier diet after living in Egypt and Kuwait for a year. I was just thinking about what type of iftar traditions I would like my family to have. I was thinking that perhaps we could do something lighter, eat our dates and some complex carbohydrates, then pray Maghrib. For dinner before taraweh, soup and salad and a protein but prepared in a light way. Maybe we can break it up, eat a few small meals through the night, but no binging. I’m thinking about what type of healthy recipes I’d like to prepare. I’m still hurting this evening after eating a carb fest of yummy Mexican food. While it was absolutely delicious, it just puts me in a food coma. Ramadan is a time to reflect, not a time to develop unhealthy relationships with food. Just my thoughts as I think about inventing new traditions for us Muslims born and bred in the West.
Check this site about healthy eating during Ramadan. It is cool. it is bilingual. http://www.mufasser.com/healthyramadan