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.

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.

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!