How To Plan Healthy Ramadan

Ramadan is the month of great blessings, which reignites and recharges our spirits of giving, tolerance, and forgiveness. Amongst all its spiritual highlights, our focus is also on the food festivities and keeping it on the healthy side becomes a task. This year, the Ramadan has come during the hottest season of the year; days are warmer and longer! That means extra preparation and knowing what to eat during non-fasting hours is essential to good health and endurance during the entire month. Everyone should take a nutritionally balanced diet every day.

And it is very easy…you just need to bring a balance in your food regime. Here a few tips that can help you along the way:

Healthy eating tips for Suhur/Sehri:

• Caffeine is not your friend, especially during Suhur because you have to spend the entire day in fasting and caffeine makes you expel a lot of water out of your body, which leads to dehydration. You can have fresh fruit juices instead or some traditional drinks made with milk and some dry fruits.
• Yogurt is a must. Its high in nutritional value, helps with hydration, has great anti-inflammatory powers, and helps with digestion.
• Keep your salt content to minimum to avoid bloating and allow your body to maintain the ion balance.
• Your diet should include high energy foods like dates, figs, bananas, and oatmeal. This will help you throughout the day with respective to your energy levels and all these options are healthy too.
• We tend to fill our stomachs with water at the end of our meals. Try to keep a gap between your meal and closing of your fast.
• Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to miss out on flavor; you just have to plan it better; take small portions and then go for baked options.

Healthy eating tips for Iftar:

• Greens and vegetables are your best friends but if don’t feel like having them alone, you can just make up a good salad by adding some protein in the form of baked chicken or fish to go along with it. The greens also pave the way for digestion, which is vital as we take food on empty stomach during the iftar.
• Fruits are important too, especially the ones with high water content like watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, and oranges.
• Keep a portion of berries, as they have great ant-inflammatory properties. You can eat them alone or mix them up in your salad
• Avoid carbonated and fizzy drinks as these will dehydrate you very quickly
• Avoid deep fried stuff and replace it with baked ones. If you have electric cooker, you can have the taste of deep-fried stuff while keeping it healthy.
• For your sweet tooth, you can take small portions and enjoy some healthy options like mixing the smashed avocado with honey and it would taste like a yummiest desert.
• Again, don’t fill up your stomach with water as this is what we all tend to do right after opening the fast.
• Another important thing is to eat in batches after Iftar. Take some at the time of Iftar, then offer your Maghrib prayer, then eat a little and offer your Isha and Tarweeh and then have some more.
• Remember to leave a gap of at least half an hour between having food and going to bed.

And last but not the least, don’t forget to do a minimum exercise daily, which will help keep your metabolism on track during the entire month and maybe even help you lose weight.

Some healthy options from the traditional foods in various cuisines include ‘Chana Chaat’ (the chickpeas salad), where you mix boiled chickpeas with onions, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, yogurt and add the spices of your choice and enjoy the scrumptiousness. The Emirati cuisine also has a lot of healthy options like fattoush, hummus, muttabal and baba ghanoush, while Tabbouleh, Warak, Manakish, Kibbeh and Mujadara are common healthy foods in the Lebanese cuisine.

Those following a particular diet can also find several great ready-to-eat options: ‘Basiligo’ provides a keto diet meal, ‘Eat Conscious’ prepares meals counting the nutrients to ensure enriching diet, while ‘Kcal’ and the ‘Vegan supper club iftar’ are your partners as well when it comes to healthy food.

With all your focus on keeping it healthy, don’t forget that Ramadan is all about spending time with your loved ones; cooking and praying with them is a great way of spending more time with your family. This month is full of blessings; use every second of it to be a better Muslim…a better human being. Happy Ramadan everyone!