Healthy Nutrition in Ramadan Basics | Mistakes to Avoid

When the crescent moon of Ramadan looms over the sky, the atmosphere of our lives changes and turns into an atmosphere of spirituality and closeness to God. It is the month of love and solidarity, but have you ever thought that the month of Ramadan represents a golden opportunity to take care of your body and nourish you in a healthy and balanced way?

My dear butterfly, you represent the strength of the family and the spirit of the home, and in this holy month you must have tremendous stamina and dedication, which leaves you confused about how to take care of your nutrition during the long hours of fasting and limited times of eating.

Here lies the role of healthy nutrition in Ramadan, as it is the most important secret to maintaining your health and activity throughout the holy month.

So in this article, we will take you on an exploratory journey to learn about the importance of healthy nutrition in Ramadan, and how you can make the most of this blessed month.

We will also provide you with valuable nutritional advice during the Suhoor and Iftar periods, and you will learn with us how to obtain balanced nutrition and the energy needed to perform worship and perform all your daily responsibilities with ease.

Healthy Nutrition in Ramadan Importance

Healthy nutrition in Ramadan is of great importance in women’s lives, thanks to the many benefits it offers them.

Here are some of the most important of these benefits:

Improving digestive health

Healthy nutrition in Ramadan plays an important role in improving the health of the digestive system and facing the challenges it may be exposed to during fasting.

Healthy nutrition includes many sources rich in dietary fiber, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which enhances bowel movement and improves the digestion and absorption process, which in turn prevents constipation.

This nutrition also helps reduce stomach acidity, control cases of gastric reflux, and alleviate irritations and infections of the digestive system that occur during fasting.

Support the cardiovascular system

Following a healthy diet during the month of Ramadan brings many benefits to the cardiovascular system, by improving heart health and reducing risk factors that can affect it, such as high blood pressure.

In addition, healthy nutrition in Ramadan provides an opportunity to improve the quality of fats present in the blood, as the percentage of saturated fats and harmful cholesterol is reduced and replaced with healthy monounsaturated fats. Which will reflect positively on the health of the heart and vessels, and protect against atherosclerosis.

Strengthening the immune system

Healthy nutrition in Ramadan has a strong effect on the immune system. When we give our bodies healthy food and the necessary nutrients that they need, we significantly enhance and strengthen the immune system, and improve its response to combat various diseases.

Through proteins, vitamins and minerals found in healthy foods, the production of immune cells is enhanced, such as white blood cells and antibodies that fight germs and viruses and eliminate many diseases.

In addition, healthy nutrition in Ramadan affects the balance and growth of beneficial bacteria in the digestive system, which plays a decisive role in enhancing and strengthening the function of the immune system.

Providing the body with energy

The month of Ramadan is a special period that requires a lot of care to meet the body’s energy needs, and here lies the main role of healthy nutrition in Ramadan.

Following a healthy diet in Ramadan is a way to provide sustainable sources of energy throughout the day. Focusing on eating complex carbohydrates helps in obtaining energy in an effective and balanced way, in order to maintain activity and vitality during the fasting period.

Consuming sufficient amounts of fluids, such as water, natural juices and other drinks during the Suhoor and Iftar periods, also contributes to hydrating the body and enhancing energy levels, thus giving the body the necessary incentive to maintain activity throughout the day.

Weight loss

Eating healthy, balanced foods during the Ramadan Iftar period can constitute a unique opportunity for women seeking to lose weight.

Thanks to these healthy food choices, essential nutrients are provided to the body in moderate and balanced quantities, which enhances the feeling of fullness for a longer period, thus reducing the desire to eat snacks that are rich in high calories.

In addition, fasting during Ramadan contributes to increasing the rate of burning calories in the body, because during the fasting period the body depends on fat stores to obtain energy, which leads to more effective weight loss.

Control blood sugar levels

Commitment to a healthy diet during Ramadan helps regulate insulin secretion and the body’s response to it, which helps control blood sugar in a natural and healthy way, which in turn will reduce the risk of diabetes, sudden rises and falls in energy levels, and enhance the body’s metabolic process.

Improve sleep quality

Healthy nutrition in Ramadan, along with other factors, such as exercise and managing stress and anxiety, contribute to improving sleep quality, because many healthy foods contain tryptophan, an amino acid that helps increase the production of melatonin (the sleep-regulating hormone).

In addition, the previously mentioned role of healthy nutrition in increasing and regulating insulin secretion is reflected positively on sleep, because insulin helps transport tryptophan to the brain.

Healthy Nutrition in Ramadan Basics

Enjoying the previously mentioned benefits of healthy nutrition in Ramadan depends on adopting a set of nutritional foundations and habits and abandoning others.

Below we will mention the most important foundations on which healthy nutrition is based in Ramadan:

Maintaining fluid balance in the body

Maintaining the balance of body fluids during the month of Ramadan is extremely important for your health. While you abstain from eating and drinking for many long hours, fluid balance becomes crucial to keeping your body hydrated and ensuring the safety of its various functions.

Water is the best source for achieving this balance. Drinking a sufficient amount of water during the night and dawn hours to replace the fluids lost during fasting can help you avoid dehydration, fatigue, and headaches of all kinds.

But fluid balance is not limited to water only, but you can also achieve it by drinking other Ramadan drinks, such as licorice, tamarind, and others.

We should also not forget that eating foods rich in fluids, such as watermelon, oranges, and tomatoes, can enhance your body’s hydration and help you get rid of toxins.

Avoid excessive salt consumption

Consuming salt in large quantities during the month of Ramadan negatively affects your physical health and exposes you to many health problems.

When you consume large amounts of salt during the month of Ramadan, your sodium level in your body will rise and cause your blood vessels to constrict, leading to your blood pressure rising. Which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and strokes.

Also, consuming a lot of salt in foods during Ramadan can make you suffer from dehydration and swelling, and thus increase your feeling of fatigue and exhaustion during the long hours of fasting.

Therefore, you must be careful to avoid excessive use of salt in your meals during the month of Ramadan, and replace it with other natural flavors and herbs.

Start breakfast with dates

Nutrition experts recommend starting breakfast with dates before eating other foods, because eating dates stimulates the salivary glands to increase the secretion of saliva, which in turn prepares the digestive system to eat the next food and enhances the digestive process.

In addition, dates are a natural source of quick energy, as they are rich in natural sugars, such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose.

Dates are also characterized by their ability to naturally fill the stomach and achieve satiety, due to their high content of dietary fiber, which increases the feeling of fullness, controls appetite, and regulates the amount of food that you will eat afterwards.

Make soup a daily dish at the breakfast table

Making soup a daily dish on the Ramadan Iftar table is a great option, because it combines delicious taste with healthy nutrition in Ramadan.

You can choose different types of soup, such as lentil soup, chicken soup, or even nutrient-rich vegetable soup. Whatever you choose, all types of soup compete to provide health benefits to your body.

At the forefront of the health benefits of soup is its ability to warm your body and give you a feeling of comfort and warmth on the cold nights of Ramadan. It is also considered a filling meal of all kinds, thanks to its balanced composition of proteins, vegetables and starches. It gives you a feeling of fullness and provides your body with the energy needed to continue fasting and perform worship with all vitality and energy.

Achieve dietary diversity during breakfast

Achieving nutritional diversity at the iftar table is a key to healthy nutrition in Ramadan.

This diversity includes various food categories such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits and other healthy ingredients, and each of these categories provides a unique set of nutrients that your body needs to maintain health and work efficiently.

Never skip the suhoor meal

Fasting during the month of Ramadan requires abstaining from food and drink for long periods, which makes the suhoor meal the mainstay of successful healthy fasting.

Eating the suhoor meal is considered one of the main foundations of healthy nutrition in Ramadan, in order to provide you with the energy necessary to maintain your daily activity and general health.

The suhoor meal also contributes to regulating your blood sugar level and maintaining its stability, which gives you the ability to avoid stress and exhaustion during the long hours of the day.

Quit Smoking

Achieving healthy nutrition in Ramadan and having a healthy and active fast requires completely quitting smoking.

When you get rid of the smoking habit in Ramadan, you will allow your lungs to get rid of toxins and deposits that have accumulated in them over the years, and you will feel a great improvement in your ability to breathe and endure physical activities during fasting.

You will also witness a significant improvement in your general health, and you will begin to regain your vitality and activity and make better use of the healthy meals you eat during the month of Ramadan.

Divide iftar into small meals

It is recommended to eat iftar in small meals instead of eating one large meal, because eating several small meals gives your body the opportunity to digest food better and absorb nutrients in an optimal way.

While eating large amounts of food in one meal quickly leads to a feeling of heaviness and discomfort, and makes you feel lethargic and want to sleep immediately after eating, which may negatively affect your weight and your ability to practice your various activities.

Mistakes to Avoid in Ramadan

There are many wrong eating behaviors that you should avoid during the holy month of Ramadan, because of the harm they pose to your general health and daily life.

Here are some of them, for example:

Eat a lot of sweets

The Islamic world is famous for its distinctive traditions during the holy month of Ramadan, and among those traditions that people share is eating a lot of delicious sweets during Iftar.

Although it may seem delicious to enjoy those tempting cakes and delicious desserts at every meal, these desserts are often rich in sugar and saturated fats and contain a lot of high calories, which can lead to high levels of blood sugar in your blood and increase your risk of developing diabetes and weight gain if consumed in large quantities.

Eating sweets also causes a feeling of heartburn in the stomach, because they are digested quickly, which leads to feeling hungry as soon as possible.

Therefore, it is better to balance and moderate when eating sweets in Ramadan, and replace them with healthier options such as fresh fruits and natural dates.

Relying on fried foods for Iftar

Fried foods are very popular on Ramadan tables, due to their wonderful texture and delicious taste, but eating these foods in abundance is not consistent with healthy nutrition in Ramadan.

Fried foods absorb large amounts of oil during the frying process, and they also contain a lot of saturated fats and high calories, which may lead to weight gain and high levels of cholesterol in your blood.

In addition, fasting for long hours during the day requires eating foods rich in slow-absorbing nutrients that help provide the body with the greatest amount of energy for the longest possible period, and this is not compatible with fried foods that have little nutritional benefit.

Therefore, it is best to avoid these foods and resort to other meals rich in nutrients necessary for the body, such as foods containing proteins, minerals, and slow-absorbing carbohydrates.

Drink lots of caffeine-rich drinks

Consuming drinks rich in caffeine, such as coffee and tea, in large quantities during Ramadan, increases feelings of stress, anxiety, and gastroesophageal reflux. Caffeine also acts as a stimulant to the central nervous system, which increases brain activity and affects the nature of sleep and the quality of rest.

Excessive consumption of caffeine-rich drinks also leads to headaches and dehydration, and accelerates the feeling of hunger.

Sleeping immediately after eating suhoor

Sleeping immediately after eating suhoor leads to a feeling of heaviness and fatigue when waking up with a little dizziness and lack of complete recovery. This is because the body needs time to digest food and absorb nutrients before it regains its normal state. Therefore, sleeping immediately after suhoor hinders this process and forces the body to work hard to handle digested food.

In addition, sleeping immediately after suhoor increases the possibility of acidity in the stomach, gastroesophageal reflux, and irritation of the esophagus, as a result of the lying position before the stomach is emptied of food, and this adds more stress that may already be present in the body as a result of fasting and changes in the sleep pattern.

Accordingly, it is best to wait for a period of time after eating suhoor before going to sleep, so that your body can properly digest and prepare the food. You should also make sure to get enough sleep at regular times during the night to better enjoy the benefits of Ramadan fasting.

Drink large amounts of water or cold water at Iftar

Drinking large amounts of water or drinking cold water during Iftar is a common mistake that many people make.

When you drink large amounts of water quickly during Iftar, your digestive system will be exposed to excess pressure, and this excess pressure can affect the body’s ability to digest food properly and absorb nutrients effectively.

Also, drinking cold water during Iftar can lead to cramps in the intestines and slow down the digestion process, leading to suffering from abdominal pain and bloating.

Therefore, it is best for you to avoid these wrong habits of drinking water during Iftar in Ramadan. Instead, it is recommended that you drink moderate amounts of water gradually to enhance the digestion process, hydrate the body, and enjoy the full benefits of healthy nutrition in Ramadan.

Best Foods for Suhoor

Suhoor, as we mentioned previously, is a meal of great importance during the month of Ramadan, and therefore you must carefully choose the meals that you will eat during it.

Among the best meals you can choose from are:

• Oats: Oats contain a good amount of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which will provide the body with sustainable energy during fasting hours.
• Eggs: Eggs are an excellent source of protein, and they provide a feeling of fullness for a long time.
• Yogurt: Yogurt is an excellent choice for suhoor in Ramadan, as it contains a good percentage of proteins and calcium, in addition to containing many other vitamins and minerals that the body needs during fasting.
• Bananas: Bananas play an important role in balancing fluids in the body, thanks to their richness in potassium. It also contributes to enhancing the feeling of fullness for long hours, because it contains vitamin B6 and dietary fiber, which makes it among the list of favorite foods for Ramadan suhoor.
• Dates: Dates contain a variety of vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin K, potassium, and magnesium, which enhance the body’s functions and give it the energy needed to complete the next day.
• Potatoes: Potatoes contain a lot of dietary fiber and complex carbohydrates that provide a sustainable source of energy during fasting. Pay attention to the necessity of cooking potatoes for suhoor in ways that are not saturated with fats to make the most of their nutritional benefits.
• Legumes: Legumes contain a high percentage of proteins and dietary fiber, which create a feeling of fullness for a longer period during fasting. It also contains a variety of vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy body.

At the conclusion of this article, we find that the holy month of Ramadan represents a golden opportunity for women to adopt a healthy lifestyle and achieve nutritional balance in their lives. Fasting is not only a restriction from food and drink, but it is also an opportunity for spiritual and physical purification and renewal.

Therefore, Madam, you must give healthy nutrition and self-care great importance in your life in Ramadan, so that you can enjoy every moment of this blessed month.

Frequently Asked Questions about Healthy Nutrition in Ramadan

Written by: Elssy Karsh

Sources

Verywell Health

WorldHealthOrganisation

Healthline