Ramadan and diets.

Ramadan is the holy month where we’re required to fast from dusk till dawn and during that period we put our body through a completely new routine for almost 30 days. The advantage though of Ramadan is that the fast can improve a persons health but also has the chance to worsen it too if the correct diet is not followed.

The main factor is not the fast itself but what you’ve consumed during the non-fasting hours. Many people tend to overeat in Ramadan and justify it with the fact that since they haven’t eaten all day its perfectly fine. The real fact of the matter is that overeating has adverse affects on the body and in addition to that it also interferes with the spiritual growth during that month.

The focus on eating in Ramadan is to have a diet that is sufficiently balanced and keeps a person healthy and active too. It’s usually recommended to keep your diet very simply and preferably take any food that has complex carbohydrates. Some of the foods that contain complex carbohydrates are grains and seeds, like barley, wheat, oats, millets, semolina, beans, lentils, whole meal flour, basmati rice, etc.

When it comes to fiber rich food we have bran, cereals, whole wheat, grains and seeds, potatoes with the skin, vegetables such as green beans and almost all fruit, including apricots, prunes, figs, etc.

Foods to avoid are the heavily processed, fast-burning foods that contain refined carbohydrates in the form of sugar, white flour, etc., as well as, of course, too much fatty food (e.g. cakes, biscuits, chocolates and sweets.)