Nutritional Guidelines For Healthy Eating During Ramadan

The fasting month of Ramadan provides an excellent opportunity for participants to makes changes to a more healthy lifestyle, providing golden opportunities to for weight loss, changes is diet and quitting smoking.

Before deciding to fast, people with medical conditions should seek doctor’s advice. Meal timings and medications may need to be adjusted.

The healthiest way to eat is to choose a variety of nutritious foods that provides all the nutrients a body needs.

Iftar Meal

The body's immediate need in Iftar time is to get energy in the form of glucose. Dates and juices are good sources of sugars to bring low blood glucose levels to normal. Juice and soup help maintain fluid and mineral balance in the body. An unbalanced diet with too many servings of sherbets and sweets has been found to be unhealthy and may cause indigestion.

For starters, a few dates (3 – 5 pieces) and a cup of soup (vegetable, oat, lentils, beans, grains) plus a cup of fruit juice are recommended. The stomach has not been active for the long fasting hours and these foods can help stimulate the stomach to secrete its juices, and aid with digestion. It is important not to skip them because fluids (soup, juice) and dates help prevent constipation, which may be one of the consequences of fasting.

Salad comes next. Vegetables provide a good amount of vitamins, fiber and minerals. Choose salads and vegetables with light dressings or a little olive oil. Avoid adding large quantities of oil and salt.

The main dish can be composed of protein such as meat, preferably lean meat, poultry or fish.

Try to avoid frying. Fried foods absorb more oil, which increases calorie intake which may lead to weight gain and may not aid in good digestion.

It is very important to consume starch, such as whole-wheat grains, bread, pastas, potatoes or rice, which are nourishing and filling. These items should not be prepared with too much fat or salt.

Sweet foods are composed of high fat and sugars thus provide a lot of calories. Sweets should be consumed in moderation. As a substitute, fruits are recommended due to their content of fiber and vitamins, and low calorie content in comparison to sweets.

Suhoor Meal

The dawn meal shoud be treated as a replacement for breakfast (the most important meal of the day) and eaten as close to sunrise as permitted.

Be sure to avoid heavy meals, as afterwards people tend to go back to sleep without having properly digested their food.

A cup of low fat milk, laban or yogurt, a piece of fruit and a light cheese or labneh sandwich is recommended.

In view of the long hours of fasting, it is recommended to consume slow digesting and fiber containing foods, such as low fat cheese, yogurt or labneh, beans, rather than fast-digesting foods like sweets. Slow-digesting foods last for many hours, while fast-digesting foods last only for short periods of time.

Complex carbohydrates and high fiber foods are slow-digesting foods that include grains and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, semolina, beans, lentils, whole wheat bread, brown rice, vegetables, fruits with skin, dried apricots, figs, prunes and dates.

More Nutritional Guidelines  

•  Eat less fried and fatty foods, such as French fries, sweets and fried samboosa.
• Eat fewer foods containing large amount of sugar.
• Eat less salt and salted food, such as pickles, sauces, nuts, olives, etc.
• Do not eat two large meals a day. It is better to divide your meals into three meals (Iftar, midnight and Suhoor meals).
• Do not sleep immediately after Iftar and Suhoor meals since your body will take 2 – 3 hours to digest the food.
• Eat slowly and chew food very well.
• Practice walking in the evening (for 30 minutes). Wait for 2 hours after any meal before walking.
• Drink as much water as possible between Iftar and Suhoor meals so that the body can adjust its fluid balance in time. Water, unsweetened juice, low fat laban and low fat soup are excellent sources of nutrients and fluids.

How to make traditional Ramadan dishes healthier:

Samboosa:
Do not fry; bake. instead
Fill with vegetables, lentils / legumes or low fat cheese.

Harees & Jareesh:
Use lean meat or chicken during cooking.
Decrease or avoid adding oil on food top.

Sweets:
Use less sugar and fat.
Eat a smaller portion.
Replace sweets with fruits.

Pudding:
Make fruit puddings.
Use less sugar
Prepare puddings with low fat milk
Eat them between meals.

RAMADAN KAREEM

-- Prepared by Saudi Aramco Medical Services Organization