A Ramadan Regimen by Zoyna Khatri
Zoyna Khatri is one of Grow Fit's diet specialists who is also observing the Ramadan fast. These are her recommendations:
“Ramadan is a holy month for purifying your heart and soul. Through fasting, you attach your soul more to Allah. I have a few ideas to make your Ramadan healthy, so you can make your soul more attached to Allah through mindful eating. Binge eating leads to fatigue and low energy and hinders our ability to offer peaceful namaz and recite the Quran. Ramadan is a great opportunity to bring back a balanced and healthy lifestyle not only to purify your soul, but also to cleanse your system and adopt a healthy lifestyle."
"As we all know, in Ramadan, the day is divided into suhoor (pre-dawn meal) and iftar (dinner) in terms of eating.
Suhoor: The prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) has emphasised a lot on having suhoor. Why is that? In Ramadan, you can consider suhoor as breakfast. It may be very difficult to get up and prepare a wholesome meal, but don’t forget that suhoor is the most important meal of the day and during Ramadan, it’s the meal that will help you to sustain for the rest of the day. So what type of foods should be consumed for suhoor? Complex carbohydrates which are slow-digesting like barley, whole wheat, oats, millets, beans, lentils, wholemeal flour, basmati rice, jowar, bajra and brown rice. Avoid bread, vermicelli, rava, pav, buns, naan, and baked goods. Drink fluids to keep you hydrated. The best thing to add is milk or a casein-based protein supplement. It lasts for more than 3 hours in the stomach, leading to slow gastric emptying and also makes the meal protein-rich.
Some options for suhoor:

- 1 bowl porridge with milk + a handful of nuts
- wheat-based cereal with milk + a banana/other fruit
- 2 roti + sabzi + 1 glass milk + a fruit
- roasted chicken or egg (bhurji) with 2 roti + 1 fruit
- 1 cup kheer + 2 roti + a fruit
- stir-fried brown rice with 1 cup curd
- 1 glass mango milkshake without sugar (also called aamras) with 2 roti
- 1 bowl raita + 1 cup brown rice + 1 cup pulses or sprouts
- dates + fruits + 1 cup channa chaat + roasted chicken + 2 roti
- dates + fruits + 1 cup boiled chicken soup + 1 cup curd/1 glass milkshake
- dates + fruits + 1 glass badam milk + roasted kababs (chicken) + 2 slices whole-wheat bread
- dates + roasted chicken shawarma + 1 glass falooda without mawa
- dates + pita bread with chicken, salad and hummus + fruits with custard
- dates + chicken with boiled rice, vegetable curry and mixed salad, followed by fruit salad
- dates + whole-grain pasta cooked with vegetables and chicken and fruits with custard
- dates + 1 bowl of kheer + 1 cup ragda + fruit salad
- Avoid foods high in fat, salt and sugar
- Choose a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, beans, lentils, rice and grains
- Drink plenty of fluids and avoid caffeinated beverages like coffee, tea, energy drinks or cola
- Break the fast with a healthy snack like dates – a nutritious burst of natural sugar
- Speak to a health professional before changing medication regimes for Ramadan
- Avoid excessive exercise during fasts – if you want to go to the gym, consider doing so after iftar
- Tags: aamras bajra baked goods balanced banana barley basmati rice beans binge eating bread breakfast brown rice buns casein-based protein supplement cleanse your system complex carbohydrates cucumber custard dairy dates drink fluids egg Event excessive exercise falooda fast fatigue figs fruit glucose grapes green tea Health healthy lifestyle hummus hydrated iftar jowar kabab kheer Lamb lentils low energy mawa medication milk milkshake millets mindful eating muscles mutton naan nutritious nuts oats olives onions pasta pav pita bread porridge protein-rich pulses ragda raita Ramadan rava roasted chicken roti sabzi salad shawarma slow digesting slow gastric emptying sprouts suhoor vegetables vermicelli wheat-based cereal whole wheat wholemeal flour wholesome meal
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