How to Stay Healthy During Ramadan

Ramadan is a time for fasting which means Muslims don’t eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset. This can be taxing on the body which means extra efforts need to be taken in order to keep the body nourished and healthy. 

If you’re wondering how to stay healthy for Ramadan 2021 – or if you’re doing an intermittent fasting diet and want to know how to nourish your body when you do eat, here are some top tips. 

1. Avoid Over Indulging

When the body doesn’t receive food, your cravings will greatly increase and the first thing you’ll want to do come sundown is to eat anything and everything you can get your hands on – namely sugary junk food. It might be hard to resist this urge, but it’s important that you do because your stomach will shrink over the course of the month. This means you won’t be able to eat as much as you used to and you’ll feel fuller faster, meaning it’s of utmost importance that the food you do eat is nourishing and vitamin rich. 

The last thing you want to do is fill up on sweets and junk food before you’ve had a chance to eat a proper meal – no matter how much your desperate for a chocolate bar or a biscuit.

2. Hit Every Food Group

As Muslims only eat two meals a day during Ramadan, it makes hitting all the food groups required for a healthy, balanced diet even harder – especially since snacking throughout the day isn’t an option. It might seem like it’s impossible to hit every food group when you’re only eating two meals a day, but there are ways you can alter your diet to incorporate all the essential nutrients you need. 

For example, at suhoor you could eat poached egg and smashed avocado on wholegrain toast with a side salad. You could follow it up with a yoghurt and some fruit to hit four out of five of the food groups in one meal. 

For iftar, you could have grilled fish, chicken or a lean red meat on a bed of rice/noodles/pasta and vegetables. For dessert, you could have some cheese and crackers, or a fruit salad and some juice. 

It might seem like a mammoth task, but if ever there was a month to care with your diet, Ramadan is it. By hitting each food group, you will be giving your body all the nutrients it needs to sustain you through the day and keep you healthy. 

3. Minimize Exercise

You may lead a very active lifestyle normally, but partaking in Ramadan could mean you need to slow down. It’s very important to exercise to some degree, but lengthy workouts every day might not be possible since your energy levels might dip. Instead of a heavy strength based workout, you could instead take a brisk walk after iftar or suhoor when your body has been nourished, or you could do a short HIIT workout instead. It is possible to do a comprehensive workout during Ramadan, but if you plan on upkeeping your workout routine, it’s even more important to eat a balanced diet. 

4. Hydration

Arguably the most important part of staying healthy during Ramadan is to keep hydrated. When it is permissible to drink, make sure you do so and try to get your seven glasses in between sunset and sunrise. It’s common for many Muslims to experience mild dehydration during Ramadan, and whilst this isn’t particularly dangerous, the feeling of lethargy over the course of a month can take its toll. When it’s warm, it’s even more important to consume vast amounts of water as lots of your body water will be expelled during the day through sweat, whereas in winter this won’t be as much of an issue. 

Taking heed of these four tips should help keep you healthy during Ramadan or during your intermittent fast.