5 Tips to Staying Healthy during Ramadan

Ramadan is around the corner…10 days and counting. I’m so excited, I love every part of the holy month. Although I’m a morning person I love the change in routine. And those opportunities to connect with family and eat delicious food is so precious to my heart.

But those late nights, and family meals can mean falling off your health goals. So here are my top tips to keep you on track during Ramadan…and who knows maybe you’ll be able to loose some weight without dieting?

This is the most important advice of them all and I go into this in more details over here. Many studies have proven the many health benefits to following a plant-based eating plan. And Ramadan is the ideal time to test it out as you have less meals to worry about preparing.

When it comes to exercise and Ramadan there are two types of people – those that would stop exercising all together for the whole month, and those that exercise on a daily basis! And of those exercisers – you have those that would only workout before iftar, and those that would head to the gym in the evening. Some experts would advise against exercising while fasting, especially since there is no hydration, while others would say you can burn even more fat if you exercise fasted. I believe you need to listen to your body and make it work with you schedule. I usually try to fit in gentle workouts while fasting such as walking and yoga, and then a quick more vigorous workout in the evening. There’s nothing wrong with splitting your exercise into segments – I would do 15 minutes of yoga then a 30 minute brisk walk and then a 15min high intensity workout. As you can see there is no need to waste time (if you don’t have it) at the gym. For more tips on exercise check out this post.

When i was at university in London, Ramadan was during winter, and the days were very short. You could literally have breakfast 6am and then lunch by 4pm…but the amount I would eat between 4pm and whenever I went to bed was embarrassing! Because very few of us were fasting, and it was so cold, I had this fear of hunger. So I would stuff my face for no reason…and of course I put on so much weight. That was my first year…by the second and third I had it figured out…that the hunger will come and go…and I will be fine and any extra food I eat the day before won’t really make a difference.

This is a tough one during Ramadan especially I know…and even though it’s easy for me to say no to a fried samboosa…resisting my mother-in-law’s walnut atayef is not that easy!

I don’t like counting calories, but let’s face it those extra calories are really unnecessary, and once you exclude fried food from your meals during Ramadan, you can avoid those calories and eat more of the wholesome veggies, with room for some dessert (not atayef though).

Make your own healthy desserts and share the love with family and friends.

Especially if you’re someone that seems to be on a diet all the time. You could say I am anti-diet…but that’s a long discussion I will leave for another time. For now what’s important to note is that if you diet on a regular basis, and worse if you indulge in “cheat days”, you loose the connection of feeling hungry or full..and the intuition of choosing and enjoying what you eat. Ramadan is the perfect time to reconnect to your body’s hunger and fullness cues. Take this opportunity to really listen to your body and feed it what it needs and craves, keeping in mind that once you pass the fullness stage you will stop enjoying your food…and therefore you will stop eating not because “it’s wrong” or “you will get fat”…but because you are satisfied. It’s a liberating feeling…and many people have found that they can loose weight and keep it off (in the long-term) more easily by learning to listen to their body and eating intuitively than dieting. And إن شاء الله  after Ramadan ends you will be able to listen to your body better.

Happy Ramadan to you and your loved ones. Share with me below if you have any tips to stay healthy during Ramadan.