Staying Healthy During Ramadan

donut0420

As many of you know, this past month has been the moth of Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month in the Muslim faith where people will fast during the day - no eating, no smoking, no drinking (including water). While I am not Mulsim, I live in a country where Ramadan is observed, and my in-laws are practicing Muslims who fast. Out of respect (and also because of the law!) there is no eating, drinking, or smoking in public places during daylight hours. This can make daytime workouts next to impossible, since you can't have water.

Once the sun goes down, people will break the fast with iftar, a large meal that is often a family gathering where you are encouraged to eat all kinds of delicious, but heavy foods. Dates and apricots are the precursor, then there's shorba - a very salty soup, fatteh - pita, chickpeas, tahina, and roasted nuts, mashi - stuffed peppers, zucchini, or vine leaves, and every kind of meat you could possibly imagine. To top it all off, there is usually konefa - a fried pastry soaked in syrup and usually stuffed with cheese, or some other very heavy dessert. Not to mention the juices you drink throughout the meal.

It is custom at these family gatherings that you eat a little bit (or a lot!) of everything. If not, your mother-in-law will just end up feeding it to you anyways! If you're fasting, you're usually pretty hungry anyways, but its hard not to overindulge. If anyone else is also in this kind of position, I would love to hear how you stay healthy during Ramadan. Also, how do you keep the balance next week during Eid, where it's all family, all the time, with Christmas/Thanksgiving levels of food every day!?

yarwell

I think I would get a vacation or secondment to somewhere without this issue :-)

Ramadan does seem to be a massive pigout (no pun intended) under the guise of a fast - almost like an eating disorder you can't eat in the daytime when you would be seen, but at dark it's Party Time !!!! (based on observations in Jeddah, KSA)

elv1ra

mmm konefa...

Since you're not muslim i don't understand why you feel the need to partake to please your in laws. it seems like you're respectful of their traditions and personal choices, so why not expect the same in return. Can you skip the evenings with them? or just explain that while you respect their traditions and beliefs, they're not yours and right now your main focus is becoming healthier by dropping some weight, so you can't eat everything they serve at their nightly breaking of the fast. There must be some food served that you'd be able to eat

donut0420

Well, it's just that here, not eating is considered rude, especially since my mother-in-law works really hard on making all of this food. It doesn't help that she's Egypt's best cook!

I usually just try to eat a bite of two of everything, and fill up on tabbuleh. Skipping the evening is not an option, as we all live in the family villa. Not that I'd want to miss out anyways - my niece and nephew are the loves of my life and I spend as much time with them as I can! Ramadan is amazing in Egypt - so full of family and life. I absolutely love it!

Pigout... I get it

elv1ra

yeah those muslims sure like their food :P my brother in law is muslim and OMG does he eat a lot. sometimes like 3 breakfasts in one day. thats fine for him, hes skinny lol. i cant eat that much without consequences!