Sharing My Low Carb Plan for Ramadan

kimmbird

A.S. Sisters, :flowerforyou:

I spoke with my nutrutional therapist yesterday about the best plan for me during Ramadan. I thought I would share it with you. Please keep on mind that I follow a healthy low carb plan (Atkins). I am not dieting, this is my lifestyle plan. I am greatful to Adele, for understanding the importance of me fasting and helping me to do what's best for my body, so I may have the strength and energy that my body needs to help me experience and worshiped deeply

Dehydration is a huge problem for me, even b4 low carbing... Since, I don't eat out much anymore I hv had to increase my salt because we are a very low salt family. (We need sodium to keep from urinating out my precious minerals to keep me balanced..this is a reminder to myself, cause I hate adding salt My solution, is to add a pinch of salt to every 8oz of water. This has helped tremendously and my energy level is rising. (btw, blood pressure is good)

Mineral supplements and multi Vit..We are discovering that I hv a mineral imbalance, even b4 low carbing. Even with adding the minerals and salt, my numbers still aren't up to what my MFP nutritional values should be. But I am getting them there.

My Plan..

Fatour (listed by focus)
Good Protein
Green leafy veg (a lot) & low starch veg
Healthy fats & salt

Meal:
Date-- 1
Water-- w pinch of salt
Soup-- low starch veggies, bone broth, lentil & cream
Salat
Protein--fish, chicken, lean beef, shrimp, egg
Leafy greens-- big salad
Healthy fat-- coconut oil, olive oil, avacado

Snack meals:
Green Smoothies-- Full of veggies, protein powder, avacado and other goodies, plus pinch do salt
Water w pinch of salt....as many as I can consume abut after my smoothie..
Dairy, whole fat-- ricotta, Greek yogurt, cheese

Sahour: (focus)
Water w 2pinches of salt...try to slowly drink two glasses b4 food. Note..need extra salt to keep the water in my body and not down the drain
Good fats-- avacado! coconut, olive oil, peanut butter
Good Fiber-- still unsure about this one..berries, celery, fiber powder, pumpkin...
Good Protein-- egg, cheese...stIll working on this too, it isn't easy to eat protein at 3am

Meal-- I am pretty sure I will create some smoothies for my sahour w a cream, ricotta or Greek yogurt as my base plus.
Or possibly, I can come up w a delicious and nutrition packed soup just for Sahour.

My Goal For my food plan this Ramadan is to keep hydrated, try to stabilize my blood sugar, sustain my energy throughout the day as much as possible and eat high nutrition packed meals.

:flowerforyou:

RevertMuslimah

Thanks for sharing - respect on your healthy lifestyle.

I did Atkins for 6 weeks last year and was amazed at how well I felt but I lost focus and majorly fell off the wagon and am now a carb-junkie again

Might give your plan a try albeit a modified version due to pregnancy.

heniko

Waleikoum esalaam,

Dzjk Allah kheirn - thank you Kim for sharing your plan. It is very sound and practical plan for Ramadan. IMHO Ramadan is the best time to eat "low carb" way ... unfortunately most ppl eat the opposite alot of starch and sugar (so carbs).

Last year, I started on a similar plan ... I don't want to say plan cos to me it's more then a diet or plan. After reading Mark's Daily Apple I decided to take up the challenge of giving up wheat, giving up proccessed industrial faux foods, sugar, eating more protein and fat. And adopted the "less is more" by movin around a lot at a slow pace for my excerise.

I was very dubious in the beginning but it worked for me to realignment my health and weight loss too. Unfortunately, then I got pregnant again, and Ramadan LOL started ... so the table was spread out with kinds of breads, treats and sweets. So somehow ALL my control left me the whole Ramadan last year. After Ramadan, I started back again ... but it was on and off with the wheat. Elhamdullah I managed to wean myself off of sugar.

Now it's a year later, another Ramadan ... my baby is 4months old I am determined to get back to the road of finding health. I realise now cutting out all grains (or even sweets) isn't realistic. But just a recipe for a complete breakdown. I started reading into the dietary habits of the Prophet Mohammed, we find he ate only dark bread (barley and rye) not much wheat ...

Kim -- interesting you wrote water with pinch of salt. I read that the Pr Mohammed recommended taking salt before/after meals. Modern medicine seems to say the osposite that salt isn't good for the health. But I tend to believe, things in our religion rather then modern mainstream science.

RevertMuslimah, -- I'm not pregnant anymore. My baby is 4months now but I am exclusively breastfeeding. Although I wasn't low carb during the pregnancy due to my doctor's (bad) advice and my lack of self control, now BFing I'm going to keep in moderate carb range (100-150 grams/day) I think cutting carbs too low generally means doing away with not just sugars and grains but the antioxidant rich vegetables and fruits. With the increased needs for vitamins and minerals during pregnancy and nursing, I wouldn’t give up or cut back on the best sources.

Enchallah we all remember, the month of Ramadan is to thank our Creator for the bounties that HE has given us and not a time to waste those bounties that hurt our bodies and health.

kimmbird

Thank you for sharing about our Prophet adding salt at fatour and sahour! I never thought about asking what he ate. Making me think:)

My Nutritinal therapist reminded me that the big salt hang up is because so many of us eat put and processed foods! Salt is a very important mineral and when we eat a natural foods which are naturally low in sodium that we need to add the salt. It's not that salt is bad, it's only when processing and eating out saturate our foods with salt.

Now that I am eating the best I hv since we grew our own food, I actually need to add salt. I am so grateful for the MFP nutritional info. It has been so beneficial.

I am now gaining water, Alhandallah, but still in ketosis so I know I am still burning fat. Seeing the scale go up is disturbing, but it IS water and we all know how important water is! I want to lose fat

Another easy and healthy idea is a no white plan. So, no white pot, white flour, white rice...I am sure there is more to this, so google it if you want more info. Just thinking no white flour will knock out so many processed foods. Also, only shop at the grocery store around the outside aisles, because that is where the healthy stuff is, fruit veg, meats, fish, dairy, a lot of fresh foods. Since I am on Atkins, I Almost never go anywhere except the outside of the grocery store

Everyone have a fantastic day!

heniko

Waleikoum esalaam,

You are very right about the salt in processed foods vs homemade food. Using MFP I've come to realise it in the numbers subhanallah. While living in Algeria - North Africa we have access to natural foods machallah in the form of fruits and vegetables, the mainstream here is still consuming high amounts of processed grains like white flour, semolina and potatoes. Here it is difficult to impossible to find these things like coconut oil, coconut flour, almond flour etc. While I've learned online how to make coconut and almond flour at home, it just comes out too expensive for my budget. I rather spent that on proteins. And machallah using a recipe I found on an Atkins site I make flawseed bread or muffins that are pretty tasty.

Just out of curiousity Kim which phase are you in the Atkins plan?

And as for the Hadiths about salt ... Hanafi School mention in their respective works that it is from the general Sunna and recommended acts to commence and conclude one’s meal with salt, and that there are numerous medical benefits in doing so. There is a sound Hadith recorded by Imam Ibn Majah, Imam Tabarani and others from Sayyiduna Anas ibn Malik (Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said, “The best of your curries is salt.” (Sunan Ibn Majah, no: 3315)

While I'm not doing a low carb diet per say I have incorporated alot of what I have learned reading Mark's Daily Apple and other Primal/Paleo sites removing most of the processed foods and unnatural sugars that have lead to the diseases of the civilizations. I've found that living without grains and legumes to be chronically unsatisfying and unsustainable. But whole grains, how controversial be the name maybe . Though I'm not as anti-grain as some folks, saying this would I think go against the Sunnah as our Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him was eating barley and rye. But I don't pretend that highly processed "whole wheat flour" is actually good for me. Grains that don't look like grains are not your friends. I've been reading up on the diabetic or lower carb Mediterranean diet ... this makes more sense enchallah.

Happy weekend and Ramadan to you all!