30BaD FADs: Frequently Added Discussions
What to do during the Muslim Ramadan month of fasting?
Assalamu Alaykum (peace be unto you all) and we would like to extend wishes for a happy, blessed, and healthy Ramadan, or should we say Rawmadan, for our Muslim members many of whom will be starting their month of fasting this Friday July 20, give or take where they live in the world.
For our non Muslim members, Ramadan is a month that Muslims, followers of the religion of Islam, will fast for about 29-30 days. They fast from sunrise to sunset. Food and drink may be taken during the pm and early am hours. Ramadan is a time of increased worship, of giving in charity, reducing consumption, and in learning sympathy for the poor people.
Keep in mind, this is not the kind of fasting that requires complete abstinence of food or calorie restriction. Only restraint is required during the day time hours possibly to achieve some spiritual or self disciplinary ends. Eating, calorie and drinking requirements are met in the pm and early am hours.
This blog post will demonstrate the following:
Lifestyle of Prophet Muhammad
Although not 100% fruitarian, Prophet Muhammad may have eaten a diet that closely resembles 811 himself, although his occasional eating of meat makes his diet resemble more that of primates.
His diet may have been naturally low fat as cooking oils would not have been in wide spread use during his lifetime. Olive oils may have been a valuable commodity for oil lamps.
Prophet Muhammad rarely ate meat, may be 3-4 times a year with Eid being an occassion he might indulge.
Muhammad may have been one of the earliest green activist as he discouraged cutting down trees unless there was a legitimate need and abusing animals. It was said that Muhammad had a cat and he might drink from the same water or eat from the same dish a cat had shared. He discouraged dressing excessively and or practicing consumption without need. He discouraged wastage of food and items. (1)
Prophet Muhammad ate mono meals! Which is classic advice we give to people around here. In fact, he only ate one type of food in one day. (2)
Food's of the Prophet's house included: a lot of dates which were and still are a food staple in the Arabian region, figs, cucumbers, melons, with the possibility of pomegranates. Onions and garlic were known foods to Muhammad as well.
Fruits and vegetables mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, are dates and date palms, olives, pomegranates, grapes, banana plants, figs, herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, and onions. (3)
Prophet Muhammad may have followed a no grain diet himself, and rarely if ever ate bread, and discouraged others not to eat the refined bread of the rich man. His wives may have occasionally eaten bread made from course whole grains.
The household of Muhammad did not cook much, neither employed a cook. They were known to go for up to three months without a fire on the hearth. Some of this was because of hardships, and some of this was because of their generous nature of giving food away to the needy.
Following a 811 type of diet is nothing new in traditional Islam, and may actually be the way of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hydration Concerns in Ramadan
This is our recommendation to stay hydrated no matter what the circumstances as it is difficult to digest fruit on a dehydrated system.
When rising in the morning, and or about 10-20 minutes before a meal, drink 3-4 cups of water, or a quart or more. Let the water pass and to get the system properly hydrated as well as make room for fruit.
http://durianrider.org/2011/04/10/when-to-eat-for-max-life-performa...
For people practicing Islam during Ramadan, when getting up in the morning, drink 3-4 cups of water, and then other things can be done such as the night prayer or quran reading. Then eat ripe juicy fruits such as ripe oranges to promote hydration maintenance.
When breaking the fast, again, just drink about a quart of water, and then go for evening prayers. Once the prayers are done, the system will be properly hydrated and ready to digest and assimilate food.
Before sleeping, again drink 3-4 cups of water, and keep a bottle of water bedside.
Recommended Daily Routine in Ramadan
In the morning, before breakfast, drink about a quart of water. Perhaps wait about 10 minutes and recite some Quran or pray tahajjud, and then take some dates. Eat 5-10 bananas or 10 oranges, and up to 1000 calories of fruit are already eaten.
You may find you feel good because enough calories and carbohydrates have been taken to give you energy, these foods are high in nutrients, and low fat so that the body can assimilate the nutrients and oxygen, and of course, you are not dehydrated.
Take rest during the daytime fasting, especially if it is hot and the summer season where some of you live. Avoid training and heavy exercise during this month. If I have heard correct, there is enough exercise to be had during the evening taraveeh prayers:D
At the break of the fast, drink 3-4 cups of water and eat dates or drink a datorade! Go for prayers.
On your return, eat another 500-1000 calories of your favorite fruits.
At this time, you may want to eat an alkalizing green salad of 1-2 pounds of greens too, but if not, it could be eaten a few hours later. Do not forget the importance of eating greens even if it just 1/2 pound a day.
Before sleeping, drink another 3-4 cups of water, and keep a bottle of water by your bed for pm drinking.
And, Wallahi, you have your 2-3 quarts of water, and have easily consumed 2500-3000 calories during allowed eating times.
Get plenty of sleep during the night, and rest during the day. Because it is a fast, and or some of you are still new to 811, you may experience some detox symptoms. Avoid heavy training and workouts for this month, slow down and rest, and enjoy life, family, friends, and worship.
It is recommended to do heavy housecleaning and tend to major business before Ramadan starts so that one can rest in mind and body and focus on worship.
You may find that you feel better than ever, and better than some of your family and friends who are gorging on high fat fried foods, spicy foods, and animal products.
Sample Routine of One Member
Here is an example of how one of our members, Esra who commented here, has passed the first day of Ramadan and has also managed to add some yoga and fitness into the routine as well:
I did yoga (very meditative and relaxing - a new thing for me with yoga) for about 30 minutes right before Iftar.
For Iftar tonight I started with 1.5L of water, and then waited 20-30 minutes to eat. I started with 1 very large papaya, then 6 cut up bananas and 10 medjool dates, so around ~1500 cals. It took me 1 hour to eat all of this, I just ate it slowly and mindfully. By this time it was around 10:30pm.
I felt very energetic, and at 11:15pm I decided to do some exercises. I did some pretty good rope skipping, I always try to get to 1000 skips, and had no problem doing that. I downed 1L of water after that. Shortly after, I had a huge bowl of cherries, and then a banana/baby spinach smoothie. Both added up to ~600 cals.
Right now (2am) I'm finishing up another liter of water, and I will not be waking up for Suhoor, and will just sleep through till the morning. I think this is best because I am very full, and I think it's more beneficial if I just get a good night's sleep.
My calories for the day are ~2100cals, which is significantly lower than what I'm used to (at least 2500cals, usually more like 3000cals). But I guess this corresponds well with what I've done today, which is basically nothing other than just walking around the city in the morning, yoga, and then my rope skipping exercise.
Hope this helps someone. If I make any significant changes to this plan as the month progresses I will post. It's only the first day after all!
Good luck to all of you, and again, have a blessed, safe, and healthy Ramadan.
For any of you Muslim members out there who have passed a HCRV 811 Ramadan, please feel free to share your experiences and or pass on advice to others.
Also, those of you who have questions, feel free to ask.
Peace, PK
References
Disclaimer:
This blog is for informational purposes only.
The medical and/or nutritional information on this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health
provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional
medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read on this Web site.
Updated August 9, 2012 By PK
Comment
Comment by Ana on July 28, 2012 at 3:54am Wow Leisa, what is your evidence for that? I will grant that quality information about non-Western subjects is extremely hard in the West. I have taught about Islam on the undergraduate and graduate-level at several universities and I do a lot of public speaking (TV, radio, video, and in person) about Islam, especially since 911, and will agree that finding reliable information is difficult. But it's not impossible. However, it takes sincere effort on a truth-seeker's part to learn to think accurately and critically about an unknown subject, whatever that may be.
If you wish to make claims about Islam, I recommend that you seek out Wm Chittick's Vision of Islam, which is fabulous, as are all of Saed Hussein Nasr's works. There are many books written from Christian authors as well, notably (and one of my personal favorites Victor Danner), Huston Smith, Annemarie Schimmel, Marshall Hodgson, and Thomas Cleary. NONE of whom support your impressions of and assertions about Islam.
Please, please, Leisa, before you start making unsupported claims about a subject you don't know about, do your research.
I was born into a Christian family and raised as one. Then I fell in love with Islam after much study~so much so that I became a Muslim. There is absolutely no proselytization in Islam, so no worries; no one here is trying to convert you or anyone else. We are honest, hard-working, family-loving people who-like you-are trying to have a nice life. If you will kindly leave Islam alone, we will do the same for your religion. Would that be agreeable to you? peace......ana
Comment by Kenichisan on July 28, 2012 at 3:17am Hey Leisa,
why do you think he was that what you call M ? What had you give that opinion ?
Isn´t the koran not just written from other peopele ? M. didn´t wrote anything by lifetime, there was other people wo write down what he said.
Comment by Kenichisan on July 26, 2012 at 6:29pm I always wanted to do a Ramadan month just for fun. I am not a muslime, i just like this tradition.
I think its very good Idea to start the day before sunrising and eat something, it could help me to do a very active liefstyle and start to learn more fore life and for school.
I see that the Ramadan this year already began on 20th July ??? Is this right, I thought on 1st of August like almost every year. I miss 6 or 7 days, depending on if I want to eat today still something oon daytime. Yesterday I eat durung day only 3 slices of bread.
Is it cheating if I still start tomorrow fasting ? I would try it 100% Rwa Vegan Fruit Style, since I broke down Freelees challenge.
Comment by PK on July 23, 2012 at 5:36am My apologies if some of you cannot see the edit above. I am having technical difficulties, and will try again a bit later.
Peace, PK
Comment by PK on July 23, 2012 at 5:23am For those of you who already read this blog post, I am making a small edit with an example of one member, Esra"s first day which was shared here, which may help some of you with a realistic schedule and or an idea for how to add fitness into the schedule as well:
I did yoga (very meditative and relaxing - a new thing for me with yoga) for about 30 minutes right before Iftar.
For Iftar tonight I started with 1.5L of water, and then waited 20-30 minutes to eat. I started with 1 very large papaya, then 6 cut up bananas and 10 medjool dates, so around ~1500 cals. It took me 1 hour to eat all of this, I just ate it slowly and mindfully. By this time it was around 10:30pm.
I felt very energetic, and at 11:15pm I decided to do some exercises. I did some pretty good rope skipping, I always try to get to 1000 skips, and had no problem doing that. I downed 1L of water after that. Shortly after, I had a huge bowl of cherries, and then a banana/baby spinach smoothie. Both added up to ~600 cals.
Right now (2am) I'm finishing up another liter of water, and I will not be waking up for Suhoor, and will just sleep through till the morning. I think this is best because I am very full, and I think it's more beneficial if I just get a good night's sleep.
My calories for the day are ~2100cals, which is significantly lower than what I'm used to (at least 2500cals, usually more like 3000cals). But I guess this corresponds well with what I've done today, which is basically nothing other than just walking around the city in the morning, yoga, and then my rope skipping exercise.
Hope this helps someone. If I make any significant changes to this plan as the month progresses I will post. It's only the first day after all!
Peace, PK
Comment by PK on July 22, 2012 at 5:42am @Mik,
First of all, it is very kind of you to try to support your girlfriend in this regard. Courageous even.
Now you mentioned you are on vacation. My understanding is that Islam teaches if one is ill or travelling, one does not have to fast on those days. If possible, the fast could be made up after Ramadan. For those too ill to do so, giving a plate of food as charity to a poor person makes up for it. So if you are travelling, on vacation, then resume the fast when you return home.
I am not quite sure how to work out the schedule, but as Ana mentioned, sleep can be taken after the breakfast and or morning prayers if you do that too.
In some Muslim countries, things kind of slow down during Ramadan. People may work or go to school fewer hours, and take naps in the afternoon. I have been in one Muslim country during Ramadan, and it is sweet to see in the markets, some working men will sleep in or on their trucks or carts or under a tree during the noon heat.
This is one reason I mentioned if people can, to try to take care of major affairs and business before Ramadan, and take things slow and rest when they can. I also recommended to avoid training and heavy exercise too.
If you are going to continue with the fast, make sure to at least drink some water and or eat a few dates in the morning. This is what Muhammad did. He did not get up and prepare a huge breakfast. The combination of dates and water have similar nutrients such as those found in an IV drip, and will keep you feeling good during the day.
I recommend breaking the fast with lots of water, waiting a bit and then eating ripe fruit, as eating fruit on a dehydrated system is difficult.
Keep in mind the following recommendations from DR about when to drink and eat:
http://durianrider.org/2011/04/10/when-to-eat-for-max-life-performa...
Good luck and Peace, PK
Comment by PK on July 22, 2012 at 5:30am Hey all, thanks for your kind words and well wishes. As Tom has suggested, those of you who are trying the fast this year as 811 HCRV are welcome to repost here with updates on what works and what does not, how to cope with family and friends, recipes, ect.
Hope things are going smoothly. Peace, PK
Comment by PK on July 22, 2012 at 5:29am @ayah,
As you can see, you are not alone. We have a few more people here that will be attempting an 811 Rawmadan this year:D)))
@Esra, sometimes, even though one does not relate to a religion, there is still fun and comfort to be found participating in the cultural traditions of ones family, and may increase our sense of belonging and well being. I think your family and friends will enjoy your participation as well.
@Tom, you are welcome. Even if you do not eat much at the am breakfast, at least try to drink about a quart of water to maintain hydration, and a few dates or pieces of fruit.
Peace, PK
Comment by Ana on July 22, 2012 at 12:01am Hello Mik
I believe what PK's suggestions assume that you plan to maintain your normal hours during the fast. That means, if you normally go to bed at, say 11PM, then you would get up at 3 AM to eat and drink something, and then go back to bed. Then arise at your normal morning time.
If you plan to change your hours and stay up until 3 AM, then, obviously, this wouldn't work.
Does this answer your question? ....ana xoxo
Comment by Phenix on July 21, 2012 at 7:47pm Hi PK,
Thanks for your information...However i was wondering how you can manage it
It's my first time - i do it to support my girlfriend...but here are my challenge
you said "In the morning, before breakfast, drink about a quart of water. Perhaps wait about 10 minutes and recite some Quran or pray tahajjud, and then take some dates. Eat 5-10 bananas or 10 oranges, and up to 1000 calories of fruit are already eaten. " - we are in vacation in Tunisia - here the first prayer is at 3.30am so it's mean i need to take a breakfast and drink water around 3am - for now i didn't success with that...
the break of the fast is at 7.38 pm so it's mean we finish to eat around 11pm - yesterday it was 00.30 am - so how you can get enough sleep during the night
Do i need to break the fast at 7.38pm and eat all what i need in 2h max to be able to go to bed around 10.30pm?
usually i wake up around 9am - take 1l of water and a breakfast of fruits after - i'm a bit shifted here..How would you manage it with this hours...? also i can't make a datorade and take 10 to 15 dates is a bit "too much" if i want to eat more after - I feel heavy..
the first day i didn't wake up the morning so i didn't drink during the day - only 1.5l after the break..the second day - this morning i've got just the time to drink 1l but not to eat...
I guess i will need to adjust myself but i feel is challenging to go to bed at 00.30am and wake up at 3.30am just to eat and drink - i hope i could go to bed around 10.30pm or 11pm but even at this time it's not a lot of sleep...
do you have tips to help?
thanks
Mik
Madison Majhen replied to Madison Majhen's discussion **** Meat-Eaters Say (from my experience at college)Madison Majhen replied to Madison Majhen's discussion **** Meat-Eaters Say (from my experience at college)
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