The 3 Most Important Mistakes Made While Fasting During Ramadan!

As we approach the longest days of the year, fasting means going without food or water for more than 16 hours. Fasting can actually be very beneficial for almost all patients, except those with low blood sugar. However, dehydration can be risky for many patients. Even healthy individuals find it difficult to stay hydrated. If you don't want to be dehydrated, please heed the warnings listed below.

I would like to tell you about three important mistakes that people who fast today make.

The first is to eat a wide variety and large amounts at iftar. This isn't because we're not full; we all know we can feel full by eating very little at iftar. The most significant reason for overeating at iftar stems from the culture that has transformed Ramadan into a feast, not a month of fasting and purification. When we interpret and apply the advice to invite the poor to your table and offer them abundant food, the amount of food eaten at iftar becomes excessive.

The second mistake is waking up for suhoor, eating, then drinking lots of water on a full stomach to avoid thirst, only to go to bed with a full stomach for a while. This is the biggest mistake. A full stomach dilutes the enzymes needed to digest food, making digestion more difficult. A full stomach also causes reflux when you lie down. Furthermore, drinking glasses of water to prevent thirst from your food is ineffective. The water consumed during suhoor is excreted in your urine within a short period of three hours.

The third mistake is choosing the right foods for suhoor. Sugary, salty, spicy, or protein-rich foods require a lot of water to metabolize. Because this water requirement peaks 8-10 hours after digestion, eating the wrong foods can leave you dehydrated the next day, regardless of how much water you drink at suhoor. Sugary and sweet foods eaten at suhoor will also cause your blood sugar to drop rapidly the next day, and sugar requires a lot of water to be digested and converted into energy.

Keep in mind that protein-rich foods require five times their own weight in water to be digested, while sugar requires 15 times its intake to be metabolized. Fats are the only food group that doesn't increase water requirements later on. You can use oils like real butter and olive oil. If you're going to eat butter, make sure the milk it was produced from wasn't from a farm animal fed GMO-containing feed. In any case, it's best to be a little cautious when consuming saturated fats like butter.

Based on this information, what should we eat for iftar and suhoor?

We should avoid consuming harmful foods like pita or bread made from white flour. You can consume a small amount of bread made from wheat flour obtained from heirloom seeds, fermented with sourdough for around 16 hours, at iftar. We should avoid sweets, processed foods, and soft drinks containing fructose and sweeteners at iftar and sahur. Our iftar table should be limited in variety and we should eat small amounts. We should not overfill our stomachs. Drinking 1-2 glasses of water and waiting a few minutes before starting the meal at iftar is very beneficial. This helps the water pass from your stomach into the small intestine where it will be absorbed and reduces your appetite. We should also increase water consumption as much as possible between iftar and sahur.

If you want Ramadan fasting to benefit your health, you should have a very light suhoor. Avoid heavy meaty, spicy dishes, and sweets at suhoor. Avoid salty foods like cheese and olives. You can enjoy foods like vegetable dishes, tzatziki, and salads with plenty of olive oil or fatty foods like avocado. Soaking unroasted, raw nuts like hazelnuts, walnuts, and almonds in water before eating them at suhoor will significantly reduce your hunger the next day. If you can find real butter produced from the milk of an animal that has not consumed GMO-containing processed foods, it's fine to eat vegetable dishes made with that oil or one or two eggs cracked into it.

However, even if you've eaten lightly, you shouldn't lie down for about two hours after sahur. Eating and then immediately going to bed is extremely harmful. If you're wondering how I'll wait two hours for work the next day, I recommend drinking only water during sahur, perhaps a small piece of tzatziki with dill. Skipping suhur will not only help you avoid dehydration but also contribute to your health through Ramadan's hunger.

Wishing you all a healthy Ramadan,
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Mahir Atasoy