Fast Food For Ramadan

With Ramadan rapidly approaching, I'm hearing the cries of my Muslim sisters asking, "what should I make for sahoor and iftar. It's the same quandary every year I believe. This year I'm taking the same approach as I did last year, except with a lot more insight. At the beginning of this year I did a 30 day juice fast in order to promote healing in my body, as well as weight loss. I learned a lot from that experience, but one of the main things that I learned, is the same principle I learned from last years fasting; it truly doesn't take great amounts of food to nourish a body. What we need is not larger portions of food, but foods with larger portions of nutrients.

Yes this is going to be my motto for Ramadan, "make every morsel nutrient dense." Quite honestly, I'm not into the idea of fixing these huge iftars and sahoors. With this practice we're spending the majority of our precious, time during this most blessed month slaving in the kitchen morning and night trying to make these big elaborate meals during Ramadan. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against big meals during Ramadan, especially when I'm invited to one! I'm not going to turn down a nice iftar with family and friends. However I'd personally prefer to spend more of my time during this month doing spiritual acts of worship. Yes I know cooking can be an ibadah as well, however cutting time in the kitchen leaves more time for things like, going to the Masjid, getting up for Tahajjud prayers, reading my 30th of Qur'an reading, volunteering to cook for the shelter and many other practices that I like to do during Ramadan.

So what foods are going to be on my menu this year that are easy to prepare and nutrient dense? My number one fast food will be smoothies. Yes smoothies! Not what comes to most peoples minds when they think of Ramadan meals, however I say "why not?" There are so many different varieties that you could never get bored. However, I will primarily be going for the green smoothies. Especially, those made from Kale. Kale is a cruciferous food that is loaded with potassium and many other nutrients that allow the body to heal itself. It's especially healing for the liver. The other great thing about smoothies, is that it is easy to add extra nutrients to them with add ins such as, hemp seeds, chia seeds, spirulina, wheat grass juice, vitamin C and other revitalizing supplements. Since we wont be eating as much food as we normally eat, every bit of nutrients that we add in counts. I even believe that taking a really good multi vitamin at this time could prove to be very beneficial. Make sure that you chose one that is from plant based sources though, and not a synthetic vitamin.

Some sisters have asked me, "how about doing smoothies only during Ramadan?" To this I say, be very cautious. You don't want to end up loosing too many nutrients from your diet. I'd have a sensible meal like an egg, sprouted wheat toast or possibly some brown rice, along with one or two hydrating smoothies with possibly kale, cucumbers, lemon and a fruit of choice, (mine is pineapple), add in supplements that your body needs, water and ice ofcourse, and call that sahoor. For iftar, I'd make a regular dinner, protein, veggies and a small amount of carbs such as brown rice, quinoa, barley, or some other whole grain or sprouted seeds. Then once my meal digested maybe have another green smoothie, and/or an nice fruit smoothie for dessert. My favorite is strawberry and banana with almond milk or yogurt and ice. If you need a little sweetener in it, add some stevia. Oh and don't forget to drink your water.

Inshallah, I will be making more blog posts about fast, healing foods that you can add to your table during the holy month of Ramadan.