Fasting promotes healthy lifestyle

Photo: STAR

Fasting in the month of Ramadan is an opportunity to make significant changes in lifestyle and develop the resolve to make healthy living choices. Fasting is a physical and spiritual experience requiring a great deal of preparation. What and how much you eat affects your health directly, and refraining from food can help improve self-discipline and restraint if done appropriately. It is an opportunity to make healthy lifestyle choices and give up some bad habits like smoking, eating pan, telling lies, speaking ill of others, back biting, losing temper and vain talk. Being mindful of how you fast and how you break your fast can help to improve your overall health -- both physical and mental. Fasting is not only a physical but also a spiritual exercise that has many lasting benefits like a sense of heightened consciousness of God. It also helps you to become less preoccupied with bodily appetites, and gives the heart and mind the freedom to reflect upon deeper spiritual matters, such as the relationship with God and with fellow human beings. It enables a person to develop sustained consciousness of God.
A fasting person learns restraint, and only responds to hunger and thirst in the heightened level of consciousness and discipline. In the Quran "healthy and wholesome food" is described as the best of provisions. Islam creates a sense of responsibility in people to take a healthy living lifestyle as normal. Fasting in the month of Ramadan teaches us to manage and practice spirituality and not to eat excessively. The essential part of spirituality in food is that we are grateful and thankful for the food we get. The blessed Prophet once said: "God has a right over you; your body has a right over you." To strike a balance between the needs of the physical body and your spiritual needs, you must on the one hand consume the right type and amount of food and on the other hand develop excellent interpersonal skills. The blessed Prophet Muhammad said: "I have only been sent for the perfection of character."
Fasting is complete abstinence from food and drink between dawn and dusk. All those who are ill or frail, pregnant or menstruating women, breastfeeding mothers and travellers are exempted. They are required to make up the number of days missed at a later date. Health is the key to happiness, and what we consume directly affects our health. Islam encourages Muslims to ensure that they are mindful of their health. The blessed Prophet said: "Take advantage of the good health before illnesses afflict you." He also encouraged Muslims to try their best to take up a healthy living lifestyle that includes a balanced diet, regular mental and physical exercise and a balance between material and spiritual needs. The month of Ramadan is a great opportunity to focus on bringing back a balanced and healthy lifestyle in your life.
The fasts of Ramadan can improve a person's health. The deciding factor is what you consume in the non-fasting hours. Food has a great significance in Islam. It is associated with one's relationship with God. Chapter 20, verse 81 of the Qur'an states: "Eat of the good and wholesome things that we have provided for your sustenance, but indulge in no excess therein.
The physical body is a gift from God; it is given to humans as an amanah (in trust) to take care of for a fixed period. How much food is consumed and the choice of food has a direct impact on the physical and spiritual well-being of the person. The food that you consume affects your behaviour and personality. Wholesome, natural and healthy food assists the development of a good personality. Overeating has long been frowned upon in Islam as it is thought to increase worldly appetites and cause sluggishness, thereby "dulling" the soul, hampering spiritual growth and increasing physical ailments.
The blessed Prophet said: "The children of Adam fill no vessel worse than their stomach. Sufficient for him is a few morsels to keep his back straight. If he must eat more, then a third should be for his food, a third for his drink, and a third left for air." (Sunan al-Tirmidhî).
Islam makes a strong connection between food and worship and teaches that all forms of worship have a deeper purpose and impact and contributing some way to individual and social well-being. In chapter 7, verse 31 the Qur'an is categorical: "Eat and drink freely: but waste not by excess, for He does not like the wasters."
The diet should be simple and not differ too much from one's normal everyday diet. It should contain foods from all the major food groups. Complex carbohydrates are found in grains and seeds, like barley, wheat, oats, millets, semolina, beans, lentils, wholemeal flour, basmati rice, etc. Fibre-rich foods are also digested slowly and include bran, cereals, whole wheat, grains and seeds, potatoes with the skin, vegetables such as green beans and almost all fruit, including apricots, prunes, figs, etc. Foods to avoid are the heavily-processed, fast-burning foods that contain refined carbohydrates in the form of sugar, white flour, etc., as well as, of course, too much fatty food (eg cakes, biscuits, chocolates and sweets). It may also be worth avoiding the caffeine content in drinks such as tea, coffee and cola.
The most commonly consumed foods by Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, were milk, dates, lamb/mutton and oats. Healthy foods mentioned in the Holy Qur'an are fruit and vegetables, such as olives, onions, cucumber, figs, dates, grapes as well as pulses such as lentils. The encouragement of fish can be seen in the fact that Islamic law spares fish from any specific slaughter requirements, making it easy to incorporate fish in a meal.

The writer is a doctor.
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