Ramadan Kareem!
I wanted to share a few important thoughts from my heart on fasting and I also included at the end some information from Dr Axe on the health benefits of Fasting!
I will start off with a little personal story. I’ve been fasting once a year since a young adult. I know we all have family traditions and sometimes get confused between what are the laws of God and what are some of the family traditions we have developed over time. Sometimes we are so accustomed to our family traditions, with time we begin to think of them as religious laws.
Many of these family traditions are beautiful and keep the spirit of love and God in the family home. But some traditions that we picked up over time can actually be unhealthy, and harmful for our Holy Bodies.
We must treat our bodies like a Temple, Holy, like a Mosque. The more Pure and Clean and Healthy our bodies are, the more energy we have to serve God and help people.
In my family we ate so much bread and fried foods, and chicken and a mixture of heavy foods combined. I remember each time braking the fast feeling tired, stomach too full, feeling not good and sometimes even headaches.
So on one hand we had a beautiful family dinner but on the other we were stuffing our bodies with too much food, which is hard on the digestive track and not good for our stomach and having this type of diet on a consistent basis will create serious long term health problems.
One of the most beautiful parts of Ramadan is we have 1 whole month to improve, to serve God with greater dedication, to fast each day with deeper love, to observe what we are eating when braking the fast and how it makes us feel, and the next day try something different if we don’t feel good.
We have so many days to perfect our fasting. What a gift from God to have this month of purification, to have 1 month to spiral upwards and cleanse our bodies and spirits.
If this is our intentions, they we should really give this year extra attention to how we are braking the fast. Fasting has many amazing benefits but if we brake the fast in a rushed way with heavy food that will put stress on the digestive track then we are very much contradicting the point of the fast and loosing the opportunity to give our bodies and souls a deep cleaning.
Also keep in mind when you fast you are cleaning your soul too, so emotions may also come up to clean.
For me I had an emotional experience the first day of the fast. I had a cigarette. And the whole day I felt so bad from not having discipline to hold back. I’m actually happy I suffered through this day feeling bad, because the next morning I woke up with so much love, to do it even more from my heart with more devotion. As God forgives, we should forgive ourselves when not perfect. Every day is new opportunity to love and serve deeper.
What a blessing, we have a global quarantine detox time and now Ramadan. God really loves us and guides us and gives us precious tools for our healing! What a beautiful time.
Some tips for braking fast that I have found helpful
- Eat Slow. Yes your hungry and cant wait to eat, but eating quickly is not good for our digestion and can create other problems in the body
- Be present with your food. When braking the fast , appreciate the food before you, sit down, don’t stand up to eat, and take your time appreciating and enjoying each bite. Being present and grateful to God for our food, this helps improve digestion
- Consider braking the fast with plant based foods:
Fruits, Berries, Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds, Dried fruit, Soups, Salads, Sourdough Bread, Herbal Teas, Probiotics, Whole Grains, Lentils, Beans, Fish,Legumes, Herbs.
Consider adapting during Ramadan to a biblical Macrobiotic Plant Based diet, a pure diet like our prophets had!
Perhaps trying a plant diet some days and a regular diet other days and see ingthe differences, observing how it makes you feel and making a choice on what feels most healthy and makes your spirit feel most light .
Braking the fast with heavy food, fried food, chicken, meat, all heavy processed food even white bread, on an empty stomach can be really hard on the body and way your energy down. Use the opportunity to fast, to be: Light, Pure, Healthy, Renewed spirit and devotion!
Remember to Drink plenty of water during Non Fasting hours. Pure Clean Drinking water!
God Bless <3
6 Benefits of Fasting – By Dr Axe
- Promotes Weight Loss
Fasting can result in increased fat burning and fast weight loss by forcing your body to use up fat stores as fuel. When you eat, your body uses glucose (sugar) as its primary source of energy and stores whatever is left over as glycogen in your muscles and liver.
When you don’t give your body a steady stream of glucose, it begins breaking down the glycogen to use as fuel. After the glycogen has been depleted, your body seeks out alternative sources of energy, such as fat cells, which it then breaks down to help power your body.
- Improves Blood Sugar
When you eat, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. A hormone called insulin is responsible for transporting the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells where it can be used up as energy.
Insulin doesn’t always work effectively when you have diabetes, which can result in high blood sugar levels coupled with symptoms like fatigue, thirst and frequent urination.
Some studies have found that intermittent fasting benefits your blood sugar levels by keeping them well-regulated and preventing spikes and crashes.
In one study, participants with diabetes fasted an average of 16 hours daily for two weeks. Not only did intermittent fasting cause weight loss and a decrease in caloric intake, but it also helped significantly reduce blood sugar levels. (6)
Another study showed that fasting decreased blood sugar by 12 percent and also lowered insulin levels by nearly 53 percent. Preventing a build-up of insulin allows it to work more efficiently and keeps your body sensitive to its effects. (7)
- Keeps Your Heart Healthy
One of the most impressive intermittent fasting benefits is its favorable effect on heart health. Studies show that intermittent fasting improves your heart health by lowering certain heart disease risk factors.
One animal study in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry showed that intermittent fasting caused an increase in levels of adiponectin. (9) Adiponectin is a protein involved in the metabolism of fat and sugar that may be protective against heart disease and heart attacks. (10)
In fact, in one study, rats who fasted every other day were nearly 66 percent more likely to survive a heart attack than those on a normal diet
4. Reduces Inflammation
Inflammation is a normal immune response to injury. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, can lead to chronic disease. Some research has even linked inflammation to conditions like heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer. (12)
A study published in Nutrition Research followed 50 individuals observing Ramadan and showed that they had decreased levels of some inflammatory markers during Ramadan fasting. (13)
5. Protects Your Brain
In addition to keeping your heart healthy and warding off disease, some studies have indicated that intermittent fasting protects the health of your brain.
One animal study showed that intermittent fasting helps enhance cognitive function and protect against changes in memory and learning function compared to a control group. (16) Another animal study found that intermittent fasting protects the brains of mice by influencing certain proteins involved in brain aging. (17)
Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of intermittent fasting may also help slow the progression of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. (18)
Some also say that fasting promotes autophagy, or “self-eating,” which is our normal bodily process of cellular renewal — a process that is supposedly aided by fasting, though more scientific evidence is needed until this is certain.
6. Decreases Hunger
Leptin, also known as the satiety hormone, is a hormone produced by the fat cells that helps signal when it’s time to stop eating. Your leptin levels drop when you’re hungry and increase when you’re feeling full.
Because leptin is produced in the fat cells, those who are overweight or obese tend to have higher amounts of leptin circulating in the body. However, too much leptin floating around can cause leptin resistance, which makes it harder for it to effectively turn off hunger cues.
One study with 80 participants measured leptin levels during intermittent fasting and found that levels were lower at night during the fasting period. (19)
Lower levels of leptin could translate to less leptin resistance, less hunger and potentially even more weight loss.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”―
