Saturday 28 May 2016

The Ramadan Diet Guideline

The Ramadan Guideline
Sahoor!
1. Fruits
1 to 2 servings (1 serving size is 1 cup) of fruits or/and upto half serving of dry fruits including 2_3 dates.
2. Dairy
1/2  cup dairy whether milk or cheese or yogurt, the same amount can go into your lassi or smoothie. You may combine your fruit and dairy to make lassi too such as mango lassi, or dates shake.
3. Complex Carbohydrates
A. (you may omit grain carbs if you want)
1/2 serving. One small portion of complex carbohydrates coming from 1 slice bran bread or small whole-wheat roti, or upto 4 table spoons basmati rice, preferably brown.
B. 1 serving of grains if it is going to be your main nutrition
E.g Oats, or wheat or barley porridge or quinoa or couscous or whole-wheat pasta
4. Proteins (preferably animal source because plant source ones may be gassy)
25 to 30 grams of proteins! (You can Google for help on which meat has how much protein per ounce and weigh and eat that much) one medium sized egg has 5 grams of proteins.
Eggs, upto two eggs if you are having one to two servings of meat as well. But if you are having all your Proteins from eggs then you should have more. (Upto two egg yolks and upto four to five egg whites)
One to Two chicken breast fillets either grilled or made into burger patties or seekh kebab or shami kebab.
Red meat may be taken twice a week.
Fish I will suggest not to have for Sehr because it makes you thirsty through the day.
Some proteins you already have in your dairy.
5. Vegetables
Upto 2 servings of vegetables
They can be salad going in your shami and roti roll, or chicken patty sandwich, or grilled or broiled side. Or even cooked salan.
Have cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, spinach, kulfa saag, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage etc in any combination but at least one cup filled/ one serving because it will give you all essential fibre.

Note:
It may sound like a lot of sehri, but when you will plate it out, it will make one plate. Plus there are options, like on a high carb day when you are having one cup porridge have two hard-boiled eggs too. You will understand better when I will give you plan. If it seems confusing do not try to follow, just grasp the basic principle, which is to have balanced nutritious plus healthy and clean diet. I will be making a plan following this guideline, so don't worry if it is confusing for you. There are some members who are experienced enough to make diet plans. They will understand this better.

Try to start coming off your caffeine addiction from now onwards, switch to decaf and decrease your intake so you do not suffer from migraine or headaches or lethargy due to lack of beverages during your long summer fast.
From Iftar till Sehr, keep yourself hydrated with lots of water. Do not drink too much just before sunrise because it causes frequent urination, leaving you dehydrated. Do not take detox water during Ramadan, it will also cause frequent visits to washroom leaving you dehydrated.
No red drinks, no sodas ( sprite or coke etc) no need to fill yourself with artificial colour and flavour and sugar. No chocolates, cakes cookies or samosa pakoras etc, no deep fried food. Absolute no even if you are eating out or at a friend's. You will have healthier options there, such as fruit salad, shallow fried kebabs, or BBQ or grilled steaks etc. People can be persuasive when they are trying to be good hosts, so fill your plate with healthy options so nobody feels you haven't eaten. Ask for plain water politely and decline any offers of fizzy or artificial drinks. I do it all the time so can you. You may treat yourself to a little bit of cheating if you really want something but do it after you had your fill with healthy food. This way you will control the portion.

Iftar
1. Water
It is Sunnah and a day's dehydration makes you want to have at least a glass of water first.
2. Fruits
 2_3 Dates
1 to 2 servings of seasonal fruits of your choice whether fruit salad or in smoothies
Try peach and papaya smoothy
3. Optional as in you may omit
One serving of any of the following healthy options
Chana chat, dahibarey (try baked or steamed baray), kebab, basically any healthy snack
4. Dairy
Once again optional you may have a smoothie made with yogurt or milk with or without some portion of fruit from your serving of fruit.

If you plan to workout after iftar, as I do after appx one hour of Iftar, it is great time because you can have dinner after it or you can also try before Sehr. Some people do it just before iftar, but workout during fasting is not recommended because your metabolism is slow and it is not as effective.

Dinner
Similar to Sehr! But you can omit fruits as you already had your portion in iftar.
You may have fish if you want as you can have water after your dinner if you feel thirsty.

PS this guideline will be appx 1200 calories
400_500 Cals Sehr
200_300 Cals Iftar
Appx 400_ 500 Cals dinner
Depending on your portion sizes.

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