Iftar, Time For Sensible Eats

Ramzan or Ramadan is round the corner and it means different things to different people—prayers, fasting, feasting, holidays, charities, traffic, shopping, big movie releases.... The beauty is no matter how you look at it, it’s a time of joy and bonding with friends and families. Ramzan, above all, is a time for devotion towards the supreme being and unconditional surrender of our ego and attachments (including attachment to food) through prayers. Roza is not limited to fasting, it’s about overcoming temptation. I think it’s very important to remember that during Iftar. Iftar is not some wild party where you gorge on dates, fruits, chicken, mutton, phirni, kheer, bhuj­iya. It’s a time to nurture your appetite with devotion and sharing and so the common plate and prayers around it.

Below are a few pointers and meal options for Ramzan:

• Eat all your meals in peace and plan them in advance.
• At Sehri, have any fresh fruit or handful of dry fruits.
• Before Fajr, have a hot homemade breakfast.
• At Iftar, break your fast with dates/any fresh fruit/homemade fruit yogurt and sherbet.
• Post Maghrib, eat any homemade rice/roti + veggies + pulse/meat (no mixing of two meats at a time).
• After the big namaaz, have kaju milk/badam milk or any milk product like paneer/cheese.
• Over-indulging in the late evenings or iftar will not just dilute your concentration during prayers later but also leave you feeling gassy and constipated next morning.
• Keep yourself well hydra­ted (3-4 litres of water between Iftar and Fajr).
• So keep the feasting off if you want to keep the fat burning on.