Healthy Alternative Foods and Foods to Avoid
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 too much fatty food (eg cakes, biscuits, chocolates and sweets, such as Indian Mithai). It may also be worth avoiding the caffeine content in drinks such as tea, coffee and cola. (Caffeine is a diuretic and stimulates faster water loss through urination.) Below you will also find the different cooking methods to avoid and also alternative methods in which you can utilise.
 Foods to avoid
Deep-fried foods, eg pakoras, samosas, fried dumplings etc High-sugar/high-fat foods, eg Indian sweets such as Ghulab Jamun, Rasgulla, Balushahi, Baklawa,High-fat cooked foods, eg parathas, oily curries, greasy pastries, Cooking methods to avoid
Deep frying FryingCurries with excessive oil |
 Healthy/Alternative Foods
Whole grains, eg chickpeas (plain, or with potato in yogurt with different Indian spices), samosas baked instead of fried, and boiled dumplings, Milk-based sweets and puddings, eg Rasmalai, Barfree,Alternate with chapattis made without oil, baked or grilled meat and chicken. Try to make pastry at home and use a single layer, Alternative cooking methods
Shallow frying - usually there is very little difference in taste, Grilling or baking is healthier and helps retain the taste and orignal flavour of the food, especially chicken and fish,Start with measuring the oil used in curry and try to bring the oil content down gradually, eg reducing five tablespoons to four. This is a good way of reducing oil without noticing much difference in the taste. A useful tip is to use more onions and tomatoes in the bulk of the curry, |
The fasts of Ramadan can improve a person’s health, but if the correct diet is not followed can possibly worsen it! The deciding factor is not the fast itself, but rather what is consumed in the non-fasting hours. To fully benefit from fasting, a person should spare a great deal of thought to the type and quantity of food they will indulge in through the blessed month. Overeating can not only harm the body but it is thought also to interfere with a person’s spiritual growth during the month. A diet that has less than a normal amount of food but is sufficiently balanced will keep a person healthy and active during the month of Ramadan. 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, as shown below.
