Keeping your body and heart strong in holy month of Ramadan

We all wait for Ramadan longingly. It is really difficult to fast in these days. However, proper nutrition is the only way to ease the time between two meals. Scientists have searched the benefits of fasting in detail. This research reveals countless benefits.

While fasting, our diets change. If you fast on especially long summer days, you should eat proper foods in the two meals.

If meals are prepared with health in mind, you can fast without feeling hungry and get maximum benefits from fasting.

The heavier you are, the more water you should drink while fasting

In Ramadan, water demand increases. To prevent weakness, dizziness and attention deficit, the demand for water, which changes from person to person but is nearly 2 or 2.5 liters, should be satisfied between sahur and iftar.

If you are tall or overweight, you should consume more water than at normal times.

Do not drink one liter of water at the last moment

Even if the time for drinking water is limited while fasting, don't drink all the water at once. Don't drink a liter of water at the last moment as this will be turned into urine and not reserved for the day.

Take a 45-minute break in iftar and remove desserts from your menu. Be careful while consuming Ramadan pide

Carbohydrates, like all starchy foods, quickly make you feel full and quickly feel hungry. To avoid this, have a diet rich in protein, which makes you feel full for a long time. Keep the balance in Ramadan. Consume foods rich in protein, like milk, dairy products and meat. Eat a bowl of yogurt and soup and drink some milk in iftar. Wait for 30 or 45 minutes and then have a regular meal.

Stay away from salty, spicy and fried foods that will make you thirsty. Dairy products settle your immune system, keep you full and slake your thirst.

Eat a bowl of yogurt in both iftar and sahur. This programs your body for fasting, prevents thirst and makes your intestines healthier. Long periods of hunger cause slowing of digestion in the intestines. The flow of feces slows and bacteria increase, which may cause illness. What balances best is yogurt. Ramadan desserts can unbalance hormones and lead to sudden hyperglycemia in your system, which has difficulty being balanced because of fasting.

You can fast for 18 hours with a proper sahur

Staying away from salty, oily and floury foods will decrease your water need during the day. This nutrition style is actually something that you should have in regular times. Think of sahur as your breakfast. Consuming quality eggs, cheese, whole-wheat bread will decrease your feeling of hunger, as they will be digested late. Add oily seeds, such as nuts, walnut and almond, to this group. These foods will help you to feel full. Yogurt is a miracle food that should be consumed at sahur.

Consume dried fruit

Eat dried fruit or regular fruit for snacks between sahur and iftar to prevent constipation caused decreased food consumption.

Water is one of the important nutritional elements in this period. Eating foods rich in fiber is really crucial for the intestines to work properly. Thus, add fiber to sahur and iftar meals.

Patients pay special attention

Diabetic patients with diabetes type 1, gestational diabetes and acute diseases cannot fast.

Patients who have advanced heart, kidney and liver failure and need a diet or medicine to sustain the functions of these organs cannot fast.

Hypoglycemic patients cannot fast.

Patients with fever or infection or have to use medicine more than two times a day to control the fever cannot fast.

Cancer patients in recovery can fast if their doctors allow. However, advanced cancer patients and those still being treated cannot fast.

People with inflammatory diseases cannot fast until their fever is under control.

Patients at risk of dizziness, balance disorders and falling from with hypotension cannot fast.

Patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) cannot fast if they use medicine that relaxes breath more than two times a day.

Can patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease or peptic ulcer disease fast?

Those with a stomach disease should consult a doctor before fasting. If you have an illness like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which decreases life quality, you should be very careful. GERD has four different phases. Whether there is damage at the lower part of the esophagus or not is the most important factor to determine the level and phase of the GERD. Phase D is the most serious. Phase A is the least serious, and those with this type can fast. Patients with GERD are recommended to eat little and often. However, we have only two meals in Ramadan, and we eat much in both of them. Patients with this disease who can fast should not sleep after sahur. Those with light GERD should wait at least two hours, while those with advanced GERD should wait at least three hours before sleeping. Patients with peptic ulcer should see their doctors before Ramadan. They should use gastroprotective medicine at least one time a day. Otherwise, the ulcer can progress and cause many serious problems. However, this situation is not an obstacle to fasting. Taking medicine in sahur and iftar can enable fasting.