Ramadan for Everyone
Getting into the spirit of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan doesn’t always come easily to all of us. What if we all choose to lose the it’s so inconvenient attitude and participate a bit?
What’s Not to Love about Ramadan?
From a foodie point of view, at least, Ramadan is loved for its abundant Iftar dinners, mountains of dates everywhere For those that are observing and fasting for religious, traditional and cultural reasons, it’s about something far bigger. Larger than life.
The holy month of Ramadan is important to many people I know. And those people are important to me. That’s why, this year, I want to lose the attitude that – to be honest – I always kind of had before. Oh, it’s so inconvenient, I can’t even take one sip of water in public, and the weather is soooo hot You know what I’m talking about, right?
As far as I know, taking others into consideration is what Ramadan is all about. It’s about experiencing empathy with those less fortunate, that don’t get to choose whether they want fish or beef for dinner.
So, this is just something that I’ve given a bit of thought to lately. An idea is cooking up in my head. Trying the true Ramadan fasting, even for a day or two, is actually very interesting. But just in case I get cold feet about the full experience, I still want to do something.
And this will be it. I want to reduce the quantities of food on my plate. By half, or so. I’ll stick to three main meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. No snacking in between, or munching before going to bed.
I don’t smoke, so thank goodness, I don’t have to kick that kind of a habit. But, I am a huge coffee drinker. During Ramadan, I will make an effort of cutting my coffee intake down to one or two cups a day. In addition, I want to look into new charity options, and donate some money, clothes and food.
That doesn’t sound very difficult, am I right?
Next week in our Hello Chef blog we’re going to talk about the health benefits of intermittent fasting – which is exactly the same thing as Ramadan fast, when done right. So, if this article didn’t convince you, maybe that one will!
