After fasting for more than 12 hours, I am ready to eat! Here are some tips that I keep in mind especially at an iftaar party:
Pick up the healthy options: Most likely we will be eating our traditional/cultural foods. When it comes to our traditional foods, not all of them are unhealthy. Cholay (chickpeas), fruit chat, daal (lentils), haleem (lentils and meat) are some great food choices. Cholay, daal, and haleem have protein and carbs and usually not cooked with much oil (Click here to check out my nutrient analysis of homemade daal).
Go easy: Items like samosas and pakoray are deep-fried so don’t eat too many. I love these foods and it would be wrong to ask anyone to avoid their favorite foods. The key is to enjoy them in moderation.
Avoid eye-contact: With the dessert I mean… If you keep staring at the dessert…your mouth will start watering and you are more likely to fail at resisting your urge, and going to end up eating it. Tell yourself you are satisfied and just don’t make eye contact! Busy yourself with a good conversation or better yet head out for prayer.
Remember: Vegetables are very low in calories so you can eat a lot of them!
What about Tandoori Naan?
Just 1 Deep brand Tandoori Naan has 250 kcals! If you eat 2 Chapli Kabobs with 1 naan that will put you over 500 kcals. A better option would be to choose a whole wheat tortilla instead of a naan.
Bottom Line is to eat what you enjoy in moderation. Try to include fruit and some veggies with your dinner to balance your meal, as well as get fiber and nutrients into your body. Also, don’t forget to drink plenty of water!
Mindful Eating Tip
“As the size of our dishes increase, so does the amount we scoop onto them. They cause us to serve ourselves more because they make the food look small…The smaller the serving dish, the less you take, and the less you eat” Brian Wansink
After Taraweeh late night healthy snack ideas:
Low-fat frozen yogurt
2 cups of watermelon
Cup of milk with an apple
100% fruit juice popsicle stick
Low-fat popcorn
Click here for more snack ideas of less than 200 kcals
Related articles
- Ramadan Nutrition Tips (wellnessinspired.net)
- Nutritious Suhoor (wellnessinspired.net)
Wellness Inspired 
This is just an example 🙂 Everybody’s calorie needs and how much they eat at one time is different.
omg fatima there is barely anything on that plate though 😦 this makes me sad …