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Many members have contacted us for advice about Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast (no eating or drinking) between sunrise and sunset. With eating patterns changing so much and abundant family meals shared after breaking the fast, is it possible to stay on Slimming World’s plan during this time? Yes, it is and we’ve brought together some hints, tips and ideas to help Food Optimising fit in perfectly…
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Leading up to Ramadan [/h] With any up and coming change in routine – from birthdays, holidays, festivals, feasts, fasts and weddings – it can be ever so easy to ease away from our healthy Food Optimising habits in the lead up to it. However, staying on track and Food Optimising 100% during the days (or even weeks) before means that you minimise any damage done during that challenging time. Although you’re likely to be cooking with your family during Ramadan, the weeks before are an ideal opportunity to cook up some of your favourite Food Optimising dishes, and freeze extra portions to add to your freshly cooked Suhur and Iftar meals. That way you’ll always have a Food Optimising dish on hand when you need it.
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Suhur (pre-dawn meal)[/h] Food Optimising has been developed to help us stay fuller for longer, so Free Foods are ideal for Suhur. Free Foods that are high in protein – like lean halal meat – are the very best at keeping us satisfied for longer, followed by food like rice, beans and grains. Healthy Extras like wholemeal bread and cereals are also great option to help you create delicious meals for your family. How about:
- Omelette filled with halved cherry tomatoes and 50g crumbled feta cheese.
- Fat free yogurt topped with 85g prunes and a drizzle of honey (1 teaspoon is 1 Syn).
- Chickpea patties with raita.
- Spiced mixed fruit salad
- Porridge (your Healthy Extra choice of rolled oats and milk) piled high with sliced bananas and mixed berries.
- Two slices of wholemeal toast with poached eggs, baked beans and mushrooms.
- Scrambled eggs with Quorn tastier sausages (½ Syn per 50g sausage).
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Iftar (meal after breaking fast) [/h] This is often a sociable time, with family and friends coming together to share a meal – and there are lots of ways to make it a Food Optimising-friendly occasion!
It’s recommended that this meal, like Suhur, should be well-balanced, containing foods from each food group, such as fruits, vegetables, meat/chicken/fish, bread/cereals and dairy products. Food Optimising fits the bill perfectly!
If you’re attending a family meal or gathering where you’re not doing the cooking (lucky you!), look out for options that are packed with Free Food like tomato-based sauces, vegetables, lean cuts of meat and fish, plain rice, pasta and grains.
Watch out for:
- Fatty and sugary foods that are deep-fried or pastry based, eg samosas, pakoras. As well as being high in Syns, they’re not ideal on an empty stomach.
- Caffeine-containing drinks – drinking too much tea makes you visit the loo more – which causes the loss of valuable mineral salts that your body needs during the day. Enjoy lots of water or sugar-free drinks to keep you hydrated.
- It’s tradition to start the meal with the eating of three dates, as Muhammad did. Although dates are a fruit, they aren’t Free – fresh dates are 1½ Syn each, so keep count if you make them part of your meal.
Great choices:
- Bananas (Superfree foods) are a good source of potassium, magnesium and carbohydrates. Players at Wimbledon and other athletes choose them as a snack to replace energy – they also make a good choice for Iftar.
- Drink lots of water between Iftar and bedtime so that your body can adjust your fluid levels in time.
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If you’re doing the cooking[/h] Now’s your chance to show off your tasty Food Optimising meals – they’re packed with lovely Free Foods that are better for digestion and they’re quick and easy to prepare. Here are some delicious ideas:
If you double the portions up when you’re making them, you’ll have a meal ready for Suhur too (add a few extra ingredients if you want to mix it up a bit).
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Delicious Eid dishes[/h] Choose dishes made from Free Food and get creative with cooking to make special slimming-friendly Eid meals…
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Strategies for Eid[/h] Eid, the festivities that mark the end of Ramadan, is a special time… but we know just what a challenge the (often three-day) celebration can be for getting back on track with Food Optimising.
The temptation can be to forget Food Optimising altogether during Eid as surely a few days ‘off plan’ won’t do much harm. However ‘taking a break’ for a few days can easily turn into a couple of weeks… or more. Before we know it, all that hard work’s been undone, and we’re back where we started before joining Slimming World. We don’t want that for you – and we know that you don’t want to unravel your weight loss success either. Here at Slimming World we’re all about choice, and there are three helpful strategies for you to choose from to help you plan and manage Eid, getting right back on track with your weight loss after the celebrations!
Strategy one: Forget slimming.
Just go away, have a great time, eat and drink anything and everything. Know that you’ll gain weight but that you’ll go back to your group, get straight back to Food Optimising and lose it all in a couple of weeks.
Your slimming confidence scale (out of 10)
8 to 10 Well-established and confident with Food Optimising, you’ll carry this off. You may even find you’re choosing healthier, less fatty options out of preference these days and that the gain is less than you expected.
5 to 7 You might find that it’s harder than you thought to get your head ‘back into gear’ after Eid. A large weight gain could knock your confidence too much, so it’s just not worth risking.
4 and below Unless you’d be really miserable during the celebrations if you didn’t throw caution to the winds, this probably isn’t the best strategy for you in the long term.
Strategy two: Keep counting and use Syns flexibly.
Eat plenty of Free Food and decide each day how many Syns you’ll allocate today. You may decide to give yourself 30 to 50 Syns a day, every day, or you may decide to have one day at 15 and another at 50. The key here is to keep counting and estimating as realistically as possible. Throw in a few extra Syns each time you eat something you haven’t prepared yourself (as innocent as they might look!). Any weight gain will be drastically reduced and you may even get away without a gain at all!
Your slimming confidence scale (out of 10)
Wherever you are on the scale, this option will be safe for you. The damage limitation you will achieve, without feeling deprived, can only bring a raising of self-esteem. If one day gets out of hand and you can’t remember how you got to bed, let alone how many Syns you had, worry not. As long as you get back to counting the next day, no major damage will have been done.
Strategy three: Stick with Food Optimising and keep flexibility of Syns to a minimum.
Keep with your usual weight-losing strategy and stay with Food Optimising (this is much easier to do when you’re cooking for yourself, friends and family). Enjoy the feeling of achieving another first for you. Be prepared to allow yourself up to 20 or 30 Syns on a special day, and just keep counting. You could even find that you’ve successfully maintained your weight, or even lost a pound or two.
Your slimming confidence scale (out of 10)
8 to 10 This could be so easy for you. You’ve started to really appreciate the fresh clean taste of fresh, home-cooked food, fruit and vegetables and you’ll relish feeling so calm and in control.
5 to 7 You may find that you start well, but if this feels a little too restrictive as the days draw on, it might be worth switching to Strategy Two. This way, you’ll be making the most of damage limitation and could still find that you have successfully maintained – and who knows, you may even have lost.
4 and below If you do this you’ll feel like you’ve climbed a huge mountain and you’ll deserve every accolade that you give yourself. The danger for you is if you find yourself sliding, your self-esteem and confidence in your ability to slim could take a dangerous nose-dive. So it’s very important that you promise to congratulate yourself for your achievements so far and switch to Strategy Two.
Don’t forget, you can apply these strategies to all sorts of occasions. What’s important is to find the strategy that works for you.
Whatever you have planned for Eid, we wish you fun-filled celebrations… let us know what delicious delights you’re planning on rustling up
