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I find it difficult to eat plenty of fresh fruit, and veggies during the month of Ramadan. I normally eat plenty of fruit during the day and have vegetables with my meal in the evening. However during Ramadan, I am fasting during the day, and in the evening I am full before I have chance to eat much veggies.
Is there a practical way for me to eat more fruit and veggies and stay healthy during Ramadan?
If I am not wrong "5 a day" needs 5 x 80g of fruits and veggies a day.
Just start your suhur and iftar with dates, then salads (divided between sehri and iftaar) and then go onto the heavy foods if you have place.
It barely comes to 200g of veggies and fruits per sitting(iftar or suhur). A small box of salad and some veggie or fruit juice should make you reach 200g easily.
I normally pray taraveeh to work out an appetite for a 3rd mini meal (dinner after taraveeh). This gets me blessings (insha Allah) and I get nutrition.
And even after all this, if you still reach "4 a day" or "3 a day". Its just 30 days, and its for Allah.
As Muslims, I believe we should turn to the sunnah and example of the prophet to answer such questions.
Anas b. Mâik narrates that Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) used to break his fast with fresh dates before going to prayer. When fresh dates were unavailable, he would break his fast with dried dates. When dried dates were unavailable, he would take a few sips of water. [Sunan Abî Dâwûd (2356)]
The prophet was reportedly seen many times by various people eating dates to break his fast. I would also like to point out that he used to eat them in odd numbers, so it would be sunnah to eat 5 dates based on this website, each date is considered a serving size.
it is related from Anas that Allah’s Messenger (peace) never went out in the morning on the day of `Îd al-Fitr without eating some dates, and that they would be an odd number. [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (953)]
Dates are also very nutritional for us:
Dates provide a wide range of essential nutrients, and are a very good source of dietary potassium. The sugar content of ripe dates is about 80%; the remainder consists of protein, fiber, and trace elements including boron, cobalt, copper, fluorine, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and zinc. (wikipedia- dates)
This means that it is very possible for us to rely on dates as the main source of fruits in our diet.
Also, I would like to point out that there is also going to be a certain amount of fruits and vegetables in whatever meal you eat (unless your choosing to just eat a slab of chicken or steak.)
And lastly, I would like to remind you that fasting is a way to become a better Muslim, we see all the great things we have in life once we cannot have them anymore, such as your healthy palate of food. We should be reminded that there are those who are less fortunate than us that eat whatever they can get their hands on ( or do not eat at all) and do not have the option to choose a healthy lifestyle. So we should try to give up this luxury for Allah, and to become a better person.
An easy way is to have fruits during the iftar. For example, just after a glass of water or a date you can have fruits and veggies. This way, you will not feel "full" and that will help you to stay healthy.
You can have some after Tahajoud too and during Suhoor.
May Allah accept your work :)
