Ramzan or Ramadan is round the corner and it means different thing to different people – prayers, fasting, feasting, holidays, charities, traffic, shopping, big movies releases etc. The beauty of festivals is no matter how you look at it, it’s a time of joy, celebration and bonding with friends and families. Ramzan above all is a time for Bhakti, devotion towards the supreme reality, Allah, and unconditional surrender of our ego and attachments (including attachment with food) through our prayers.

Roza is not limited to fasting, it’s about overcoming temptation, I think it’s extremely important to remember that during iftaar. I have seen people going berserk with food in the evening; this in my opinion is against the very grain of the practice. Since food is the most crucial and intimate part of our being, the way we consume food reflects our relationship with our innermost being. Iftaar is not some wild party where you eat dates, fruits, chicken, mutton, pherni, kheer, bhajiya and god knows what to numb your hunger. It’s a time to nurture your appetite with devotion and sharing and so the common plate and prayers around it.

Below is a suggested frame work of eating right during Ramzan. Remember Eid is a month away so don’t feast every evening, eat in peace and plan your meals in advance. Over indulging in the evening or iftaar will not just dilute your concentration during prayers later but also leave you feeling gassy, bloated and constipated the next morning.  The meal plan is more India specific and is rooted in eating local and fresh so please feel free to include your local delicacies even if you don’t see them in this plan.

Nutritionist: Rujuta Diwekar