Celebrate Ramadan in the healthiest way

Press pause and celebrate the power of meaningful connections and your mind’s.

SHA Wellness Clinic embraces the Holy Month of Ramadan sharing Top tips from the experts from nutrition to exercise, including mindfulness.

Eat healthy during non-fasting hours

During the month of Ramadan, when the sunset arrives it is understandable to want to eat heavy meals and foods. But, if you follow the below guidelines from our Nutrition experts, it will be much easier to eat healthy during non-fasting hours.

1. Avoid caffeine at Suhoor as it will make the body feel more dehydrated quickly. Instead drink vegetable juices with hydrating ingredients like celery, cucumber, apple, carrot, watermelon and lemon.
2. Break the fast slowly, do not consume a very large meal immediately. Let your body adjust and eat small portions.
3. Make sure to eat fresh food rather than highly processed. Fresh foods have more energy, and keeps you feeling fresh and nourished for longer.
4. Eat complex carbohydrates as they release energy slowly during the long hours of fasting. Include barley, wheat, oats, millet, beans, lentils, and brown basmati rice. Fiber-rich foods are also digested slowly. Include nuts and seeds, lentils, beans, and fruit such as figs, prunes, pears and berries.
5. Include meals that content with a high-water content to help you stay hydrated such as cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, melon, watermelon, strawberries, apples, and leafy greens.

From our Chef’s Kitchen to your table. Here’s a recipe to gather around the table with flavourful, healthy and sustainable foods acting as the centrepiece perfect for gatherings after fasting.

Find relaxation and embrace spiritual well-being

Between all-day fasting and sunset dining throughout the Holy Month, finding relaxation and great sleep can be elusive. Ramadan it is an opportunity to pause and reflect for our spiritual and mental well-being. Conscious meditation is a highly advisable practice that can be done anytime, anywhere. “It’s simply the act of paying attention to everything we are experiencing in the present moment by neither controlling nor judging it”, says Joanne Longanilla, Mind&Body instructor at SHA Wellness Clinic.

Here’s a mindfulness meditation that will help you to open your mind and spirit to stay in the present so it’s easier for the body to go through this process of transformation and healing. Go find a peaceful place and breathe gently.

Stay physically active and escape from sedentarism

Making light exercise should be a natural component of everyone’s Ramadan ritual. It is not just a physical issue, but also a mental one. Several studies have shown that exercise significantly improves our mood and reduces negative feelings such as depression, anxiety, and stress. That means that exercise is closely related to happiness.

Physical activity may reshape the brain, for example, by boosting the creation of new brain cells or inducing changes in brain chemicals in ways that help promote positive emotions.

So, for those that don’t want their level to decrease and for those that need a boost of energy, we have created a gentle exercise cardio session.

Not used to exercising daily? Now’s the time to get active. Other exercises you can do to stay fit without over-exerting yourself are:

1. Nordic Walking – A simple discipline that brings multiple health benefits. Noticeably improves our physical and psyche states in a controlled and effective manner. It improves the 90% of the human body muscles, the aerobic capacity, the maximum consumption of oxygen, the physical and psychological resistance, as well as the immune system.
2. Pilates – Using a system of controlled movements, we balance the body and mind. It increases your body’s flexibility, strength and endurance. It harmoniously integrates Eastern and Western theories, combining physical exercise with breathing techniques, achieving a great balance between body and mind, strengthening bone density, muscle strength, flexibility and posture.