5 Amazing Health Benefits of Ramadan Fasting

The month of Ramadan is a blessed month and a great opportunity for us to focus on practicing and in-cooperating balance and healthy lifestyle and nutrition in our lives. Fasting teaches us more than we can imagine. Aside from the spiritual benefits of what Ramadan Fasting brings to us as muslims, many studies have focused on the effects of Ramadan fasting on metabolic changes and health outcomes in different groups of Muslims population. Some studies show that, Health outcomes before Ramadan including total cholesterol, blood glucose level, and lipid profile improved after Ramadan fasting among different population. 1

While the study of Ramadan fasting is very new and in its infancy, it is encouraging to know that the health outcome are promising. As scientific research continue to shed light on the impact Ramadan fasting has on human health, it is certainly something to be optimistic about. Among the many benefits, lets take a look at 5 amazing health benefits of Ramadan Fasting that you should know about.

Cooked green beans and carrot in a small white plate, with measuring tape and a dumbbell

Promotes Weight Loss

Among the amazing health benefits of Ramadan Fasting, the obvious one is many that it promotes and helps with weight loss. When you observe Ramadan Fasting, you are inclined to reduce your total calorie intake, and when done properly, you ultimately burn fat and build lean muscles. Research shows that fasting is effective in weight loss as a form of calorie reduction. For many Muslims, fasting may be the only and a more manageable way to cut calories short-term, and subsequently long term. However, if you overindulge in non-nutritive and overly processed foods during non-fasting hours, you may not experience the full benefits of fasting to help you lose a significant amount of weight both short and long-term.

Bottom line: Always try to maintain and apply healthy eating and lifestyle rules in your life throughout the entire Ramadan and beyond. If you eat anything and everything at all times during Ramadan (both non-fasting days and non-fasting hours), chances are that you may not be able to lose a significant amount of weight, or you may not lose any weight at all.

A blue plate with white square disc that spells weight gain

Promotes Weight Gain

Fasting forces you to change your way of eating that helps to improve your blood sugar, body metabolism (which plays a big role in building muscle) and decreases your total body fat. And since muscle weighs heavier than fat, as your total body fat decreases and your muscles increases, your weight increases.

Roll chake with fruits and fork on a white plate

Food addiction and control

By refraining from food and drink during the day, we are able to control our desire to eat every time when there is food around us. Not only are we able to control ourselves spiritually through our good deeds and worship, we are also able to physically control ourselves in regards to how much, how often and what time we engage in eating and drinking.

orange, lemon and red tea with white paper napkins and a spoon in the tea

Reduces Inflammation, Improves Gut Or Digestive Health

Your digestive system is designed to take short consistent breaks between meals. This can mean breaks between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner or dinner and breakfast. It can also mean fasting for a long period of time be it 8, 12 or 16 hours.

Helps Reduce Food Cravings

Sixteen hours without food and water is enough to put the body into a mild ketosis. This can help you control cravings and ultimately help you to burn fat and lose weight. However, to effectively benefit from this depends on your Suhoor and iftar meals. If your Suhoor is a bowl of highly processed foods, full of simple carbohydrates, not enough protein and lots of unhealthy fats, you may not see the benefits as you would expect.

Bottom line: Try to limit your intake of highly processed, simple carbohydrates foods and increase your intake of complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates digest and metabolize faster in your body which can raise your blood sugar levels, and can also make you hungrier within a short period of eating. White rice, white bread, foods high in added sugar, white potatoes, Rami, pasta, spaghetti, are all foods high in simple carbohydrates that can cause a quick spike to your blood sugar, raising it very high and have the potential to digest faster making you hungry in a short amount of time.

Promotes autophagy and Improves blood sugar levels

Fasting also helps to reduce and improve blood sugar levels, promotes and improves heart health, lowers cholesterol and triglycerides and sets your body to autophagy mood. Autophagy is self-healing of the cell where the inside of the body cells cleanses itself only when there is a limited amount of glucose in the body. This helps to make cells look young and increase their longevity.

In conclusion: Ramadan is not limited to abstaining from food and drink. Ramadan fasting has everything to do with the core framework of our entire lifestyle and well-being including physical, emotional, psychological, and most importantly spiritual wellbeing. Ramadan is about cultivating balance and taking care of your physical body, spiritual body, mental as well as our emotional wellbeing.

I hope this post is beneficial to you. If it is, it will mean so much to me if you will please share it with your friends and family who you think will benefit as well.

If you are interested in knowing more about the health benefits of Ramadan and how to have a healthy Ramadan and beyond, I have created an ebook that explains all about it and many more, with yummy and healthy recipes that will satisfy your Ramadan cravings whiles keeping it healthy at the same time.