Eat to live not Live to eat

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

 Eat to Live, not Live to Eat

"Let people fill one third of their stomach with food, one third with drink and one third with nothing."* Prophet Muhammad

The Prophet asked us to eat moderately just enough to keep our 'backs straights'. It is generally known that eating until you are full expands the stomach, so you end up eating more at the next meal. An expanded stomach is what causes obesity because you will need to eat more calories than you body needs, in order to feel full. Also, it is common knowledge that in order to lose weight, you must consume less calories, therefore, this simple concept shows that you must eat just enough to carry out daily activities. It would not be wise to indulge in food at every time of every day.

According to Ikram Hawani (The Quran Club Blog), if you want to lose weight, go on a Quranic diet. This means to get most of your calories from meat, dairy, and fruit. Use olive oil and honey. Avoid sugar, white flour, and other processed foods. Don't eat grains or nuts if you can avoid them, because these are mentioned very little in the Quran. Meat is mentioned 100 times, while grains are mentioned only 7 times.The Quranic diet is very similar to the recently popular paleolithic diet. It focuses on natural hunter-gatherer foods, the foods that our earliest ancestors enjoyed, which is mostly meat and fruit. It simply means to eat clean. Where I live, eating raw food and clean food costs less than processed food. That's minimalism at its best.

 "It was narrated by Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Prophet (pbuh) was keen to fast on Mondays and Thursdays."

This is in line with a well-known intermittent fasting diet that took over the internet. The 5:2 Fast Diet - a plan that involves calorie intake for only 5 days in a week and fasting on 2 days of the week. This method reduces calorie intake drastically and causes weight loss.

According to Dr Michael Mosley, author of The Fast Diet, this eating plan does not only help people to lose weight, but also gives them health benefits such as improvements in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels. 

In addition, on a spiritual level, fasting helps us to look at things in perspective. We understand what others without food go through on a daily basis. People in poor countries with limited resources of food survive without food for weeks to months. You're only going without food for one day. We become more thankful of the delicious mouth-watering food around us.  We appreciate every fruit, every meal, and the plentiful drinks and juices.

Personally, I find that fasting provides me with extra time throughout the day. Sometimes we don't realize how much time we actually spend on planning on food, buying food, preparing food, plating food, and eating all that food. The extra time I gain from not eating is spent on  my passion such as writing, teaching, or doing interior design. Fasting a time-saver! Plus, as a bonus, I shed some fat and lose some weight.

Islam is a way of life. Love your life in Islam!

Everything that is good is from Allah, everything  that is weak or poor is from me.

Maryam

24 December 2015