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Ramadan ideal food
Hello B,
I want to ask you during Ramadan while we are fasting.
What is the ideal menu should look like.
I know you always said PVF is best. Is this also good during fasting as well? We can have carbs each meal or only 1 meal is enough?Time:
the first meal around 6:30pm.
The second meal maybe around 9:30pm and I sleep around 11pm – 12am.
For suhoor around 5am or I skip? To not disturb my sleeping.Every Ramada my sleeping get ruined. And I just started to sleep better. Any recommendations? I want to be healthy during Ramadan with sleeping and food.
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11 Replies
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Hey ,
You could adjust the amounts a bit. What works for you is something you need to find out experimentally.
In my opinion, VPF should work, but the size of the meals does matter. If you are eating a big meal, even 3 hours before sleeping, this could still impact the quality of your sleep. It could help to have the biggest meal with suhoor (although I have no experience with Ramadan, but I believe it means breakfast right?) while making the evening meals not too big.
Fasting also impacts cortisol levels. If you aren’t eating for a while, your blood sugars are stabilized by elevations in stress hormones during the day. To help break down adrenaline and noradrenaline magnesium plays an important role and could improve sleep quality.
L-theanine (an amino acid in tea) could help you calm down if getting to sleep seems to be the problem. Ashwagandha is a supplement I often recommend if people are sleeping superficially.
I personally have no experience with Ramadan, but perhaps has some additional tips here.
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the beauty of the VPF principle is that it applies to any situation, including Ramadan. The addition of carbs is what truly varies from person to person, including the quantity.
For someone who is struggling with blood sugar regulation, then reducing the amount of starchy carbs to no more than 1 cup of root veggies and 1/2 cup of grains per day, is the general recommendation I provide my clients. And no more than 1-2 whole fruits per day (or 1 cup of cut up mixed fruits). How they decide to break that up across meals is up to them, and what works best for them.
In addition to the timings you provided, can you share what you typically consume at those times. Some people break their fast with the traditional date and lentil soup, go pray, then consume a proper meal shortly after. Others consume a full meal at iftar, and then a light snack before bed. What’s your usual meal schedule?
If you can share what you typically do, and whether or not blood sugar regulation is an issue, that will help me provide you with better dietary suggestions.
Typically when clients begin changing their diet and focusing on the VPF principle, they begin to sleep better. Was this the case for you too?
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thank you for the reply.
So my usual plan is:
For iftar: 6:30pm date soup and lots of water.
For dinner: after prayer 8:30pm I have my big meal.But I never tried sleeping early during Ramadan because I drink water 3 liter and I go to toilet a lots.
So this is my most issue I feel thirsty during the fast. And toilet during the night.I am planning to not drink a lots of water this Ramadan and try to sleep at night from 11pm to 4am. Than I can wake up again and drink water and eat something light.
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Ok, so electrolytes and bone broth are going to become your best friends this Ramadan!
Adding electrolytes to your water will help you retain your water and help you feel more hydrated. This can be a tsp of “sole” (saturated salt water) in 750ml filtered water, or you can buy an electrolyte powder. Here in Dubai, Humantra is a local brand. It’s flavored with real dried berries/citrus.
LMNT is also available locally (https://longevitypantry.com/collections/electrolytes-1).
And if you prefer food over supplements, bone broth is incredibly hydrating because of the natural trace minerals it contains. So instead of drinking water, sip on bone broth or stock! Of course, as long as you’re not histamine intolerant. Here are common signs of histamine intolerance.
I know you like to cook, so you can try making your own stock. I share a recipe in the resources of my new book UNJUNK (and I’ll also add the recipe to the resources in B Better). Otherwise, you can always buy it ready made from https://bonebroth.ae/ and https://www.cleanlivingcompany.ae/ (certified organic but not local bones) or Broth Lab (not certified organic but they use organic local chickens – they just don’t have the certification).
Hope this encourages you to stay hydrated and helps alleviate the urge to urinate at night.
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can I jump on here and ask what’s VPF?
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I get tired during Ramadan from fasting.
Can you explain the PVF system to us? -
both of you asked about VPF. It’s the dietary principle I created to help simplify the face of nutrition for my clients, and help them adopt a balanced diet.
If you haven’t already watched it, I explain my VPF principle in the Food pillar inside the Beginner’s Health Roadmap course. Since you can’t access the videos yet, here’s the dropbox link to the VPF video.
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I replied in the comment above
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Thanks dear
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Hello great people , what is the better Option for training in ramadan , some says before breaking the fast because of the sympathic and parasympathic system and some says after because of hydration and lack of amino acids before. And to add a trick that worked with my clients who want to lose fat especially , they break tge fast with EAA + électrolytes + a small amount of carbs like honey or cyclic dextrin tmthey go to train then come back to eat their iftar Meal
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Hey ,
It depends a bit on the goal and the person. When fasting, your body tries to keep your blood sugar level stable. Since there is no food, these sugars are released from the liver or made from fats and proteins from gluconeogenesis. This process is stimulated by cortisol production. Fasting therefore can increase cortisol production during the fasting window.
Performance or Muscle Mass
The increase in cortisol isn’t a bad thing by the way. It is functional, to keep you alive. But after a fast, your energy levels are depleted. The advantage of eating first and training second with strength training is that, if you have eaten and are hydrated, you are able to perform better. If the goal is increasing muscle mass or getting stronger, this is an advantage, however…… some people sleep worse since fasting and training both increase stress hormones. With these people, I would advise them to train before dinner since a lack of sleep might make it harder to recover and fast the next day.
Fat loss
For a lot of people training before dinner can reduce the feeling of being hungry. This can impact the amount they eat after their workout leading to more fat loss. But you will have to ask your clients how their feeling of hunger is impacted since it doesn’t apply to everybody. Some people might feel too exhausted which can lead to poor performance. In these cases, I might recommend training after dinner since the benefit of the hunger suppression is often gone as well.Personally, I don’t recommend a lot of liquid carbs before or during training. Most people don’t train hard and long enough for it to be meaningful. The only exception to this was when they had fasted. I personally liked to recommend carbs with a low fructose content. You probably already know this, especially if you follow Bernadette, but fructose isn’t used by muscle tissue and most of the fructose doesn’t pass the liver.
Since the goal is to help stabilize blood glucose levels to optimize performance, I always educated my clients to stay off sugar-like drinks because of the high fructose content. In this context cyclic dextrin for example is a better choice than honey.
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