Dubai: Can consumption of a wholesome meal help switch on your ‘stay calm’ button during fasting hours? Do suhour or iftar meal components have anything to do with mood swings? Doctors and nutritionists believe there is a definite correlation between the kind of food you eat and the type of mental state it can lead to during the fasting period.
For example, people who opt for white bread, white rice, fried foods and sweets for suhour are likely to end up feeling agitated during the day, according to Dr Mansour Alam, director of the Medical Department at du and consultant, family medicine and occupational health.
Dr Alam explains, “There are food groups that have the power to keep you calm and then there are others [groups of food] that can actually make you hyperactive and, subsequently, feel low or depressed.”
Fibre-rich foods and dense, complex carbohydrates — multigrain cereals, organic oats, rye, quinoa, brown rice, etc, for example — have the power to keep you calm. “Other high-fibre foods such as fruits and leafy vegetables actually trap water and keep you hydrated throughout the day. With these foods, sugar and other nutrients in them are released slowly into your blood, keeping your hormones and blood sugar steady. They do not cause any immediate changes in your energy level, but give you a steady supply of energy throughout the day.”
The most important thing that your brain needs to function is sugar, Dr Alam says. If we eat foods with a high glycaemic index [that is foods that release sugar at a rapid rate into your system] such as sugary drinks, refined carbs such as white rice or processed foods such as doughnuts and pizzas, it leads to an instant sugar rush in your body. “The speed at which we experience the spike in our blood sugar level is also the speed at which we instantly begin to crave more sugar. This is a cycle of craving that makes us feel hyperactive, excited and, soon after, depressed and frustrated.”
If your suhour meals comprise mainly processed foods or high-glycaemic foods, they could bring on the worst kind of mood swings during your fasting hours, Dr Alam cautions. Such foods will have every cell of your body crying out for hydration and energy by afternoon. This potentially leads to changes in mood, and possibly road rage while driving home for iftar as agitation and frustration due to lack of energy which dictates your actions.
The two most important functions good foods perform are to keep you consistently hydrated and provide a slow release of energy — both of which keep you on an even keel, mentally and physically.
So what should you avoid at suhour? White bread, white rice, fried foods, sweets, for starters. “[Instead] if you have fibre-rich foods, they retain a lot of water in your body and our bodies are 70 per cent water. This keeps you hydrated and also releases sugar slowly, making your body a reservoir of energy, wherein you feel energised throughout the day,” says Dr Alam.
What are the other good food choices for suhour?
Dr Alam recommends fruits, granola bars, oats, Weetabix cereal with milk and coconut water. “At iftar, it is important to end your fast with dates and water as it provides essential sugar and nutrition and then follow it up with a protein-rich food like a clear lentil soup that provides slow energy and hydration as 65 to 70 per cent of your food should be dense carbohydrate, about 20 per cent should be protein and 10 per cent can include the treats you want to have. So, if you really want to have a sweet or opt for a fried item, do it in moderation,” Dr Alam advises.
Mitun De Sarkar, a Dubai-based consultant dietitian and nutritionist explains: “People who observe a fast without paying attention to their nutrition suffer from migraines, acidity, dehydration and mood swings.”
Sarkar says there could be multiple reasons for this. “Many people are unable to wake up for suhour and eat a nutritious meal that will sustain them through the long fast that follows. [Also] at iftar, people could be making the wrong food choices like eating spicy, greasy, deep-fried, sugary foods leading to indigestion and acidity. People who are used to tea, coffee and other beverages start getting withdrawal symptoms during the fast, causing irritability, confusion and anger.”
All these issues, she says, need to be addressed by opting for the right foods at the right time to ensure that fasting is a calm, mindful experience in Ramadan.
