 As they introduced me, I'm a dietitian nutritionist and I studied in Spain, and I've been in the Bay Area for three years now. So we all know that fasting is a pillar of Islam and for some of us it's a test, right? And we can't deny the fact that one of the joys of our days when we break a fast and it is narrated by Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah said, there are two joys for the fasting person, the joy when he breaks his fast and the joy when he meets his Lord. So we're not alone, we do experience joy. We all know that Allah is the Provider, He's the one that's going to suffice our hunger and our thirst. And as Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported, the Messenger of Allah, bless him and give him peace, used to supplicate, I seek refuge in you from hunger, surely it is the worst companion. I seek refuge in you from treachery, surely it's a bad inner trait. In another hadith, Abu Sayyid al-Qudri said, Allah's Messenger, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, used to say, when we had finished his meal, praise be to Allah who has fed us and quenched our thirst and he has made us Muslims. So we can't deny that Allah is the ultimate Provider. However, if we take care of our bodily human needs, we're going to be able to forget about it, forget about our bodies and worship better. So I asked around and because I was curious what would like people to know about nutrition and I decided to structure the talk in three main points, hydration, society and energy. I asked around and I was thinking like, what do I say, what do I speak, we don't eat during Ramadan, don't we? So I said, okay, what is the most important thing that we need to know, we need to know about hydration and this is what we're going to start with. Hydration, we all know it's essential for our bodies to work properly. One of its functions is regulating body temperature, transporting nutrients and eliminating waste amongst others. But why do we get dehydrated during Ramadan? The first thing that most people are going to think about is, of course, we're not drinking water. I would like to know how many of you here do get headaches during Ramadan? Okay, me included. And yes, of course, the insufficient water intake is going to contribute to that and the withdrawal of caffeine, it's also contributed to this. However, I'd like to introduce a different, a new concept to this matter and is the excess of high sodium foods. And as you see what I wrote in the board, sodium is one of the components of salt. So I don't want you to be afraid of salt. Salt is good, but in moderation, however, when we're talking about the excess of sodium foods, we're thinking about this. We're thinking about burgers, we're thinking about snacks, we're thinking about cane foods, we're thinking about even like sugary drinks, we're thinking about juices, dairies, pizzas. And we all during Ramadan, we go out for Iftar, we get invited to Iftar, we have been fasting all day, so yes, we deserve that burger. So we do have an excess of sodium in our diets. What does really sodium do and how it contributes to the headaches during our fasting? Sodium is a molecule part of salt that helps in the transmission of, it's a neurotransmitter. So it helps with the muscles and the neurons to work properly. What the body does is when there's too much sodium in our bodies, it retains water. This way, we are feeling dehydrated but bloated. So the excess of sodium is contributing to dehydration plus water and other causes and it's contributing to the headaches. How can we support hydration? We can break our fast with water. We can include how watery foods like fruits and vegetables. Coconut drink, it's a very good source of, it's a very good fluid, a very good drink to have in general because it contains the right amount of minerals and nutrients that we need to support that balance of sodium and electrolytes. Don't overdo caffeine and obviously, please avoid junk food as much as you can. I want to address the caffeine issue and usually what happens and why this is contributing to dehydrated bodies, it's not because of the caffeine itself, it's because we are substituting the intake of water for these caffeine beverages. So it's okay if you want to include these caffeinated beverages, they're not going to dehydrate you unless obviously you're doing it in excess but remember to include with them some water. Next point is satiety and before you tell me, okay, we're fasting, we can't be satisfied during the day, we're going to feel hungry, yes, yes, yes, we are going to feel hungry during the day. I can't give you a magic pill to tell you at 3 p.m., you can do this, no, no, that's not going to happen. However, what I can tell you is what to do in order to not feel hungry two hours after having your sohut or having your iftar. So why do we get hungry so fast? Probably it's because your meals are high in simple carbohydrates, probably this meal is lacking sufficient protein or fat, probably you don't have enough fiber, you might be dehydrated or you're not eating enough. So with the simple carbohydrates, I'm going to show you next slide and as you can see in this slide, different macronutrients which are the main components of food. When we're talking about carbs, we're talking about potatoes, we're talking about rice, we're talking about bread. These are the main ones, there's more, the more familiar ones. When we eat these simple carbohydrates, our glucose levels go up, up, up, up, up and the higher these levels go, the bigger the drop it's going to be. So the bigger the drop is, the faster you're going to feel hunger. While as you can see, proteins is less and fats is less. So if we think about, okay, why am I feeling so hungry? Did I just have a croissant for sohut or maybe I just did have a croissant for sohut. Did I just have three days for sohut? Oh yes, I just had three days for sohut. So I'm not telling you you can't have these things. I'm telling you, okay, think wisely. Use, combine your carbs with, if you're eating a croissant, fill it with salmon, fill it with cream cheese and have eggs on the side, something like that. How can we maintain the society and avoiding those glucose spikes that is the answer to your hunger? It's including complex carbohydrates. These means mainly whole foods, like whole carbohydrates, you can think of brown rice, you can think of potato, you can think of carrots, you can think of beetroots, you can think of all these complex carbohydrates that are going to contribute to the slower release of the glucose in your body and therefore that big spike that we just saw in this slide is going to be slower. It's going to be lower and the hunger is going to be less. Consider, this is a little bit difficult, but if you live alone or you have the option to do this, it's a very good technique. Imagine you're having pasta for dinner or for iftar. Why don't you instead of eating first the pasta and then a salad, you first include the salad and then you eat the pasta? This is going to make a decrease on the spike of glucose and therefore the glucose is going to be released in your body slower and your spike is going to be lower and you're going to feel less hungry after eating this. You have to stay hydrated, sometimes we confuse hunger with the need of water, so just make sure you're drinking your water and your body is going to understand that it's full and it's not dehydrating and pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues. This is very important because during Ramadan we're out, we're talking, we're engaging, we forget about our stomachs and then we go home, I can't even pray, I need to sleep. So please be aware and pay a little bit of attention to your hunger and fullness cues. Or even in the morning, some people are just so tired, they can't even wake up for Sohoor and this is going to lead after into overcompensating any stars for that lack of energy that we didn't take during Sohoor. Okay, last energy. Some people came to me and told me, I feel so, so, so, so tired at the end of Ramadan. I can barely keep up with all the stuff that I have to do. Why do we feel so tired during fasting? First of all, our blood sugar goes low and this is a process that's going to happen. A body has to adjust to it. We can't do too much about it, but if we are remembering what I said before, this is going to be easier for your body to do in order to adjust better. So this low blood sugar, because our bodies, we're not feeding our bodies with food. Our bodies have to take from what it stored in the muscles and in the liver. And then it's going to be using the fats. And this process takes longer than if you just eat. So adjusting to these to get energy, it's a little bit slower. And therefore, our sugar levels are going to be lower. Just keep that in mind that it's a transition. And if you support this, it's going to be easier to adjust to Ramadan. Dehydration, it's also why we're not having all that energy. And we're feeling DC and we're feeling a little bit sluggish. So this is why I put it the first, because it plays a big role. In energy and in society, changes in hormonal levels. This one is very interesting. When we fast, naturally our bodies release more cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone that we call the stress hormone. And this stress hormone is going to make us a little bit anxious and a little bit overwhelmed. And also adrenaline, we also release more adrenaline. And adrenaline is telling our bodies, we have to be alert. There's something happening. There's something changing in our bodies. These, for our bodies to be in this alert mode, it requires a lot of energy. But as we said, we have low blood sugar levels. So our body is already consuming a lot of our storage energy. Plus the adrenaline coming in to play a role, we're going to feel depleted. We're going to feel like we have no energy. Just staying calm, resting. I'll tell you what to do in the next slide. And this one is very important, the lack of nutrients. As I said, we go out, we're invited for a start. We tend to eat what we call it the empty calories. Empty calories, no nutrients. If we are not feeding ourselves well, by the end of Ramadan, we have no energy. There's nothing stored in our bodies to give us more energy. We have empty calories. They don't have nutrients to fill our muscles and to fill ourselves. So no nutrients, no energy. How can we increase our energy levels during Ramadan? This is, I like this one, is to time your carbohydrates. I'll give two examples. If you're a morning person, a person has a very long day ahead, and you're probably trying to get in more sleep at night, eat your carbohydrates in the morning. This is going to help you to use all that energy during the day. So you eat it in the morning. And during the day, you're not using the stored energy that you have in your body, but you are using the energy that you are getting from the food that you just ate. If, on the other hand, you're a person who has the luxury to take naps during the day, who likes to stay up all night or who likes to be more a night person, eat your carbs at night. Because this is going to give you more energy to perform worship better, for example. If nutrient-dense foods, as I said, please avoid empty calories. It's not going to help you with your energy. Avoid fast food. Again, we already learned that it's not good for dehydration. Eat whole rather than processed. This, as an example, could be, instead of doing a smoothie, I prefer you to eat the whole apple and the nuts because your body is going to release some hormones that is going to tell the body, OK, I'm full. I have the energy. If we eat processed foods or mixed foods or juices or smoothies, the glucose pie is going to go up, and then we're going to crash. So if you eat whole rather than processed, it's going to help with your energy. Take it up if you have the luxury included. This is also going to help with energy. Do some light to moderate exercise. If you can go for a walk, it's going to restore your energy levels. It's going to help with your hunger cues. If you can do it before you've started, that's great because then you can replenish all that you've lost. If not, just do it when you can. And don't overeat because you're going to be feeling very sluggish. With this said, what are the takeaways for this talk? Remember to decrease sodium rich foods and don't overdo the don'ts. Don't over drink caffeine. Even don't overdo water. I didn't mention that, but don't overdo water. When you drink too much water, your sodium levels are too low. So your body, in order to restore the normal levels of sodium, is going to excrete all the water that it can to maintain that concentration in the body. And this is dehydrating you as well. So don't overdo either it's drinking or not drinking. Be careful with the glucose spikes and eat your proteins. I need to say that. Eat nutrient-dense food and use carbohydrates wisely. And with this, please eat seasonal because seasonal foods generally contain all the nutrients and minerals that your body needs in this time of the year. If you can't go to the farmers market, you can look up in this page what are the seasonal foods and then you can buy it in the supermarket. Ideas. OK, I told you all of these, but this is what you really want. What should I eat for so who would what should I for if our place told me so I don't have to think. This is just suggestions. Every culture has different. Every person has different needs. So this is not a one-size-fits-all. Eggs with avocado and toast for so who chickpea, patties, whole food, yogurts, scramble eggs, bean and eggs, shakshuka. OK, there's a lot of eggs here, but you can eat meat. You can eat you can eat even lentil soup if you want in the morning, whatever. You can even eat the leftovers from iftar if you want in the morning, just having in consideration the glucose spikes and whole rather than anything that is processed. For iftar roasts the chicken lentil soup, so it's a shrimp, we tend to forget about fish during Ramadan. In general, so please include a little bit of fish because it has a lot of calcium, miso soup, fish, chowder, seasonal salad, rice and lentil. You name it, but low in sodium. And usually when we go out, restaurants and supermarkets and takes away, they tend to have very, very, very high concentration of sodium in their foods. So if you have any questions, I have a little bit of time left. And thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to stay here doing this time. And it was a pleasure sharing this space in community. Thank you. Do we have time for Canary? Yeah, we have about eight minutes. So please, if you have questions for Sister, go ahead. I'll let you pick. Oh, no. OK, sure, go ahead, brother. What are your thoughts on slow-release caffeine pills? Slow-release caffeine pills. So you take it, you're OK. It's OK. It's fine. As long as the concentration of caffeine is not too high, it wouldn't be more than four cups because four cups is the maximum that we should be taking throughout the day. And just if you time it accordingly to your needs, then I would say it's fine. Don't overdo it. Just do it when you need it. Thank you. OK, good question. Usually the fried foods that you consume are high in sodium. So sorry. If you have to choose, choose whatever you're going to enjoy the most. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, regular water doesn't contain certain electrolytes that coconut water does, and certain minerals that water does, and especially because we have a very limited time to consume water and to eat certain foods, we might want to include that in our fluid consumptions instead of water or not instead of water, sorry, as a part of our water consumption. OK, as our sister said, you're just adding minerals to your water. So that's a little bit of a hard question because this is a very personal recommendation. So I wouldn't say everyone needs this. Probably not everyone and the general population. We don't need it. In general, we don't need it. This is specifically, I would say, people who do a lot of sports, who tend to sweat a lot. Those are the people who are going to need this replenish of minerals because the concentration in this beverage are quite high. So it depends on your diet. I would say yes or no. So yeah, it depends. This is a question that I have to say. It depends. Protein or caffeine? So it's going to depend more on your schedule. If you need that caffeine during the day, drink it in the morning. If you need that caffeine during the night, include it at night because it's going to depend on how you're going to use that caffeine and how you're going to use that protein. Protein, I would say, you can't include it in sugar and at day thought because it's going to help you keep this satiety during the day. And at night, it's going to make you replenish all that that you weren't consuming during the day. Yes, eggs is good. And these are controversial questions. And it doesn't, unless you have a genetic problem with cholesterol, it doesn't contribute to your inner cholesterol. External cholesterol does not influence your inner cholesterol production. It is a controversial topic, I know. But eat your eggs, and you can eat as much as, like, two or three eggs a day. It is a controversial question, I know. And if there's a doctor here, maybe they don't agree with me. But yeah. If you have good or bad cholesterol, you can eat eggs. It's only if you have a modification in your genes. It's a very specific thing that you have to have, not to eat your eggs. If you tell me what is your opinion, I would say eat your eggs every day, no matter if you have high cholesterol or low cholesterol. Thank you. Oh, yes, there's going to be a huge difference. Our bodies, when we're fasting, they go into a survival mode. They do. They go into survival mode. And what they do is that they're going to take whatever you give them when you eat. So it's like, OK, I'm waiting for you to eat, to store, whatever you give me. So if you drink and you eat healthy on your thought, you're going to store that goodness to your body means that if you're eating empty calories or you're choosing less healthy food, you're going to be storing those fats and those sugars more than if you eat healthy. I don't know if these answered your question. Sounds like everyone's. So we're almost at time. We'll take one last question. And then just FY Mughrab is at 6.15. After Mughrab, we will continue with our third part with Brother Mahathir. So please don't leave after Mughrab. Please come back right here. And we will complete our third part. So one last question. Is there one last question? Yes, brother. You're already limited on time. If you're eating three meals throughout the day, you're most likely going to push those calories into Suhur and Iftar. Or you're probably going to do Suhur, Iftar, and after dinner or something like that. You can have a small Iftar and then a big dinner. And that way, you're just. No, I would just say. Would you try to eat everything you want now? No, I would recommend you at least take something for Suhur, because it's going to help you not over eat during Iftar, because your body is going to tell you, oh, you were giving me this amount of energy, and now you're taking it from me. So you're going to eat it all at once, and then you're going to feel so tired, you're not going to be able to move. So I would suggest space it and eat at least two meals so you don't encounter yourself with that slagginess of overeating.