{"id":285,"date":"2013-07-16T12:21:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T12:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/?p=285"},"modified":"2014-03-09T02:45:59","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T02:45:59","slug":"keeping-fit-healthy-during-ramadan-and-as-a-musafir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/?p=285","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Fit & Healthy During Ramadan (and as a Musafir)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Al-Musafir<\/a> wishes to thank Alfiza Rahman, a certified personal trainer from Adelaide, Australia, owner of Fit Chicas Personal Training<\/a>\u00a0and fellow musafir (traveller), for contributing this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keeping fit and healthy can be difficult when we travel especially if it takes a long time to get to a destination and worse still, if it is to a different time zone altgether. It is even more challenging for Muslims who need to travel during Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast from dawn until sunset. Where does one find the time? In any case, we should try to eat well and get in some exercise to maintain our fitness and health. Given that this is the month of Ramadan, the focus of this article is on maintaining fitness and health during this holy month but much of which also applies to musafirs (travellers).<\/p>\n

Many Muslims\u00a0use Ramadan to embark on self-reforming habits, be it on a spiritual,\u00a0mental or physical level. For those who have been putting off that New Year\u2019s resolution to get healthier\u00a0and fitter, Ramadan is a good month to start focusing on healthy habits, and kickstart towards achieving your health and fitness goals. A plan that incorporates\u00a0both nutrition and exercise will help you stay healthy and fit throughout\u00a0Ramadan. Here are a few tips to get you started.<\/p>\n

Nutrition<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Eat fresh, whole foods that are nutritious and not processed or junk ‘food’.<\/li>\n
  2. Eat a good blend of foods that have protein, fibre and \u2018good\/healthy fats\u2019\u00a0especially during suhoor<\/em> (meal prior to commencing the fast)\u00a0to maintain muscle mass, prevent hunger pangs and to\u00a0keep your energy levels up.<\/li>\n
  3. Avoid binging at night. Eat small frequent meals instead of large meals during\u00a0iftar<\/em> (breaking fast) and suhoor<\/em>\u00a0to maintain an adequate metabolism level and a balanced blood\u00a0sugar level.<\/li>\n
  4. Maintain proper hydration by drinking plenty of water, but try to avoid\u00a0sweetened drinks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Ramadan is not an excuse not to exercise. Exercising during Ramadan is\u00a0especially important to maintain a healthy metabolic rate which tends to dip when fasting as the body will tend to go into preservation mode.<\/li>\n
    2. The best time to exercise is after iftar<\/em> or before suhoor.<\/em> If you choose to\u00a0exercise after iftar,<\/em> eat a light meal when breaking fast and wait at least 1 hour\u00a0before exercising. If you plan to exercise before suhoor,<\/em> drink plenty of water\u00a0before exercising.<\/li>\n
    3. For those who are already exercising, Ramadan is not a month to hit personal\u00a0bests, instead focus on maintaining your fitness. Consistency is key here, so\u00a0reduce the intensity of your exercise so that you are not over-taxing your energy\u00a0reserve.<\/li>\n
    4. If you are just starting your fitness regime, start with getting 30 minutes of\u00a0moderate intensity exercise at least 2 to 3 days a week. Do whichever activities\u00a0you enjoy as long as you keep moving during Ramadan. Go for a stroll, a brisk\u00a0walk or a jog, and if you are short on time, see this<\/a><\/strong> for a great example\u00a0of a 7-minute workout routine that you can do just about anywhere with minimal space and\u00a0equipment. Including a 5-minute warm-up and a 5-minute cool down, this\u00a0exercise routine should take you no more than 20 minutes. Great for people on the go!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Always listen to your body when you begin a new exercise routine to avoid\u00a0getting injured. Do what you can, when you can, but more importantly, be\u00a0consistent. With proper planning and preparation, you can have your healthiest Ramadan yet, insha’Allah.<\/p>\n

      \"Great<\/a>

      Great for people with little time such as musafirs (travellers), perfect for Ramadan. Go here<\/a><\/strong> for workout details.<\/p><\/div>\n

      \"Get<\/a>

      Get moving even during Ramadan to keep your metabolic rate up.<\/p><\/div>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Al-Musafir wishes to thank Alfiza Rahman, a certified personal trainer from Adelaide, Australia, owner of Fit Chicas Personal Training\u00a0and fellow musafir (traveller), for contributing this article. Keeping fit and healthy can be difficult when we travel especially if it takes a long time to get to a destination and worse still, if it is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Keeping Fit & Healthy During Ramadan http:\/\/wp.me\/p3sBgR-4B","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-advice"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3sBgR-4B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-musafir.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}