During the sacred month of Ramadhan, suhoor meal holds a profound significance in preparing the body and mind for the day's fasting ahead. Suhoor should be treated like an early morning breakfast. In this meal, we should choose light foods that can keep us feeling full for a long time.
Nutrition experts suggest drinking at least two glasses of water during suhoor. But the most important thing is to drink two litres of water during the period between iftar and suhoor, provided that the water is taken slowly to ensure that we get the appropriate amount we need daily.
One should eat a balanced suhoor meal instead of eating fatty main dishes such as meat, rice, and pasta. Do not give you a feeling of fullness, but rather make you feel hungry and thirsty throughout the next day.
Long hours of fasting leads to changes in our lifestyles, and changes in the quantity and quality of food intake. To obtain a healthy and balanced lifestyle during Ramadhan, it is necessary to become familiar with some basic eating habits.
Do not keep vegetables away from the suhoor meal, as watercress, cucumber, garden cress, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, parsley, and all other vegetables are foods that moisturise the body and freshen the breath.
Salads can be made for suhoor by adding many types of delicious and beneficial vegetables.
Eat more foods rich in fibre, such as oranges, lettuce and cucumber. Make sure to eat protein, which is one of the important nutritional tricks during the suhoor meal, so you can eat eggs, beans, or yogurt, as these foods reduce the feeling of thirst during the fasting hours.
It is recommended to eat fruit to enhance energy in the body and obtain sugars from natural sources such as apples, bananas, guava, and pears.
Eating a lot of high-salt foods, such as pickles, causes a feeling of thirst during fasting for the next day. You should avoid eating them, especially during the suhoor meal.
Avoid sleeping immediately after suhoor meal, because this causes you to be exposed to many health problems, including weight gain and stomach disorders. Try to eat suhoor meal early and well before bed.
Reduce your intake of caffeine-rich drinks as much as possible because they expose you to stress, fatigue and increase your feeling of thirst during fasting the next day.
The benefits of Suhoor lie in stimulating the digestive system and maintaining the blood sugar level. Suhoor prevents feelings of fatigue and laziness, and gives the body the energy needed to work, study, worship, and perform daily tasks during the day. It also maintains the general balance of the body, especially during long hours of fasting. Eating a healthy and complete suhoor meal protects people from any problems resulting from lack of water or food, such as headache, dizziness, constipation and other problems.
Doctors confirm the importance of the suhoor meal during Ramadhan. It supplies the body with energy and activity during fasting hours, especially for young people, who suffer from fatigue and loss of concentration while studying during daytime hours.
In addition, we must not forget that children who have reached ten years of age are keen to share the fast with their parents, so the focus must be on giving them a healthy suhoor meal, as it is more difficult to endure fasting than it is for adults, so it must be an ideal meal.
Nutrition experts advise that children’s meal must include eggs or cheese, with bread, dates, a spoonful of white honey and milk, given that these foods contain the important ‘Vitamin B’, protein, calcium, and starches. These recommended foods work to stimulate the child's digestion process and provides him with energy for a long time during the next day.
Doctors also advise to have suhoor meal shortly before the dawn call for prayer, in order to enable the body the benefit from all the nutrients for the largest possible period of the daylight hours, as it provides energy and reduce the hours of need for water.
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