"Wait, how long do you do this?" "You can't even drink water?!" "You must be chowing down after sunset." All common statements that Muslims hear during the month of Ramadan. But this year is a little different (for the sake of full disclosure, as of the time of this blog posting, there are still a couple more days left in the month of Ramadan).
Traditionally during Ramadan, Muslims fast, consuming no drink or food, from morning twilight to sunset for the period of one moon cycle. Before you jump to any conclusions, yes, it is tough. In this country, where it is so easy for us to walk into a supermarket to buy a steak or simply shove our glasses into the refrigerator for water, it is easy to be desensitized to what it means to truly feel hungry (not the woo girl telling her friends that she is 'starving'). It is meant to be a time of reflection, controlling our desires so that we can feel them rather than absentmindedly satisfying them. One is required to consume something before the fast begins each day and then to break the fast at the exact time of sunset.
Time to grind! Well, at least, that's what the restaurants in Malaysia seem to understand. They are closed all day and open exactly at sunset, making sure their buffets are stocked and churning all night until the fast begins the next day. And trust me, they are packed the whole time. According to a Sunnah (look it up), however, when one breaks their fast, they are supposed to only fill their stomachs with one-third food, one-third water, and one-third air. Unfortunately, practice does not always emulate theory. Oh well.
Thus, many people actually gain weight during this month since their bodies aren't used to digesting massive amounts of food in the late evening. Even worse, once the fasting month is done, people tend to keep eating with the same intensity all day long although their metabolisms are completely out of wack at this point.
Time to grind! Well, at least, that's what the restaurants in Malaysia seem to understand. They are closed all day and open exactly at sunset, making sure their buffets are stocked and churning all night until the fast begins the next day. And trust me, they are packed the whole time. According to a Sunnah (look it up), however, when one breaks their fast, they are supposed to only fill their stomachs with one-third food, one-third water, and one-third air. Unfortunately, practice does not always emulate theory. Oh well.
Thus, many people actually gain weight during this month since their bodies aren't used to digesting massive amounts of food in the late evening. Even worse, once the fasting month is done, people tend to keep eating with the same intensity all day long although their metabolisms are completely out of wack at this point.
In prior years, I haven't always fasted every single day of Ramadan for a number of reasons: client lunches, after work drinks, dates, Chuck E. Cheese Pizza, etc. But this year, I was approached by a friend (a non-Muslim) to not just do the fast every day for Ramadan, but to do it with a twist. Since the fast, theoretically, limits the number of calories and nutrition we will intake, why don't we consume only the foods that have the highest levels of nutrition by weight. And since heating or cooking immediately reduces the nutritional value of our food, we should eat food that has not gone through those thermodynamic processes. Thus, we agreed to only eat raw. Trust me, it made plenty of sense at the time.
This isn't all crazy. Ramadan is a holy month so why not eat holy? If one were to read the Essene Gospels of Peace, Jesus states that all food is already provided in its perfect form (referring to raw food). Heck, these Essene Gospels even go as far as to mention that if someone were to eat like this for 7 years they would become known as one of the 'Select' and be able to command Nature to their will. 7 years seemed kind of long so I figured I could shoot for a month.
Fast forward 28 days. I haven't lost any weight on the scale, but my clothes are definitely looser fitting. I'm down one belt loop and the pockets on my dress pants don't flare out like bat ears anymore. People are also telling me that I look really young. When I asked how young, they said I look younger than my high school graduation pictures. I sleep a tremendous amount but that may be due to the dehydration associated with Ramadan more than anything else. And I've gotten more female attention in the last month than I have in a long time (two women actually asked me to ask them out).
Am I sold on the raw food diet? Yes. Is it my go to diet? Depends.
Eating raw has not produced the same aesthetic results that I've experienced on other diets (I'll post my paleo diet experiment 'before' and 'after' pictures here in another post). However, I generally feel lighter, physically and emotionally. Also, again, I haven't had this much attention from the opposite sex in a long time. So there might be something to be said about this diet in that realm.
Do I recommend it for others? Probably not during Ramadan.
My reasoning was sound. I'm an experimenter and I justified the diet as adding to the holiness of this month. But I've also sacrificed by not being able to participate in the community events that are so prevalent during this time. I purposely didn't go to some parties or get-togethers simply because I knew I would not be able to eat or drink anything there.
There are also a couple other 'metaphysical' benefits that I have noticed but I am going to see how these occurrences play out before I post them here. Overall, I am glad I did it. This has been a great experience and something that I am willing to share. It is a slightly extreme method but the challenge is welcomed when not much else is going on. Ultimately, it becomes a great story for me to share. If you got questions, you know me so go ahead and ask. Otherwise, I am going to keep myself 'holy' for a few more days, or until I get my hands on some pizza.
Ciao.
