The spiritual and holy month of Ramadan is upon us. But what kind of foods should you be eating during non-fasting hours? And with the fast especially challenging how does your body react to going without food and drink for such long periods?

Looking after your diet well could make a huge difference to your health. Here are some tips.

Water and staying hydrated.

Between Iftar and Suhoor, it is really important to keep drinking water.

This will top up the water in the body, allowing it to work properly thoughout the day.

The best way to do this is to start off with a little bit of water at Iftar, then having a few sips of water every half an hour. Sit with a water bottle at Tarawi. Have a few sips of water after each Salah. Drinking too much too quickly makes us rush to the toilet, especially when we haven’t had anything to drink all day.

If you don’t like the taste of plain water, you could add a slice of lemon and maybe some mint.

This adds some flavour and provides some much needed vitamins and minerals too.

As long as you don’t overdo it, some freshly made fruit juices can replace some of the minerals lost during the hot days. A really useful fruit to juice is watermelon.

Last year, I made a juice by blending watermelon with coconut water, a piece of ginger and some fresh mint. The watermelon and coconut water both have potassium that we loose when we sweat.

These drinks are much healthier than sugary milkshakes that have lots of colours and additives too.

You must avoid the samosas.

If you really must, then have them in small amounts.

If you feel like you are punishing or depriving yourself, then your healthy eating plan will stop, so enjoy what you like in MODERATION, then make up with it with all the other things you eat. Swap them for grilled, roasted or steamed vegetables and chicken.

Steamed food can have the spices you like and some oil or butter too, just not lots. If you feel that you need some fatty food, then choose healthy fats like olives and humus with olive oil, or maybe a handful of nuts and seeds.

A few Brazil nuts, almonds or pistachio’s will provide you with some of the essential fats that you need.

Get creative…roast, grill or bake instead of frying!.

Swap vegetable oil for rapeseed and olive oil. This will help increase the omega 3 fatty acids to help stop arteries from being clogged up. Measure how much oil is added to cooking. Don’t drown your food in oil, it tastes just as delicious with less oil.

We need some fats in our body to protect our organs, for our nerves to pass messages to each other and to stay warm.

It’s just a case of remembering which ones are needed (ESSENTIAL) and which ones we can get rid of!

A cup of yogurt has more calcium than a cup of milk.

Almonds and other nuts (and seeds) are a quick source of nutrients for those who don’t have allergies.

Sehri, suhoor and the pre-dawn meal.

An egg - scrambled, omelette, fried or boiled is a nutritious meal for shuhoor. I learnt to make these into omelettes and patties last year. where I mixed Jowar atta with methi leaves, coriander leaves, general masala and eggs. I then added water or yogurt to make it into a paste, then shallow fried it like an omelette in a small amount of butter. This gave me a full meal with slow releasing carbohydrates, protein, calcium and iron.

This meal needs to be rich in goodness and nutrients as it should last us throughout the day. Be careful of foods that are high in sugar as it will be quickly absorbed into our blood, where as complexed carbohydrates will take longer to be absorbed into the blood and give energy for longer. Rice pops/coco pops/corn flakes will give a sugar rush, then leave us hungry and wanting more.

Porridge, omelette with roti, egg on toast, Hummus with pitta bread, yoghurt with a mixture of seeds or fruits will give more vitamins and minerals, proteins and energy that will last longer. Soups will help vitamins and minerals pass into the blood faster and give you some of your eight servings of water per day. Puddings – tend to be a must for Ramadan.

How about making something that will give you slow releasing energy? Like flapjacks, oats will give you fibre and iron. You can add seeds and dried fruit or even swap some of the butter for coconut oil.

Everything in moderation…..and remember part of eating halal means, eating healthy foods that have been naturally been provided for us. On a final note! It takes two weeks to change a habit.

Ramadan is an opportunity to physically and spiritually cleanse yourself and become free from toxins.

Take this opportunity to give your liver a rest and your body a chance to recover and make lifelong lifestyles choices if desired. Wishing you a spiritual and content Ramadan.

Preston based Abida runs a range of cookery classes. Visit: aromatic-cookery.co.uk or call 07769 686622