Ramadhan is almost about to end. I hope you have been making the most of it. By avoiding food and drinks throughout the day, you can detoxify your bodies and supercharge your batteries. Do you get headaches before or after aftaar? Dehydrated? Low blood sugar levels? The food you eat can actually be counter productive to your fast and make it unnecessarily harder on you and your body.

It is said that it takes twenty one days to change a habit; you still have ten more days to go till you welcome Ramadhan again next year. Let’s see if you can adjust your diet a bit and purify your inner being. Following is a list of food items that should be termed as health wreckers.

1.     Sugar – Sugar is an energizer, but it’s also a depressant especially when mixed with fried and processed foods, it acts as bonding agent and develops fatty tissue instead of being broken down, you can get more than enough natural sugar from fresh seasonal fruits.

2.     Salt - Salt is a taste enhancer, and found in almost everything you eat, too much can lead to high blood pressure, hypertension and clogged arteries.

3.     Processed and fried food - Short on time? Make small weekly batches over the weekend and freeze. Bake instead of frying. Yes, you can bake your samosas, rolls and burgers.

4.     Plain white flour – White, or bleached flour is high in sugar. The body finds it difficult to process hence it ends up forming into fat cells.

5.     Fizzy drinks and sodas - Not only are they harmful for your teeth, but they also take away essential nutrients from your body and make you gain weight.

6.     Tea or coffee - Both cause dehydration especially if taken at sehri time. Green tea is a good way to increase your antioxidants, makes it good to take with aftaar.

Now, do I see some frowns there? Disappointed that you can no more eat jalebis, pakooras, samoosas to your heart’s pleasure or delve into cookies, cakes and donuts? Well, if you ‘insist’ you can have one or two, but it would be better if you take up the challenge and keep your hands off them. Or better still use brown sugar instead of the white refined one.

Choose whole grains over processed flour. The bran and germ in wheat contain essential vitamins, dietary fiber, antioxidants and minerals. They provide you the nutrients and not just fat. Cook brown rice or brown pasta. It takes longer to cook whole grains, but you will be fueling your body up.

Drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Water helps in blood circulation which actually carries nutrients to all parts of our body and helps them function. Instead of fizzy or caffeinated drinks, switch over to fresh lime or traditional lassi. Nothing beats these two especially if it’s hot and humid where you are located.  

Remember, healthy doesn’t mean boring, play with the ingredients and you can definitely create something delectable for your taste buds. Healthier food choice means a long healthy life where you reduce your risk of some forms of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, cholesterol and of course obesity.

Once you manage to follow healthy habits for at least ten days don’t dump them as soon as Ramadhan is over. Do your body a favour and continue to live healthy. Say no to processed or packaged food and don’t forget to unplug from the chaotic world of the Internet and Television for some time (consider it a form of meditation).

Lastly, don’t fall for the ‘All You Can Eat Deals’ or Sodas at Rs.65/-, these are only advertisement gimmicks to increase sales, the least they care about is YOUR health. It is YOU who has to watch the impact of your choices.