THE holy month of Ramadan is just round the corner, and Muslims fast from dawn until sunset. If you’re fasting, that means you’ll need to do without your morning cup of coffee and your favorite afternoon snack. BUT planning and preparing your body ahead of the month will make the transition a lot smoother.

EAT LESS BUT HEALTHY

In the lead up to Ramadan, the typical mindset of “eat all you want as you’re going to be fasting soon” is really not your best friend. In fact, that behavior will only increase your appetite and make it a lot more difficult to fast. Why not begin to reduce your meal portions from now, to get your body used to less food and calories when you fast. It’s not enough to reduce quantities, you’ll also have to focus on quality. Avoid heavy food, salt AND sugar that trigger unwanted reactions in the body, and can make those cravings harder to fight. 

STOP SNACKING

From today, get used to having three main meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — and avoid snacking in between. During Ramadan, you’ll only be able to have two main meals, Suhoor and Iftar. That way, you’ll just have to cut out one meal from you diet and that won’t be so bad.

CUT DOWN ON CAFFEINE Caffeine withdrawal, it’s a thing. If you are a coffee-lover and want to avoid getting that pounding headache in the first few days of Ramadan, begin to reduce your caffeine intake. A systematic approach would involve switching to decaff, one coffee at a time, until you’re ONLY drinking decaffeinated coffee. 

WEAN OFF SMOKING

Quitting is recommended any day of the year, but more so in Ramadan.That’s because smokers who enter the month unprepared may experience various withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, anger, restlessness, impatience, and difficulty concentrating during fasting hours. To avoid all of those, cut down on the number of cigarettes you have during the day. Why not view Ramadan as an opportunity to quit bad habits altogether, such as smoking?

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