Almighty Allah Who created the universe from nothing has made human beings responsible not only for acting as His servants but also for looking after their bodily existence. He has entrusted to them what needs to be kept as best as can be. We must not forget that robust health is the greatest blessing that Allah has given us. When we protect the bodies entrusted to us from illness, there are a few things about nutrition that we should keep in mind:- Do not eat animal fats, butter or margarine.
- Eat lost of fruits and vegetables, even before meals.
- Be careful of salt and cook your food without using salt.
- Eat small amounts frequently.
- Do not eat late. If possible, get used to not eating after 9 o’clock.
- Use cold pressed olive oil in your food and on your salads. But don’t use too much olive oil; no more than 2 tablespoons a day. Otherwise the consumption of unsaturated fats will cause you to gain weight.
- Watch your carbohydrate intake. You should eat only one kind of carbohydrate per meal, such as bread, rice or pasta.
- Avoid refined sugar and white bread. Eat brown sugar instead of white and whole grain bread instead of white bread. Refined sugar and carbohydrates dissolve quickly in the blood producing an excess of insulin that could overwork the pancreas. This could hasten the onset of diabetes. Whole grain products contain vitamin B, leave a person feeling full and supply fiber that facilitates the working of the intestines.
- Balance your cholesterol with omega oils. Omega oils balance the cholesterol produced in the liver. Omege-3 is found mainly in fish; Omega-6 is found in walnuts and hazelnuts. Omega-3 found in canola oil has recently become popular.
- Cold water oily fish are especially rich in Omega-3 but because they contain lots of cholesterol they must be eaten sparingly. You can eat two small servings twice a week.
- We do not need more sugar or sweets than we get in our daily diet. The bread and rice that we consume is changed by the liver into the sugar that the body needs every day. One way to keep the blood sugar stable is to eat whole grain bread and brown rice which pass into the bloodstream after being slowly absorbed by the intestines. The stability of the blood sugar caused by these foods make us feel satisfied for a long time. This balance is delicately adjusted, but in any case if you are craving for sugar satisfy it by eating natural sweets such as dates, figs or a dried apricots.