Moments of Discipline - Ramadan Fitness #3

I went shopping the other day while I was fasting and I ended up getting way more stuff than I actually needed. Food, fruits, snacks, everything. If I needed one, I ended up getting two - for every item on the list.

Most of us go through the same situation when we’re filling up our plate for iftar. Everything seems so appealing, so tasty. Because we haven’t been able to eat anything all day, even things you wouldn’t normally eat make your mouth water. The issue is, although we’re hungry, our bodies can’t actually handle eating the entire tray of biryani.

Our stomach’s capacity actually temporarily shrinks while we’re fasting (our metabolism slows down because no food or water is going in all day).

Yet we do it anyway.

We fill up our plates past what we can handle and end up in a food coma every single day.

There’s often a disconnect between what your body is telling you to do (what you desire), and what is actually good for you. Understanding the disconnect and acting on what is good for you even though it may not feel good in the moment - that’s mental discipline.

Seven time Formula 1 world champion (should be 8…), Lewis Hamilton, says he often keeps a chocolate bar in his backpack just so he can build up that mental discipline muscle - that ability to resist something that will give your taste buds a rush. Keep in mind this guy is vegan and probably gets all his meals cooked for him - yet he is still tempted by a chocolate bar and has to use mental energy to resist.

When we’re fasting we also develop this mental discipline muscle. We’re not able to eat anything all day - not just things that we want to eat but even the alternatives that we wouldn’t normally touch.

But many of us lose all that practice of resistance and building your mental discipline in a moment - the moment the sun sets.

In order to stay healthy in Ramadan and beyond, we have to tune into these moments and make a conscious decision to do the right thing for your health - to not give in to the temptations of all the tasty food in front of you.

These small moments of consciously exercising mental discipline may not seem like they matter now, but each of these moments add up and before you know it you’ve had 30 days of cheat days in a row. Days add up to months, months add up to years, years add up to a lifetime of poor eating habits.

On the flip side if you exercised mental discipline in those moments, before you know it you’ll have invested 30 days in your own physical health and well being - a start to a lifetime of positive eating habits.

Stay fit,
Rafi Hussaini

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