Ramazan diet increasing heart burn, acidity
Dr Wasim Khwaja, senior gastrointestinal physician at Pims said, “Majority of the patients visiting OPD are suffering from indigestion, acidity and other such diseases due to excessive intake of unhygienic food at sehri and iftar.”
He said majority of the patients belonged to the middle age bracket. “After keeping your stomach empty for 15 hours people try to stuff it without restraint at the time of breaking their fast (iftar). This disturbs the normal digestion pattern of the stomach,” he added.
Dr Khwaja recommended light items with high nutrition value rather than the extremely oily samosas, pakoras, parathas and other fried items.
The infatuation with fried foods, especially pakoras and samosas, increases to quite an extent in Ramazan. “No matter how many dishes I cook for iftari, my family members consider the iftari incomplete without pakoras on the menu,” said Shahina Sajid, a house wife.
Similarly, roadside stalls and other vendors offering these items, also witness an increase in their number during this month. “You will find every other shop offering rolls, samosas, jalebis and such items, but the hygiene standards that they maintain are highly questionable,” said Ahmed, a resident of sector I-8.
“Government should form a committee, which should make surprise visits to all of these stalls and check the environment in which they are preparing food,” said Dr Khwaja.
“Majority of them use the same oil for frying edibles for many days, which is even more dangerous,” he added.
Dr Kausar Anis, Joint Executive Director Polyclinic Hospital, said, “People end up gaining more weight in Ramazan just because of such diets.”
People, who are trying to lose weight by fasting, end up doing more harm to their body when they break their fast with such heavy items on the menu. “It is a wrong impression that one can lose weight just by staying hungry for 15 hours, because all that oil in their diet is sufficient to ruin any positive effects of fasting,” she added.
She urged the people to follow a balanced diet plan and avoid parathas in the sehri. “Roti, an egg, some milk or fresh juices should suffice as a healthy sehri, do not indulge in salan (curry) and other items,” she said.
Similarly, when breaking the fast, she said, “Half a glass of water and dates are enough. Dates are the best source of carbohydrates and instant energy,” she said.
“After that offer the Maghrib prayers and then have proper dinner instead of the staple fried items,” she added.
Dr Anis said that one of the major reasons for acidity, heartburn and indigestion during Ramazan was the small gap between dinner and sehri. “After a heavy iftari, people eat dinner late at night and before they even get time to digest it, people start stuffing themselves again for sehri,” she said.
She also advised people against using the food items which had been kept in the refrigerator for several days.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2010.
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