Transcription
Asalamaikum everyone. Today I have Met Shamju with me. He is the center manager of Isra Melbourne. He also has a masters in international relations. But what brings him here today is a comment that I've been hearing from him for the last 2 years being the center manager. I'm in Melbourne. So we um we've spent two Ramadan where we've been working together. And something he said is fasting is so easy. And I have been always fascinated by this comment of his and his ability to fast without it really facing him. Particularly when he tells me that he actually goes jogging every day during Ramadan. Most of us like dragging our feet and here he is going jogging. So firstly I guess welcome.
>> Thank you.
>> What is it about Ramadan or fasting that you believe is easy or what makes it easy? I guess.
>> Yeah, it wasn't always like that actually. um like around uh till 2019 uh uh hus fasting was very hard for me as well. I used to wake up very hungry no matter what I do. Uh back in my hometown we always consume heavy carbs during Ramadan you know pastur. So the culture is based on a lot of carbs.
>> Yes. And we used to, you know, get hungry, eat more carbs and then get more hungry. So it it was a vicious cycle for me. It was very hard. And not not just in Ramadan but normal days, you know. I always used to wake up very hungry like first thing in the morning and generally run to eat something like simple mostly uh yogurt.
>> So you know it calms my uh stomach so I feel better.
>> M
>> then uh I discovered like uh I guess you know uh around 40 years old you start looking at your health
>> uh and then you look for better ways. So I've discovered the metabolic flexibility gain in metabolic flexibility.
>> Okay.
>> Uh it means that uh you know our body burns primarily fat
>> and carbs. Uh metabolic flexibility gives you using both of them efficiently cuz burning fats are not easy for the body but carbs are very easy carb burner like a pepper.
>> So prefers to burn carbs the body.
>> Yes. Cuz it's easy because it is easy but the problem with that because it burns very quickly the black blood sugar spikes
>> and then
>> spikes and then
>> spikes and quickly crashes.
>> Okay. cuz it burns so quickly. Like paper was a very powerful analogy. Just quickly heing it's gone.
>> That's right. You you can't like think about it. Do we use paper to you know heat ourselves during the winter? No, we don't. You can't keep up with it.
>> It wouldn't be up to you.
>> No. No. You need something to burn slowly.
>> So red gum burns slowly and gives constant heat to you. So the fat exactly does that. Fat never spikes your blood sugar. doesn't even affect your blood sugar. It feeds you with ketones and that uh provides you constantly steady energy. So the metabolic flexibility means that your body is very efficient uh with burning fat. So you can teach your body to do that.
>> I was going to say it doesn't come naturally to the body this metabolic flexibility. Do you have to do some things to get it there? Like I as far as I know we kind of taught our body to focusing more on the carbs
>> cuz you know it's it's easy and we always feed body with carbs mostly. So then body say okay it's cool it keeps coming.
>> Okay. So what if it's used to in a way
>> and then and then you need some time to teach body that okay we are not focusing on carbs anymore. We are you need to learn how to burn fat
>> right? You got to train your body to do that.
>> You got to train your body to do that. It's it's not very quick, but I think uh like it in two weeks if you are disciplined, you you can uh you can make that happen.
>> Does that mean you don't eat any carbs at all or do you um reduce your carbs?
>> So for this training session, you have to go hard,
>> right?
>> You have to go hard. After that when you are metab when you got the metabolic flexibility then it's going to be very easy body to switch from one to another it's like you know dual fuel cars
>> one fuel finishes then car automatically switches the other.
>> Okay. Okay.
>> So the gas finished so then you've got the petrol.
>> Okay. So yeah whereas if your body's not used to it the gas finishes and says I'm done. That's it. Yeah. And that's what happens to a lot of us during Ramadan where it's like I'm done. your body just doesn't want to function.
>> Yeah.
>> So, okay, keeping in that mind, what kind of um what would you eat at sahur time? What do you eat sahur?
>> Yeah. So, the the first thing uh like to you need to gain the metabolic flexibility.
>> Okay. Before Ramadan
>> before the Ramadan. So, so you around t is a very good time. So, you practically uh stop eating carbs.
>> Okay.
>> Uh and what is it? What is carbs? Obviously, there is uh rice.
>> M
>> there is all types of breads and pasturing
>> uh potatoes.
>> Potatoes as well. Yeah, that is one of the major one and also fruit as well like when I so many people include me thinking okay fruit is very healthy. It is it is healthy but what you are trying today is gaining metabolic flexibility. So you put aside fruit as well for this tur okay so you can focus
>> because there's a lot of sugar in fruit and it will spike up sugar levels
>> for fructose. Yeah. So, so if you can do this and you can uh uh I like it's it's just focusing this two three weeks till Ramadan.
>> So, because there is there is a motivation as well because Ramadan is going to be easy physically.
>> Yeah,
>> you are you are going to perform well. You are not going to suffer any uh you know heartburn issues, low energy issues. you will be able to make most of it in terms of spirituality as well because you won't get angry like when we get hangry.
>> That's true.
>> So, so it's totally opposite. We we sometimes uh break some people's heart as well cuz we we are angry. We don't perform spiritually. How are you going to perform if you are starving?
>> Can you really focus on your uh prayer while you are fasting? you're you're so
>> it has implications like we're so interconnected if physically if we're not if we're struggling it's going to have impact on us spiritually. So whereas if you're doing well physically then you're going to actually get more out of Ramadan spiritually.
>> Yes. So that's there is the incentive. Another excellent thing is if you can make it up to Ramadan with strict diet then during the Ramadan it's so easy to continue that as well because you know uh devils are chained
>> you got more control over your nerves and shan and then all you need to do is the second stage so what we have you gotar and we've got sahur duran so during again mah We we we all have enjoy excellent
>> feast
>> feast. Yeah. So so in that remembering our prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he he never really filled his stomach up to the limit you know always left one/ird empty.
>> So following the sunnah and again you know devils are chained so it is easier.
>> Absolutely. and not preferring like I'm not saying eat zero carb during that time for ifar. I'm saying that minimize it like you don't have to eat rice every day.
>> True.
>> Instead of pick something else more on the protein side,
>> more on the vegetable side. Don't eat three baklavas. Eat one baklava.
>> Yeah.
>> So, so really minimize it.
>> Yeah. I guess if we're conscious it can easily be done like as you said on your plate usually if there's three things reduce the rice or don't have it maybe put more of the meat dish because it's more protein so it can be done if we're conscious of it
>> salad
>> salad
>> vegetables there is a lot of dips as well cuz yogurt and the dips with you know carrot and all I almost all dips are healthy as well
>> true
>> so so put those and again you know don't eat much fruit because fruit nowadays fruits are really genetically modified to be more sweet as well. It it wasn't like that before. So really minimize it and you know enjoy your enjoy your with your family, friends and then again stop eating because we kept eating till sleep. So because you we have our ear ifar then we've got the teravi then we've got the another tea coffee session snack session. No uh don't do that
>> no snacks no snack. So you eat till teri you have your teravi and then uh you don't need to drink a lot of water as well in this system
>> uh because we are going to have the water for the sour
>> right
>> so that so we finish with that cuz when we drink lots of fluids first of all digestion is harder cuz you know the stomach acid is diluted
>> so you can't digest it very well Uh so too much water is actually not good for digestion
>> during the ifar. During the ifar is not good it's not good. Definitely not good. You can drink uh maybe after sahur a bit but then if you drink too much you can't sleep well you wake up.
>> Yes.
>> So what we can do what uh I've tried and I've seen a lot of benefit uh limit your drink. Do do not uh really put a lot of drink for the night. Uh-huh. At night and then wake up, you know, prayed and then start drinking in a a variety of healthy drinks which is, you know, iron is excellent because iron has got yogurt and salt which is electrolytes. Excellent.
>> Okay.
>> Lo lots of iron herbal teas.
>> Uh I'm a c coffee addict so I have my coffee as well. Sour time sour time. And uh I I personally don't eat anything.
>> Oh, you don't eat at all?
>> I don't eat anything fluids.
>> It's all fluids. So I get enough fluids. Uh and that's that provides like many benefits because I don't have to worry about the digestion
>> cuz I am just taking fluids. That's one thing. Uh the second things I go running. So uh in the morning right after my fure prayer,
>> right? So, so I got enough fluids uh for that. Believe me, it's not that hard. And it's it really helps you to switch from carbs to the fat burning that uh run. Not like not everybody runs. I understand that. And you don't have to. If you can uh walk would be very nice, you know, especially that time of the day is really beautiful. So that exercise helps your body to go into burning the fat.
>> So it kind of um catalyzes makes it facilitates it facilitates.
>> So is it going into ketosis? Are we in ketosis when that happens?
>> Yes, it does. It does.
>> And that's what we want because that's when you're not hungry.
>> Yes.
>> Are you also does it affect your thirst levels when you're in ketosis?
>> Actually ketosis even helps with the uh thirst.
>> Okay. Because when you burn fat, one of the things comes out is water. The body takes the energy and gets extra water through burning fat as well.
>> Oh, so it needs water to burn fat
>> and no it it gets fat actually it gets water because it's burning fat.
>> Oh, it Okay. Wow.
>> So So it's another benefit for another.
>> Yeah. For those who get very thirsty. So by burning fat, you're actually um it's producing water.
>> That's right.
>> So um yeah, you wouldn't get as thirsty. Oh wow. Okay.
>> And another thing is let's say you don't want to do that. You still eat you you want to eat. Okay. You can have proteinbased sahur like don't have any carbs. Be strict on that. like have your eggs, have your uh vegetables have uh but do you not have the you know classic breakfast you know middle eastern breakfast
>> middle even the Aussie one cereal like which is all
>> which which is a big no
>> yeah so no middle eastern no Aussie [laughter] breakfast protein breakfast [snorts] so we're talking about things like um yogurt I guess or ayan you mentioned or eggs is a good option
>> excellent excellent eggs like eat two Three eggs there is no problem. Eggs are excellent. Uh and I guarantee it's going to keep you full.
>> If you are not going to run cuz with full stomach you can't run. So it's kind of a niche thing I am using for myself. But I can
>> for us people eat two three eggs and three
>> that is fascinating. But I I guess my brain is saying you have to do this two to three weeks before Ramadan to truly feel its benefits. So now is a really good time for us to do it. Really?
>> Yes, it is.
>> Okay. Thank you. That was some amazing tips. Is there any last points you want to make or mention before we wrap up?
>> Millions of people are doing this. The thing about uh how popular water fast, how popular dry fast in the west at the moment. So many people doing 50 days of water fast. Think about that. If they are doing it
>> and they're still alive
>> and they are still alive. So why can't we do like this two weeks of time? You are not going to starve yourself. You are still going to eat. You are still going to have healthy fat, you know, avocado, meat and vegetables. So you are not starving. You just need to believe and tell yourself if those people are doing water fast for 50 days, I can do two weeks of strict diet without any carbs. Yeah, we won't go into this video in this video, but it really shows I think that like these people going 50 days with water for health reasons. It really shows the potential health benefits of fasting if we do it properly.
>> Like there's immense spiritual benefits obviously, but there's immense potential physical benefits as well. Um, and yeah, we just have to be able to utilize it and make it a reality. Thank you so much for your time.
>> You're welcome. Thanks. No problem.
>> No worries. Then inshallah I hope you're able to implement this. You've got a few weeks to go before Ramadan. Inshallah you're able to apply it. And may Ramadan be one of comfort and spiritual elevation for you all. Asalam alalayikum.
>> Thank you.