Embrace Your Ramadhan Hunger

A couple of days ago, I had gone to bed without eating dinner as I had eaten a very heavy late lunch and was full the rest of the day and went to bed late. The next morning I overslept, for like a few hours over my usual time to wake up. This meant I had skipped my usual breakfast routine that happens a certain time of the day. So what happened to me, I woke up from my sleep with hunger pangs. I mean i felt extreme hunger, the kind where your stomach is growling and your body is shaking, and your about to bark at or eat the first thing you see. Well I quickly drank some fresh juice (After brushing my teeth of cause), which calmed me down instantly (Amazing!).

So this got me thinking, what if that day was Ramadhan, what would I have done? What would you have done?

For Me?  

NOTHING.

No Really there is nothing to do other than riding it out. I can count the number of times that I have experienced a hunger similar to this, its either in the beginning or near the end of Ramadhan,. It usually doesn't hit you in the morning, but rather sometime in the afternoon. The feeling is temporary, it doesn't last long, probably less than an hour or so, and mostly it happens if I didn't get in the proper nutrients and water the night before. The key here is to keep yourself occupied with something that will take your mind off the thought of food.

Some folks decide to sleep it out, although personally, this has only made it worse for me, you wake up hungrier than when you went to sleep. Just breathing through it in a daze while the mind wonders. Surfing the web, reading,watching tv, doing some light activity and even going to run errands if there is any energy left, is what has helped me in the past. All TV watching should be educational, motivational and God inspiring programs of cause.

Why Embrace it then?

Because its benefits are plenty. Your body is healing itself internally. Its not wasting its energy breaking down food in your digestive system, granted you didn't pig out the night before that is, and focuses its energy to repair damaged goods in your body. Allah has given us a great machine here, its up to us to allow it to do what it was designed to do. Your mind is more alert, notice how your mind wanders quickly to exotic cuisines that you haven't eaten in ages or seen on some TV Show, that's your brain working properly. The bottom line is you feel much lighter and focused, transfer that energy into doing positive things. Remember Allah, Read up on Islamic texts, do your 5 a day, and work on those projects that you were too lazy to finish. I bet you those great ideas will keep flowing.

To sum it up, you are at your best when hungry. So anticipate it, expect it,embrace it and humble yourself to it. This is a month of mercy and blessings, so maximize on it, by remembering and praying to him who created you, and be good and merciful to his creation. Remember the prophet said that the prayer of one who is fasting is never rejected.

 Ramadhan Kareem everyone!