‘Eat mindfully this Eid’

ISLAMABAD: The Eid festival can present an opportunity to indulge in negative nutritional health, with lots and lots of unhealthy foods being consumed, a day after the end of Ramazan. Festive overeating can be avoided by making simple choices that can increase a person’s satisfaction without stressing the body’s digestive system.

Talking to this scribe here on Sunday, consultant nutritionist and head of the Clinical Nutrition Department at Shifa International Hospital Dr. Rezzan Khan described festive overeating as a “nutritionally extreme activity” that can adversely affect the body.

“The first day of Eid, we all experience that fleeting guilt at lunch time or while having the day-time cup of tea, and then remember that the fasting period and its benefits are completed for the year. As we gather with friends and family, we fall back into the habit of snacking all day on tasty appetisers. It is Eid and a time to rejoice, so we also enjoy festive juices, sodas, multiple cups of tea and coffee, and multicourse meals. There is also the opportunity, and the pressure, to indulge the same way during visits to friends and family,” Dr. Rezzan Khan pointed out.

Terming festive overeating a “nutritionally extreme activity,” Dr. Rezzan explained how it affects the body. “At a minimum, you can feel some painful discomforts as meal choices affect nutritional health. With every food intake, the stomach secretes hydrochloric acid to begin the digestive process. The more you eat, the more acid you produce, and some of this acid makes its way up the esophagus, resulting in heartburn. On the other hand, big meals slow your digestion, and the food spends more time being processed by your body. That causes the gassy, bloated feeling you often have after a big meal. Since more blood is required for digesting this meal, less blood is available to transport oxygen and nutrients to other parts of your body, leaving you sluggish and lightheaded,” she explained.

Irregular meal timings also cause fluctuation in blood glucose levels. Mindful eating is the practice of enjoying food with understanding and compassion by developing awareness of the relationship between food and our body, feelings, mind, and the inter-connectedness of all that is around us. It is a technique that helps you gain control over your eating habits.Mindful eating is something that we should practice every day — be it Eid, a holiday, or a regular workday.