1) The document provides tips for hotels and restaurants to offer healthy choices for Iftar and Suhur meals during Ramadan, which can be challenging due to overeating after fasting. 2) It recommends including foods high in fiber, protein and vitamins like dates, lentils, whole grains and vegetables in moderate portions to avoid indigestion. 3) Suhur meals specifically should focus on complex carbohydrates and fiber-rich foods to provide fullness into the day, avoiding simple carbs and sugar that are more quickly digested.

1. REGULARS NUTRITION
Ramadan buffets
How to provide healthy choices for Iftar and Suhur
This year Ramadan falls during the end of the summer season, which is bound to be challenging for
the region's hotel industry
amadan does present commer-
R cial opportunity for the food
and beverage industry. Despite
the fact that many restaurants are Tips for healthy Ramadan menus
closed during the day, there is still • Make portions smaller to avoid overeating and an upset stomach.
good potential for business. Iftar, - • Serve dried fruits and nuts - an excellent source of vitamins and fiber.
the breaking of the fast at sunset,- • Provide whole grain bread
has become a great success as hotels • Avoid heavy spices
strive to give guests a Ramadan • Serve healthy desserts such mhallabieh, custard, rice pudding, or fruit
experience by providing Arabic
lounge-style music in a luxurious and
opulent setting. Evening activities
can more than make up for any rev-
enue lost due to daytime closures
during Ramadan.
As restaurants and hotels go out of
their way to compete with each other,
by offering their customers a wide
choice of culinary delights, inappro-
priate and excess intake of food has
become an unfortunate habit at Iftar.
During Ramadan chefs should focus
on serving healthy dishes and in
moderate quantities from the major
food groups: bread and cereal, milk
and dairy product, fish, meat and
poultry, bean, vegetable and fruit.
“Every menu should include a healthy
portion of salad. Avoid heavy creamy
dressing and fried bread. Choose
lemon/oil or lemon/mustard as dress-
ings,” advises Sawssan Wazzan Jabri,
founder of the
Nutrition and Diet
Center, Lebanon.
“The main dishes
on offer should be Healthy
well balanced, con-
sisting of carbohy- Ramadan Menu
drates, protein, and
vegetables.” Iftar
• 3 dates
In view of the long hours of fasting, • Lentil soup with
Suhur menus should include ‘com- lent to break the fast. lemon juice mouth. This can be Suhur meal for several reasons. Fiber
plex carbohydrates’ or slow digesting Refined carbohy- • Fattoush overcome by eating increases satiety by adding bulk to
foods. These complex carbohydrates drates or fast-digest- • Green beans with foods rich in fiber food without the additional calories.”
are found in foods that contain grains ing foods last for only whole grain bread such as whole wheat Fiber also combats the increase in
and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, 3 to 4 hours and may • Fish sayadieh bread, vegetables, gastric acidity levels in the stomach.
millet, semolina, beans, lentils, be better taken at beans and fruits.
wholemeal flour, and unpolished rice. Iftar to rapidly “There is no need for At Suhur every establishment
“The Suhur meal should be equiva-
Snack
restore blood glu- “diet” sections [in should serve plenty of water and
lent to a breakfast meal. Choose fiber cose levels. • Rice pudding buffets] during fresh fruit juices, plus make an
containing foods such as whole grain Fried and spicy food, Ramadan. All food attempt to guide clients away from
bread, beans, and nuts at the Suhur as well as foods con- Suhur offered should be carbonated and caffeinated bever-
meal because they satisfy for longer taining too much • Whole grain flat bread light and low in fat in ages. “Jellab and sharab el warad
periods of time which is important in sugar such as (saj) with labneh, olive order to avoid com- are loaded with sugar and without
view of the lengthy fasting,” says sweets, can cause oil, and vegetables mon problems any benefits, “ says Wazzan. Each
Wazzan. “Avoid simple carbohy- health problems and • Ksheif encountered during menu should include fruits and
drates such as white bread and should be limited Ramadan such as dates rich in fiber, carbohydrates,
sugar. The Suhur meal should be well during Ramadan. They cause indiges- indigestion and reflux, “ advises potassium and magnesium – an
balanced from each food group.” tion, heartburn, and weight prob- Wazzan. “Fiber is essential in the excellent way to break the fast.
Every Suhur menu should also lems. Fasting can often increase gas-
include dates, which are an excellent tric acidity levels in the stomach Sawsan Wazzan Jabri is a co-owner of the Nutrition & Diet Center
source of sugar, fiber, carbohydrates, causing a burning feeling, and a www.dietcenterme.com
potassium and magnesium – excel- heaviness in the stomach and a sour
54 - Hospitality News - N° 65 - AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2009