How to Eat Properly and Honor the Body this Ramadan
By Nawal Ali
Mar/Apr 26
Every Ramadan, the same pattern repeats itself. We fast with sincere intentions to better ourselves, our stomachs empty, our hearts focused. Then the adhan calls and we break our fast, eating like we’re making up for lost time. We overindulge ourselves with samosas, pakoras, biryani, kunafa, and baklava followed by sugary drinks. 30 minutes later, sprawled on the couch, too full to move, we wonder why a month meant for spiritual elevation leaves us feeling sluggish and heavy.
Scholars remind us every year that the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) never filled his stomach completely. He always left a third of his stomach for air (Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 3349). We nod in agreement, and then iftar comes around again and somehow the platters keep multiplying.
The problem isn’t willpower. It’s that most of us were never taught how to eat. We know the dua‘ before meals, we know to use our right hand, but knowledge of the practical mechanics of eating in a way that nourishes rather than overwhelms has gotten lost somewhere in between us and the modern world.
South Koreans, however, have this knowledge and they utilize it every day.
The Accidental Sunnah
On a trip to South Korea, I took on my usual “when in Rome” attitude, copying the locals in my dietary habits and preferences. But something odd happened during that process. I began to feel good. I was clear-headed and energetic . My digestion, which had been a mess for years, suddenly worked like it was supposed to.
At first, I chalked it up to being away from processed American food. But the more I paid attention to how Koreans eat, the more I realized they were following principles nearly identical to the Prophet’s Sunnah. These were principles that I, a Muslim who had read countless hadiths about food, had never actually practiced.
Many Muslims know these hadiths. But how many of us can honestly say we live by them? Meanwhile, in Korea, people embody these principles without knowing they are doing it.
Seven Lessons Korean Eating Habits Teach about Prophetic Eating
1. Small Portions Are the Standard
Walk into a Korean restaurant and your meal arrives in small bowls. Rice in one bowl, soup in another, banchan (side dishes) spread across the table in tiny portions. Nothing is supersized. Nothing comes in American restaurant quantities where one plate could feed three people.
Korean portions teach that you can feel completely satisfied after eating a reasonable amount of food. Your body doesn’t need to be stuffed to feel nourished. The trick is eating foods that are nutritious, not calorie dense.
This Ramadan, instead of loading your plate at iftar, try serving yourself in smaller bowls. One bowl for rice, one for soup, one for protein. You’ll be surprised how much less you need when you’re not staring at a heaping plate of food.
2. Eating Slowly
Chopsticks do something forks and spoons can’t: they make eating quickly nearly impossible. You physically cannot shovel food into your mouth when you’re using two thin sticks to pick up small bites. This matters because it takes time for your brain to register that your stomach is full. If you eat too quickly, you’ll overeat before your brain can send the “stop” signal to your stomach.
The Prophet ate consciously. He also ate using three fingers, never rushing. Chopsticks naturally enforce this practice. Each bite requires intention.
This Ramadan, try eating at least one meal a day with chopsticks or using only three fingers. It will feel awkward at first but that’s the point. It brings your attention back to the act of eating itself.
3. An Intentional Diet
The Korean meal structure looks like this: a small bowl of rice, multiple vegetable side dishes (usually fermented foods or uncooked foods like kimchi, spinach, bean sprouts, or pickled radishes), a few pieces of fish or meat, and soup. This variety isn’t just traditional, it’s nutritionally strategic. Eating diverse foods during a meal feeds gut bacteria, which improves digestion and overall health.
Compare this to a typical South Asian or Arab iftar: fried foods, white rice or bread, meat-heavy dishes, and multiple sweet desserts.
The Prophet ate simply, consuming barley, dates, rice, and meat only on special occasions (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 2567). Imagine if we followed his example and built our iftars around vegetables and simple proteins instead of treating them like inconvenient additions to the “real” food.
This Ramadan, make integrate simple foods into your iftar plate. Serve small portions and allow for multiple side dishes. See how differently you feel from previous iftar meals.
4. Daily Fermented Foods
Every Korean meal includes kimchi. Fermented foods are loaded with probiotics which are beneficial bacteria that aid digestion and gut health. The fermentation process also increases nutrient bioavailability, meaning your body can absorb and use the vitamins and minerals more efficiently.
Muslims have a tradition of eating fermented foods too. Turshi (pickled vegetables), labneh (fermented yogurt), and even traditional bread was often fermented through sourdough-style preparation. Somewhere along the way, many Muslims switched to shelf-stable processed foods and lost these practices.
This Ramadan, add one fermented food to your daily iftar. Real pickles (not the sweet kind soaked in vinegar and sugar), yogurt with live cultures, sauerkraut, anything fermented. Your gut will thank you, especially during a month when your usual eating schedule is disrupted.
5. Meals Are Communal by Design
Korean meals are served family-style. Everyone eats from the same dishes, sharing banchan, reaching across the table, and talking throughout the meal. There’s no isolating yourself with your own plate.
The Prophet encouraged community connections and eating together (Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 3287). He understood that eating is a social act, not just a biological necessity. When you eat with others, you eat slower, you pay more attention to your food, and the meal becomes an act of connection rather than just consumption.
Ramadan already encourages communal iftar, but we often rush through it to get to tarawih. This year, protect meal time. Sit with your family, put away phones, and experience iftar as a shared moment. That’s when the barakah truly takes place.
6. Tea Over Coffee, Water Over Soda
Go to a Korean restaurant and they’ll serve you boricha (roasted barley tea) or oksusu cha (corn silk tea). These teas are cold , unsweetened, and incredibly refreshing. Soda exists, sure, but it’s not the default beverage at every meal. Coffee is available in the morning only.
The Prophet drank water, milk, and occasionally other beverages. Simple hydration in this manner eliminates caffeine crashes and sugar spikes. Meanwhile, many of us break our fast with carbonated drinks followed by chai loaded with sugar, and then we wonder why we feel jittery and exhausted at the same time.
Caffeine during Ramadan creates a vicious cycle. You’re tired from lack of caffeine during the day, so you overload on coffee or tea at night, which disrupts your sleep, making you more tired the next day. The Prophet used to take a brief rest during the day, but his hydration came from water and simple drinks that didn’t interfere with his sleep .
This Ramadan, try replacing your post-iftar sugary drink with herbal teas (chamomile tea, barley tea, even plain mint tea). Save coffee for suhoor if you must have it, and then see if your sleep improves.
7. Dessert Is Occasional, Not Obligatory
In Korea, dessert isn’t automatically part of every meal. You might have fruit. You might have nothing. Sweet treats exist for special occasions, not as a daily expectation.
The Prophet ate dates as his sweet, occasionally eating honey as well. That’s it. But we’ve built an iftar culture where multiple desserts appear daily. We have tables full of kunafa, baklava, jalaybi, and sheer, all at once, every night. Our bodies can’t process that amount of sugar, especially when we’ve been fasting all day.
This Ramadan, try limiting dessert to weekends or special occasions. Use dates as your primary source of sugar. Notice how much more energy you have for night prayers.
The Pattern You Can’t Unsee
Korean eating habits closely align with the Sunnah. These aren’t arbitrary cultural preferences but principles of healthy eating that exist across traditional diets worldwide, including the one modeled by the Prophet.
The Sunnah of eating isn’t just spiritual theory. It’s practical, embodied knowledge about how to nourish your body in a way that supports rather than hinders your worship. When you eat the way the Prophet ate, you have energy for qiyam. Your mind stays clear for recitation of the Quran . Your body functions the way it’s supposed to instead of fighting to digest excessive, nutritionally empty food.
Your body is an amanah, a trust from God. Feed it in a way that honors that trust. This Ramadan, eat like you believe the Sunnah works.
Nawal Ali is a public health graduate from Chicago with a background in development. She is currently researching Islamic culture in Central Asia.
Want more like this? Subscribe to the Islamic Horizons magazine and support authentic journalism by Muslims for Muslims.