Ramadhan...do you think we should try it

[Dom Tuk]

As a non muslim I am fascinated by the practice of Ramadhan. In order to loose weight i have tried fasting and find it extremely difficult. I marvel at the fact that someone can fast all day and have a good meal at night. I wish i could do that (believe me i have tried). Do you think as a non musilm you could do it. Is it something that we could all partake in purely for our personal benefit.

[crete]

i find it no problem. not to eat all day and have one meal in the evening, though i would not recomend it , i can do it because of fairly recent surgery.

[PAWSABELLE]

I'd find it difficult to have nothing at all until the evening. I have a muslim friend who says he has lost over a stone during this time, but that he has no energy to exercise and it also makes him irritable.

[wonder years]

hi crete have you been poorly ?

[THECORBYLOON]

I heard a wee bit on Radio Four the other other week and they were speaking to a shopkeeper who said he selt more food during Ramzan than any other time of the year.

[crete]

sometimes wonder years, thanks for asking.

[andy-hughes]

Actually Dom, what they do is get up really early and have a good breakfast first. Ramadan forbids eating during the hours of daylight, which are specifically proscribed, down to the minute, so that Muslims can observe correctly. Children under three and the elderly are exempt - it's so that Muslims can focus on people in the world who are starving - something that would do a few right-wing politicians a world of good!

[jake-the-peg]

Remember too that Ramadhan doesn't always fall in October!

It's one thing to fast dawn to dusk at this time of year it's quite another to do it in June!

[WoWo]

I was in Egypt last week and of course being a muslim country they were having Ramadhan, it's not just food they can't have but also fluid, so no water. But also in most Muslim countires they are closer to the equator and the days are more standard, getting Dark at around six.

I was chatting to the life guard and he said the food part was not problem but sitting around in the sun all day without a drink was a bit of a problem. They can eat at sun down which was officailly at 5:00 in Egypt.

[Shire]

I'm not so sure that fasting in this way would work for loosing weight - we had a Muslim student at work, and she always said that she found she put on loads of weight over Ramadan, as she was eating at different times to when she usually would.