Insha'Allah, tonight the crescent mood indicating the month of Shabban will appear in the sky. Shabban can be thought of as the watering of the garden of Ramadan. Muslims use this month to begin preparing mind, body, and spirit for the holy month of Ramadan where we are directed that all believers who are able to must fast during this month. The fast is from dawn to sunset and Muslims must abstain from the intake of food and drink, and also no participating in sexual relations. Fasting has so many benefits, I am sure if you are curious, you will Google it, called sawm in Arabic, to learn when, why, and how Muslims fast, insha'Allah.
I am very excited about Ramadan this year. While I have been fasting for a number of years, wal hamdulillah, this is my first Ramadan since I quit smoking, so I imagine that I will be even more rewarding when I don't have to spend that last half our of the fast jonesing for a smoke. Whew!
I have been working out to get rid of some frustration with my life, liberty (which ain't all it's cracked up to be) and pursuit of happiness (I am pretty happy, but some changes in my status (not my FB status!) would probably do us all good. I realize that when my health is better, this will improve my mood and I may be less likely to bite you, and you, and you, too.( But you over there, healthy or not, I got teeth!)
:D
Anyway, I was thinking about the benefits of unprocessed foods and how it decreases the risks of cancers and other illnesses. I am not strictly talking about raw foods, but rather, foods that haven't been run through a factory or changed from a natural state. So, your halaal beef steak is unprocessed. But don't eat it with pasta, because that is. I looked ups some websites about unprocessed foods. Here's some good ones:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/26023-list-unprocessed-foods/
http://www.recorddining.com/?p=97
http://youtu.be/GsDF_jDyteQ (I've been doing her 4 minute work outs as a warm up to the crazy stuff I've been working on.) If you find more good sites, let me know.
So, what about a dare! For Shabban, who wants to join me in an unprocessed food diet to help detox and get to the best body we can to process our food that we will eat in Ramadan, insha'Allah. Come on! You know that Rasul'Allah (saw) never ate anything out of a can or a box. What better example to follow than his, insha'Allah. We can do this! :)
