Here are the benefits of dates which are very well consumed for breaking your fast.
Photo by Masjid Pogung Dalangan on Unsplash
The month of Ramadan is synonymous with dates. This is indeed related to the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad SAW, namely breaking the fast with dates and water. As sunnah, dates have many benefits that are suitable for breaking the fast. Dr. Tan Shot Yen, a community nutritionist, said that the principle of breaking the fast is to break the fast, with sufficient rehydration (because the main problem of fasting is dehydration) and takjil that is not burdensome to digestion or digested too quickly into sugar.
And, dates are foods that do not burden digestion. This can be assessed from the glycemic index or a measure of the speed at which food turns into sugar. In numbers, the human glycemic index is divided into low (less than 55), medium (56 to 69), and high (more than 70). When referring to the index, white rice, whole wheat bread, white bread, and rice porridge have a high glycemic index. Meanwhile, red rice and dates have a moderate glycemic index.
Photo by Masjid Pogung Dalangan on Unsplash
Another food with a low glycemic index is raisins. From these data, it can be concluded that the best takjil for breaking the fast are foods with moderate and low glycemic indexes. On the other hand, if you break your fast with foods with a high glycemic index, your blood sugar can quickly spike but also drop easily.
In this case, breaking the fast is not just chasing blood sugar up. However, there are other foods that are quite recommended for breaking the fast besides dates, such as fruits complete with roasted peanuts or roasted cashews. For other foods, it is recommended to eat non-fried foods such as fish brains without sago, dumplings, pecel, and tempe penyet. So, what's your iftar menu today?