Women’s wealth: The benefits of fasting, tips on health and wellness

By Laila Muhammad | Last updated: Aug 21, 2013 - 5:51:37 PM

Safiyya S. Shabazz, MD

Almost every spiritual tradition that I am aware of includes some form of fasting, said Dr. Safiyya Shabazz, M.D., who is affectionately called “the doc from the top of the clock.” The owner and medical director of Fountain Medical Associates, PC in Philadelphia, her father, the late Jeremiah Shabazz, helped to spread Islam in the same city and is a legendary Nation of Islam minister.

She lives in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia with her husband and two children.

Sisters across the Nation tuned in on a recent Saturday afternoon via conference call to gain some insight into the benefits of fasting from this Muslim physician. According to Maulani Muhammad Ali, fasting is a religious institution almost as universal as prayer and in Islam is one of the five fundamental and practical requirements of the faith. It is an institution designed to improve the moral and spiritual condition of men and women.

With more than 2 billion Muslims all over the world participating in this Holy Month of Ramadan, we are forgoing food, drink, and sexual relations in the daylight hours and we also give up those vices that hinder us, i.e., swearing, or overindulgence in particular foods. We are abstaining from evil. We are forbidden to quarrel or argue with one another.

We are to feed the poor and hungry, which teaches us sympathy towards those less fortunate and ultimately builds our compassion for the world.

Presented by Nisa Islam Muhammad, we were introduced to a woman who at her core wants to increase the quality of life of women by reinforcing tools given to us by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad.

Tawon Muhammad of Muhammad Mosque No. 74, in Indianapolis, says the conference call was an idea whose time had come.

“During this Holy Month of Ramadan, I had the joy of listening to Dr. Safiyya Shabazz on the Ramadan Prayerline, hosted by Sis. Nisa Islam. Dr. Saffiaya is so inspirational to me and her example of Islam as a doctor, most importantly as a sister. And being inspired I orchestrated a conference call for the M.G.T. & G.C.C. and Processing Class titled ‘Ramadan Fasting Q and A.’ ”

With so many of us having questions about fasting, nutrition, reproductive health, and spiritual health, Dr. Shabazz answered caller questions. The unity among sisters who submitted questions and forwarded e-mails was overwhelming. (The spirit was so high on the call that I could hardly take notes quickly enough.)

Dr. Shabazz opened up reciting a chapter out of the Holy Qur’an, Surah 2: 183, “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard against evil”—which in some translations means coming into God consciousness. “So when Allah (God) gives you a prescription, we should take it. From a medical perspective, different medicine takes different amounts of time to clear whatever illness you are suffering from, from your system. You have to follow the doctor’s orders in order for the medicine to be effective. Food is medicine, and too much of it can be detrimental to your health. When you abstain from food you give your body a chance to clear out the poison in your body,” said Dr. Shabazz.

She discussed the importance of Body Mass Index (BMI) and how it effects our overall life span. For those of us who are overweight she suggested that we start with trying to lose 10 percent of our body weight. This will actually lower our risk of getting diabetes and lower our blood pressure. She advised that we eat the best foods, milk, whole wheat bread, navy beans, and fruit. She offered some pointers to consider in breaking your fast:

Replenish fluids you have lost throughout the day

Have a balanced meal with vegetables fruit and protein

Understand that you really don’t need to consume a lot of food

Use an oral rehydration recipe that you can find online to give your body more minerals and electrolytes

Dr. Shabazz has encountered obese and malnourished people. This happens when one consumes a lot of calories without any nutritional value, she explained.

Listening to your body was a common theme throughout the call. When the question was asked about whether to use supplements or not, Dr. Shabazz advised us to take control of our health. It is best to get nutrition from food instead of supplements, but if you do, please spend a little money and invest in a whole food supplement, said the physician. Better yet, she suggested, prepare foods that will make up for whatever is lacking in your diet. We should also understand our food has been modified and stripped of some needed nutrients. If we are able to, we should grow our own food, she added.

To stay hydrated, add a pinch of sea salt to your water, this will create an isotonic solution and allow the water to stay in your veins and arteries longer, Dr. Shabazz continued.

We make food our center of entertainment, and we like a lot of variety in food, but we don’t need a lot of variety, she said, echoing the Hon. Elijah Muhammad in his How to Eat To Live books. If we want to influence our families and communities the best way to do so is to be positive examples of proper eating, she said.

Those who suffer female problems can find ease in knowing that it can be controlled via our dietary habits, explained Dr. Shabazz. She discussed the negative effects of soy on reproductive health. Excess weight also contributes to health issues. Soy, as some scientists have discovered and the Nation of Islam is taught, is not fit for human consumption because of the overabundance of estrogen. A fair amount of research shows estrogen influences sexual development in males and females, she said. Also, BPA which has similar effects, and is used to line cans and water bottles should be avoided. One study found soy and BPA exposure reduced sexually dimorphic behavior, meaning it causes fewer differences between male and female behavior. Males developed more feminine behavior and females had an increase in masculine behavior, said Dr. Shabazz.

In closing remarks, Dr. Shabazz suggested that we as women across the Nation, if we have any days of fasting to make up, do it together and incorporate a “fasting make-up week.” This was an idea to promote true unity and love for the sisterhood and we thanked her immensely.

Dr. Shabazz referred to How To Eat To Live by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad in answering many questions. On spiritual health, she urged use to take seriously Min. Louis Farrakhan’s “Time and What Must Be Done,” lecture series. We have to take the message on a personal level, she said.

In August, Tawon Muhammad hopes to do a conference call with Audrey Muhammad in regards to being fit to live.

The Final Call