I Fasted For Ramadan as a Non-Muslim

Eid Mubarak! 🫶🏾

I have a bit of a story to tell.

So I work with this 10 y/o boy named Mohammad. He’s a devout Muslim who takes the most adorable pride in his faith. As someone that never grew up with much knowledge of Islam, it’s been enlightening having conversations with him about the culture he’s growing up in.

As we were approaching the spring this school year, all Mohammad would talk about was how excited he was for Ramadan. He’d talk about how it was a holy month, how many days it would be until Eid, and most importantly, that he and his family would be fasting for the 30 days. In the last few days leading up to the month of Ramadan, after doing a bunch of research and having conversations with my Muslim coworkers, I decided to do something bold that I had always wanted to do: give fasting a try for the first couple of days.

I’m someone that leads a life without faith or spirituality playing a part in it, which can be hard to explain to some people. But I was raised Catholic, and do genuinely enjoy learning about various religions and understanding their teachings that most of the world live by. The act of devotion that fasting for Ramadan represents has been something that I long admired, so I saw this as an opportunity to feed my curiosity.

The other factor being: Mohammad is not only the lone Muslim child in our class, but one of a literal handful in our entire school. I felt like if Mohammad can try fasting (despite youth not being encouraged to fast for the month), then I know I can too. So I began to fast in solidarity with him and my Muslim co-workers. I completed the first day, then the 2nd and 3rd, and eventually said “screw it, let’s go for the whole 30 days.

Now it’d be nice if I were able to say right now that “The first couple of days were really rough, but then I got used to it, and the rest of the month flew by”, but that would be a bonafide lie. No food or drink from sunrise to sunset, on my 6’7” body that had never gone more than 8 hours on purpose without some sort of nutrition, was the literal hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I work 12 hour days every weekday, so having to maintain my energy throughout work as I fought off hunger pains & dehydration, every day was truly a challenge. Cutting out all major sugars, sweets, alcohol, and junk food from my life was all apart of the process. I truly threw myself into this.

The only caveat I created for myself was that I chose to only fast half the day on weekends, because I needed to be able to recharge my body on my days off. Without doing that, I know I would’ve bowed out within the first week. Its hard having to wake up an hour before dawn to make sure I’m getting enough nutrition for the day, survive the day, then eat as much as I can at night before having to start the process all over again. Especially when every day the sun rises and sets a little bit earlier and later, respectively, every day as the month continues.

On the days where my dehydration was pushing me to the brink of literal collapse, or my hunger pains were stopping me in my tracks, I struggled to find my “why”. For practicing Muslims, it’s their faith that they can lean on to keep them going. But for the guy sitting outside the religion simply trying to understand it, it took all my inner discipline and will power to keep going. So for all those days bringing my kids to lunch and smelling all those food aromas that made me hungry, or the moments of thirst I felt after going up & down several flights of stairs in the morning, I remembered that I wasn’t alone in this struggle as my Muslim co-workers were right by me. And I most importantly thought about all the Palestinians still practicing Ramadan amidst all the turmoil they’ve been enduring this past year. Knowing that even with the limited resources, their devotion took precedent. My fasting was truly in solidarity with them.

30 days later and boom! Eid Mubarak! I feel such a sense of pride in myself that I truly feel good with. My appreciation for having readily accessible food & water is through the moon; and my admiration for practicing Muslims who fast yearly, is equally as high. My body feels the best I’ve felt since I was a teenager, having detoxed from all the unhealthy things foods in my life. It’s just satisfying to truly feel like it was all worth it. As to whether I’d try this again next year, that’s TBD.

Random little tips for anyone thinking of fasting for the first time:

⁃ Soup every day when you break your fast!! It rehydrates you quickly & gives you good nutrients

⁃ Don’t stop drinking water from sunset to sunrise!! I ended up having about a gallon a day between fasts.

⁃ Have a hearty breakfast in the morning, but not too heavy! If you eat too much, your afternoon/evening hunger pains will be BAD

⁃ Eat about the equivalent of two regular dinners before you go to bed

⁃ Personal tip: protein bars are your best friend!!!