People with Diabetes and Sweet Ramadan Fast-breaking Foods

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - With the holy month of Ramadan ready to be embraced by Muslims across the globe, many are preparing to enter one whole month of fasting.

In Indonesia, people will relate to numerous traditional breaking-the-fast foods, such as the infamous dessert based on palm sugar, coconut milk, and a variety of additional ingredients such as pumpkins, sweet potatoes, jackfruit, plantains, cassava, and tapioca pearls.

However, sweet Ramadan desserts like kolak might pose a problem to people with diabetes.

In the Coffee Time with Tropicana Slim event, internal medicine specialist Bhanu said that people who are diabetic were still allowed to consume these desserts through strict scrutiny. 

Read: Muhammadiyah: 1 Ramadan Falls on May 6, 2019

“Breaking one's fast with sweet foods is permitted but patients are urged to carefully pick which one,” said Bhanu on April 24.

Bhanu suggests that people with diabetes base their choice on foods that contain low glycemic indexes (GI) such as oatmeal, nuts, and most fruits. While high GI foods should be avoided such as macaroni, any food with cheese, and potato-based foods.

“The easiest way to determine a low or high GI is to see how the food gets processed. The longer it is cooked or added with ingredients might possibly have a high GI. Such as juices, fruits itself is low GI but if it’s processed it becomes high,” said Bhanu.

SARAH ERVINA DARA SIYAHAILATUA