I remember it like yesterday. I can't believe it's been ten years already. It's definitely changed our lives significantly.

I was at the Medical College of Ohio hospital doing research with a Dr. Juan Sanabria on liver transplants. I was applying to medical schools, and transplanting rat livers was going to be my research. We were walking around the hospital. He was showing me around the various parts of the hospital. Then we saw it on TV. We walked by a few rooms, and I could see the smoke bellowing from the towers and some replays of the planes crashing into them. I knew something was awfully wrong.

A very thorough evaluation of diabetes and guidelines on how diabetes should be managed during Ramdan. This group of physicians wrote an excellent group of guidelines on the management of diabetic patients in Ramdan. They just updated their guidelines this year. This is a must read for every physician with diabetic patients who want to fast in Ramadan.

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One of the many interesting articles on religious fasting and it's effects on human health. This is a more recent 2010 article on the effects of fasting on health. The article reviews the findings of multiple studies on religious fasting. It finds that Ramadan fasting gives mixed results, while other types of fasting offer improvement in health benefits. This tells me that Muslims are fasting incorrectly; gorging, binging, eating more total calories, eating fattier and more sugary foods.

Here are a few excerpts. You can download the full article from the link below.

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A study of some families in Saudi demonstrates that some Muslims gain weight during Ramadan. While most Muslims improve their metbolic profile, improve their insulin resistance, improve their lipid panel and reduce inflammation, and lose weight. It turns out some do the opposite.

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Ramadan is an excellent opportunity to shed some extra pounds. You are already resetting your metabolism by the protracted, long overnight fast, as well as the daily fasting. Your metabolism resets and your body begins to change the way it does things.

Weight loss during the first few days is just dehydration. It may be exciting to see that you lost 2-3 pounds in the first day or two, but that's all water loss and dehydration. No human can lose 2 pounds of fat overnight. It's just water. But it's still exciting!

You can avoid caffeine headaches during Ramadan. Don't fall victim to the unexplained headaches in the first few days. Find out how.

Ever wonder why you are getting a strange headache at night during the first days of Ramadan? Right around Iftar (break-fast) time? Do you think it is a caffeine headache? Do you usually drink a lot of coffee or tea?

As Muslims begin fasting in Ramadan, a lot of Muslims will complain about "caffeine headaches". Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and not drinking coffee in the morning leads many to believe that they are having a caffeine headache. Is this possible? More...

It's that time of year again! Ramadan begins in less than a week. It's a great time to start good habits and stop bad ones.

While Ramadan is designed to be a month of empathy, caring, compassion, humility, piety, and many other things, it's also a great time of year to make changes. This is the month of fasting, wherein Muslims are required to fast during the daylight hours. No food, no drink, no smoke, no chewing gum, no form of oral sustenance whatsoever. Basically, you are NPO while the sun is up. The point of this month is to be able to empathize with those who are less fortunate and gain some humblitude.

But sustenance isn't the only thing you are supposed to avoid. You are also supposed to be a better human being, be kind, don't lie, cheat, steal, be more generous, and be a better person overall.

For these reasons and many others, Ramadan is a great time to do "New Year's Resolutions". I always tell Muslim friends and patients that this is the time to quit smoking, adopt a new diet regimen, make other lifestyle changes, avoid saturated fat, eat more fruits and vegetables, and so on and so forth. Ramadan is perfect in that regard. It's great for stopping bad habits.

Ramadan is also great for starting new good habits. Become more generous, donate to local food shelters, start a new diet for life (like the Alo Diet http://www.AloDiet.com), begin a nightly exercise routine, pray more, get closer to God, help a friend in need, become more humble, donate a skill you know, give a talk at a local grade school, see patients for free at a local clinic, do more "family" stuff, plant a tree, etc, etc. You get the picture.... BE A BETTER PERSON!

Let's all make a commitment to maximizing this Ramadan and making the world around us a better place!

Enjoy this Ramadan!

(stay tuned on a follow up post regard medical research that has been conducted on people who fast during Ramadan)

I am not big on New Year's Resolutions. I think that if you decide to do something good, you should start right away. Not wait for some magical time. Don't delay, procrastinate and waste time. Just start your new habit.

If you are a big fan of New Year's Resolutionsm here are some that I think you should consider: More...

Smoking Hookah (aka nargileh, argeelah, narjile, goza, water pipe, sheesha) has become fashionable among educated professionals and college kids in the United States. Smoking has always been a disease of the poor and uneducated, however, Hookah seems to be transcending these bounds. For some reason, hookah smoking has been able to make it out of the ghettos of uneducated Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt and make it to America's university campii. Why are educated, intelligent young people taking up this habit? Is it peer pressure, mental illness, or just a fad?

It's been estimated that 43% of cigarettes in the US are consumed by people with mental illness. Experts feel that smoking leads to depression, and depression leads to smoking. So are these kids using Hookah to help their mental illness?

A study on young people in the United Arab Emirates found that 69% of hookah smokers had a college education, while 23% had a high school education. Are they just ignoring the facts? Or do they not care? Do they have mental health disease?

Further, the myth about smokers losing weight  has been demystified. A recent study has shown that teenagers that smoke are more likely to be obese adults. Probably because if they are making bad choices as teens, they will likely make bad choices as adults. Further, they have an oral addiction. They constantly need to be putting things in their mouth.

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Reading the recent CNN article on fasting reminded me of an article I wrote a few years ago on losing weight in Ramadan.

Unfortunately, many Muslims end up gaining weight during Ramadan, as opposed to losing weight. Just the other day, myself anda few friends went to an ethnic Muslim restaurant to break our fast. They had a buffet, where at 7PM everyone could go up and fill their plates. As we were sitting around waiting for the line to die down, you saw people just loading up their plates. Old men, young women, teenagers, kids, elderly women.... all of them had over 5000 calories on each plate. I was shocked, but I should not have been. More...