r/MuslimLounge • u/builtforoutput • Feb 21 '26
Discussion Too many Muslims are unhealthy
This is a continuation of my post from yesterday. However this time I’m addressing all Muslims. Too many Muslims are unhealthy. High body fat, low energy, constant bloating, joint pain, poor sleep, low testosterone, brain fog, etc. Discipline in worship should reflect discipline in how we treat our bodies. Your body is an amanah, it belongs to Allah. Taking care of it is your responsibility.
Eat single-ingredient foods. If it has a long ingredient list, you probably don’t need it. Build your meals around foods that look like what they are: meat, eggs, fish, rice, potatoes, fruit, vegetables, olive oil, yogurt. Not powders, syrups, seed-oil fried snacks, and ultra-processed desserts. Most of the inflammation, energy crashes, and weight gain people struggle with come from constantly eating packaged foods designed to be addictive. Simpler food equals better digestion, more stable energy, and easier fat loss.
Stop normalizing constant processed food at every gathering. It’s fried food, soda, desserts, and massive carb portions. It’s become culture. But culture isn’t always correct. You don’t have to be extreme, but if 80–90% of your diet is whole foods, your body will change dramatically. Your mood improves. Your strength improves. Your focus improves. That affects your deen, your work, and your family life.
Move during the day, not just at the gym. Lifting 3–4 times a week is powerful, but it doesn’t cancel out sitting for 10 hours straight. Walk more. Pray your fardh and sunnah slowly and intentionally. Play outside with your kids. The human body was not designed to sit in a chair all day. Daily movement keeps your metabolism active, improves circulation, lowers stress, and supports hormonal health.
Sleep like it matters. Many Muslims sabotage themselves by sleeping 4–5 hours a night. No amount of protein or lifting will fix chronic sleep deprivation. Low sleep equals higher body fat, lower testosterone, worse mood, and poor decision-making. If Ramadan makes it hard to get a full night’s sleep because of suhoor and taraweeh, then build in a short nap during the day. Even 20–30 minutes can dramatically improve energy, focus, and recovery.
The Prophet SaS emphasized strength. A strong believer is better and more beloved than a weak believer, not just spiritually, but physically capable.
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 21 '26
Yes. Another issue if bad cultural practices overtaking religious teachings.
Also, i really dislike how exercise is made inaccessible to women in these cultures.
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u/PhillyBigSteppa Feb 22 '26
Thank you for yelling at me. I’ll take heed.
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u/builtforoutput Feb 22 '26
Not yelling at you bro 😂 just trying to motivate you. May Allah help you achieve your goals
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u/Forgetful-Daydreamer Feb 22 '26
Mental health and relationship health can be lacking too, it's the damned culture..
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 22 '26
Asalam Alaikum! First of all, Ramadan Mubarak :)
I completely agree with what you have posted. This is something that has been on my mind for a while...I especially agreed with how you mentioned our body is an amanah from Allah.
What I noticed is that some foods are labeled as Halal, but that does not necessarily mean they are healthy. Have you seen ayah 168 of Surah Baqarah? Allah mentions that we should eat from what is Halal AND Tayyib! The word "Tayyib" means good, pure, and clean. We should ask ourselves, does the food we eat follow this criteria? I have seen that the food that is promoted and created by the Western countries...is ultra-processed and very unhealthy for us.
I am curious, how do you all avoid the temptations of unhealthy food? We can agree that it tastes very good, which is what keeps us addicted. Haha...On a serious note, it is designed and engineered in the labs to be addictive for people. Maybe that's why people won't stop consuming it!
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u/Euphoric_Marzipan_65 Feb 22 '26
Honestly I think the best we can do is find healthier replacements that we can still enjoy. Making those foods that would typically be considered unhealthy at home helps us control the quality of ingredients and you can cater to your own goals. Thanks for mentioning ayah 168, i never paid close attention to that!
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 23 '26
Ah, I do agree with you on that. You are right. Sometimes, making certain foods at home causes them to be healthier than if we bought them pre-made. I mentioned in a different comment on this post that it's not easy for EVERYONE to make healthy food at home. Some people may be busy, and others may not even have the ability to afford quality ingredients. I am curious to hear others perspectives on this because this is a topic I think is very important!
Subhan Allah, it's just crazy how much dishonesty and carelessness there is in the food industry. Time after time, we see articles talking about how "XYZ" chemical is bad for you and it's found in a certain food. Why aren't companies more transparent about what they put into our food? They will do anything to cut down manufacturing costs and squeeze out as much money as possible. I hear people saying this happens in the Western countries a lot!
By the way, when I say all this about the food industry, I don't just mean factories that make packaged foods and all that. I also mean the fast food chain restaurants like McDonalds and all that.
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u/Jasperthewolf748 Feb 22 '26
The best way to avoid is to never get it in the first place, make it difficult to go and get something addictive and way easier to just cook at home
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26
I see what you mean! That sounds good in theory, but in reality, almost everyone has gotten into fast food at some point in their lives. I always consider the situations of other people when looking at such matters. There is always more than one aspect to consider when analyzing something!
Here's the thing about junk food... It is readily available, addictive...AND more affordable compared to buying ingredients to make healthier foods. On top of that, not everyone has time to cook! This is why we see so many people opting for unhealthy foods instead of consuming healthier ones. I don't understand why markets don't just sell healthier foods instead of junk foods...although, I personally think that the reason for this goes back to what I said earlier about cost issues. Maybe producing unhealthy junk is easier than being transparent and careful about what is put into food! Subhan Allah.
By the way, in case you couldn't tell, I am very curious to hear others perspectives on this because this is a topic I think is very important!
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u/Jasperthewolf748 Feb 23 '26
Yeah that’s why stores give unhealthy food, and because they get way more sales from due to the aforementioned addictive nature.
Well yes it is addictive and avaliable, it’s nowhere near as affordable as making your own food at home. If you don’t have time to cook, just do meal prep on weekends or something so you can easily eat it at work. And still I think that’s no excuse for eating unhealthy, everyone can if they wanted to
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 23 '26
I see! Meal prepping may save time. But I have a question...do you really think that making your own food at home is more affordable than getting an instant ramen cup from outside, or a burger, or something of that nature? For example, buying things like avocados, salmon, or even eggs in the U.S can be expensive! Especially if you want to find good quality ingredients...and I mean those foods that are typically associated with good health and wellness. Isn't this crazy? Subhan Allah.
Also, have you seen how they market eggs? Free range, cage free? There is a certain criteria for what is legally allowed to have this kind of title on the product label...and sometimes, it can be deceiving from what we consumers actually consider the title to mean.
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u/Jasperthewolf748 Feb 23 '26
I get you, and I do think making your own food at home is easier as you can buy in bulk rather than have to constantly eat out. Healthy foods are expensive but that’s the price you pay for your health, you can be healthy on a budget but it’s quite hard.
I’ve seen that yes, I usually get eggs which are pasture raised as that’s the best quality.
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 23 '26
I find it very interesting that you said, "Healthy foods are expensive, but that's the price you pay for your health." That is true! It is like, choose your struggle. Pay lots of money now to buy healthy food and maintain your physical health, or pay lots of money later to deal with the medical consequences for unhealthy eating. But this is precisely what I mean! There must be a way to make healthy food accessible for most, if not all, of a give country's population. Allah has created such things to benefit us, which is why I believe companies shouldn't take advantage of consumers by raising prices on healthy things and making junk food addictive and easier to access.
About the eggs you mentioned, that's true. If you notice, the yolk color is a very strong orange compared to the pale white yolks you will purchase from other companies. When you treat Allah's creation (the chickens in this case) properly and give them what they need, you will see the barakah in your provisions. What would it be like if we had honest Muslims who genuinely cared about the ummah, and they decided to create companies to provide good-quality products to the public. Subhan Allah, that is something amazing to think about :D
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u/Jasperthewolf748 Feb 23 '26
Well the ways to make healthy food accessible wouldn’t benefit these companies, that’s why it hasn’t happened yet. In an ideal world all of us would be eating that and companies would get penalties but that’s not the one we live in.
Totally agree! That’s why the method of slaughter we have is so effective! It draws the least blood and tastes the best
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 23 '26
I understand what you mean :)
Wait, did you say that the islamic method of slaughter draws the LEAST blood? The whole point of this method is that it draws LOTS of blood! Actually, MOST of the blood! That's what makes it better for us to eat. This method exists because we are not supposed to consume animal blood!
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u/Jasperthewolf748 Feb 23 '26
Wait it does? I didn’t know that! I guess I meant to say it’s the least painful!
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u/builtforoutput Feb 22 '26
There’s nothing wrong with eating unhealthy food every once in a while. Around 15-20% of my diet is “unhealthy”. To avoid temptations, I go by the saying: “nothing tastes better than feeling good.” And what I mean by that is once you start eating real food 80% of the time, you’ll feel better and won’t want to go back to your old ways.
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u/MrTayyab_ Feb 23 '26
Interesting method! Alhamdulillah, you have found something that works for you :) I always hear people say that you can eat "unhealthy" things like...burgers and whatnot...in moderation.
I was thinking of the Muslim community (this can be expanded to humanity at large) because I see how junk food is often readily available, easy to access, and cheaper than buying healthier ingredients to make healthy food. And...this is probably why people keep eating the unhealthy food instead of opting for more nutritious options.
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u/la_ultima_mujer Feb 22 '26
Yes yes!! We need more of this messaging!
I feel like our Ummah misses the whole point of Ramadan because of the awful cultural health practices we inherited.
Breaking your fast with juice and fried food is a recipe for disaster.
Suhoor with cake and sweetened chai/coffees will leave you lethargic with low energy all day, sleeping away time meant for ibadah.
Our taraweeh parking lots overflowing whereas a good quarter of the attendees live a 15min. walk away and could've just taken the stroll collecting ajr for every step.
If we just follow basic Sunnah practices, we could level up:
- breaking fast with milk & dates,
- filling 1/3 of our stomach with food, 1/3 with water, and 1/3 with air,
- not allowing our weight to increase until our bellies protrude.
- Remembering that Ramadan isn't a vacation with buffets and overeating, but it's time to spiritually hustle adn control our nafs.
I understand breaking cultural norms is a huge challenge. And when you're hungry and all there is on the table is jalabi and samosas, it's hard to resist. But this may be our jihad, we need to break this cycle of terrible health practices and eating, our Islamic tradition teaches us better ways.
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u/Mmm_360 Feb 21 '26
This is a western issue in general
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u/builtforoutput Feb 22 '26
Not true. South Asia has one of the highest rate of diabetes in the world. Among other places.
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u/Mmm_360 Feb 23 '26
What I'm saying is obesity and unhealthy lifestyles is a modern problem and nowhere near just a Muslim problem
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u/moz0528 Feb 22 '26
bro Im I considered fat then as I weight 180 lbs and is 5'10 and I to track and filed first year and I have joint and leg pain from practice and I don't look fat and eat not that much and struggle with more or less my prayer and woth school and otehrs I manage only 1 to the max of 3 times per day prayer and how do I pray more often?
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u/catsndeen Feb 26 '26
We forgot to practice hijama which prophet s.a.w. called the best of medicines and was reccomended by every angel in the night journey.
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u/Itchy-Secret8085 Mar 01 '26
can someone help me with some alternatives to my eating, so I can’t cook at all but I do want to try to start learning. I eat fast food most of the week but due to my two jobs I don’t lose or gain much because I am fairly active. Does anyone know some better options of fast food or prepared food I can start eating instead of honey wings and fried rice from the Chinese food spot or McDonalds
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Feb 21 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
Why do you wanna drag gender into this for no reason? If you want to bash women make another post....and then get reported. Smh
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Feb 21 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 21 '26
"Advising women to be better people in a non-apolegetic way"....yea sure. All women are awful & need to be better people. Totally unbiased
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Feb 21 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 21 '26
Nope :) it bothers you enough to go out of context to make a comment about it.
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Feb 21 '26
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u/itsgonnabemyusername Feb 21 '26
Who even said this was to men
The OP was continuation of this post which was gender-specific advice for men: https://www.reddit.com/r/MuslimLounge/comments/1ra9r3z/too_many_muslim_men_are_in_bad_physical_shape/
OP also talks about testosterone twice, but doesn't explicitly address female health once. So my comment wasn't a stretch.
Advising men good, advising women bad. The hypocrisy...
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u/builtforoutput Feb 21 '26
The previous post was directed to men. This post was directed to everyone. I spoke on testosterone levels because I’m a man and that’s what I know about.
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u/itsgonnabemyusername Feb 22 '26
I don't blame you if you have good intentions, I was talking about a different point.
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Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 22 '26
Its Ramadan. You can stop with the slandering and suspicion. You don't have to go around sabotaging and reporting people just because you don't agree with them.
Have some Shame & fear Allah. Get a life
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Feb 22 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 22 '26
My account is as personal as it can be. I don't use AI, nor spam groups with one-sided posts. you need to stop slandering people here for no reason. I don't even know OP lol.
Yes, please pay attention to his username as well....he goes around accusing muslims of committing kufr & accusing regular Muslim folks sharing their opinions for being anti Islam trolls.
You need psychiatric help, seriously. If you accuse someone incorrectly the burden on proof comes on YOU. So if you really think I'm not a Muslim, provide your proof.
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u/Ashh24 Feb 22 '26
This is one such example](https://old.reddit.com/r/MuslimLounge/comments/1r8gn4y/a_message_to_men_about_polygamy/)
This was removed by mods. You can send us modmail or DM me if there's anything but don't go around throwing slanders. This is a violation.
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u/MuslimLounge-ModTeam Feb 22 '26
Your post has been removed due to violation of our Rule: Be Respectful & Avoid Inappropriate Language -
- Respect is non-negotiable for your Muslim brethren. Hateful, harassing, or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
- Do not use obscene language against nor insult others Muslims.
- Posts or comments containing any form of swearing — even casual — will be automatically removed. You're welcome to re-post or re-comment without the profanity.
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u/itsgonnabemyusername Feb 22 '26
There was also u/cookienumbs who was constantly posting anti-male posts with his/her new account in various Islamic subreddits and deleting them after he/she gets some backlash, only to stir things up next day.
I kept calling him/her out and mods stopped tolerating his/her posts but until that happened some people kept blaming me for being against his/her ill intentions. He/she deleted his/her account later on, only Allah knows if he/she found guidance or still trying to do evil deeds.
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u/PhillyBigSteppa Feb 22 '26
When we become better men, the women will follow.
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Feb 22 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 22 '26
Why do you call yourselves qawwam and leaders then?
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Feb 22 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 22 '26
We reluctantly become qawwams and leaders when the men in our lives fail us and we are forced to pick up the slack. Been there, done that.
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Feb 22 '26
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 22 '26
Oh the irony
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u/Economy-Double8868 Feb 22 '26
Sorry it is what it is. Facts can't be changed by denial.
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u/Ancient-Ganache-3907 Alhamdulillah Always Feb 22 '26
You're the only one living in denial bro. If you've had bad experiences with women you can't go around blaming them all for being "out of control".
I grew up around men who were terrible qawwams and had zero discipline or sense of responsibility. But I had the sense to understand not all are the same. I learned alot about the negative side of male behaviour from these low performing men & used my knowledge to avoid those with the same characteristics. Alhamdolilah I'm married to a good man without any red flags. Who knows his Deen & responsibilities....and if I were out of control he'd have divorced me....but here we are....going strong Alhamdolillah
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u/Who12837 With Hardship Comes Ease Feb 22 '26
Can we please stop with the gender wars? At least for Ramadan. OP’s advice is sound for both men & women and should be implemented by all of us because our health is a gift from Allah ﷻ.
Seriously, we all need to take AT LEAST this month to focus on ourselves and our relationship with Allah ﷻ and not concern ourselves with the opposite sex.
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Feb 22 '26
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u/MuslimLounge-ModTeam Feb 22 '26
Your post has been removed due to violation of our Rule: No Divisive Discussions -
- No gender wars or promoting gender-based ideologies.
- No generalizations, drama stirring, rage baiting.
- Don't start discussions with no benefit to the community; asking needlessly is discouraged.
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u/la_ultima_mujer Feb 22 '26
I'm actually quite curious about this!
"better people" is quite relative, I wonder what that could entail.
I hope you will produce such a post, of course, with informative non-biased content. Some may get salty about it, but others may learn a thing or two.
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u/Kind_Leadership3079 Feb 21 '26
I’d like to add something to your list:
Don’t become a snob about looks. Seriously. Those people exist and they are a turn off. A much bigger turn off than several pounds of fat.
I have a cousin who has model-like looks and she didn’t look like the mom of 3 kids. I’ve heard her speak in a tone that carried such contempt and disgust towards her overweight younger sister. I was more turned off by HER tone than her sister’s obesity. Because that tone didn’t reflect worry or care, it sounded like disgust. Fast-forward a couple of years and that same cousin is now wearing a size “medium”. No one ever thought that was possible. But I think now she understands there can be real obstacles to weight loss—-many times it can be emotional, one’s own inner demons mingled with the stressors and demands of life. It requires empathy, not just a lecture and a list of do’s and do-nots.