How is a meal routine built during Ramadan?

What builds the routine during Ramadan is that both tables are set: when sahur, the pre-dawn meal, is skipped the day comes down to a single meal, and iftar, the meal that breaks the fast, has to carry all of the day’s food groups on its own. The measure here is not an hour or an amount specific to fasting but that the meal is built.

Below we look at what the source says on this subject and what it does not, how the day’s total is divided between two tables, how the fluid gap is closed, the period of return, and who has to be assessed separately.

The source has no Ramadan heading

This has to be said plainly: the full text of TÜBER, Türkiye’s national dietary guideline, was searched while this article was being prepared, and no separate section, table or recommendation was found for fasting, sahur or iftar. The word Ramadan appears only among examples of cultural sharing.

The consequence is this: no hour, amount or sequence specific to fasting will be produced on this page. What can be used are the guideline’s general measures, which are independent of fasting. A personal program is prepared only by a licensed dietitian.

The measure is not the number of meals but that the meal is built

The guideline recommends three main meals a day for adults and asks in particular that breakfast not be skipped. Because fasting already changes the number of meals in the day, the only valid measure to be drawn from here is that the meals that do exist are not skipped.

The guideline’s second measure is variety: various foods from different food groups should be eaten at meals. On a day with two tables that measure becomes even more decisive, because there is no third meal to make anything up.

The day’s total is divided between two tables

The guideline’s portion recommendations are given as a daily total. For ages 18-49, for instance, milk and dairy products are 3 portions a day; the meat, chicken, fish and egg group is 1.5 portions; fruit is 2.5 portions for men and 2 for women.

These numbers belong to the day, not to a meal. When the number of meals falls, the total does not change, only its distribution narrows; two tables have to carry the same total.

We wrote the whole logic of distribution in the standard portion guide.

How the fluid gap is closed

The adequate water intake value given for adults is 2.0 liters for women and 2.5 liters for men, and that value describes total fluid; soup, milk and ayran are inside that total too.

There is no chart in the source for how the fluid should be distributed between the two meals. What is left is meeting the daily total and not letting thirst advance; the guideline’s dehydration table records that at a 2 percent loss of body water, severe thirst, restlessness and loss of appetite are seen.

We covered where the daily water measure comes from in the water guide.

Not loading it all onto one meal

A sentence the guideline writes for people doing heavy work helps here too: the increased energy load should not be put onto a single meal. That sentence was not written for fasting, but it describes the risk of a day with two tables.

The same section shows the answer as well: at least one snack in addition to the main meal prevents overloading a single meal. Adding a small snack between the two tables is an arrangement that fits that measure.

The pace of eating

The guideline recommends that food be chewed well and eaten slowly. At a table set after a long gap that recommendation becomes harder on its own; as the pace rises it gets harder to follow the fullness signal.

Its practical counterpart is simple: set the table not in a single move but with a pause. This is the application of the source’s general advice about the pace of eating, not a fasting recommendation, and it carries no claim about a duration specific to fasting.

The period of return

The measure that holds after Ramadan is the same again: three main meals a day, variety at meals and the portions in the day’s total. No separate transition program is defined in the source; the return is a return to the routine itself.

We covered the general rules of routine for meal hours settling again in the meal times guide.

Who is assessed separately

The guideline counts people with chronic illness, people using medication, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and older people among the risk groups; it also writes that medication treatment can disrupt the eating routine and that drug-nutrient interaction is important.

This content is prepared to support general nutrition literacy; it does not replace medical diagnosis or treatment. Where there is chronic illness, regular medication use, pregnancy or breastfeeding, the decision to fast and the eating routine are determined under the supervision of a physician and a dietitian.

In short: set both tables, divide the day’s total between the two meals, follow fluid over the total, do not load it all onto one meal and eat slowly. We gave the short answer to the sahur and iftar question in this tip.