For the fast to be rewarded, refraining from food and drink must also be accompanied by refraining from unlawful acts. 3 Proper fasting causes the stomach to shrink. When one breaks the fast at sunset, one cannot eat as much food as one normally would in a meal during the rest of the year. A light meal should also be taken toward the end of the night to prevent fasting from becoming very difficult. When these guidelines are followed, fasting cleanses the body and the soul.
Some weight is lost.
One frequently experiences a great feeling of serenity while fasting. Feeling the pangs of hunger should also make a person empathize with those who feel hungry not as a matter of choice but because they can't find enough to eat. Thus Rama d aan becomes a month of giving charity as well as fasting. Many Muslims fast in a way that technically qualifies as fasting, but in reality achieves none of the goals of fasting. They gorge themselves at sunset on delicacies that no one bothers to prepare the rest of the year.