The Healthy Muslims: You don’t have to choose between health and culture

Anyone who has struggled to hit their health goals consistently will know that it can often feel like the list of obstacles is endless.

Whether it’s time, money or simply losing the motivation, we’ve all been there before. However, one thing that should never be an obstacle to a breast cancer prevention journey is culture.  

While generic health resources can be a good start, they can also alienate people by not taking into account things like cultural diets, routines, and being comfortable in communal spaces. 

This is an issue that personal trainer Belal Hafeez and nutritionist Nazima Qureshi were all too familiar with.

During their upbringing in Canada, the husband-and-wife duo found there to be a lack of culturally aligned support available for Muslims on their health journey. This lack of representation made it more difficult for followers of the religion. 

In the years since, they founded The Healthy Muslims, a website and social media channel dedicated to providing practical support to help Muslims be their healthiest selves without having to compromise on their culture and religion.  

Breast Cancer UK sat down with Nazima to discuss the important role culture and representation can play in preventing breast cancer and other diseases. 

 ‘The dietitian’s advice didn’t work for my dad’ 

“When people see how passionate I am about nutrition, they assume I wanted to do this my whole life. The truth is I didn’t even know what a dietitian was until I was 14. My interest in nutrition started when I accompanied my dad to an appointment for his type 2 diabetes. That’s when the connection between food, health, and disease prevention first clicked. However, another thing that stuck out for me was the dietitian’s lack of cultural awareness.  

One of the recommendations they gave my dad was to drink a glass of milk with dinner. This is advice that they’ve probably given to hundreds of patients over the years, but we would never typically drink milk with dinner in Pakistani culture. As soon as I heard that, I knew that my dad wasn’t going to follow that advice.  

This experience stayed on my mind when I pursued my undergraduate degree in Nutrition and Health. The food and ingredients we were taught about didn’t look like anything I’d seen in my culture.  

From a disease prevention standpoint, this was quite concerning. Essentially, the education system was creating a generation of dietitians who were only equipped to help a limited demographic of people. There are so many dishes that can help to reduce our risk of diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and breast cancer outside of the typical Western diet. 

‘There was a huge gap in the industry’ 

“In 2020, my husband Belal and I combined our expertise in nutrition and fitness to launch The Healthy Muslims website and later published our evidenced-based wellness planner, The Healthy Ramadan Guide.  

We recognised that there was, and still is, a huge gap in the nutrition and health wellness space. This has led to a disconnect between different cultural groups and prevention messages.  

In addition to spirituality, Ramadan is also a perfect time to build long-lasting nutritional habits. It’s a time of year when Muslims are more aware of the food they’re consuming and the effect that it has on their body. This is just one example of how culturally aligned resources can help to increase disease prevention. 

 ‘Being healthy needs to be an choice’  

“There are millions of Muslims around the world who are seeking to live healthy lifestyles, but very few resources are tailored to their needs. The first question people ask themselves when they see health resources is, ‘How does this fit into my life?’. If the content isn’t personalised or speaks from their lived experience, it’s unlikely they’ll engage with it. 

When it comes to helping people achieve a healthier lifestyle, it’s all about ushering them towards simple lifestyle changes. Health must be presented as an easy choice. However, the lack of representation has created an ideology where people think that they have to give up their culture to be healthy, which isn’t sustainable.  

You don’t have to choose between being healthy and staying in touch with your culture. We’re here to show and tell you that you can have both!” 

If you enjoyed reading about culturally relevant resources for your breast cancer prevention journey, head over to our top tips for a healthy Ramadan page. 

Follow Nazima and Belal on Instagram and check out their amazing book The Healthy Ramadan Guide for more on their health journey. 

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