I suffered from an eating disorder in my late teens and early 20s, which came to a head during university. It was a difficult time, and it affected my ability to observe Ramadan in the most conventional sense – through fasting. I didn’t feel as though I received much support from my wider community, mainly because disordered eating is still not very well understood and still very stigmatised.

For seven years I have been unable to fast with my family and friends during Ramadan because of my eating disorder. While fasting is not what Ramadan, the Holy Month celebrated by Muslims, is all about, I found not being able to share that experience with my loved ones devastating.

Zeinab experiences similar struggles. She tells Stylist that it’s not the emphasis on food she finds the most difficult, but rather the guilt. “My family and I always had dinner together and on Eid we would always eat a lot,” she shares. “It’s the preoccupation around how much people talk about food and the questions about why I’m not fasting that I find triggering. The guilt around not fasting makes me anxious.”

Zainab isn’t alone in finding this time difficult. Umairah Malik, Beat’s clinical advice coordinator explains that Ramadan can be fraught for anyone vulnerable to disordered eating. “Fasting can be very dangerous for people affected by eating disorders and so Ramadan can be a really difficult time of year,” Malik says. “For instance, if somebody already has an eating disorder, fasting could worsen harmful behaviours and contribute to them becoming more unwell. Fasting could also contribute to an eating disorder developing for the first time if someone is already vulnerable.”

Ramadan can be difficult for Muslims with eating disorders – here’s how to navigate it