Help me I don't know what to eat anymore

[rahma]

Assalamu Alaikum,

This is why I don't purchased processed foods. There's too much of the unknown. Alhamdulilah, there's a movement here to eat more whole foods. If you're overwhelmed by what's halal, what's haram, what the heck is that ingredient, I highly recommend Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Foods.

He has rules to eating wisely that can also help you to eat halal:

1. DON'T EAT ANYTHING YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE AS FOOD.
No Go-Gurt Portable Yogurt tubes. (She wouldn't be able to identify high-fructose corn syrup, modified corn starch, kosher gelatin, carrageenan, tricalcium phosphate, natural and artificial flavors, etc.) No "protein waters," "nondairy creamers" or foods that never grow stale.
2. AVOID FOOD PRODUCTS CONTAINING INGREDIENTS THAT ARE A) UNFAMILIAR, B) UNPRONOUNCABLE, C) MORE THAN FIVE IN NUMBER, OR THAT INCLUDE D) HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Pollan's example: Sara Lee's Soft & Smooth Whole Grain White Bread, which fails every test proposed by this rule. "If not for the indulgence of the Food and Drug Administration, (it) could not even be labeled "bread," he wrote.
3. AVOID PRODUCTS THAT MAKE HEALTH CLAIMS.
If a food has a health claim, it probably has a package and that means it's very likely processed. Moreover, the FDA's "qualified" health claims" are all but meaningless.
4. SHOP THE PERIPHERIES OF THE SUPERMARKET AND STAY OUT OF THE MIDDLE.
"Processed foods products dominate the center aisles of the store while the cases of ostensibly fresh food--dairy, produce, meat and fish--line the walls," Pollan wrote. Be careful though, because high-fructose corn syrup lurks in the dairy case.
5. GET OUT OF THE SUPERMARKET WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
"You won't find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer's market. Also look into CSA (community supported agriculture), in which you can subscribe to a farm and receive a box of produce.)

Alhamdulilah, my husband and I have been following these rules since Ramadan, and it's amazing the difference it's made in our lives. We eat out less, which saves a ton of money, and since I'm making all the food basically from whole ingredients, we know everything that's in each bite we take and can be certain that our food is halal.

If there's pork in your bread, make your own bread. If there's vanilla in your cookies, make your own cookies. You get the picture.

[rasheedahmed]

Assalam O Alaikum

There are few products which are kosher certified by Union of Orthodox New York, NY in UK. For example Walker Cookies(Biscuit in UK) are kosher certified. The sign "Suitable for Vegetarian" is not registered or copy right symbol of any vegan organization. It is the food manufacturer who put this label on the food product package. The main problem for Muslims about the above label is the presence of alcohol in flavors as solvent, alcohol as the extracting solvent for colors suc as turmeric color and other extracted ingredients. Also the presence of wine in the product. I read on a Muslim website that wines are also have "Suitable for Vegetarian" label in UK.

Getting knowledge about food ingredients and food products and their Halal status is a must for Muslims living in western countries. Muslim are required to eat only Halal foods. The knowledge of complex food ingredients and food products are difficult because not every Muslim is a food technologist or food scientist but we have to acquire these knowledge so that we can eat Halal foods. The Muslims from non arabic countries start learning yasernal Quran when they are young, remember how difficult it was at that time but you see the result alhumdulillah most Muslims can read the Quaran, some became hafeez e Quran and some became Mufti. We have to learn the food ingredients and food products and their Halal status in order to consume Halal foods.


Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
www.muslimconsumergroup.com
www.canadianhalalfoods.com

[Al-Faruqi]

for the last responses, they're very beneficial

Furthermore I'd like to remind my silblings in Islam that we should also be careful about these "halal-shops". At my place we have many processed products in Turkish ("halal"-)shops which I strongly doubt to be haram, but Allahu alim. (I have proofs for these doubts.)

Beside that one should be very cautious even with freshly slaughtered meat, when you ask if the meat is islamically slaughtered the response is something like "Of course, Turkish people slaughter." obviously also Turkish people can be non-muslims so being Turk is not a guarantee for halal meat.

I actually nearly always try to avoid processed food, but the problem in my case is also that as I'm a revert and even if I cook/bake/make my food by myself there is still the whole kitchen contaminated with porc and alcohol, so it's not a real solution for me at the moment. Alhamdulillah I have good brothers who invite me regularly to eat. But this idea with making everything yourself is very good and we all muslims should struggle to implement it fully, because it won't be just halal it will also boycot bad companies.

[gogiison2]

for the last responses, they're very beneficial

Furthermore I'd like to remind my silblings in Islam that we should also be careful about these "halal-shops". At my place we have many processed products in Turkish ("halal"-)shops which I strongly doubt to be haram, but Allahu alim. (I have proofs for these doubts.)

Beside that one should be very cautious even with freshly slaughtered meat, when you ask if the meat is islamically slaughtered the response is something like "Of course, Turkish people slaughter." obviously also Turkish people can be non-muslims so being Turk is not a guarantee for halal meat.

I actually nearly always try to avoid processed food, but the problem in my case is also that as I'm a revert and even if I cook/bake/make my food by myself there is still the whole kitchen contaminated with porc and alcohol, so it's not a real solution for me at the moment. Alhamdulillah I have good brothers who invite me regularly to eat. But this idea with making everything yourself is very good and we all muslims should struggle to implement it fully, because it won't be just halal it will also boycot bad companies.

WA wr wb.

maybe you can try asking the halaal shops from which companies they get their dhabiha meats and research online and check the companies reputations. MashaAllah you are trying hard, i wanted to relate a hadith for you to give you more strength inshaAllah...it goes something like , faith is like weight scales the more faith you have the scales with be more heavy as it will give us more hardships.

[abuhajira]

Assalam O Alaikum

There are few products which are kosher certified by Union of Orthodox New York, NY in UK. For example Walker Cookies(Biscuit in UK) are kosher certified. The sign "Suitable for Vegetarian" is not registered or copy right symbol of any vegan organization. It is the food manufacturer who put this label on the food product package. The main problem for Muslims about the above label is the presence of alcohol in flavors as solvent, alcohol as the extracting solvent for colors suc as turmeric color and other extracted ingredients. Also the presence of wine in the product. I read on a Muslim website that wines are also have "Suitable for Vegetarian" label in UK.

Getting knowledge about food ingredients and food products and their Halal status is a must for Muslims living in western countries. Muslim are required to eat only Halal foods. The knowledge of complex food ingredients and food products are difficult because not every Muslim is a food technologist or food scientist but we have to acquire these knowledge so that we can eat Halal foods. The Muslims from non arabic countries start learning yasernal Quran when they are young, remember how difficult it was at that time but you see the result alhumdulillah most Muslims can read the Quaran, some became hafeez e Quran and some became Mufti. We have to learn the food ingredients and food products and their Halal status in order to consume Halal foods.


Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
www.muslimconsumergroup.com
www.canadianhalalfoods.com

br. rasheed.

Is it possible for your organization to actually publish all the food researches on your website related to these ingredients (instead of only their halal/haram status). So if someone has to personally get any fatwa of the halal status he can show these studies to the mufti and get the fatwa for it.

It will also serve as a good service to the Muftiyaan in getting aquainted with the food science as well.

[rasheedahmed]

Assalam O Alaikum Br. Abu Hajira,

Majority of the ingredients are derived from grain, ccarbohydrate, agricultural products, molds, bacterial, fat, protein etc. There is a description of 13 ingredients under description of ingrediets section and few in FAQ section. It is time consuming to provide details processing method for each indivisual ingredient. Recently we reported the different sources of L-Cysteine on our website which includes human hair, chicken/duck feathers, Halal synthetic source and finally Halal bacterial fermentation source without the production of alcohol. Only two sources Halal, synthetic and bacterial fermentation are Halal. Chicken/Duck feather source has different of opinion among ulema, some say it is Halal because there is no blood come out of feathers when you break it but others say it is not Halal source which MCG agree with it. Human Hair source is Haram. So we published the sources of some ingredients on timely basis.


Syed Rasheeduddin Ahmed
www.muslimconsumergroup.com
www.canadianhalalfoods.com

[abuhajira]

Jazak Allah for replying..

But that is exactly what I am looking for.. Not opinions of Ulama rather the raw documentation of the studies by the food scientists like yourself. Once we have the study material, the mufties we have are Alhamdulillah capable in the field of food sciences to understand those studies and make their opinions.

Do you have hard copy of these documentations? Perhaps scanning them could be a method. or even photocpying and mailing them over...It is afterall help for the ummah. You have done so much work in the field, this will be a great asset as well.

[Al-Faruqi]

Can I eat at a table where alcohol is served?

I have an invitation from my father for the next week-end, there will be alcohol served, the meals will be halal (extra for me) but they won't refrain from alcohol. I just read that it isn't halal to go to eat at a table where I know that alcohol will be served.

I really don't know what to do, somehow I have to stay in contact with my father.

[streetwalker]

I just read that it isn't halal to go to eat at a table where I know that alcohol will be served.

where did u read this?

[Al-Faruqi]

Excuse me, I forgot to include the link:
http://www.muslimfr.com/modules.php?...rticle&sid=201