You decide you want to switch to a more natural deodorant, you walk into the health food store... and that tiny stick costs almost $40.

“Do I spend this much on…

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I have just recently decided to mix lemons and coconuts, and let me tell you, WOW.

Doesn’t it just make sense though, are lemons and coconuts not the star of the show in hot whether anyway?

I have come up with a recipe to mix both, with a few variations so it is easier to make with whatever ingredients you have on hand without the flavour changing too much. This way, maybe, it can make a difference for your current dietary preferences as well.

Recipe

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It’s summer.

It’s hot.

Hydration is more important than ever.

Naturally, as Muslim women, we lose a lot of fluids and electrolytes through sweat. Especially when wearing proper hijab, and for some of us the niqab, sweating is the default. The heat is naturally uncomfortable, but what we forget is how demanding it can be on the body.

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Many of us are mothers and caretakers, and forgetting to drink enough throughout the day is very easy to do. It’s common, actually.

But even when we are drinking water consistently, hydration is not about water. In fact, drinking 10 cups of water a day can actually make you more dehydrated.

Our bodies rely on electrolytes and minerals to mantain a good fluid balance and to support cellular function. Replenishing on fluids alone (in other words by drinking a lot of plain water) is not enough, in fact the more plain, empty water we drink, the more we pee, and so the more minerals we lose. We’re already losing minerals through sweat, so it doesn’t make much sense to flush even more of them away.

Of course I am not saying that we should not water, nor am i saying to not pee, lol. Im saying, let’s learn how to add the *spice* our body requires to stay hydrated.

Which brings me to today’s bevvie. The Adrenal Cocktail.

disclaimerrr

skip if you dont want to be disclaimed

I am not a doctor, a dietitian, nutritionist, health coach. Nothing I share should be interpreted as medical advice, nutritional counselling, personalised treatment or recommendation for your individual circumstances. The information I share is based on publicly available research, traditional practices, and my own personal learning and experience. I share what I do, what I enjoy, what has benefited me, etc. I do not offer coaching, or medical advice. If you want me to be that for you, I literally cannot be that. My content is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Every individual is different, and each person is responsible for making informed decisions regarding their own health and the health of their family.

what’s an adrenal cocktail?

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Thankfully, a lot of sisters liked it, but truthfully, it couldn’t be any other way.

Upon Her Fitrah exists to document and share everything I learn as a Muslim woman striving toward excellence in every dimension of my being. Whether that be in practice of the deen, mental and emotional health, physical health including nutrition, exercise and other protocols that support it, homemaking, marriage, motherhood, emotional well-being, or just learning how to live more closely aligned with the fitrah Allah created us upon. And this knowledge is meant to be shared. We can’t afford to gatekeep this.

Every beneficial resource I come across has, in some way, contributed to my own growth. Some have strengthened my understanding of the deen. Others have challenged assumptions I held about xyz. Some have taught me practical skills, while others have simply given language to things I intuitively felt but couldn’t yet articulate.

So, naturally, as I continue learning, I will continue sharing.

In Shaa Allah.

Disclaimer: From Muslimah to Muslimah—when it comes to non-Islamic books, take what benefits and leave what contradicts our values. “Chew the meat and spit out the bones,” as they say. Not every idea aligns with our deen. Benefiting from creation requires Aqeedah; a heart anchored in the truth Allah revealed.

Additional note: Some of the books I mention are ones I haven’t yet completed, but they have been promising so far. I share them in good faith, hoping the rest remains as beneficial as what I’ve read.

Childbirth with Tawakkul: The Fitrah Way by sister Fatimah Zohrah.

How can i actually put the aura of this course into words.

This is, without exaggeration, one of the most empowering and paradigm-shifting courses I have ever taken.

The title quite literally sums it up. It empowers women to approach birth as they were designed to—with trust in Allah. Trust in His perfect design, trust in His decree, trust in His wisdom, and trust in the intricate way He created the process of birth itself.

Birth is a deep spiritual experience, and it is meant to be. But many sisters have become sooo detached from this reality as birth has increasingly moved away from its fitrah-centred foundation. What was once, and still is in some part of the world, a natural physiological and spiritual process is now approached with fear, intervention, and dependence on systems that do not always serve women or their babies.

Fatimah, the birth educator shares a wealth of knowledge accumulated through both study and experience. She teaches physiological birth and challenges many modern obstetric practices and routine interventions that can sabotage both the mother’s and baby’s birth experience.

We hear it all the time, "Your body is an amanah, take care of it." Yet when it comes to birth, a lack of knowledge and a lack of trust in Allah can lead us in the opposite direction, but alhamdulillah, i have found this course to really bridge that gap.

If i could i would urge every. single. woman. Pregnant or not, to take this course. Birth is a fundamental part of our womanhood. Not every woman experiences birth but the vast majority of us do. It is part of us, so it is our duty to understand how it works and how to do it in a way that serves us multidimensionally: spiritually, emotionally and physiologically.

This book aims to cultivate intentional parenthood by encouraging mothers and fathers to view every stage of child-rearing as an act of worship and an investment in the Hereafter. It basically guides parents through the spiritual, emotional, and practical responsibilities that accompany welcoming a child into the world, from pregnancy to birth to the sunan of naming, nurturing, disciplining, and raising righteous children. A comprehensive guide that covers it all. In other words, a must.

This book helps readers rethink modern ideas and assumptions about fertility, family planning, and the place of children within a Muslim family. It FIRST explores Islam’s POV on marriage, procreation, and the immense blessing of children, before discussing contraception from a broader angle than simply its legality. It aims to instill in us sisters a positive and purposeful outlook on fertility, so we see childbearing not through the fear, societal pressure, or material concerns, but through the lens of tawakkul, gratitude, and the continuation of a righteous legacy.

This book basically encourages parents to reclaim their role as leaders within the home rather than companions seeking their children's approval. I personally believe it goes well with our outlook as muslims on gentle parenting (as opposed to what gentle parenting implies these days), gentle enough to not traumatise or compromise the physical or emotional wellbeing of our children, but firm enough to lead and push in the right direction. It seems to me like the authors objective is not to promote harsh parenting, but to help families cultivate responsibility, respect, self-control, and maturity in children from a young age. For us sisters especially navigating motherhood, it reminds that genuine love is not about meeting a child's desires, but about providing the structure, guidance, and character-building necessary for them to become capable and responsible adults (and hopefully revivers of the deen :)).

The author argues that a lot of the challenges experienced in marriage dont stem from a lack of love, but from a lack of understanding. So he discusses the fundamental differences between men and women; how we think, communicate, process emotions, and express our needs, in order to help us move away from unrealistic expectations and towards greater empathy. In simple terms, the bridge between unrealistic expectations and empathy is understanding, so thats what it dives into.

Vaccine Information for more informed choices → https://vaccine.guide

I hope you girlies have been doing well. I hope your hearts are where your Lord intends them to be, that your health has been kind to you lately, and that you’re pleased to hear from your sister again after a not-all-embarassing while.

Sorry.

I didn’t expect to be gone this long. I thought I needed a short pause, a quick rest, but Allah had planned for my body to slow me down in way that forced me to step away from almost everything and focus on healing.

alhamdulillah through it all. It taught me things about health, stress, nervous system overwhelm and regulation, nourishment, and reliance upon Allah that I know i could not have learnt any other way.

Healing is never, ever just physical.

You can eat healthy all you want, take good supplements, follow routines, and still feel unwell when your soul is disconnected and your mind is anxious and overburdened, or constantly striving to control everything.

I spent these months resting, learning, unlearning, researching, prayinggggg, and rebuilding my life. And now, I feel ready enough to return here.

This space feels so personal to me, and I did miss writing to you all soo very much.

I want to share that my writing will evolve moving forward.

Some things will remain the same:

The theme will remain fitrah-based womanhood. The goal was always to personally work towards attaining peak wellness in all its aspects and dimensions, while encouraging sisters to do the same and achieve what I like to call the actualisation of Islamic womanhood.

For what goal? The rectification of society. Or at least our (quite significant) contribution.

If it’s the first time you’ve come across my content, it may sound ridiculously “deep”, or perhaps even a little too abstract and confusing, but stick around, it will make sense.

What I do wish to do now is go slightly deeper, because the aim of this content is not simply to be theoretically inspiring, but genuinely and practically influential.

I want to dig deeper on health and chronic depletion, nervous system regulation, and motherhood, with religious alignment at its core.

I also want to not only recommend useful resources, but provide them directly myself—things that are practical, sustainable, and beneficial for those of you who want to grow alongside me.

I had originally joined this platform to allow myself to be a positive and motivational voice for women who want to live well, but I have realised that I need to provide more value, otherwise I could have simply stayed with the short-form content I was already posting on Instagram.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that Substack is a platform that makes it easy to provide more, so let’s do that.

For those subscribed for free, nothing is changing in terms of access to my core writing: monthly recommended resources, and occasional letters and reflections on fitrah-based womanhood.

If you seek more, consider upgrading your subscription to payed. No pressure ever, of course. If you’re here to read from afar, lurking for free is still cute too. I really do appreciate that!

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And if you’ve stayed subscribed even while I disappeared without explanation… thank you. You being here after all this time means soo much to me!

I also have some projects I’ve been dreaming up during this time away. I’m taking my time with them, but inshaAllah I’ll share more soon when the timing is right.

For now, I just wanted to say:
I’m back.
Alhamdulillah.

May Allah place barakah in this space and allow it to benefit whoever finds themselves here.

With love, your sister Qamarah.

From Upon Her Fitrah.

We’ve all heard it. Pasta is inflammatory. Heavy. Hard to digest. Something to avoid unless you’re willing to “pay for it” later.

And yet—pasta exists in many traditional food cultures. Italians, North Africans, the Levant, and Central Asia. Our grandmothers ate it. Without bloating, fatigue, or digestive distress, or even excessive weight gain.

So what changed?

Modern pasta, like many of our modern foods, is no longer made from what it once was. And unfortunately, it has become a staple built on ingredients our bodies were never meant to process in such quantities (or such forms).

Pasta itself is not the enemy. I won’t demonize carbs or romanticize restriction. Instead, I’ll share how pasta is meant to be made—so your next girl dinner can be a nourishing win.

I’m here to tell you that you could eat a bowl of homemade pasta and walk away without bloating or weight gain.

It sounds unlikely but that’s because we’ve been eating pasta made from the wrong grain, in the wrong form.

Pasta is made from semolina, which comes from durum wheat an ancient grain. When durum wheat is milled, it becomes durum flour; when that flour is sifted to remove the bran and germ, what remains is semolina flour (consisting only of the endosperm part of the original grain). But that sifting process removes nearly all of the grain’s nutrition, leaving behind mostly starch (chalk, I dare say). This is why modern pasta feels heavy and difficult to digest. When the grain is consumed whole, it remains a whole food, one that the body recognizes and can process with ease.

Pasta made this way is not something the body fights; it’s something it knows what to do with.

Traditionally, pasta…

• used durum wheat

(an ancient wheat variety that is naturally higher in protein and minerals than the modern wheat commonly used for pasta today)

• was grown in mineral-rich soil

(the wheat itself was able to draw minerals from living soil, unlike in today’s dead soil due to agricultural practices that exhaust and deplete Allah’s earth).

• was freshly milled / stone-ground flour

(the process of making flour was gentle, without heating, bleaching, etc, and the whole grain was used and consumed, which allows for the full benefit of the wheat kernel to be retained).

Today’s pasta is made almost exclusively from ultra-refined industrial flour, which is made from a grain that is:

• harvested prematurely

• sprayed with glyphosate (you can read about this monster here).

• milled at high speeds, which heats and damages the grain and its nutritional value

• stripped of its bran and germ (where the real benefits actually lie).

What remains is mostly chalky starch.

This isn’t accidental, profitable. I’ll spare you the reasons why that is, but you must know that this comes at a cost:

Stripping the grain of its bran and germ removes fiber, minerals, B vitamins, and natural enzymes, which means digestion becomes harder, blood sugar spikes faster, and the body is left to deal with a food that no longer carries what Allah placed in it to help us digest it.

In simple terms, we are consuming an INCOMPLETE food.

Allah ﷻ created grain as nourishment. But nourishment depends on how something is grown, processed, and prepared.

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So, where does that leave us?

Pasta doesn’t need to disappear from your kitchen. It needs to be restored.

Made with real grain. Prepared with patience. Eaten with intention.

Pasta is not meant to be that quick 15-minute typa meal. The fact that it is for most of us is the actual problem.

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Whey is the liquid that separates from milk during the process of making yogurt, cheese, or other cultured dairy products. The milk separates into curds (the fatty part) and whey (the watery, pale yellow liquidy part).

There are two types of whey:

1. Sweet whey → from making cheese like mozzarella, made with rennet.

2. Acid whey → from making yogurt, kefir or cheese made with acid or fermentation.

Whichever you have, you can make lemonade with it. Remember that the whole point of homecooking is to prepare food with what we have, which is inherently a way of avoiding waste. However, in nature, “acid whey” will provide probiotics to your lemonade (which I believe is nutritionally ideal), because of the live cultures resulting from fermentation.

As we said, acid whey is a byproduct of making yogurt, so if you want to make whey to add to your lemonade (or any other drinks, as i do), make yourself a batch of yogurt. I have a recipe in the Back to Basics series. Click here.

Ingredients ↓

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On Instagram, I share glimpses of what I do to feel womanly, both physiologically and emotionally. As a Muslimah, everything I adopt—every perspective, protocol, or habit—has to align with the Shariah of Allah. The way I tend to my body, the way I nurture my emotions, the way I show up for my husband and child: all of it requires being an act of obedience towards Allah first and foremost. And I truly believe that this path, walked sincerely, is what leads to the actualization of Islamic womanhood.

Our physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions are interconnected, so I try to give each one its due right, knowing that working on one strengthens the others.

By the grace of Allah, seeking knowledge is ongoing: knowledge of the deen because it is the foundation of everything, and other sciences that benefit me as a woman navigating health, wellness, family, homemaking, and personal growth. And I sense that this intersection is what many sisters are curious about.

In matters of belief, our truth is clear and established, Alhamdulillah. But when it comes to other areas—nutrition, health, psychology—the truth is sometimes layered and difficult to reach. It demands research and the zeal that comes with it. So please, do take my recommendations with a grain of salt: they reflect what I find beneficial today, but they may evolve with time. Allah knows best.

Disclaimer: From Muslimah to Muslimah—when it comes to non-Islamic books, take what benefits and leave what contradicts our values. “Chew the meat and spit out the bones,” as they say. Not every idea aligns with our deen. Benefiting from creation requires Aqeedah; a heart anchored in the truth Allah revealed.

Additional note: Some of the books I mention are ones I haven’t yet completed, but they have been promising so far. I share them in good faith, hoping the rest remains as beneficial as what I’ve read.

This book really reminds us sisters of what the WHOLE POINT is. It discusses the woman’s central role in shaping her children’s beliefs and character through consistent teaching and keeping a spiritually, physically, and emotionally healthy home, grounded in a stable, respectful marriage where husband–wife dynamics are guided by the Qur’an and Sunnah.

This book shows us women that our duties and obligations in the home, family, and personal conduct are not minor tasks but the very means through which we fulfill their inherent importance as rectifiers of society.

This book outlines the qualities that make a woman truly righteous by grounding her character, worship, manners, and daily actions in obedience to Allah and adherence to the Sunnah, showing that these attributes safeguard us women, elevate us, and allow us to shape our homes and community positively.

This treatise explains the true Islamic ruling of hijab, clarifying that it is an obligation revealed by Allah to protect a woman’s dignity and preserve her modesty. It outlines the conditions of proper hijab—such as covering the entire body, being loose and non-transparent, and not resembling men’s clothing. The book also warns against common mistakes and modern trends that compromise modesty, while reminding women that hijab is an act of worship, a symbol of faith, and a means of drawing closer to Allah.

This book encourages women to use their cycle as a diagnostic tool to improve their well-being naturally, as it looks at a woman’s menstrual cycle as a vital indicator of her overall health, just like heart rate or blood pressure. It teaches how to understand the cycle through fertility awareness, showing how ovulation, cervical fluid, and cycle length reflect hormonal balance.

This book calls for the return to traditional eating habits because the author argues it is the key to preventing modern health problems. He documents his trip around the world, showing how people eating whole, ancestral diets enjoyed strong immunity, excellent dental health, etc, as opposed to the quick decline in health (cavities, deformities, and chronic illness) that came when ultra-processed foods like sugar and white flour were introduced.

The book teaches that restoring gut health brings huge health improvements to both mind (psychology) and body (physiology). The Author explains the idea that many psychological and physical conditions stem from an unhealthy gut (how a damaged gut flora leads to chronic inflammation and toxins entering the body and causing havoc). So she came up with a GAPS protocol for healing (I have personally gone through out and read the benefits, walhamdulillah)

This book promotes a traditional, nutrient-dense approach to raising healthy babies and children from infancy through early childhood. It explains how proper nutrition supports immunity, development, and long-term wellbeing, while critiquing many modern child-care practices that overlook biological needs. Great for (expecting) mamas.

A basic, beginner-friendly guide to building a home apothecary rooted in ancestral wisdom and natural healing. It explains the healing properties of common herbs (that we have all consumed or heard of), showing how they can address issues like coughs, infections, inflammation, and stress without relying on pharmaceuticals. And it also gives step-by-step instructions for making your own tinctures, salves, teas, and syrups.

This book is huge. It’s like a guide to natural health, explaining how vitamins, minerals, herbs, and nutrition can be used to support the body’s healing processes. It gives natural approaches for soooo many conditions, giving practical supplement plans, dietary suggestions, and lifestyle protocols. It also emphasizes strengthening the body’s systems (immune, digestive, and hormonal) through natural, non-toxic methods.

Yep, not an ideal title, but it explores the difference between A1 and A2 proteins in cow’s milk. The author argues that A1 milk may be linked to inflammation, digestive issues, and chronic disease, and presents research suggesting that A2 milk (which is more like that of the milk of older, traditional breeds) is easier to digest and potentially safer.

This book shows the statistics. It presents historical data, medical records, and public health charts to question mainstream narratives about disease eradication. The authors also discuss the lesser-known risks, complications, and ethical issues surrounding vaccination, and they encourage readers to re-examine public health history critically.

Dr Suzanne Humphries Blog → https://drsuzanne.net/

Weston A Price Foundation → https://www.westonaprice.org/#gsc.tab=0

Unfortunately, it remains the required ingredient to cook a lot of our common foods, notably, anything fried. So it is a staple in restaurants, in packaged foods, and in the homes of our mothers. Heck, even in our own, because our cooking has become so dramatically reliant on these oils. Even in our traditional dishes, even though seed oils are anything but traditional.

Fortunately, seed oils are not needed at all.

I don’t tell you this and offer you a healthier yet bland alternative. I propose something that still makes your fries crispy, your fried chicken crunchy, and your samosas flaky. All with added flavour.

Let’s rewind:

Seed oils are often marketed as “ideal for frying” because of their high smoke points. But that high smoke point is not a natural characteristic; it’s the result of intense industrial processing.

To make these seeds into a shelf-stable oil, they go through steps like high-heat extrusion, chemical solvents, deodorizing, bleaching, and heating to extreme temperatures. This:

• Strips away the antioxidants in the seeds that’d normally protect the fats

meaning that the oil becomes much more vulnerable to oxidation during storage, cooking, and in the body, so the nutritional value is lowered because we lose the protective nutrients that Allah provided in the seed themselves.

• Damages the structure of the oil, creating unstable polyunsaturated fats

these fats easily oxidize, and this oxidation produces harmful molecules that directly injure our cells and affect mitochondrial function (our energy powerhouses), weaken the body’s tissues, strain liver detox pathways, and contribute to chronic, whole body inflammation.

• Deodorizes rancid smells so the oil appears clean (even though it is not).

processing the seeds makes the oil highly oxidized, but chemical solvents make the oil seem clean in appearance and smell; however, it does not remove the oxidation itself, so the oil’s look and smell don’t reflect nutritional safety.

Ironically, this harsh treatment is what gives seed oils the high “burning point” that makes them so popular for deep frying. The oils are essentially stripped, refined, and neutralized to the point where they no longer behave like natural food.

Allah, in his endless mercy and wisdom, gave us the perfect, stable frying fat—and our foremothers used it daily: animal fat.

Beef tallow, lamb fat, duck fat, and chicken fat are mainly saturated and monounsaturated, as opposed to polyunsaturated, which makes them far more stable under high heat. They don’t oxidize easily, they don’t require chemical solvents to extract, and they carry fat-soluble vitamins that seed oils don’t have.

If this all sounds like gibberish, I get you, and I also gotchu—here’s a beneficial resource.

So, what is best for what type of cooking?

Beef Fat (Tallow):

• Best for: High-heat frying, roasting, and sautéing.

• Why: Beef fat is rich in saturated and monounsaturated fats, making it extremely stable under high heat. It has a neutral, slightly savory flavor that complements most dishes. Makes crispy fries, roasted vegetables, or seared meats.

Lamb Fat:

• Best for: Roasting, slow-cooking, and baking savory pastries.

• Why: Lamb fat has a distinctive flavor. It works well in dishes where you want a deeper flavour—like when roasting veggies, or making meat pies.

Duck and Chicken Fat:

• Best for: Sautéing, pan-frying, roasting vegetables, and finishing dishes.

• Why: Poultry fats have a medium smoke point. Duck fat, known for roasting potatoes or making confit, and chicken fat add savory richness to any dish.

Making your own high-quality tallow at home is simple and cheap(er).

Beef tallow has become incredibly popular—my guess is because people are rediscovering its benefits for skincare, but also because it’s one of the most versatile fats to cook with. So for this reason, the recipes I’m sharing will focus on beef tallow (though the process is the same for other animal fat, too).

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In my corner of the world, the snow came early this year, and all praise is due to Allah.

The cold has always signaled the same thing: slow down. For most of human history, winter was the season that pressed pause on the land; outdoor work stopped, and people slipped back into their homes — warm food, dim lighting, and long, restorative nights. Winter told us, “Rest now. Recharge.”

But let’s be honest. In our age, winter is not restorative; it doesn’t recharge us. We actually get all survivalist about it, despite the technologies and modern advancements that should make winter easier on us. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying our ancestors had it easy peasy lemon squeezy. It was tough, it required effort, but the benefit was reaped — unlike today.

I suppose we’ve all come across those social media posts warning that “winter is coming,” reminding us to brace for daylight savings and stock up on mood lamps so we don’t drown in the seasonal blues.

However, after years of convincing myself that it works, I have finally concluded that rigid routines and pre-planned “self-care” schedules have never done much for me — and winter was no exception. It was always giving “corporate girl” self-care, if you know what I mean.

What I have found that supports me and grants me peace are the health-rooted homemaking protocols that help my family transition smoothly into the cold months, by the wisdom of the Most High.

So this isn’t a “get-your-life-together” kind of winter prep. It’s more of a contemplative, faith-centred, body-aware way to move through the season. If, like me, you want to live more seasonally, strengthen your family’s well-being, and adapt gracefully to the changes Allah has woven into creation — then keep reading.

Everything I share here comes from protocols I’m currently implementing (or still trying to be consistent with) to make my days easier, richer in tadabbur and shukr, and more in tune with the fitrah (the way productivity naturally blooms).

1. Living More by Candlelight

In the age of aesthetics, we’ve become a generation that treats lighting like mood decor, like a vibe, frankly. Candles for ambience, LED strips in bedrooms and blue-toned lamps for “productivity.”

But here’s the problem: we forgot that light is not just a visual aid. It is biology. By his wisdom and mercy, Allah created he natural light — sunlight, moonlight, and the glow of the stars — to govern creation itself. Light actually structures life. It determines the seasons, the months, the flow of time, and the rise and fall of our internal states.

• The sun sets the circadian rhythm: Your 24-hour hormonal clock. Cortisol, melatonin, appetite, and alertness all rise and fall according to sunlight exposure, especially in the morning.

• The moon sets the infradian rhythm: Women’s monthly cycles historically synced to the lunar cycle. The lunar month is literally an endocrine map.

Every cell in a woman’s body depends on light. Hormones, metabolism, immune regulation, digestion, fertility, sleep, thyroid function.

This rant on light matters because, aside from the cold, the increase in artificial light is the biggest physiological shift winter brings. Ignoring that shift has very real consequences on our emotional regulation, stress tolerance, hormone cycles, metabolism, and ultimately — our worship.

This makes winter the most important season for supporting women’s circadian and hormonal health.

In today’s world, we spend winter living like nocturnal cave creatures, inside, under screens and LED lighting that blasts the brain with “midday” sun at 10 PM.

And, obviously, our bodies are confused. No wonder our modern pathologies are chronic stress and anxiety, burnout and sleep issues, menstrual irregularities, thyroid dysfunction, poor metabolism, extinction-level fertility rates.

But these issues didn’t randomly appear. We went through the fastest lighting revolution in human history:

Blue light can suppress melatonin by up to 90%.
And in 2007, the WHO classified night-time light exposure as a carcinogen (specifically linked to breast cancer) due to circadian disruption.

So this winter, I decided to lean fully into the fitrah: more candlelight, more incandescent bulbs (when needed), and less blue light, as an act of mercy on my endocrine system, my sleep, my sanity, and of course, my spirituality.

Relationship to light is only the first step in bringing our bodies, our homes, and our hearts back into alignment with the seasons Allah has written for us.

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2. Reading In The Evening

This is the time of the year when the evenings become the perfect time for reading — not because it’s romantic (though it is), but because it is one of the few activities our bodies are still biologically designed to do under low light.

During the day, bright natural light drives the tasks that require energy, movement, and cognitive alertness. This is when the body expects output: caring for children, errands, studying, cleaning, homeschooling, cooking, work. But the evening is the time when our system winds itself down.

Reading, as well as crocheting or other activities of this sort, is great because it supports that transition. And when the reading is Qur’an, the benefit is faaaaar greater: the body slows while the heart awakens inshaAllah.

From a physiological perspective, reading under candlelight or a low, warm light (or an infrared lamp) preserves melatonin production and maintains your circadian rhythm. Unlike blue-rich artificial lighting, which suppresses melatonin and keeps the brain in “day mode”.

3. Morning Outdoor Exposure

Make it daily — even if it’s just five minutes on the balcony. Truly, if there is one winter habit that changes everything (your mood, your energy, and your sleep), it’s stepping outside first thing in the morning.

Let your eyes witness the light and send a signal to your brain to say “The Day Has Begun“. And this is how it pays off:

• More stable energy throughout the day

• More effective melatonin release at night

• Better mood and emotional regulation

• Better menstrual and infradian health

• Improved metabolism & glucose regulation

So, yes. Even five minutes counts.

How I try to do it in my home:

• I open the balcony door or step outside with a warm drink after fajr. I sip a herbal tea or warm milk and I just breathe the cold air. I baby is awake, i will take him with me and cuddle under a blanket.

• If it’s unbearably cold, I stand by an open window and let real daylight hit my eyes.

• I do my morning adhkar at that time.

• I aim to start my day then. Waking up with the morning sun is important in winter, as it gives me more (limited) daylight to complete the hyper-productive tasks I need to finish, allowing me to wind down in the early evening.

Morning light is free, and beautifully aligned with the fitrah.

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4. Strengthening The Home Microbiome

Our home has its own microbiome, a living community of bacteria and fungi that shape the respiratory and immune health of everyone inside.

In winter, because we spend so much time indoors, this microbiome matters even more. So try to keep ours diverse and gentle. That means:

• Using natural cleaning methods (Aleppo, Marseille, Castile or Black African soap, vinegar, baking soda) because they clean without stripping the home’s microbial balance or releasing heavy VOCs.

• I allow the kitchen to ferment through sourdough, sauerkraut, kefir, etc.

• I open windows whenever I can.

• I bring small winter plants to introduce beneficial outdoor microbes. And when we come in from being outside, even my son, I don’t rush to wash him unless needed, I let the outdoor microbes settle into the home for a while. It’s a tiny but powerful way to support the immune system.

• Try my best to use natural fibers around the house: wool, cotton, linen, and wood host healthier microbial communities than synthetics, and they feel warmer and more grounded in winter anyway.

A strong home microbiome supports the well-being of everyone living inside it.

5. Eating Nutrient-Dense and Healthy Fats

Winter is the season when the body leans heavily on fat-soluble vitamins and steady nourishment. Prioritizing foods that truly feed us makes me feel so much better: meaty soups, ghee, butter, olive oil, broth, bright eggs, oily fish, and fermented foods that strengthen the gut. These aren’t trendy suggestions. They’re deeply ancestral and strongly supported by research.

Vitamins A, D, and K2 depend on dietary fat for absorption, and these nutrients regulate everything from immune response to hormonal balance to respiratory protection, which is particularly important during winter; we’re reinforcing the physiological defenses the body relies on most during the cold months.

“Winter’s here — and so is the flu.”

(It’s not the cold itself that makes people sick in winter; it’s actually the conditions that the cold brings. When the air becomes dry, both indoors and out, our mucous membranes lose the moisture that they need for defence against pathogens. But we don’t need to get a humidifier, we can steam pots on our stove, make soups and broth, or simply put a bowl of water on our radiators).

Research has also shown that people who ate a diet rich in fermented foods for just ten weeks significantly increased their microbiome diversity and reduced inflammation: Sauerkraut, kefir, yogurt, kimchi, all those living foods actually train our immune system to be more resilient.

So in my kitchen, I take winter as a little nudge to bring out the mason jars and the bubbling crock. I keep a jar of sauerkraut going in a corner, make yogurt once a week, and serve broth-based soups with a spoonful of fermented veggies on the side. Nothing fancy, just ancestral logic backed by current science.

Then there’s vitamin D — the sunshine hormone we barely make when we’re huddled inside under grey skies. Many studies (including meta-analyses by Martineau et al. 2017), have found that people with sufficient vitamin D levels have a much lower risk of respiratory infections. That’s why I make sure we get it from cod liver oil or fatty fish, and even raw dairy if available.

• I simmer stockpots regularly, bone broth or veggie soups — both for warmth, nutrient density, and humidity.

• I serve fermented sides daily, even just a spoonful with a meal for a stronger gut microbiome, which boosts immune function.

• I prioritize whole, fat-rich foods (butter, ghee, eggs, fish) so fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K₂ actually get absorbed.

You can learn how to prepare ancestral foods with me. Check out the Back To Basics series and follow the Meal Plans - join the chat for both support and the vibes.

6. Opening the Windows and Freshening Up the Duvets

Winter tends to turn our homes into cozy little capsules: sealed tight against the cold, and, unintentionally, in stale air.

The longer we keep those windows shut, the more moisture, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), CO2, and dust build up indoors. Moisture builds up in our bedding, and the air quietly becomes what the EPA calls “2 to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air.”

And then there’s the duvet, aka the hero of winter comfort, and, let’s be honest, a perfect environment for dust mites if never aired. Warmth, moisture, and darkness are exactly what they love.

But the good news is that sun exposure and air drying can kill dust mites and lower allergen levels in bedding. Which means that what our grandmothers did instinctively (hanging bedding out in the sun, or even just at the window) was basically free microbiology. In an eco-friendly way, and we love that.

So I try my best to

• Open the windows for a short amount of time every day.

• Hang our used duvets outside or by the window, somehow, a few times a week, for around half an hour.

I, in fact, do love my daily pick-me-up drink. And as much as I love my midday-afternoon bevvy moment, my gut and I have been through too much together for me to ignore her cries for kindness.

For this reason, I’m sharing with you what I’ve been sipping on this past year with the hope of getting you to part ways with your third daily dose of espresso, or the Red Bull you’re still reaching for (should you be this girl).

Now, when talking gut health for drinks, we’re really talking probiotics, and for this reason, you should expect this series to involve mainly cold drinks.

However, given that we've clearly entered hot chocolate and pumpkin spice latte season, I shall also include no-probiotic drinks, potentially herbal drinks that support not just your gut but your whole endocrine system as a woman. InshaAllah, helping you through the brain fog, fatigue, or aches we tend to go through as women in different seasons of life.

Bissap is a West African herbal drink primarily made of hibiscus leaves, sweetened and aromatised with other plants and fruits. Think of it as a hibiscus tea, but drank cold with lots of ice.

I personally like it very simple, so I suggest you use my recipe as a base and add anything else you may want to add with future batches. Depending on regions or simply different households flavour varies. Some add ginger, cloves, oranges, or orange blossom, etc.

Supports Hormonal Balance

• Bissap has mild phytoestrogens that can support estrogen regulation, easing PMS, irritability, and cramps. It also relaxes the uterus, which helps with menstrual pain. But, because of this same estrogenic activity, women who have heavy cycles, fibroids, or estrogen dominance (bloating, breast tenderness, mood swings) should limit it to a few cups weekly. It may also stimulate flow, so avoid during pregnancy or if trying to conceive.

• To support hormonal balance, the Best time to drink would be during the luteal phase (after ovulation, before menstruation) or in the first days after your period for a hormonal reset.

Enhances Liver Detoxification

• Hibiscus and orange peel both stimulate liver enzymes that clear used hormones and toxins from the body, reducing congestion and supporting clear skin.

• For women, to help detoxify the liver, the best time to drink would be during the days following menses, when the body naturally detoxifies and rebuilds.

Aids Digestion & Gut Balance

• (If using quality ingredients) The pineapple, mint, and orange peel support healthy gut flora, and the honey is a prebiotic, a direct food for the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Balances Blood Sugar & Energy

• Hibiscus and cinnamon (if added) can improve insulin sensitivity, preventing sugar spikes and the energy crashes that lead to irritability or cravings before menstruation. But, for women with low blood pressure or low blood sugar tendencies, it can lower them further, so use my recipe at your own discretion.

Of course, there are so many more benefits; immune support, skin radiance, even a happier nervous system… but I’ll spare you the novel-length list.

↓ Ingredients

• 1.5L water

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Every generation of women has stood over a pot — stirring, tasting, and passing down the Art Of Nourishment.

Yet somewhere along the way, we forgot what those humble pots of broth truly held. We stopped thinking much about the health benefits. It was just what you did for flavor, to give rice, stews, and soups their richness.

I realized that what our mothers and grandmothers did so naturally was, in fact, so healing. Meat stock and bone broth are not just culinary traditions; they’re part of our fitrah — Allah’s way of providing us with what we need to heal and thrive. That’s why I always keep some in the freezer, ready to be used.

So, as we go back to basics, let’s look into:

• What is meat stock

• What is bone broth

• What is the difference between the two

• How, exactly, do they heal, and why is healing significant

• Recipes to make some

What is Meat Stock? What is Bone Broth?

Meat stock is a liquid made by simmering meaty bones (meat that is attached to a bone) for a short period of time. It’s commonly used to give flavor to soups, stews, and rice.

Bone broth is a liquid made by simmering bones, connective tissue, joints, and often feet or knuckles, instead of actual meat, for a long time (10h, 24h, maybe even more) in order to extract even more collagen, gelatin, marrow, and minerals.

So, the goal is not just flavor, it’s a zero-waste cooking method that happens to boost our health.

What’s inside each one (and why it matters for the gut):

Both meat stock and bone broth contain beneficial compounds, but the relative amounts differ.

• Gelatin / Collagen

  When cooked, collagen becomes gelatin. Gelatin is soothing and forms a protective, slippery coating in the gut.

  • Bone broth → very high amounts (from the parts used, like knuckle, feet…)

  • Meat stock → lower amounts depending on whether you included knuckles or joints, but stock made from a whole carcass or bones with connective tissue will have more gelatin than one from only meaty cuts.

• Amino acids

  • Glycine helps with detox pathways and mucosal health.

  • Proline and hydroxyproline are building blocks for collagen (essential to heal the gut; gut health being the pillar of physical and mental health).

  • Glutamine fuels the cells that line the gut.

    (These are present in both foods but usually more extractable after the long simmering used to make bone broth).

• Minerals & marrow

  • Meat stock and bone broth release calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and minerals from marrow and bones but bone broth will typically concentrate them more.

What Actually is the Difference? How Do They Heal & Why is Healing Significant?

The short cooking time of meat stock gives a liquid that is rich in gelatin, amino acids, and minerals, but in a form that is simple, soothing, and easy to digest.

Why?

Because the amino acids and compounds haven’t been broken down too far, meat stock is gentler on the gut so it’s less likely to trigger reactions.
It helps to seal and repair the mucosal barrier lining that separates our gut contents from the rest of our body.

For people with leaky gut, autoimmunity, including eczema, food sensitivities, anxiety, or for babies and young children whose intestines are naturally more permeable, meat stock is the first step. It soothes before it rebuilds. It’s the healing before the strengthening.

Strengthening is actually the bone broth’s job.

The long simmer of bone broth is actually a slow extraction drawing out not just gelatin and minerals, but also a much higher concentration of amino acids.

While these compounds have many benefits for healthy people (supporting joint repair, connective tissue, skin, etc), they are waaaay too stimulating for a compromised gut or nervous system.

For small children (who naturally have a semi-permeated gut) or those adults who have a leaky gut, inflamed, fatigued, or struggling with anxiety, insomnia, skin flares, or histamine intolerance, long-cooked bone broth may actually worsen symptoms, causing bloating, rashes, or restlessness.

Why Gut Healing Matters — Especially for Women

Most of us are living with inflammation — whether we realise it or not. And the truth is that the modern woman’s gut is under siege.

Processed food, sugar overload, pesticide residue, speediness and stress, high-toxic chemicals, seed oils in everything, pharmaceutics, vaccines, toxic soils, and polluted air all chip away at our internal ecosystems.

And when the gut — the body’s root system — is compromised, small tears open up on its walls, and food particles and toxins slip into the bloodstream. The immune system panics. Inflammation spreads: science calls it intestinal permeability, commonly known as leaky gut. Spiritually, it’s disconnection — from fitrah, from nature, from the way Allah designed our bodies to follow.

When a woman’s gut is inflamed, her energy, her focus, her ability to nurture, to create, to show up fully in her deen and her home is affected.
Whether we like it or not, a woman’s state sets the tone of her environment.

Biologically, it’s a fact.
A mother’s microbiome literally seeds her child’s. Studies show that during birth, skin-to-skin contact, and breastfeeding, a baby inherits up to 30% of their mother’s gut bacteria species. Her ecosystem becomes theirs. Her gut health, her nourishment, her environment — all of it becomes the blueprint for her child’s immunity, metabolism, and mental resilience.

That’s why healing the gut isn’t a trend. It’s quite literally a woman’s responsibility.
Because when a woman heals, the ripple is real — from her womb to her home to her ummah. Her restored energy brings presence. Her nourished hormones bring calm. Her balanced microbiome becomes her child’s first teacher in immunity and trust in the world, setting them up for success in all aspects of life; setting our communities up for success.

And healing doesn’t start with a 10-step detox plan.
It starts with trusting that Allah made the body wise; that He placed healing in the simple, the pure, the natural.

That’s the heart of Upon Her Fitrah:
Helping women return to what’s real, what’s nourishing, what’s ours.

🍖 Meat Stock Recipe

Chicken

Ingredients and equipment ↓

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Yet, when we really think about it, we’re not even sure of what our power is.

We can do anything, they told us. But in the process, we forgot what we were meant to be.

And maybe that was the plan all along. Because a distracted woman doesn’t build. She doesn’t heal. She doesn’t cultivate. She doesn’t pass down truth. But the power they made us give up still lives in us: It’s in the unseen, unshared work that actually moves the world.

This is how we change it.

Be Focused: They Want Us Distracted

It’s never been easier to lose yourself.

Yep.

Social media is the “connection” they convinced us we needed, but in reality, it has disconnected us from the real connections in our lives. It promises to keep us hyperconnected, but what it reeeeeally keeps us is hyper-distracted.

We’ve reached a point where our communities have become victims of individualism and of a lack of altruism. Even the care and attention we give our families is measured, scheduled, balanced and squeezed into our lives — as though the woman came before her purpose. As though love and service weren’t the WHOLE POINT.

It shows in the small ways we’ve deviated. In the way mothers breastfeed their babies while scrolling through their phones, forgetting or even ignoring how powerful eye contact in that first year of life is (the foundation of trust and communication).

It’s in the way we let TV shows teach our children how to speak, as if we are no longer capable of speaking to them ourselves.

It’s in how we replace nourishment with convenience — bottle-feeding instead of giving our children their rightful food. In how husbands come home from work only to turn on the PlayStation, and how we, too, escape into our favorite shows instead of each other.

And in all these moments of distraction, the most vital institution — our marriage, our home — weakens, and weakens, and weakens.

And looking at the world around us and the calamities and social disasters that occur, whether in politics or else, we often think… “what can I do to help“. Let me tell you:

The battlefield is in the home — not in activism, not in protests. It’s in how we build a new world with the right religion, the right morals, the right skills, the right direction.

It’s in how we support our husbands to do the outside work, while we do our own inside. If we want to win this battle, we need to give it our all. We need to focus and we need to sacrifice. We need to give more than what seems comfortable.

This is what being focused means. It is to avoid — or even better, to get rid of — all distractions, and to find good sources of entertainment when and where appropriate. Because entertainment is supposed to be a moment spent relaxing and enjoying life.

And i understand, home life is not easy, at least when done right it’s hard. It is sacrificial. So a good walk, a hike, a coffee shop date, a project — whatever it may be — is good “entertainment”, it boosts you, it refuels you, it gives you *good* dopamine to get back on track.

Watching two or three episodes of Emily in Paris does not. It doesn’t refuel you; it is wasted time spent escaping your own life only to dread coming back to it and give up on it (not in the actual sense of course, at least for most of us. More in the sense that our choices and actions reflect that we’ve give up on many aspects of our lives).

We need to do our part, focus on our God-given purpose, and rely upon Allah, for Allah does all things good, and he’s the disposer of all affairs. We change the world by obeying him, relying on him, and trusting that *He* will change it. Because even though they want us distracted, we were created to remember.

“And whoever relies upon Allah — then He is sufficient for him. Indeed, Allah will accomplish His purpose.” (Quran 65:3)

We need to focus on what our purpose is: to worship Allah and to live in the way He intends his servants to live.

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Be Creative: They Want Us Too Consumed to Be Creative

We buy, we give in to the cheap, instead of building anything real.

Our grandmothers, our foremothers, spent their days working with their hands — and in doing so, they kept their minds quiet.

Their minds were contemplative, not ruminative.

Handwork — homecooking, sewing, mending, gardening, preserving food, decorating, and fixing things — shaped daily life. It wasn’t just chores; it was a form of meditation, a natural rhythm that nurtured the mind. And because these tasks were inherently productive, they offered quite a satisfaction.

And when their work was done, their rest was real. Free time wasn’t wasted scrolling or online shopping; it was spent enjoying life, appreciating the natural world, walking, tending their own crafts, or socialising within the real tangible world. Their leisure refueled them physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Today, it’s different. Handwork is not daily. It is not habitual. Yes, we go on walks, bake some goods here and there, garden occasionally. But these things don’t make up our life the way they did for our foremothers. They are scheduled hobbies.

Monday: pilates class.
Wednesday: bake cookies.
Friday: attend Jumuah salah.
Sunday: farmers’ market.

And don’t get me wrong — it’s great! But it does not define our life. These moments exist in between two-hour Amazon scrollings, time spent looking at people’s LTKs for a product we don’t need, or grabbing the cheapest, lowest-quality groceries while somehow justifying daily overpriced matcha lattes?!

If we invested in learning the skills to make the things we need or want at home — artisanally — the quality of what we consumed would be faaaaaar greater. It would feed not just our bodies, but our minds as well.

It feels like every aspect of modern life is “fast-paced.” Any food I didn’t cook myself I personally consider fast food, regardless of what others call it. And the same applies to our clothes: do they come from our own hands, or someone else’s slow, careful labor? Our candles, soaps, furniture — how much of it is actually made with thought, care, and skill? And yes, artisanal often equals expensive. I won’t argue against that. But the reason is simple: we have overfocused on the cheap. We live in a world that dishonors the homemade but glorifies profit-driven, mass-produced goods — products that make us skill-less and creativity-less.

Be Healthy: They Want Us Sick Enough to Be Powerless

The world wants us sick — physically, mentally, spiritually.

Look at previous generations. Their lives were full of labor, yes — hard work with hands and bodies — but they were also nourished with wholesome food, movement, and real rest. Their strength allowed them to build homes, raise children, and serve their communities without collapsing under distraction or indulgence.

Today, it’s all upside down.

We are tired, inflamed, anxious, and overworked, so we stop working. We stop serving. We stop thinking beyond the next craving, the next nap, the next screen time. Our focus diminishes, our energy disappears, and our purpose gets buried under layers of exhaustion, pain, and misery…

Our fuel (food) is our poison.
Our labor (work) is our exhaustion.
Our rest (entertainment) is our distraction.

Convenience foods, chronic busyness, screens, and sedentary lifestyles leave us DEPLETED. We think we are “doing it all,” but are we really now…?

It sounds cheesy to say, but yes — we are building someone else’s future. Don’t get me wrong: being an employee is a good thing, sometimes even better than entrepreneurship. We need employees in many sectors of life. But the way employment looks today enslaves the body to a vicious circle of lethargy.

We become too tired to focus on our purpose, too tired to work for ourselves and our families, and too tired to try to remain healthy. We give in to cheap food, cheap items, and cheap entertainment.

And though this may be a tricky sitaution for a man that is required to go out into the workforce to support his family, it is not so much the case for us sisters. Of course, there are excetions but here on Upon Her Fitrah we like to speak on the rule. So, are we perhaps not contributing to our undoing…? Have we maybe not exchanged divine purpose for worldly fatigue…? Doesn’t sound like a win.

A sick woman will not be able to keep her child healthy. With the permission of Allah, the hard work of a woman — in her cooking, her care, her upbringing, and cultivation — shapes children who can become warriors to change the world, generationally.

The weaker we are, the more distracted we are (by our sickness).
The weaker we are, the less creative and serving we are.
The weaker we are, the more dependent we are.
The weaker we are, the less impact we have.

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Whilst still on my GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) healing journey, my husband has recently and temporarily tagged along. This, however, has made me realise that the meals I cook will now be different.

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Although what we usually eat is home-cooked, often made from scratch, and nutrient-dense, it includes food groups that are typically avoided during Full GAPS to support gut healing and address intestinal fungal and bacterial overgrowth, which can cause inflammation and a variety of symptoms.

This primarily concerns sugars, so I won’t be consuming grains like oats, wheat, or barley (with the exception of rice, which I have now re-introduced) nor starchy foods such as potatoes, plantains, or corn. And of course, no refined or unrefined sugars — except for very small amounts of honey mixed with Royal Jelly and Bee Pollen, in sha’ Allah.

I don’t believe any food, in its natural form, is inherently bad. I DO believe the body sometimes needs guidance: for someone with a healthy gut and low inflammation, grains and starchy foods are perfectly fine (when properly prepared, of course). But in a body where these foods worsen the issue, it’s wisest to eliminate them for a period of time.

Book Recommendation:

So why am I telling you all this? Since my husband is joining me, I won’t be making the type of meals you’ve been shown so far; they’ll be different, and so will the shopping list.

It’s quite a restrictive diet as it eliminates a lot of foods. But I’m more than happy to continue providing the same meal plan content I’ve been posting — about meals I usually make outside of GAPS (that I’ll be very happy to go back to eating soon, in sha’ Allah).

So please respond to this poll, wa jazakillahu khayran ♡

Note: The first option will include foods like those you’ve seen so far, but without pictures, as I will not be making or eating them at all.

Now, let’s get to this week’s meals ↓

🗹 Food Prep For This Meal Plan

• Whole-fat yogurt + strained whey → recipe here

• Sauerkrout, Fermented Carrots and Cucumbers → recipe here

• Sourdough loaf → recipe here

• Tortilla Wraps → recipe here

• Bone broth → (soon to be posted on “Back to Basics”)

• Breakfast: Cinammony Oatmeal

  • In a pan, add 1 cup oats (for 2 people) with ½ tsp cinnamon, a pinch of salt, a splash of vanilla extract, and a drizzle of maple syrup. Pour in half water, half full-fat milk. Cook on medium heat, stirring for a few minutes until creamy. Serve topped with sliced bananas.

• Lunch: Random plate

  • Some hard boiled eggs, some fermented carrot, some olives, a sourdough toast dipped in harissa and olive oil.

• Dinner: Steak Dinner

  • For the steak: heat your pan with some butter, a few crashed garlic cloves in the skin (so it doenst burn), some rosemary and thyme and then place your steak. Cook it depending on how done you want it to be.

  • For the potatoes: cut 2 large poatoes or 4 small/medium ones into little squares and cook them on medium-low until fork tender. Add a handful of chopped parsley and a 2-3 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Stir into the poatoes and cook for another minute to two. Sprinkle some salt and pepp and done.

  • For the broccoli: Steam it, or add it to a pot with half a cup of bone broth or meat stock on low and the broccoli will be steamed plus absorb the broth.

• Snack: Pear, Cheese and Cashew Nuts

• Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Sauerkraut, Toast and Mango Smoothie

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Today’s letter is about crispy, bready baked goods. Because who doesn’t love a warm English muffin in the morning, a chewy bagel at lunch, or a slice of sourdough for dinner with a stew?

Yet, bread so often comes with guilt…

A Little Story on Sourdough

Long before food was industrialized and mass-produced, cooking was slow. It followed the rhythms of nature, with patience built into the process. Grains were soaked, fermented, and transformed in ways that made them both delicious and digestible. Our bodies recognized this slowness; they could take it in, use it, and release energy from it with ease. It was beneficial in every sense — and as Allah reminds us, the sustenance He provides His servants is nothing BUT good.

Fast-forward to today, and even “freshly baked bread” is rarely what it seems. Additives, preservatives, and shortcuts creep into our kitchens: most loaves are puffed up quickly with chemical yeast, which rushes the process and strips away the quiet alchemy of fermentation. The grains themselves, wheat especially, are often reduced to pale imitations of their true form. All-purpose flour may look clean and pure, but it’s incomplete. The bran and germ (the most nutrient-rich parts) are removed, leaving us with something less than what we were given (and yes, even with store-bought whole wheat flour).

We’re consuming a gift from Allah, but only in fragments. Incomplete.

So what’s the alternative?

1. Go back to the whole. Whole grains, in their fullness, may at first seem dense compared to the airy white fluff we’ve been conditioned to prefer. But the flavor, depth, and nourishment are unmatchable.

2. Prepare it the way it was always meant to be prepared: natural fermentation.

   The art of sourdough lets the wild yeasts in the environment digest the food before your gut has to, so half of the work is already done. It pre-digests the grain, unlocks its nutrients, and yields bread that is alive, flavorful, and sustaining.

Fermenting freshly milled grains is the way humans have known to make bread for millennia. But I get it, it’s a tricky switch to make, and not everyone has a grain mill or a strong enough blender at home to mill their own grains. So we do as we can.

So, for now, I’ll share with you my favorite recipes to help you get a kickstart in making this wholesome switch, inshaAllāh, and all of these can also be made with whole, freshly milled flour, were you to ever make the switch.

Bismillah.

Kick It Off with a Sourdough Starter

The best way to make bread, as we said, is to keep a sourdough starter.

But don’t worry—it’s not nearly as complicated as it sounds, and it definitely doesn’t need to feel like caring for a pet. I have a full sourdough starter series on my Instagram @byqamarah, covering:

• What a sourdough starter is

• How to make and maintain one

• The “discard” dilemma

That series will help you get started, but for those who want to go deeper, I’m working on a full guide. Bread plays such a central role in our diets, and since most of us are big bread lovers, making this simple switch can have a huge impact on our health and our family’s well-being. Stay tuned!

Ingredients and equipment ↓

• 500g organic unbleached flour

  • If you’re using all-purpose, make sure it has a high protein content, at least 11% it’s indicated on the back of the package. If it’s lower than that, use bread flour; if you’re milling your own flour, make sure you’re using hard wheat.

• 110g active sourdough starter

• 330g water

• 10g salt

• clothes for proofing the dough

• a dough scrapper (optional)

• a proofing basket (optional)

Method ↓

Note: The dough rises for 6–8 hours at room temperature, depending on your kitchen’s warmth. Stretch and folds happen during this time — I usually just do them intuitively. But for beginners’ sake, I’ve laid out a structured version below that you can then ditch for your gut feeling once you know what you’re doing.

1. Mix together the ingredients; no need to knead, just mix until no dry flour remains. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth.

   • Rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

2. After 30 minutes, do the first stretch & fold (grab one side of the dough, stretch it upward, and fold it over the center). If the dough is sticky, wet your fingers instead of adding flour.

   • Cover again and let the dough rest for 2 hours.

3. Perform a 2nd set of stretch and folds.

   • Cover again and let the dough rest for 2 hours

4. Repeat a 3rd set of stretch and folds.

   • Cover again and let the dough rest for 1 hour.

5. Take the dough out of the bowl on a lightly floured surface and shape your dough into a tight ball.

   • Cover and let the dough rest for 1 hour.

6. Shape your dough into a tight ball or batard shape, and…

   • For the ball shape, use a round basket/banneton or a bowl lined with a cloth, and place the dough seam side up (smooth side down).

   • For the batard shape, use a long basket/banneton or a loaf pan lined with a cloth, and place the dough seam side up (smooth side down).

7. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 12 hours (it can stay for days for slow fermentation).

8. When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C). You can bake...

   • in a Dutch oven (this will already have steam inside the pot)

   • on a hot stone/cast iron (this will need additional steam in the oven)

   • or just a baking dish (this will need additional steam in the oven)

9. Take the dough from the fridge, flip it onto parchment paper smooth side up, score the top, and place it in the oven.

   • If using a Dutch oven, bake covered for 15 minutes, then uncovered for another 20 minutes at 375°F (190°C) and bake for another 20 minutes.

   • If not using a Dutch oven, create steam by adding a handful of ice cubes or a dish of boiling water to the bottom of the oven, then bake for 15 minutes, then for another 20 minutes at 375°F (190°C).

10. Take it out of the oven BUT don’t cut it yet; let it cool completely. The bread continues cooking as it cools, and slicing too soon will leave the inside doughy.

Ingredients and equipment ↓

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September is no doubt the time for long walks, of taking in the last warmth of the sun before it retreats, of grounding myself in the land Allah has placed me upon.

Needless to say, something about fall whispers, slow down, retreat, start over.

And I’ve been thinking lately about how our lives can be woven more intimately with Allah’s creation. Not in an abstract way, but more so through deliberate practices that keep us connected to His signs: lifestyle protocols or what you could also call habits, because it really isn’t about doing more but about undergoing a paradigm shift that allows us to live more in sync with what Allah has spread out for us.

There is wisdom in tradition, in the ancestral practices of our foremothers, whose lives were slower, less distracted, and lived in closer proximity to the natural world.

To revive ancient practices today can feel awkward because of the skepticism that sometimes arises within the Muslim community because out of fear of falling into shirk or innovated practices many sisters hesitate to embrace anything tied to heritage.

But the truth is, it is incumbent upon every Muslim to have the correct ‘Aqeedah (creed) and to use the Quran, the Sunnah and the way of the salaf as-Saalih as a criterion for what aligns with the deen and what does not. With that foundation firm, we can safely discern which traditions off and which are part of the fitrah.

Over the past years, I have incorporated some of the following practices into my life, and I’ve found them to be beneficial for my eeman, for my mental well-being, and for my physical health. I share them here with the hope that they may spark something within you too, bi’idhnillah.

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Foraging feels almost forgotten in our time, and who can blame us? Our communities rapidly drift further and further away from the raw, the soil, the wild. We treat nature as a retreat, yet it is the primal need woven into our being.

So even though today foraging seems more like a form of leisure (as is one of my greatest hobbies), seeking Allah’s bounty directly from His land has always been a necessity in the old days, whether it be in the mountains or the countryside; women used to walk around with baskets with the hope of finding any goods to bring back home for dinner.

When you bend down to pluck wild mint by a stream, or notice dandelions pushing through the cracks, you’re reminded that provision is everywhere if only we have eyes to see. It keeps the heart close to the Giver of Rizq.

˹He is the One˺ Who has made the earth a place of settlement for you and the sky a canopy; and sends down rain from the sky, causing fruits to grow as a provision for you. So do not knowingly set up equals to Allah ˹in worship˺. (Quran 2:22)

Rising with the sun is that deep.

There is something healthful in aligning ourselves with the natural rhythms that Allah has woven into creation. Everything on this earth is cyclical: our bodies, our sleep, the seasons, even the phases of the moon, etc. We, women, feel this; it’s relatable, so when we harmonize our lives with these rhythms, balance returns and ease follows.

The shy warmth of the morning sun is a quiet healing. Think of it as a free infrared therapy session Allah gives you every morning, boosting vitality, productivity, and our spirituality.

Our deen makes this clear: the night has its appointed purpose, and the day its own. Again and again, the Qur’an reminds us of this alternation, and in the Sunnah and the words of the Salaf as-Saliheen, we find wisdom upon wisdom about the blessings of the early hours.

“And We made your sleep [a means for] rest. And We made the night as clothing. And We made the day for livelihood.” (Quran 78:9–11)

And the Prophet ﷺ said: “O Allah, bless my Ummah in its early mornings.” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1212)

Even if it is not more than sitting quietly outside with a cup of tea as the sky blushes, or witnessing the first light spill across your prayer mat.

Even though this is not something I can do as freely now, I look back to a time when I would rise before dawn, step outside, and pray Fajr and Duha, and the sun would slowly appear on the horizon. The experience is indescribable. Dhikr at that time is more conscious; it’s like the heart is waking up too.

The seasons are ayat from your Lord.

Allah calls our attention to them again and again: the night folding into the day, the soil that dies only to bring forth life again, and so on and so forth. These are signs that remind us of His Power, His Mercy, His Wisdom, His Generosity.

One of the simplest ways to remember the Creator is to notice these changes.

Yet how often we fail to pause long enough to witness them, until questionable cultural celebrations remind us: Halloween for autumn, Christmas for winter, Easter for spring… it always seems like it reminds us before our hearts do. And what a calamity that is, for the changing of the seasons is one of the greatest signs placed before us to remember Allah.

The turning of seasons brings with it other, greater signs. The entire ecosystem shifts: time, soil, and the living beings within it. People of the past welcomed each new season because they had no choice but to live in harmony with its demands. Food preservation was essential, preparation differed, meals were consumed according to what was available, and homes had to be readied for whatever the coming months required.

💌 I share guides on many of these ancestral homemaking skills so that modern homemakers can take homecooking from scratch more seriously. Consider joining me!

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We can live this remembrance practically, for the body itself was designed to follow this rhythm. Eating with the seasons: apples and pumpkins in autumn, hearty greens in winter, citrus and berries in spring.

And with our children, creation itself can become one of the most powerful teachers. A simple walk outdoors can be an opportunity for hifdh:

• Which ayah speaks of the bees? Of the mountains? Of the drifting clouds? Of hardworking ants?

Memorization does not need to be confined to four walls, it can be done under the open sky, while the heart witnesses the signs themselves.

Every woman should have a small apothecary, even if it’s nothing more than a few jars of dried herbs on a shelf.

An apothecary is a woman’s small treasure, and it reminds that in every leaf, flower, and seed Allah has placed healing, except for death, as the Prophet ﷺ told us (Sunan Ibn Mājah 3436).

Because women have always been the keepers of the home, they were entrusted with the health of their households and families.

Historically, this made the knowledge of herbs, remedies, and natural healing domestic. And so keeping an apothecary (whether it be jars of herbs, oils, salves, or tinctures) was part of a household's wisdom.

Women’s natural connection to the cycles of life—menstruation, childbirth, nursing—linked them to remedies that supported and soothed these states. The apothecary was not just a medical necessity but an extension of a woman’s nurturing role, tending both body and home. And of course, it was logical, given how common foraging was, that the treasures encountered needed to be preserved for easy access upon demand.

To keep an apothecary is to bear witness to Allah’s generosity in creation: the chamomile that calms, the black seed that heals, the ginger that warms. Whether it comes from your own harvest or from the labor of another woman’s hands, it is a trust and a blessing.

There is wholesomeness in choosing an occupation that keeps not only your hands busy but also your heart. Choose hobbies, projects, and leisure activities that nourish you physically and spiritually, for these feed the soul and become teachable skills that future souls may inherit and benefit from.

As women, it is important to remember that whatever we give to our families, we are giving to our communities. And whatever we are giving our communities, we give to the Ummah.

May Allah make our small efforts heavy on the scale, and a means of reviving fitrah-centered womanhood.

With love, Your sister Qamarah.

From Upon Her Fitrah ♡

With snow also comes the end of foraging season, my greatest hobby, but soon the greenery will give in to the cold, and I’m reminded of how everything in Allah’s creation moves in beautiful cycles. Just like the earth, we women are bound to rhythms of our own, and when we honour them, we find the softness and strength of our feminine nature. Alhamdulillah.

I’m trying to still gather as much as I can from what the season still offers—herbs, plants, all while babywearing. It gives me a wild, feminine vibe. Somehow it makes the experience feel even more wholesome, and not to mention the health benefits for babies to be out in the wild: the best thing you can do for your family’s health is to expose them to as many microorganisms as possible.

And then, of course, there’s the kitchen. With the season shifting, I’ve felt my energy waver; I guess that’s a given in all seasonal changes. But still, I’ve been leaning into nourishing meals to support both my body and my family, hoping these little recipes can bring you the same comfort they bring me ♡

I currently prepare food for two, so feel free to double or triple the batch. Shopping list is at the bottom, along with recipe printables.

🗹 Food Prep For This Meal Plan

These are things that are great to make in advance for an easier, more nutritious week.

• Toum (recipe printable attached at the bottom)

• Whole-fat yogurt + strained whey → recipe here

• Almond milk → recipe here

• Sauerkrout, Fermented Carrots and Cucumbers → recipe here

• Bone broth → (soon to be posted on "Back to Basics")

• Sourdough loaf (soon to be posted on "Back to Basics")

• Tortilla Wraps (soon to be posted on "Back to Basics")

• Breakfast: Turmeric Iced Latte and Chia Pudding

  • For the latte: boil a small amount of water, like a 1/4 cup, and stir in 1 tsp or less of turmeric (this will be like your regular shot of espresso). Add ice to your cup/jar, add your milk of choice (I like almond milk and a bit of thick cream, add a splash of vanilla extract (or paste whatever you've got), your sweetener and a pinch of salt. Splash in your turmeric shot and stir. Enjoy.

  • For the chia pudding: Before bed, add about 3 tbsp of chia seeds to a bowl and about a cup of your choice of milk (I used coconut milk), then stir in your sweetener (I’ve been having raw honey with royal jelly and bee pollen for immunity boosting).

• Lunch: Leek omelette with buttery sourdough toast

  • Sauté sliced leeks in a pan. In a bowl, whisk eggs with salt and pepper, then add the leeks. Cook in the pan to make an omelette.

• Dinner: Not Boring Rice and Beans

  • For the beans: sauté 1 chopped onion, a few garlic cloves, and 1 chili (optional) in olive oil. Add 1 tsp each oregano, allspice, cumin, chili powder, and paprika, plus salt and pepper. Stir in 6–8 cups (about 1.2 kg) cooked kidney or black turtle beans and puréed tomatoes. Add ½ cup water (or more) and simmer on low until done.

  • Rice: for today, cook 1½ cups rice with 2 cups broth or water and a little salt.

  • Cilantro Sauce: chop ½–1 bunch cilantro, mix with plenty of olive oil, 2 finely grated garlic cloves, and salt. (even better if you make it in a mortar).

• Snack: Pistachio Bsisia bars

  • Bsisa is a nutrient-rich mixture based on ground barley (like flour) with different additions to it, such as chickpea flour, lentils, fennel, olive oil, orange blossom, and different types of nuts.

  • My favorite one is pistachio bsisa, which makes an EXCELLENT Dubai chocolate with a bottom layer of dates and top layer of sea salt chocolate. I’m perfecting the recipe, so stay tuned for it!

  

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The career, the thriving marriage, the clean and peace-giving home, the well-raised children, the good health, the fulfilled social life, the hifdh, the intellectual stimulation… the list goes on.

But even though this is often repeated as a slogan to push women forward, the reality many of us feel is the opposite. At the end of long, draining days, that sigh slips out: “Can I really balance it all?”

So then, which is one true? The morning motivation “I can juggle it all”, or the evening confession “I can’t”?

I’m gonna say the latter. Because:

1. It is the conscious conclusion of the day we’ve spent → our mind admits what our body already feels at the end of our day.

2. It is the unconscious conclusion of the fitrah → our fitrah reminds us that we’re moving against our natural rhythm.

Let’s go deeper with that. But before we do…

Who I Am & Why I Write

I’m Qamarah, the heart behind Upon Her Fitrah. Here, I call women back to their fitrah—the natural way Allah created us, meant to nurture our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Everything I share is written for the sister whose heart is open to reminders for the sake of Allah. My words are not to judge or condemn those who choose differently. Guidance belongs to Allah alone, and each of us is accountable for her own path. What I write is a seed, a spark, something, by His permission, to strengthen a sister seeking goodness.

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The Mirage of “All”.

Here’s the truth: women can’t have it all.

Because the problem doesn’t lie in wanting it all. It’s in how we’ve defined it.

The “all” modernity sold us is a mirage. It was constructed by colonial inheritance and reinforced by consumerism. It demands everything from us.

The deen of Allah, however, already defined what truly matters. Our fitrah whispers to us what is worth pursuing. The problem is that we’ve been conditioned to distrust that whisper.

Intellectual Colonialism — Why We Distrust Ourselves

Even in places where tradition remains, the elders’ thinking has shifted. It’s not uncommon for the youth to be met with arrogance from the part of elders, or even slapped with indifference when offering naseeha.

The coloniser’s voice has been internalised. It doesn’t feel foreign anymore. So much so that even when no one says it outright, we still feel it inwardly: a stab of shame for being “just” ourselves—without titles, careers, or a savings account that proves independence.

This self-disdain is not natural, but it is normal given the circumstances. It’s the result of years of brainwashing—what I call intellectual colonialism: Another civilisation’s standards were planted in us until we believed our worth lay anywhere but in the design Allah gave us.

When we cover our ears and shut down the noise, we see that the “all” worth having is already aligned with what Islam values:

• A heart connected to Allah → conscious, steadfast, and oriented to the akhirah.

• A home that is a fortress → peaceful for husband, children, and ourselves, contributing to our personal well-being, the well-being of our family, the well-being of our community, and the well-being of the ummah.

• A body cared for → nourished, rested, and maintained as an amanah to support worship both quantitatively and qualitatively.

• A community enriched by us → through kindness, creativity, and service, not burnout and overextension.

This is not a smaller “all.” It is vast but coherent and attainable because it is rooted in the fitrah of the woman.

How Did We Get Here?

1. The Industrial Revolution

2. The Sexual Revolution

3. Globalisation (the invisible coloniser)

Before factories, life was centered around the home. Families produced much of what they ate, wore, and traded. Women’s labor was visible, valuable, intertwined with family life, and most importantly, doable.

The Industrial Revolution shifted that slow, domestic economy into machine factories. The effect was the following:

• Men were increasingly sent into labour in the public market.

• Home production (women’s natural labour) was reduced.

On its own, men going out to work isn’t an issue at all from an Islamic perspective. But what followed was significant:

The household was no longer seen as a site of “real” productivity. Women’s work became invisible, labeled unskilled, while manufactured goods quickly replaced much of what women once made themselves.

Now, you may argue this is progress, but in reality, it was a clever redirection. Families became dependent on wages and goods bought with those wages. In fact, it was a victory for consumerism: homes no longer produced, they consumed.

(Of course, this was the first push of a snowball effect, and in my opinion, one of the main reasons women today feel so dissatisfied as homemakers. But I won’t drift into that tangent here. If you’re curious, I’ve written more on “miserable homemakers” click here).

Once the home was redefined as a place of consumption rather than production, a woman’s labor within it stopped being recognized as valuable. From that moment, society began to say that she was “just a housewife.” And so, the modern idea of “having it all” was born — the demand that she add external productivity to her identity to count.

But of course this was an advantageous plot, cause governments realized:

Why settle for one labor force when you could have two?

If home production was already being reduced, why not put women to “good use” in the market as well?

(You know, since birthing and raising the entire next generation isn’t productive. As if homemaking wasn’t already a full-time, overtime, never-clock-out kind of job 🙂).

The sexual revolution was all about selling women their own chains, because it really was about the freedom to “live for yourself.”

The freedom offered birth control, no-fault divorce, and casual intimacy. These separated women from faith, children, family, and community. They were convinced they’d be more involved in society by taking them away from the roles that made them most important in society to begin with.

What a tragedy to celebrate. And how hollow, then, to call this progress: a generation encouraged to chase itself, with zero zeal of living for something greater.

This runs directly against:

• Islam, which calls for responsibility in every sphere: to Allah, to family, to community, to the Ummah.

  Have you seen the one who takes his desires as his god? (Qur’an 45:23)

• The nature of the woman. Sheikh Salih al-Fawzan mentions in his book, page 3.

  The natural place for the woman is the home and this is the place of her work. This is the origin and this is what is supported by the evidences of the divine legislation. Furthermore, it is in accordance with the fitrah upon which the woman was created. As for the evidences from the Book and the Sunnah for this, then there are numerous texts and incidents that attest to this.

  A Woman's Guide to Raising a Family. A very recommended read.

  

Finally, globalisation spread these values worldwide. Through films, ads, NGOs, etc., the West’s progress became the global standard.

Advancement meant career over motherhood (which is why many women delay their first child well into their 30s, at the edge of their fertile years), individual freedom over family duty, and consumption over contentment.

But many Muslim societies had already weakened in the practice of the deen, most probably as a result of colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Without the Qur’an and Sunnah as an anchor, there was no filter. Ideas of womanhood slipped in unconsciously and were internalised as truth.

The Prophet ﷺ foretold this:

You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also. (Sahih Muslim 2669)

Is this not exactly what happened? They went into the hole of materialism and distorted gender roles and through globalisation, we followed.

Now, the Western “all” has become universal. Even in Muslim lands, women feel inadequate if they are “just wives” or “just mothers.”

When the grounding of correct ʿaqeedah and strong iman is absent, the heart becomes vulnerable, easily swayed by foreign ideologies and silly promises. And so, many of our sisters today have been convinced into practices that our foremothers would have found strange, even reprehensible, like outsourcing the nurturing of their children to daycare, or replacing the natural gift of breastfeeding with bottles and formula.

Why are Muslim women giving in to these trends when the deen of Allah is already sufficient for us? Why do we abandon our nature simply because others — often sellouts to consumerism and empty notions of “progress” tell us to do so?

Where is our pride, our honor, and our tradition? Have we forgotten that true dignity is in submission to Allah, not in imitation of those who seek to erase womanhood from its essence?

So, Can Women Have It All?

Not if we chase the version handed to us by a system that neither knows nor loves us. That “all” will always feel incomplete, because it demands we betray our fitrah in exchange for approval.

But if we reclaim the “all” Islam honors, then yes—every woman can have it all. And it is richer: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Allah reminds us:

“Allah does not burden a soul beyond what it can bear…” (Qur’an 2:286)

The “all” He asks of us is not an impossible juggling act. It is the life of meaning He designed for us, so it isn’t about shrinking dreams at all; it’s about returning to the dreams written into our souls by the One who created us.

And may Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, facilitate this for us.

As it happens, we’ve been stripped away from common ancestral yet basic knowledge, so we now have to take it all on ourselves to learn.

But that's okay, because we don’t have to do it all at once.

Personally, it has taken me a hot minute to gather part of this knowledge. Though there is still some road ahead of me, to say the least.

However, as I go, I shall share what I have learnt with you girlies with the hope that you may revive the art and basic necessity of homecooking along with me.

In this letter (as you’ve probably seen from the title), we’re talking, ferments.

Back in the days, the focus may have been more on food preservation, but today, with fridges, freezers, freeze-dryers, and so on, the focus is more on the health benefits of fermenting food rather than preserving it (although there is definitely a blessing from Allah in the natural way of storing summer’s harvest, too).

So, when we say 'ferments', we’re really talking about gut health. And when we talk gut health, we really are talking health. In general.

Gut health is a cornerstone of overall well-being. A healthy microbiome can support balanced hormones, improve digestion, and even influence mood and energy levels due to the gut-brain connection.

For women, this is even more significant during pregnancy and breastfeeding: for nursing mamas, fermented foods can help improve nutrient absorption and even influence the microbiota in breast milk, which in turn shapes the baby’s developing gut. And since postpartum digestion can often be sluggish, a spoonful or two of kraut can support regularity while nourishing the body with natural probiotics.

As for children, it’s needless to say that they need probiotics just as much as adults—if not more. They support the gut microbiome, leading to a healthy digestive system, thus stronger immunity.

So feed them kraut!

Don’t worry if you’re not a cabbage lover; you can ferment pretty much all veggies (that are safe to eat raw), but I’m providing you with 3 recipes.

• Lacto Fermented Cabbage (sauerkraut)

• Lacto-Fermented Cucumbers (gut-healthy pickles)

• Lacto-Fermented Carrots

Probiotics are available with plenty of different foods, so you don't have to get them just from fermented veggies if it’s not your cup of tea. You can check out the last post on this series → yogurt and probiotic-rich nutmilk.

And stay tuned for future posts! I have a great recipe for probiotic-rich pistachio ice cream, probiotic-rich sodas, etc.

🧪 The Science Behind It:

• Lacto-fermentation is a process driven by microorganisms called LAB (lactic acid bacteria).

• LAB is present on the surface of vegetables, and they thrive in anaerobic, oxygen-free conditions.

• When we add salt to these vegetables, it draws water out of the vegetables which gives us a brine (a liquid environment)t needed for fermentation.

• The brine keeps the vegetables submerged and away from oxygen AND also inhibits the growth of unwanted microbes and molds so that only salt-tolerant beneficial bacteria can multiply (but harmful bacteria are suppressed).

• No dairy is involved—the 'lacto' in lacto-fermentation refers to lactic acid (produced by beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus, amongst others), not lactose.

• These strands of beneficial bacteria feed on natural sugars: as they eat, they produce lactic acid, which preserves the veggie, lowers the pH, and gives the ferments a sour, tangy flavor.

  So… the longer it ferments, the tangier the flavour. Why? Because there’s more bacteria multiplying, thus more probiotics.

This is all the sciency stuff, but don’t worry, making it isn’t so much of a headache, it’s actually VERY simple.

Ingredients and equipment ↓

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But that’s okay (hopefully) because I’m still showing up with this week’s plan PLUS two more letters:

1. Back To Basics: Fermented Vegetables, Probiotic staples.

2. All the Baked Goods: Bready Staples in My Pantry.

As for you free subscribers, content will still be coming out, but blame the paid subscribers for the delay — they’re keeping me busy… the reflections series shall be resumed soon, inshaAllah.

You can read the first post of this series if you’ve missed it:

• Part 1: The Epidemic of Miserable Homemakers

• Part 2: The Epidemic of Miserable Homemakers

This week, we’re keeping it simple with the meals. I think you’ll notice it particularly with the lunches… easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I guess it’s just me getting tired of all this summer’s heat, but don’t worry, they are still very yummy, and also happen to be extremely nutritious too. Walhamdulillah.

So there it is…

🗹 Food Prep For This Meal Plan

This is if you’re making these things (preferably), otherwise you can just buy them.

• Bread for toast and or muffins/bun for breakfast

• Tortilla wraps

• Yogurt (and further-strained yogurt for mascarpone-ish pancake topping)

• Dill Pickles

• Bone broth or Meat stock

• Crackers

• Breakfast: Sourdough Crepes

  • Very high protein crepes, and easily digestible as there is no flour except the starter, which is already well fermented. I do 3 eggs for 1 cup of starter, add a tsp of vanilla extract and there. I like to have it with maple syrup and some full-fat yogurt on the side with banana.

• Lunch: Tuna salad, Crackers and Hard Boiled Eggs.

  • Quick lunch because I don’t put a lot of energy into lunches.

  1. Boil your eggs

  2. Chop small half a red onion, half an apple, and a few pickles and add to a bowl.

  3. In the bowl add your tuna, a 2tbps of good quality mayo, 1 tsp of dijon mustard, some dill.

  4. Eat with crackers and eggs on the side.

  • Sourdough crackers recipe →

• Dinner: Beef Roast with Peas, Carrots, Potatoes and Olives.

  1. Sear the meat, then add an onion chopped into big chunks, a tomato, 4-5 carrots and a few garlic cloves and sautee for a few minutes.

  2. Add bay leaves, half a tsp of turmeric, salt and pepp and add about 2 cups of water and let it cook on low for 2 hours.

  3. Add a few potatoes, the peas and the olives and let it cook until everything is nice and tender.

• Snack: “Extra cream” yogurt with walnuts and maple syrup

  • I made this snack just out of curiosity and needless to say… I’m having it pretty much everyday.

  • Add your yogurt to a bowl, pour some good quality cow cream (I use at least 35% cream, double cream for the UK girlies), pour some maple syrup and walnuts. It’s GOOD in such a silly way.

• Breakfast: Orange blossom Almond Milk Overnight Oats

  • A fave. (When I make this, I don’t strain the almond milk) I take 3-4 dates, half a cup of almonds, as much water as I want the consistency to be and blend until somewhat smooth.

  • In a jar, I add my oats, top with the milk and add about a tsp of orange blossom, mix, and let it thicken in the fridge overnight. SO GOOD.

• Lunch: Jerky, Olives and Sauerkraut.

  • For the Sauerkraut Recipe → Back to Basics series

  • Beef jerky recipe is attached below as a printable.

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