10-10-2005

Pakistan Slimming Business Booms During Ramzan

via thestar.com.my

It should be the quietest time of year at the slimming clinic in the bustling city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, but days before Muslims begin their holy fasting month, business is booming. “We have devised special Ramadan packages,” says the centre’s medical advisor Farzana Sadiq. A vendor selling cream and pistachio-filled sweets made specially for the fasting month. Yet some health experts claim that the huge fast-breaking meal that the faithful tuck in to at the end of the day – traditionally known as Iftar – makes people’s waistlines expand over the course of the 30 days.