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***SOURCES***

Pew survey showing lots of secular Muslims in former Soviet states. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-overview/

Pew survey showing most U.S. Muslims fast for Ramadan: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/15/most-u-s-muslims-observe-ramadan-by-fasting-during-daylight-hours/

2021 literature review on Ramadan vs non-Ramadan fasting and weight loss: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2020.625240/full

On the good and bad things that Lachnospiraceae may do to our health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7232163/

2021 paper on Ramadan fasting and gut microbiome: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522007079?via%3Dihub

Scholarly comment on the microbiome study I mentioned: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/113/5/1075/6169152

2015 review comparing different fasting schedules: https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/73/10/661/1849182

2022 paper on how fasting lowers blood pressure: https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpregu.00283.2021

2022 literature review on fasting and metal health: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/dm/2022/5653739/

2018 study showing fasting helps regenerate intestinal stem cells: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1934590918301632