The late Dr. Diaa Al-Awadhi never published his lists as a simple "allowed/forbidden" split; many items are allowed on a condition — a limited amount, a specific preparation, or rotation across days. To simplify this, followers adopted a colour code that became the common language of the tables, files and apps. This guide explains each zone, gives examples from this site's database (146 items documented from the system's own sources), and shows what to do when sources disagree.
Green zone: the daily base
Foods eaten every day without rotation: the five basics (rice, potatoes, dates, butter, sugar), plus extra-virgin olive oil for cold use, corn and sunflower oil for frying, natural baladi ghee, natural cream, sweet potatoes, olives, cane vinegar, green tea, moghat, and natural seasonings (salt, black pepper, cumin). This zone is deliberately small: it is the "default plate" a follower returns to when unsure what to eat.
Yellow zone: allowed with conditions
The largest and most detailed zone. Items are allowed, but each has its condition:
- All sea fish, preferably grilled; fresh sardines with the bones. (Farmed fish such as tilapia and mullet are red.)
- Wild birds only: pigeon, quail and turtle dove — "the only acceptable birds, feeding on clean grain".
- Aged cheeses: Roumi, cheddar, Gouda (three months or more), Edam, Emmental, Parmesan, Kashkaval, natural mozzarella, and processed triangles except Kiri.
- Fruit: ripe and peeled (apples, pears, peaches, plums); grapes and strawberries washed with baking soda or apple vinegar; bananas in moderation; pomegranate without seeds; black figs only; dried fruit.
- Permitted cooked vegetables: okra, taro, pumpkin, cooked carrot (raw is forbidden), and whole corn on the cob.
- Nuts: walnuts, cashews, pistachios, pine nuts, peanuts, and natural tahini.
- Sweets: honey, dark tahini halva, sesame brittle, basbousa "without eggs, from a bakery", and Nutella "on the two feasts" (special occasions).
- Drinks: Turkish coffee, citrus juice in small amounts, thyme, black honey (molasses), and certain "trusted" packaged juices (guava, grape, apricot qamar al-din).
Orange zone: rotating protein
Red meat (lamb, beef, buffalo), camel, goat, rabbit and boiled veal, together with offal: liver (except chicken liver), trotters, knuckle, mumbar and head meat. The rule: one portion every other day, never daily, and not more than one kind on the same day.
Purple zone: rarely, or for special cases
Items allowed on occasions or under strict limits: jam made from permitted fruit, dark chocolate, quail and pigeon eggs ("the sole exception to the egg ban"), zucchini and eggplant stuffed with rice or meat (fresh they are forbidden), mango "juiced only", guava "without seeds", coconut as fruit and water (not milk), unsalted almonds, and gummy sweets "from a trusted source".
Red zone: forbidden
The best known: chicken, duck, goose and turkey; eggs; milk and fresh dairy (yoghurt, rayeb, labneh, cottage cheese, feta, Kiri); plant milks of every kind; legumes, above all soy; raw vegetables, leafy greens, crucifers, peppers, cucumber, onion and garlic; white flour, pasta, pastries and oriental sweets; oats, quinoa, couscous and cornflakes; margarine and hydrogenated oils; shrimp, crustaceans, molluscs and farmed fish; watermelon, melon, oranges and tangerines, lemons (juice allowed), kiwi, avocado, pineapple and papaya; black tea, instant coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, malt drinks, alkaline water and fresh juices; artificial spices and ready-made sauces; milk chocolate and ice cream.
How to handle mixed dishes
The rule this site's AI checker uses: a dish takes the colour of its worst ingredient. Koshari (lentils + pasta + onion) is red three times over; vine-leaf mahshi is red because vine leaves are forbidden "even stuffed"; zucchini or eggplant mahshi is purple. Rice with meat is yellow/orange depending on the protein day. A ready-made sauce turns any dish red.
When sources disagree
Because the system accumulated over years of videos, you will find items one source puts in yellow and another in red: tomatoes, molokhia, green beans, crab, sunflower seeds, peanuts. Handle them this way:
- Look the item up on the Foods page; if it is there, the zone comes from the system's official sites with the condition quoted verbatim.
- If it is absent it is probably disputed — we deliberately left it out rather than guess. Treat it as "allowed with caution" or avoid it.
- Do not rely on anonymous tables circulating on social media; many mix old and new versions of the lists.