How healthy is your average Thai food?

[Zorro]

As far as diet goes in the west apparently we are eating less red meat amd more veggies and drinking less alcohol but still getting fatter.

 

The problem is lack of activity.

 

Our lives are just too sedentary and this is not doing us any good at all. Exercise can undo a lot of damage from bad diet and it is probably even more important than good diet for good health in the long term.

[Guest]

 

"The problem is lack of activity."

 

 

You are correct, sir. Diets, schmeyets! A universal physical law is that if you burn more calories than you ingest you will LOSE weight. You can have a diet of pork rinds and milk shakes, but lose weight. Not that I suggest "unhealthy diets" just proving a point here.

 

 

The kids and adults in western countries are much more sedentary than past generations and the second and third worlds are heading in the same direction. The Thais are an example of this trend. As Cent commented rare to see obese Thais in the villages where physical labor is common, but in Bangkok overweight citizens are not that uncommon. I reckon so.

[june11]

You have some wrong info. Although some studies show that shrimp does not always raise humans chol. level as high as one would expect given the large amount of chol. shrimp actually contains there's no reputable source that says shrmip CONTAINS GOOD CHOLESTEROL. Shrimp raises you LDL, and sometimes slightly raises your HDL (good) chol. But that hardly means it "contains" good chol. It's true that a small amount of alcohol everyday raises your HDL (good chol.), but obviously alcohol doesn't CONTAIN good chol. In sum, shellfish (shrimp) contains alot of CHOLESTEROL. It doesn't make sense say that certain foods contain "good" chol. and certain foods contain "bad" chol. Our bodies produce these, largely based on the type of fat in the food. You can even do your own web search in one minute....and I dare you to post any reliable source that backs up what you're saying.

[june11]

There's alot of healthy thai food, and alot of unhealthy, just like in any country. There are LOTS of vege dishes in both restaurants and food courts. All food courts have many trays of vege/curry only, to go with rice. Just about every thai restaurant has "fried mixed veges in oyster sauce", almost all have morninglory dishes, many kind of salads (like spicy eggplant salad), not to mention somtam. Then on the othe hand, there's deep fried this and that.......etc. etc. etc.

 

I wish I knew the fat (unsat., saturated, and triglyceride) content of pad thai, and how it varies across different vendors/restaurants. I always assumed its not too fatty, but not sure. I eat that a few times a week when in TieLand.

[jxxxl]

For years, I had to take medication to keep my cholesteral under control. This was when I lived in the US. Since I've been living in Thailand, my cholesteral has come down to a reasonable level (not low, but that's genetic so the doctors say). I don't watch what I eat here, but I've always had pretty good eating habits. I eat a lot of meat here which is often quite fatty.

 

Anyway, what is different? In Thailand, I don't eat any snack foods like I did in the US. I used to eat a lot of crap like pretzles, granola bars, crackers and other junk like that. These snack foods contain partially hygroginated oils or transfats. I read transfats are really bad and are put into almost all processed snack foods. I saw a piece on CNN that said transfats may be one of the big contributors to obesity the US.

 

The big difference I see in Thailand is that thais don't eat a lot of processed junk food. When they snak, they eat fruit or nuts or bugs or dried fish.

 

The other big difference is quantity. Thais just don't consume as much food as western people.

[lembeh]

 

>>vege/curry only, to go with rice. Just about every thai restaurant has "fried mixed veges in oyster sauce", almost all have morninglory dishes

 

No offense, but please go back and read what you wrote. Neither "Veg curry" nor "FRIED mix vegs in oyster SAUCE" can be considered as shining examples of healthy preparation of vegetables.

-j-

[Coss]

Cholesterol is an end product, of a process and the western fad of treating the issue by not eating cholesterol is misguided, akin to not eating red things because you got sunburnt.

 

JMHO

 

Coss

[jxxxl]

The production of cholesterol is largely a result of what you eat. And yes, completely eliminating fats from your diet is not the answer to reducing cholesteral. But, if you eat a diet which is high in LDL (animal fat), you will have high cholesteral.

 

My point is, that for me, the kind of diet I have in Thailand is causing my body to produce less cholesterol and I have got it to a manageable level without medication. I think there are two reasons for this. One is a reduction in portion size and the other is elimiation of snack food.

 

In the US, I would eat a huge steak in one setting. Today, when I have beef, it would be a few pieces in a bowl of soup.

[Zorro]

"The production of cholesterol is largely a result of what you eat"

 

This is not actually true.

 

Your liver produces 70% of the body's cholesterol independent of diet.

 

Lots of interesting articles on the Cholesterol myth.

 

Nonetheless, I think you are right about the smaller meals and snacking on fruit etc.

 

I have especially noticed that portion sizes in the US are just huge. You could feed a family of three of four in Thailand on one US type food portion.

[jxxxl]

"This is not actually true.

 

Your liver produces 70% of the body's cholesterol independent of diet.

 

Lots of interesting articles on the Cholesterol myth."

 

I guess this is why some people, me for example, have a hard time getting cholesteral down with diet and hence have to take medication. But, for some reason, my numbers are lower while living here. Could be that my liver is not firing on all cylinders because it's swamped with alcohol.