The difficulty of avoiding sugar in Thailand.

[transam]

5 minutes ago, Keeps said:

That's a bit of an inappropriate comment in these days of wokeness......................some people enjoy 0% beer.......

They do................

[Ralf001]

10 hours ago, Felton Jarvis said:

Has anyone else noticed this???

Not something I have noticed.... but then only consume food I consume is cooked at home.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Ralf001
speeling error

[Keeps]

1 minute ago, transam said:

They do................

Joking. I was actually referring to the last two words of his post. 

[novacova]

9 hours ago, ChipButty said:

putting sugar on chips I have to be honest I've never seen that, salt ok, I mostly make chips at home I dont often order them outside, great done in the air fryer, 

Every bag of Thai chips is dosed with sugar ???? 

Edited September 8, 2023 by novacova

[novacova]

10 hours ago, Felton Jarvis said:

I am pre-diabetic and try to completely avoid sugar in my diet. Restaurants here in Pattaya make that difficult.

One high-profile Norwegian restaurant uses sweetened condensed milk in their scrambled eggs. Another popular 

restaurant, owned by an Australian, sprinkles sugar on French Fries. You can’t reason with them because they deny

using sugar in their recipes. Has anyone else noticed this???

I don’t like sugar in my food at all, my wife now only cooks with olive oil and no sugar, everything from scratch and spicy I like. There’s a couple of my favorite places I eat at and just have the cook without adding flavorings, plain pork chili and vegetables. 

[Furioso]

It's very possible that if you have diabetes or pre-diabetes your liver is a very high 30% fat, and thus the fat has even spilled over to your pancreas. Doctors first came up with this theory, even they thought this theory was unlikely--so they decided to "kill the theory". They put a bunch of diabetic volunteers on a very calorie restricted diet(in order to lose fat FAST) of something like 800 calories a day. 

 

Incredibly their theory was right! It is the fat in your liver and pancreas that's causing diabetes and pre-diabetes. You don't have to go on such a restrictive 800kcal diet to cure your diabetes, they did that just to find out if their cockamamie theory was right.  You probably have a fat % threshold you have to get under. As long as you stay under that % your diabetes symptoms will not return. It's up to you to find your fat threshold % and stay under. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Furioso

[Gottfrid]

4 hours ago, Felton Jarvis said:

Both the restaurants I mentioned are top class restaurants. I actually would be better off eating street food but Thai food is something I can only eat occasionally. I am NOT a fan of Thai cuisine.

No, they are not top class, period! Top class restaurants that serve french fries sprinkled with sugar, does not exist! Just lay it to rest.

[save the frogs]

9 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Agree, and my blood sugar level has always been extreme high end of normal.  Knockin' on 69 yrs old, pastry & ice cream junkie, and so far, not diabetic ... ????  Every doc has told me to cut back.

you're pushing your luck.

it's not just sugar that's the problem.

pastries have crappy seed oils. 

ice cream has high fructose corn syrup. co-founder of ben & jerry's had a quintuple by-pass. 

 

[bignok]

15 hours ago, Felton Jarvis said:

I am pre-diabetic and try to completely avoid sugar in my diet. Restaurants here in Pattaya make that difficult.

One high-profile Norwegian restaurant uses sweetened condensed milk in their scrambled eggs. Another popular 

restaurant, owned by an Australian, sprinkles sugar on French Fries. You can’t reason with them because they deny

using sugar in their recipes. Has anyone else noticed this???

Cook your own food

[bignok]

5 hours ago, Keeps said:

That's a bit of an inappropriate comment in these days of wokeness......................some people enjoy 0% beer.......

Not too bright paying high prices for 0% beer

[rwill]

It is very difficult to eat out in Thailand without getting some sugar.  Thai's love sweet stuff.

 

I have cut way back on eating rice, bread, potatoes, sugar, etc.. (also do intermittent fasting).  I wouldn't say I am on a strict Keto diet.  Before I was taking 1000Mg of metformim a day and my A1C was around 6.2 to 6.5.  After a couple of months on the new diet and stopping all my medications my A1C is now 5.4.

[AlfonsV]

20 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

After years I did another attempt to find unsweetened condensed milk. Gave up.

Sweetened, sweetened AND mixed with palm oil (another "healthy" highlight) or completely from palm oil (faking).

So I remain tied to coffee mate. Made of:

palm oil ☹️

coffee mate is so artificial and not tasty, I don't take it anymore since years. I changed to Americano black

[Lacessit]

20 hours ago, KhunLA said:

I came to my opinion, because of my research.  

 

Believe what you want, but sweets & pastry have been a mainstay of my diet, forever, and still no ill effects, coming up on 69 years.  

 

Though never a sugary soda pop drinker, or alky, so avoid most of the sugar others consume, along with avoiding overly processed food.

Your statistical sample of a single person is meaningless in terms of the general population.

Perhaps you are fortunate in having good genes for insulin production.

It would be difficult to find a doctor who does not recommend pre-diabetics restrict their sugar intake, perhaps you know better than them.

Please post a link to the research which claims sugar is not harmful.

[Lacessit]

In Thailand, I have found the only way to avoid sugar in food is to cook it myself.

[sikishrory]

Did you get the a1c test already?

My dad and granny has diabetes and my blood sugar kept creeping up to the point it was at prediabetes levels 100-125 a few times a week. I was convinced I had prediabetes for months. When I went to hospital they found the a1c was completely normal and I didn't have it.

Diabetes is a symptom of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can be improved by lifting weights or using resistance bands or exercise in general.

Eating triggers insulin so even fasting a bit and skipping breakfast can help.

French fries is not really something you should be eating with prediabetes.

As for sugar in everything. Yeh it's annoying. This is why everytime I go to hospital the diabetes department is full of Thais.

Pattaya is full of poor food options and not much healthy food. I had a similar problem just trying to get no sugar on my vegetables.

Best way is to blanch them yourself.

I really struggle to think of any place in pattaya offering anything healthy.

Easy Health was ok. It's not great but it's better than most places.

 

[Bangkok Barry]

Diabetes is a major, major problem in Thailand. Now, I wonder why. Couldn't be the massive sugar intake, could it? When I make my three-monthly visit to my drug dealer there, I have to make sure I avoid the weekly diabetes treatment day at my local Homo Sapiens Maintenance and Repair Centre when the place is overflowing with 'customers'. How Thai food got a worldwide reputation for being healthy is beyond me.

[Don Chance]

You can get this on Lazada.

 

 

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Your statistical sample of a single person is meaningless in terms of the general population.

Perhaps you are fortunate in having good genes for insulin production.

It would be difficult to find a doctor who does not recommend pre-diabetics restrict their sugar intake, perhaps you know better than them.

Please post a link to the research which claims sugar is not harmful.

Reading comprehension of my post would avoid you asking for research.  Obviously many, most don't read or watch what I link, and I'm not going to waste time repeating myself.

 

Re-read what I've posted slowly & carefully, as I don't think I need to add any more to be understood.

 

I'll do me, which seems to work just fine, you do you ... ENJOY

Edited September 9, 2023 by KhunLA

[JackGats]

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Which are the "fake" yoghurts and how could you know how they are made?

Difficult to tell since they are so overloaded with sugar you cannot taste any real yoghurt (slightly bitter) aftertaste. However, their texture alone is suspicious. They have the oily texture of face lotion or shower gel. 

 

P.S. Sugar should be the big issue in Thailand, not crystal meth. Sugar is the elephant in the room. Meth is the mouse everyone wants to be chasing around the room.

Edited September 9, 2023 by JackGats

[bignok]

18 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Agree, and my blood sugar level has always been extreme high end of normal.  Knockin' on 69 yrs old, pastry & ice cream junkie, and so far, not diabetic ... ????  Every doc has told me to cut back.

 

But table/white sugar, mostly used at bakeries, and some brown sugar, is the better of the sugars, relative.  That might explain it, and as stated, avoid sugar drinks and alcohol.  Mostly home cooking, so overly processed food intake is at a minimum.

 

Either very lucky, or from my experience, sugar itself, in my diet, is not the demon it's made out to be.

 

YMMV ... with your types of sugar & genetics.

Buffet 92. Junk food whole life. 

[bignok]

5 minutes ago, JackGats said:

Difficult to tell since they are so overloaded with sugar you cannot taste any real yoghurt (slightly bitter) aftertaste. However, their texture alone is suspicious. They have the oily texture of face lotion or shower gel. 

All yoghurts except Greek have sugar. Thai yoghurts are good.

[Spock]

20 hours ago, moogradod said:

Sugar on french fries ? Is this a US thing ? Fries are eaten with salt (and even more than less) and mayonnaise (not ketchup). I have been living for a while in the Be NeLux from where the french fries are supposed to have been originated. And they make indeed the best fries.

He said it was an Australian restaurant that put sugar on fries, something which as an Australian I have never come across.

[moogradod]

36 minutes ago, Spock said:

He said it was an Australian restaurant that put sugar on fries, something which as an Australian I have never come across.

Aha. Sorry, I overlooked that. Maybe because I had the 3 usual suspects in mind if it comes to bad taste (US - exept for their phantastic Smoked Ribs, UK - exept for their phantastic Seville Bitter Orange Marmelade and Australia may be for their love for Vegemite.

[The Theory]

I always mention no sugar, no msg, no salt, but sometimes I feel that the food still contained msg. The cook works without thinking ????????

[moogradod]

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

In Thailand, I have found the only way to avoid sugar in food is to cook it myself.

I love cooking, but because of the receipes. But then there are dishes that are difficult to get right at home (Peking Duck for example). I would not drastically refrain from restaurant food. I agree, diabetes is a bad sickness because it might kill slowly. I am diabetic II for more than 30 years and I eat and drink what I like. Just had a Pepsi (normal version). OK, takes the support of insulin. That is expensive. For a diabetic type 1 the situation is more serious. Some have to count their "bread Units" befor eating. I find this idea terrible and I really feel sorry for those.

[JackGats]

1 hour ago, bignok said:

All yoghurts except Greek have sugar. Thai yoghurts are good.

Surely you mean "all yoghurts in Thailand". Any supermarket in Europe stocks several brands of yoghurts without sugar and the labelling is clear. The taste is a challenge if you're accustomed to sugary yoghurt.

 

Breakfasts in European hotels will feature at least one bulk yoghurt where it says something like "nature", which means nothing added. One or two other yoghurts will be available but even they will not be revoltingly sweet. They will mostly be with added fruits (like cherry) which of course contain some form of sugar by themselves. Their texture will be much like the "Greek" yoghurt sold at a gold prices at Tops or Villa Market.

 

EU countries have been waging a low-key war on added sugar for decades now, with mixed results. Thailand has not even begun yet.

[bignok]

3 minutes ago, JackGats said:

Surely you mean "all yoghurts in Thailand". Any supermarket in Europe stocks several brands of yoghurts without sugar and the labelling is clear. The taste is a challenge if you're accustomed to sugary yoghurt.

 

Breakfasts in European hotels will feature at least one bulk yoghurt where it says something like "nature", which means nothing added. One or two other yoghurts will be available but even they will not be revoltingly sweet. They will mostly be with added fruits (like cherry) which of course contain some form of sugar by themselves. Their texture will be much like the "Greek" yoghurt sold at a gold prices at Tops or Villa Market.

 

EU countries have been waging a low-key war on added sugar for decades now, with mixed results. Thailand has not even begun yet.

Hard to make yoghurt with zero sugar.

[bignok]

1 hour ago, Spock said:

He said it was an Australian restaurant that put sugar on fries, something which as an Australian I have never come across.

Unusual. Salt on fries is the norm. 

[PeterA]

If you are Pre-diabetic, you should eat like you are already one.

There are loads of things not to eat, and some you can eat in moderation.

I am now with type 2. I got no information from the local hospital on diet, so I had to use the internet for all my info.

Potatoes and rice are two things to stay away from, as well as beer, white breads, processed foods like most cereals.

You can eat something with a dash of sugar, as long as you keep it to once a day or less.

I suggest getting a diabetes test kit from your local pharmacy. Test strips too, and start checking it yourself when trying different foods.

Once you have diabetes, you will have to drastically change your eating habits, so it is best to fix it before you become a full fledged diabetic.

[ozimoron]

On 9/8/2023 at 9:06 AM, Felton Jarvis said:

I am pre-diabetic and try to completely avoid sugar in my diet. Restaurants here in Pattaya make that difficult.

One high-profile Norwegian restaurant uses sweetened condensed milk in their scrambled eggs. Another popular 

restaurant, owned by an Australian, sprinkles sugar on French Fries. You can’t reason with them because they deny

using sugar in their recipes. Has anyone else noticed this???

I always order my Thai food cooked without sugar. Works for me.