Avoiding Carbohydrates In Bangkok

[ninjat]

Hi,

I'm trying to avoid carbohydrates as much as possible. Amongst other things, I don't eat rice, pasta and potatoes.

Any ideas for what I should eat while I'm in Bangkok?

(I usually buy street food in double portions without rice, but I would love to hear more ideas)

Thanks.

[Baa_Mango]

som tum ( no msg, order double serving) is always good. Also if you see a Khao Man GAI place, you can order GAI DTOM(boiled gai), which can be good (look for fat tho.), fresh fruit vendor is always good when you get some hunger urges, as well as canned tuna.

Pat PAK ruam MIT (mixed veges, order NO MSG) is good but might be a bit oily depending where its from, order it "bpen GAP" no rice. The omelet is ok again "bpen gap" no rice/bigger serving, i usually order kai jiaw gai instead of the usual pork but i feel eating this too often cant be good because of the amount of oil. Another quick snack is the 15 bat 0% yogurt seven eleven has, I usually get plain flavor. LAB GAI is also a good one but this REALLY depends where you go as typical isaan restaurants will use TERRIBLE chicken for this but the place near my house uses nice chicken breast, no skin or fat parts.

[kelvintkw87]

Avoiding carbs is a wrong impression that has to be stopped! We all need carbs, like how cars need fuel in order to function, carbs are the fuel for humans!

Without carbs, one will feel slightly fatigued and will lose focus. And those who only eat veges and fruits are not free of carbs too as they too have carbs. Bottom line is, eat HEALTHY carbs. Fried food are not healthy carbs.

Guys, if you'd like please ask away - I have a little cache of information from the program that I am attending. I lost 4.4kg in 7 weeks, not following the program fully. God knows how much I can lose if I do follow the program fully.

[Sheryl]

yes, it is not a matter of avoiding carbs per say but of avoiding highly processed carbs...which is often what people mean when they say "carbs".

Processed carbs are a recent development as technology is used to strip natural carbohydrate sources down to what are basically simple sugars.

Our bodies are not designed for this. They are very well designed, though, to handle grains, tubers, fruits and vegetables in their naturally occurring forms; these are what humans have eaten for milleniums.

I think for those who eat mostly Thai food the simplest and most important change to make is to avoid white rice and noodles. Luckily this is much easier than it used to be as brown rice is now widely available, including jasmine varieties.

Harder to avoid is the ubiquitous addition of sugar to dishes, it';s added to almost everything. If you cook at home, it's easy, but it's not going to be possible to avoid if you buy ready made food at the market. but if you avoid overly sweet dishes and absolutely avoid white rice and noodles, you'll be a great deal better off than otherwise.

Aside from the weight loss aspect, ingestion of highly processed carbs can lead to impaired glucose metabolism (insulin resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes) and elevated lipids.

[ozzieovaseas]

I once believed LOS was the holy grail for weight loss, at least for me personally.

After 3 years of trips i had shed nearly 20 kilos of weight that id struggled to do anything about for years. It does come at a loss though, as im lead to believe that any benefits to weight loss have been at the expense of other health complications.

As Sheryl has mentioned, it is the sugar issue that is hard to avoid in Thailand. When i come home between trips i seem to suffer horrendous sugar withdrawals due to utilising my own methods of food preperation that doesnt involve so much sugar.

The other issue is the MSG that is gauranteed to be in just about every somtam and probably a good proportion of everything else in Thailand. I am not sure of the long term affects of its use, although i have heard Thais do suffer a higher percentage of incidences of cancer and heart disease. The fact that its use has been regulated in some countries must mean it can't be to good for you.

Still, as a diet high in noodle soups, somtam and MUCH smaller portions of meat seemed to work wonders for me, i would sooner be thin and hansum man instead of going back to a fulltime western diet.

[HarryWho]

to avoid MSG, carry a notecard that has...

ไม่ใส่ผงชูรส

or say

my sigh pung chew rot nah kah/krup (ka for women, krup for men)

most vendors will understand a simple "No pung chew rot"

[truthbeknown]

Unlike in the west few Thai products list ingredients as not required as in the west. NOTE: For all those street food eaters, etc, SUGAR is in EVERYTHING in Thailand, stated or not. Say what you like about all the various protein diets but doctors in our lifetime will never really know what is best. Certain obvious things are bad, ok to eat in moderation the "good carbs" best to avoid altogether the "bad carbs".

[botmann]

read the third post, the guy knows what he is talkin bout.

Carbs = life. No carbs = death.

Is that so difficult to understand as a mature person? Here's moar of rocket science:

Less carbs = less cals = weight loss.

Moar carbs = moar cals = weight gain.

Why would someone try to avoid carbs? There is a reason people eat food - it is Basal Metabolic Rate, which is an amount of cals burned a day, without any activities included. If u consume less cals than ur BMR is, u lose weight. Doesnt mean u dont have to eat carbs, fats and protein at all, u will die doing so. Healthy Carbs to Fats to Protein ratio is 40/30/30. Thats all to it, srsly, not a rocket science, and google+wiki is always there to help anyone.

[bkkjames]

On the rice thing ( a bit off-topic) we buy the really good (a bit more expensive) stuff for home. Recently I tried a pack of Gabba rice and mix it 1 part gabba, 2 parts homme mali. Excellent is all I can say!

[eslteacher]

som tum ( no msg, order double serving) is always good. Also if you see a Khao Man GAI place, you can order GAI DTOM(boiled gai), which can be good (look for fat tho.), fresh fruit vendor is always good when you get some hunger urges, as well as canned tuna.

Pat PAK ruam MIT (mixed veges, order NO MSG) is good but might be a bit oily depending where its from, order it "bpen GAP" no rice. The omelet is ok again "bpen gap" no rice/bigger serving, i usually order kai jiaw gai instead of the usual pork but i feel eating this too often cant be good because of the amount of oil. Another quick snack is the 15 bat 0% yogurt seven eleven has, I usually get plain flavor. LAB GAI is also a good one but this REALLY depends where you go as typical isaan restaurants will use TERRIBLE chicken for this but the place near my house uses nice chicken breast, no skin or fat parts.

Great post. good food options.

Kow men gai is my favourite but I usually eat it with rice.

For low carbing thats a great option getting the steamed chicken portion and maybe add a boiled egg or two to that meal.

If you're low carbing though, you have to be very wise with your food choices. You have to make sure you get adequate fat intake from good sources of course because you are not consuming carbohydrates. Your body can use fat as an energy source and is actually quite efficient at doing so provided the fat you are consuming is of good quality.

If you cook at home, try some minced chicken, pork omelettes or coconut curry chicken without the rice of course. And the vegetable and fruit intake is important. Try to consume a couple good sized portions throughout the day. Even though they contain your carbs, they are nutritionally dense foods that your body needs.

And always watch out for msg. You'd be surprised how often people use it. And try to avoid foods that are cooked at high temperatures in vegetable oils. The vegetable oils thai people traditionally use cannot be stored or cooked at high temperatures thus they oxidize. Not good to cook with in this scenario. Try cooking wth coconut, palm, macadamia, olive oil, butter or even lard.

[eslteacher]

read the third post, the guy knows what he is talkin bout.

Carbs = life. No carbs = death.

Is that so difficult to understand as a mature person? Here's moar of rocket science:

Less carbs = less cals = weight loss.

Moar carbs = moar cals = weight gain.

Why would someone try to avoid carbs? There is a reason people eat food - it is Basal Metabolic Rate, which is an amount of cals burned a day, without any activities included. If u consume less cals than ur BMR is, u lose weight. Doesnt mean u dont have to eat carbs, fats and protein at all, u will die doing so. Healthy Carbs to Fats to Protein ratio is 40/30/30. Thats all to it, srsly, not a rocket science, and google+wiki is always there to help anyone.

Macronutrient content isnt important. It's the quality of food you eat. The biggest, most important factor is eating REAL food not food that is chemically enhanced, processed that come in microwaveable containers. It's really that simple. There have been populations who have thrived on very high carbohydrate diets like the Kitava, Kuna while some populations have thrived off diets that consisted primarily of fat.

Experiment though because some people might feel better on diets higher in carbohydrates, some might feel better on diets higher in fat. Do what makes you feel the best. Everybody is different.

[eslteacher]

Avoiding carbs is a wrong impression that has to be stopped! We all need carbs, like how cars need fuel in order to function, carbs are the fuel for humans!

Without carbs, one will feel slightly fatigued and will lose focus. And those who only eat veges and fruits are not free of carbs too as they too have carbs. Bottom line is, eat HEALTHY carbs. Fried food are not healthy carbs.

Guys, if you'd like please ask away - I have a little cache of information from the program that I am attending. I lost 4.4kg in 7 weeks, not following the program fully. God knows how much I can lose if I do follow the program fully.

Carbs are not essential. People can feel great on low carb diets providing they do it correctly. Carbs are not the the bodies only preferred energy source. And low carb diets are also incredibly effective for weight loss and those with metabolic syndrome.

[tominbkk]

read the third post, the guy knows what he is talkin bout.

Carbs = life. No carbs = death.

Is that so difficult to understand as a mature person? Here's moar of rocket science:

Less carbs = less cals = weight loss.

Moar carbs = moar cals = weight gain.

Why would someone try to avoid carbs? There is a reason people eat food - it is Basal Metabolic Rate, which is an amount of cals burned a day, without any activities included. If u consume less cals than ur BMR is, u lose weight. Doesnt mean u dont have to eat carbs, fats and protein at all, u will die doing so. Healthy Carbs to Fats to Protein ratio is 40/30/30. Thats all to it, srsly, not a rocket science, and google+wiki is always there to help anyone.

The body is much more complex than calories in calories out. Eating grains for humans is a realtivley new concept....we can thrive just fine on colorful veggies, green veggies, meat, and eggs.

[eslteacher]

read the third post, the guy knows what he is talkin bout.

Carbs = life. No carbs = death.

Is that so difficult to understand as a mature person? Here's moar of rocket science:

Less carbs = less cals = weight loss.

Moar carbs = moar cals = weight gain.

Why would someone try to avoid carbs? There is a reason people eat food - it is Basal Metabolic Rate, which is an amount of cals burned a day, without any activities included. If u consume less cals than ur BMR is, u lose weight. Doesnt mean u dont have to eat carbs, fats and protein at all, u will die doing so. Healthy Carbs to Fats to Protein ratio is 40/30/30. Thats all to it, srsly, not a rocket science, and google+wiki is always there to help anyone.

The body is much more complex than calories in calories out. Eating grains for humans is a realtivley new concept....we can thrive just fine on colorful veggies, green veggies, meat, and eggs.

Bingo.

[cameravisio]

Want more energy ? stop eating

Foods that rob your energy: meats, eggs, dairy etc.

Foods for health: fruits

Calorie - heat measurement. Has no meaning for the body/diet

[eslteacher]

Want more energy ? stop eating

Foods that rob your energy: meats, eggs, dairy etc.

Foods for health: fruits

Calorie - heat measurement. Has no meaning for the body/diet

[tominbkk]

Want more energy ? stop eating Foods that rob your energy: meats, eggs, dairy etc.

Foods for health: fruits

Calorie - heat measurement. Has no meaning for the body/diet

Quality (and semi-fatty) meat, eggs, colorful veggies and green veggies, occasionally some low glycemic legumes. That's what we thrive on and survive on. They will give you energy through the roof.

Throw out the fruits, but keep the berries. The genetically refined sugary fruit like pineapple, banana, oranges, apples, etc has way too much fructose, that adversely affects insulin levels and speeds up the aging process (and makes you fat and slow). Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries (and an occasional piece of melon) are where you need to go if you want something 'fruity'. Don't overdo these products though.

Don't believe the perpetrators of the Standard American Diet (SAD) regime, and their sanctimonious guidelines for health. It is a corrupt policy and diet philosophy paid for by the heavily subsidized grain, dairy, and fruit conglomerates.

I do agree with you on dairy, to a point. Low fat and Skim milk is deadly. A little heavy cream or cheese is ok, but in moderation. I use coconut cream and coconut milk mostly though, as well as coconut oil for most of my cooking. Read up on coconut products and why they are so good for you. It's <deleted>' rocket fuel! Ttry to get organic though (it is out there, but you have to look).

Those that see my post and are in the know will know that I am into the paleo diet. I also use intermittent fasting and other timed meal tricks. It has helped me lose a ton of weight, given me a ton of energy, and my doctor checkups are outstanding. Go figure!

Your towing the party line is old news, Cameravisio. There is a whole new field of eating out there that goes against big agri-business, and is threatening the giants of industry that have brought us industrialized refined sugary starchy non-foods. Do a little reading. I would be happy to point you to all kinds of excellent literature in cutting edge nutritional news. Just let me know! You need open eyes, to open your mind!

Edited September 30, 2011 by tominbkk

[eslteacher]

Want more energy ? stop eating Foods that rob your energy: meats, eggs, dairy etc.

Foods for health: fruits

Calorie - heat measurement. Has no meaning for the body/diet

Quality (and semi-fatty) meat, eggs, colorful veggies and green veggies, occasionally some low glycemic legumes. That's what we thrive on and survive on. They will give you energy through the roof.

Throw out the fruits, but keep the berries. The genetically refined sugary fruit like pineapple, banana, oranges, apples, etc has way too much fructose, that adversely affects insulin levels and speeds up the aging process (and makes you fat and slow). Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries (and an occasional piece of melon) are where you need to go if you want something 'fruity'. Don't overdo these products though.

Don't believe the perpetrators of the Standard American Diet (SAD) regime, and their sanctimonious guidelines for health. It is a corrupt policy and diet philosophy paid for by the heavily subsidized grain, dairy, and fruit conglomerates.

I do agree with you on dairy, to a point. Low fat and Skim milk is deadly. A little heavy cream or cheese is ok, but in moderation. I use coconut cream and coconut milk mostly though, as well as coconut oil for most of my cooking. Read up on coconut products and why they are so good for you. It's <deleted>' rocket fuel! Ttry to get organic though (it is out there, but you have to look).

Those that see my post and are in the know will know that I am into the paleo diet. I also use intermittent fasting and other timed meal tricks. It has helped me lose a ton of weight, given me a ton of energy, and my doctor checkups are outstanding. Go figure!

Your towing the party line is old news, Cameravisio. There is a whole new field of eating out there that goes against big agri-business, and is threatening the giants of industry that have brought us industrialized refined sugary starchy non-foods. Do a little reading. I would be happy to point you to all kinds of excellent literature in cutting edge nutritional news. Just let me know! You need open eyes, to open your mind!

Coconut products are fantastic. I do nearly all my cooking with Coconut oil along with macadamia oil and butter. Coconut water is essentiall natures gatorade.

You're absolutely right about the SAD diet but I really didnt want to get into too much. But what they recommend is truly astounding. Look at how the whole low-fat craze started. It really started to pick up momentum with Ancel Keys 7 country study but like the China Study it was incredibly sketchy and missing a ton of data that was conveniently excluded from the study.

[tominbkk]

Coconut products are fantastic. I do nearly all my cooking with Coconut oil along with macadamia oil and butter. Coconut water is essentiall natures gatorade.

You're absolutely right about the SAD diet but I really didnt want to get into too much. But what they recommend is truly astounding. Look at how the whole low-fat craze started. It really started to pick up momentum with Ancel Keys 7 country study but like the China Study it was incredibly sketchy and missing a ton of data that was conveniently excluded from the study.

Mmmm love me some coconut water! So good after a workout, talk about instant hydration!

Also +1 on China study....manipulating statistics to benefit your favorite agro-industries...

Edited September 30, 2011 by tominbkk

[Firefan]

Hi Tom. I have only found organic coconut oil here - no other organic coconut products like milk Etc. Do you have a source for organic coconut milk? Cheers!

[czGLoRy]

Want more energy ? stop eating

Foods that rob your energy: meats, eggs, dairy etc.

Foods for health: fruits

Calorie - heat measurement. Has no meaning for the body/diet

Meat and Eggs are some of the best sources of energy for mankind throughout history. Only recently are they fked up with things that could hurt your energy, like added antibiotics, hormones, bacteria due to unclean conditions, etc. Eat free range grass fed meats and you would be shocked at the difference.

The China study had one "study" posted, I don't have a reference, but when I looked into it the reuslts were pretty hillarious. It said in one study red meat eaters (first of all.. huge difference between meat where the animal eats normally,healthily, and when it eats bullshit that only birds eat, grains. Look it up, the omega fatty ratios get thrown out of whack so badly its scary when they eat that way (Us too?). Anyway,s int he study it said

2x risk of cancer in some population who ate red meat, but they didn't state in the book there was roughly 14x cancer rate increase in the vegetarians in the same area

Edited December 28, 2011 by czGLoRy

[czGLoRy]

also +1 to coconuts being the best thing in the world. Lots of healthy saturated fats, awesome for cooking, can eat it straight, good for massages, skin care, stores easily, not too expensive. Coconut water is the most refreshing drink when parched as well! Not that much sugar also. A+