Healthy Thai Food, Does It Exis?

[templemonkey]

raw bugs

Yummy

Edited September 13, 2013 by templemonkey

[Paangjang]

Lettuce is ok in moderation

Mixed with watercress it's even better.

Maybe mix with water to for extra flavor...

[tw25rw]

Depends who you believe about what is healthy. Personally, I believe the healthiest foods to eat are raw fruit and greens. Both of which are easy and cheap to obtain.

[IMA_FARANG]

Yes there is healthy Thai food but (the kicker) you have to know how to ask for it.

Fortunately my Thai girlfriend taught me how to ask in my first 2 years here. She watched out for me and told them how to cook my food.

In my first two years in Thailand, eating street food ... but with my Thai girlfriend telling them how to cook it

• My blood pressure dropped from 150 over 90 to 130 over 80
• I lost about 50 pounds of fat
• and a lot of problems I was having caused by being very overweight went away

Then I started back eating western food .... high fat, high sugar, and to much fried food.

A stupid choice.

Gained much of the weight back. Blood pressure went back up.

Now I'm back to the Thai food, and I'm losing weight again and blood pressure is coming back to normal.

Sugar and Salt are my two blood pressure triggers.... I'm trying to avoid them.

And of course no MSG

[Kathy2014]

raw bugs

Leave them alive....we have enough other things to eat...let them free...PLEASE.

[Kathy2014]

My favarite Thai healthy cook on tv. กิน อยู่ คือ

[ChrisB87]

Some lightly cooked mushrooms, broccoli, and Pak Choi with chilli and garlic and some ducks eggs! Or at least that's what the missus is whipping up just now!

[Mangosteen1]

I love thai food. considering all the vegetables and not long stored fridge/freezer food it is really healthy.

Does anybody know any thai herbs that makes your legs stronger?Ive heard about and read about lemon-grass.

I checked it up after a khmer boxer said that he drinks lemon grass tea every morning so he has really strong legs. and its true. really good for older people to drink too,

Any other herb?plant? that is good for building strong legs?

[sabaijai]

Western food is healthy? want to laugh out loud

Me too,

[razorramone]

Thai food is too high carb and too low in protein/fat. Eating rice or noodles with every meal its a great way to get obese. Look at middle aged thai people, how many of the women are fat, and how many of the guys are scrawny. That is a reflection of lifestyle and diet.

Look at the average Thai dish and the bulk of the calories in it will come from the big portion of rice or noodles, which are pure carbs, no different to sugar, bread, or any other carb source. The dish will have a small amount of protein, but not a lot, only 10-15g. And very little fat, again 10-15g IF the dish was fried.

The posters above talking about avoiding fat are completely wrong. Fat is crucial for your hormones, brain, your nervous system, and insulin regulation. There's no link proven between eating fat and getting fat, nor between eating fat and heart disease/cholesterol. Thai diets neglects fat a lot.

My advice if you want to be healthy is cook for yourself. Work out what your calorie needs are per day, get a good amount of unsaturated fat and protein, and get the rest of your calories from carbs. Specific food sources aren't important, other than avoiding salt.

Also - all the above is just talking about the macronutrient content of Thai food. I'd say its even worse for micronutrients - your vitamins and minerals. The amount of times you see people eating in restaurants/food courts with NO VEGGIES AT ALL.. a few token bits of chopped onion, carrot, or leaves are not enough.

I would predict that a very large proportion of Thais have iron deficiencies... and zinc, and some vitamin deficiencies too. No surprise there are so many sick people shoving things up their nose to try and feel better.

I'm rambling, but one last piece of advice - don't get sucked in to all these silly herbal remedies you see. "basil will make your brain stronger", "chives will improve your lungs", etc. Thais love all that... but check on the internet first, see if there is any scientific proof. Chances are there wont be.

Edit: http://www.uccs.edu/~Documents/soc/companionspring2012/Ramakrishnan.pdf

Page 2, table 1. Look at the deficiency rates in SE Asia. Insane.

Edited October 29, 2013 by razorramone

[HerbalEd]

Are you kidding? There's plenty of healthy Thai food. Lots of fresh veggies and fruit ... including lots of mushrooms. A broad array of fresh seafood ... esp. steamed and barbecued (not fried) fish, shrimp, squid, etc. While there are indeed some unhealthy food in Thai cuisine, for the most part Thai food is very healthy and wholesome. And I'm speaking as one who has worked in the American and European health food industry for thirty-five years.

BTW, who cares how much sugar some Thai guy uses ... what's that got to do with what you eat?

[thaisabai]

It is not difficult to eat healthy in Thailand if you know what to order. If you visit a restaurant on a regular basis, they will be happy to cook whatever way you prefer it.

also, did you know that in most supermarkets (Tops, Big C and others) you can pick your chicken, lean pork, fish from the shelve, then bring it to the butcher/fish section and have it cooked the way you want. I often pick a piece of pork tenderloin, bring it to the cook and ask him to grill it with little salt & pepper. the cooking is free!

thaisabai

[Kathy2014]

Yes, it does exist....healthy thai food. Nowaday we can see all mixed up food in Thailand, little from Chinese, little from Japanese, moslem , european food....Tom Yam Gung, Somtam, or Insect grilled food are not really thai food. Thai earlier age, lived along the river, in hot climate, we have lots of fresh veggi,Rice, Palm Tree, Coconut tree, chillie, herbst, our eating culture at that time, mostly cooked with fish, steam rice and chillie paste with fresh or steam viggie. Some also eat steam rice with fruits like mangoes or melone.

Later Thai had business and communication with China, Chinese ppl were wise in adapting easily food or veggi to maginficent new food. They started to make chicken farm to have egg, and make new delicious food, then they had pig farm... Thai at that time ate only fish, rice and herbst, starting to eat egg and made easy dessert from egg, palm sugar and coconut milk.....Thai at that time.. learning to cook and eat more chicken meat and pork....then using oil in cooking, we got involved much from ppl who live nearby, we mixed and match our food with more fantacy, here is "Masmann Beef", moslem culture, there is "fried rice" with egg or chicken from chinese, here is Rice with chilie paste and grilled fish, and spicy veggie soup with tammarind...."Gaengsom Phak,"

When first Portugese visited Siam...they bought portugese dessert like Tong Yod, Tong Hyip or Foi Thong, thai dessert culture has changed and adapted to make the experiment with them. We later call thai dessert....sweet sugar with egg in syrup.

Today young generation eating mixed up thai food, really thai food still be chillie paste, curry red or green soup, steam rice , grilled fish....and much of the veggie and herbst. Once on tv, interviewed an old lady who is 100 years old thai, what did she do with the healty, she said she eats only steam rice with fruit like mangoes or Melone.

Now younger generation loves to eat Japanese food, as we believe they are the most healthy food, from the statistic, japanese ppl has really few cancer in Japan, in different, Japanese in Hawaii, have more cancer than Japanese in Japan, due to western food.

In my opinion, every country has the best, good and healthy food, either healthy or not, depending what YOU, yourself, choosing. You are what you eat still up to date....

For my opinion, the more eating easily and plain, back to the nature, not too hot , too spicy, too salty , too fat, too much artificial taste, more fresh veggi and light, the better you'r heathy and happy with the stomach too.

[tim armstrong]

A bit of trivia. Thai food is one of the 6 or 7 distinct cuisines in the world. Like anywhere else the further away fro a large city you get, the fresher and healthier the food gets. We have the best in Thailand according to our visitors. If I go back to Oz I really struggle now to find a good value healthy lunch in your average shopping mall. I usually resort to sushi, which isn't all that healthy. For me except for too much sugar and chilli, thai food is awesome!

[Kathy2014]

"Sugar" ,taste sweet in thai food now, got involved from Chinese cooking culture, and too spicy with too much chilli, also got involved from Isaan food, due to more population people from north eastern living tide in almost everywhere in Thailand and Bkk. Thai earlier age, cooked with fine and not too much of one taste. We shall have base 3 tastes, going well together, and not sweet, if curry with chilli paste, should have naturally little sweet of coconut milk, and cut with fish sauce and little hot of the chilli.

Nowaday, thai eating culture has changed ALOT. Try to eat really good old thai cooking in a good old thai restaurant, you will enjoy more of the thai food.

[MW72]

The healthiest food I eat is when I'm in Thailand. It may be the fact that my gf eats really well but we always eat loads of fresh fruit and vegetables, nearly always boiled rice and loads of fresh seafood. We sometimes have stir fries but in moderation. I've never eaten so much healthy food before. Yes when we visit BKK and I'm drunk I can't resist the kebabs from the street carts but I think the amount of beer I've consumed is more damaging than the kebabs Even if your in a mall and go to MK for a meal there's loads of fresh veg and sea food and it's all boiled not fried. I spent 2 weeks up north in the countryside in November and I didn't see salt on the table once in any restaurant or home we visited and we could see the food being prepared in most places.

Sent from my KFTT using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[lomatopo]

"Healthy Thai Food"

Sounds like the title of one of those "shortest books ever".

What do you eat thats healthy, if im on a health kick i stay away from thai food for a few days eating grill chicken and vegetables i cook at home.

i find myself eating western food cause i dont know local food thats healthy.

this really hit home when i saw a thai guy put atleast 15 teaspoons of sugar on his pad thai

Not sure if you are asking about preparing Thai recipes at home, or finding restaurants which might prepare healthier Thai-inspired dishes, or asking about Thai dishes which might be prepared 'healthily'?

Obviously , if you are preparing food at home you can control the ingredients, flavor profiles and preparation. If you are looking for restaurants which might prepare healthier dishes then you might need to provide a general location, and budget. Lastly, for specific Thai dishes, look for those with a small amounts of protein, and lots of vegetables, prepared with as little salt, oil and sugar as possible.

I'm not sure boiled or steamed white rice is all that healthy.

Note that Palm Sugar might be healthy were it to be made from 100% coconut palm water, but anyone who's witnessed this being made might cringe at the amount of 50 kilo refined white sugar bags used for a batch.

Most of soups, salads, curries, fried rice/noodles might be prepared with an over-abundance of salt, sugar and oil.

If you can't cook for yourself, try to limit your overall intake, supplement your diet with as much fruit and vegetables as you can bear, and try to get as much exercise as your body can handle.

Edited December 14, 2013 by lomatopo

[The Deerhunter]

Lettuce is ok in moderation

Mixed with watercress it's even better.

Maybe mix with water to for extra flavor...

Oh yes, must have the water with lettuce & cress. A lettuce salad is allowed to have watercress in moderation, or raw spinach. Add the raw bugs for flavour AND protein.

Edited August 13, 2014 by The Deerhunter

[logean]

Yes, it does exist....healthy thai food. Nowaday we can see all mixed up food in Thailand, little from Chinese, little from Japanese, moslem , european food....Tom Yam Gung, Somtam, or Insect grilled food are not really thai food. Thai earlier age, lived along the river, in hot climate, we have lots of fresh veggi,Rice, Palm Tree, Coconut tree, chillie, herbst, our eating culture at that time, mostly cooked with fish, steam rice and chillie paste with fresh or steam viggie. Some also eat steam rice with fruits like mangoes or melone.

Later Thai had business and communication with China, Chinese ppl were wise in adapting easily food or veggi to maginficent new food. They started to make chicken farm to have egg, and make new delicious food, then they had pig farm... Thai at that time ate only fish, rice and herbst, starting to eat egg and made easy dessert from egg, palm sugar and coconut milk.....Thai at that time.. learning to cook and eat more chicken meat and pork....then using oil in cooking, we got involved much from ppl who live nearby, we mixed and match our food with more fantacy, here is "Masmann Beef", moslem culture, there is "fried rice" with egg or chicken from chinese, here is Rice with chilie paste and grilled fish, and spicy veggie soup with tammarind...."Gaengsom Phak,"

When first Portugese visited Siam...they bought portugese dessert like Tong Yod, Tong Hyip or Foi Thong, thai dessert culture has changed and adapted to make the experiment with them. We later call thai dessert....sweet sugar with egg in syrup.

Today young generation eating mixed up thai food, really thai food still be chillie paste, curry red or green soup, steam rice , grilled fish....and much of the veggie and herbst. Once on tv, interviewed an old lady who is 100 years old thai, what did she do with the healty, she said she eats only steam rice with fruit like mangoes or Melone.

Now younger generation loves to eat Japanese food, as we believe they are the most healthy food, from the statistic, japanese ppl has really few cancer in Japan, in different, Japanese in Hawaii, have more cancer than Japanese in Japan, due to western food.

In my opinion, every country has the best, good and healthy food, either healthy or not, depending what YOU, yourself, choosing. You are what you eat still up to date....

For my opinion, the more eating easily and plain, back to the nature, not too hot , too spicy, too salty , too fat, too much artificial taste, more fresh veggi and light, the better you'r heathy and happy with the stomach too.

[robertthebruce]

The difference with Western food, or Supermarkets, is there is a choice of Healthy Options in 99 percent of the restaurants, as for supermarkets, there is normally always a healthy option section, with less sugar or salt...

A salad to a Thai person is Lettuce Tomatoes and Sweetcorn ??? , but as we know there is so much more to a Salad than this..

Here in Thailand it's a matter of shopping around and finding the good healthy restaurants..