Favorite Health Food Stores In Chiang Mai?

[TheVicar]

There may well be all those fast foods outlets you talk of, but probably over 90% of thais never go to them, or perhaps visit them once or twice a year.

Agreed and Thai shops and mini marts were selling the same junk that 7/11 sells long before they got here, so they can't be blamed as the main cause for obesity in Thailand either.

You are so factually challenged.

1) there were virtually NO Thai fast food outlets before 7-11.

2) There were mom and pop operations selling things in small stores that looked somewhat like modern convenience stores but they did NOT sell slurpies, big gulps, hot dogs etc.

You simply claim many things that are factually nonsense.

Edited December 7, 2012 by TheVicar

[TheVicar]

No one claimed than Thais do not eat in Western fast food outlets. The argument was about Western fast food being the cause of obesity in Thailand. Most posters seem to agree that it is not.

Wow! You cannot even remember what you posted yourself. These are your words bucko: "Most Thais don't eat much Western fast food..." That's you in post #81 here.

There are other examples from people making the ridiculous claim that Thailand has few fast food outlets and that Thais do not eat in Western fast food outlets above too. Like this from HelloDolly: "Most Thai towns don't have any of these fast food outlets and the ones that do are inconsequential to the amount of people in the city."

Edited December 7, 2012 by TheVicar

[femi fan]

Post #120 is a persuasive post in my opinion.

I know by my own experience that 20 years ago living in bangkok that there were none or very very few 7/11s. I do recall being in bkk somewhere in the late 90s i think when the 500th 7/11 opened up, thinking at the time that thailand was beginning to get hijacked by the western retail corporations. I also recall McDs being sufficiently new to bkk by the teaching materials i was preparing in those days. I hardly ever saw an overweight kid or adult.

Gradually the proliferation of dunkin donuts and the whole range of american garbage food entered thai consciousness, especially students who came to see going to them as being cool.

Nowadays we have rather more overweight thais, and it's either a coincidence or not that the increase in thai people's waistlines matches the increase in chances to go to these 'food' outlets. Clearly it's the same combination of fats, sugars, and salts that so addicted westerner's tongues that is now tripping up thais.

To be honest, all that fast food stuff must surely be criminal? It is ruinous to a human's health.

As for the argument that thais are getting fatter because they're eating more because they're richer, well yes, they're eating all that more expensive american 'food' that is now pushed down their throats through the marketing medium.

And it must be noted that drinking pepsi or coke every day is most likely going to make you fat regardless of what one eats.

[mamborobert]

Any risk of this post returning to original topic?

Did not realise that CM is .now the Dietician retirement capital of the world

Favourite health food shop for me would be 99% of the fresh produce at San Pakoy markets....

[leafmould]

on the subject of muesli, the swiss guy who invented it meant it to be soaked overnight, with either water or milk, then it's a very different dish and you need much less too. i know of some yogis who eat similar to this as part of a raw food diet from different source.

Edited December 7, 2012 by leafmould

[butterisbetter]

2. Given your name, if you are connected to a baking operation that uses lots of butter, don't you have an undeclared vested interest here? Most of the authorities on food and nutrition will also point out that butter is bad for the body.

Debaters often dream about moments like this when their opponent serves them up something big and slow to swat out of the ballpark. So I want to thank you. If Better is Better were a kingdom, I don't know whether I would make you a knight or a court jester. (Come to think of it, I do know).

The thing is, you do know who we are. Not only by our name but by the fact that we advertise here. So our interests are out there for all to see. We're not hiding anything. But we don't have a clue as to who you are. Until you prove otherwise, I don't think it's unfair for the many of us whose character you have impugned in various postings to assume that your comments here and elsewhere are served by your own corrupt self interest. And once again, thanks. With opponents like you, who needs allies?

[butterisbetter]

No one claimed than Thais do not eat in Western fast food outlets. The argument was about Western fast food being the cause of obesity in Thailand. Most posters seem to agree that it is not.

Wow! You cannot even remember what you posted yourself. These are your words bucko: "Most Thais don't eat much Western fast food..." That's you in post #81 here.

There are other examples from people making the ridiculous claim that Thailand has few fast food outlets and that Thais do not eat in Western fast food outlets above too. Like this from HelloDolly: "Most Thai towns don't have any of these fast food outlets and the ones that do are inconsequential to the amount of people in the city."

Time for a lesson in basic logic. We have 2 statements: No one claimed than [sic]Thais do not eat in Western Fast Food outlet" "Most Thais do not eat much Western Fast food."

Western fast food in Thailand is found in Western food outlets. So for any Thai to eat western fast food, he or she would have to eat Western fast food in a western fast food outlet. Whether this Thai person eats a lot or a little Western fast food. So it could be that 90 percent of the Thais eating in a western fast food outlet eat a litte, and 10% eat a lot. What do you find contradictory about those 2 statements?

Let's try to make this easy for you. We will first consider the class (A) of Thai people who have eaten any fast food at all. Then we will consider the class of Thais who eat a lot of Western fast food (. It is mathematically nearly impossible that these 2 groups are identical. The odds are mathematically overwhelming that B is a smaller subset of A. The question then arises how much smaller? The answer is that we do not know. At least not on the basics of the statistics presented.

Until you provide us the statistics on market penetration by Western fast food outlets, and, better yet, caloric percentage of the average Thai diet that comes from Western style fast food, all your assertions are moot. Basically a belief fueled by a lot of emotion. Don't have any figures for how much emotion, but I'd hazard a guess and say way too much.

Edited December 7, 2012 by butterisbetter

[Ulysses G.]

There may well be all those fast foods outlets you talk of, but probably over 90% of thais never go to them, or perhaps visit them once or twice a year.

Agreed and Thai shops and mini marts were selling the same junk that 7/11 sells long before they got here, so they can't be blamed as the main cause for obesity in Thailand either.

You are so factually challenged.

1) there were virtually NO Thai fast food outlets before 7-11.

2) There were mom and pop operations selling things in small stores that looked somewhat like modern convenience stores but they did NOT sell slurpies, big gulps, hot dogs etc.

You simply claim many things that are factually nonsense.

Fact: 7/11 is not a fast food outlet. It is a convienience store. It does carriy a few snacks that one can heat in the microwave, but mostly sells other things..

Fact: 20 years ago, Thai mom and pop shops sold plenty of soft drinks, candies, baked goods, chips and other unhealthy snacks and plenty of Thais ate them. 7/11s are clean and bright. They have air-conditioning and a better selection than the mom and pop places, but they are not any worse as far as selling junk food.

[sbk]

I thought this thread was about Chiang Mai members favorite health food stores not an argument over fast food....

[Ulysses G.]

No one claimed than Thais do not eat in Western fast food outlets. The argument was about Western fast food being the cause of obesity in Thailand. Most posters seem to agree that it is not.

Wow! You cannot even remember what you posted yourself. These are your words bucko: "Most Thais don't eat much Western fast food..." That's you in post #81 here.

I remember very well what I posted. Most Thais do not eat much Western fast food. As someone pointed out earlier in the thread, a lot of Thais only eat Western fast food a few times per year, and a lot do not eat any at all. Western fast food is not the main cause of obesity in Thailand.

[Ulysses G.]

2. Given your name, if you are connected to a baking operation that uses lots of butter, don't you have an undeclared vested interest here? Most of the authorities on food and nutrition will also point out that butter is bad for the body.

Butter is Better does use butter, but butter is healthy, if you do not eat too much. Your health information is very dated.

Butter is one reason that their baked goods are so tasty, but they also are one of the few outlets in town with 100% whole grain breads and pastries.There are a few other places that sell what they claim are whole grain baked goods, but they tend to add liberal amounts of white flour (if you look at the labels carefully or ask the bakers). Butter is Better is not a health food restaurant, but they sell some very healthy (and delicious) goods that are almost impossible to find anywhere else.

Why Butter is Better http://articles.merc...ter-better.aspx

Edited December 7, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[endure]

OK it's time to stop the bickering and return to the original subject please.

[endure]

A post has been removed. I asked you to stop bickering and return to the original subject which is your favourite health food shops in Chiang Mai.

[butterisbetter]

A post has been removed. I asked you to stop bickering and return to the original subject which is your favourite health food shops in Chiang Mai.

Have you no sympathy for those of us in the ADD afflicted community?

[mcgriffith]

No doubt caused by butter.

The research is pretty clear now- the crap margarine that my mother fed my family all through the 50's and 60's, loaded with trans fatty acids, has been categorically proven to be waaaay worse than the so-called evil butter.

In the US now, almost every package screams "NO TFA'S!", even on a package of fresh broccoli (sick attempt at humor, I know).

Let's try to keep it on topic, about the Favorite Health Food Stores In Chiang Mai.

[Tywais]

A series of argumentative posts have been removed. Further attacks on a Thaivisa sponsor will be dealt with accordingly.

[hellodolly]

I like Burger King.

All though I don't eat there as often as some people would have us believe Thai's do it has helped me out live the average age of death when I was born in 1941. The best part of it is I have never spent hours studing up one side of a belief I have and ignored the other side.

I have never made a study of it and will not make one. But I do wonder if Health food stores are selling the same things as they did 20 years ago. Some of the products I am quite sure they are. But many of them have proved to be a sham.

Have you ever gone into a health food store and tried to messure the strength of many of the products between manufatures. They have so many differeent systems for measuring ingridants that you have to spend hours trying to figure them out.

Then you come to the individual factor. What works for some wont work for others. So go figure. I used to drop into one in Canada a rather large one and when I would try to find out which what ever was best for me they never could walk over and pick up a product. They could and did say well this is a good one and this is a good one and this is a good one. All they knew was that certain products helped with certain things for certain people.

For instance I used to work in the sun and the heat a lot. I have always been suceptable to muscle cramps. I was told to uce Calcieum I did no help. then Calcium Magnesium still not much help. Finaly my Chiropractor sugested I use it with cyclamate a miricle it worked.

Sorry about the spelling I can't figure out how to make my spell checker work it works every where except Thai Visa.

And I have no intention of getting some magic health food product that will help with my spelling.

[Ulysses G.]

To defend the Baan Suan Pak and Aden health food stores, they both have fresh goods like juices and baked goods that sell quite quickly. They might not be crowded all the time, but they have a reasonable number of customers and I have never purchased anything that was spoiled in either store.

However, thanks to butterisbetter for letting us know about Heritage brand nuts and dried fruits at Rimping supermarkets that are packed in nitrogen. I had given up on buying raw nuts as I was afraid that they would be rancid and the nitrogen prevents that.

By the way, Baan Suan Pak sells (mostly) whole wheat banana bread and when it just comes out of the oven it is really delicious.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

2. Given your name, if you are connected to a baking operation that uses lots of butter, don't you have an undeclared vested interest here? Most of the authorities on food and nutrition will also point out that butter is bad for the body.

Butter is Better does use butter, but butter is healthy, if you do not eat too much. Your health information is very dated.

Butter is one reason that their baked goods are so tasty, but they also are one of the few outlets in town with 100% whole grain breads and pastries.There are a few other places that sell what they claim are whole grain baked goods, but they tend to add liberal amounts of white flour (if you look at the labels carefully or ask the bakers). Butter is Better is not a health food restaurant, but they sell some very healthy (and delicious) goods that are almost impossible to find anywhere else.

Why Butter is Better http://articles.merc...ter-better.aspx

Its good point about butter but there are better and worse choices.

The grass fed butter is going to be much better in terms of Omega 3/6 balance. Grain fed dairy is going to be much higher in Omega 6 inflammatory fat.

A lot of people like myself get sinus issues from the Lactose (dairy sugar) being indigestible.

A way to get around this is to use Ghee which is clarified butter where the Lactose and solids are partially removed. Anyone can clarify butter in a pan or pot on the stove.. Can even double clarify ghee and get it just down to the clear oil.

Baan Suan Pak sells a good quality Ghee and stores like Kasem and Rimping, Yok etc sell a Malaysian brand Ghee and butter that uses Australian dairy which is presumably grass fed.

Using good quality fat can really boost a persons health and a lot of people find they can melt off body fat when they get their healthy fats up.

Edited December 8, 2012 by CobraSnakeNecktie

[hellodolly]

To defend the Baan Suan Pak and Aden health food stores, they both have fresh goods like juices and baked goods that sell quite quickly. They might not be crowded all the time, but they have a reasonable number of customers and I have never purchased anything that was spoiled in either store.

However, thanks to butterisbetter for letting us know about Heritage brand nuts and dried fruits at Rimping supermarkets that are packed in nitrogen. I had given up on buying raw nuts as I was afraid that they would be rancid and the nitrogen prevents that.

By the way, Baan Suan Pak sells (mostly) whole wheat banana bread and when it just comes out of the oven it is really delicious.

particularly if you slather it with butter while it is still warm.

[growe237]

Thanks Femi Fan,

Lots of good thoughts there.

The guidebook, "helpful Hints for Getting Settled in Chiang Mai" mentions a health food store called Imboon Supermarket which "specializes in health foods and vegetarian supplies." They give the address of 188/1-3 Muang Samut Road. I don't know about this because I haven't been but the guidebook in general is good. Any one been there and would like to comment?

I'm not sold on Kasem store, at least the one on Nimmanhemin Road. I went there about 2 weeks ago and I was the only person in the store for the 10 minutes I was there; their supply seemed to be "mom and pop" store stuff, nothing special at all. Three clerks all were talking with each other since they had nothing to do. Not a good sign. Given the likely low turnover, I would be worried about buying from them.

The Kasem's near Wararot is always busy, great selection, great employees.