Thais don't eat enough fruit and vegetables daily

[Somtamnication]

No idea how this study came about. The girls I work around with eat every 30 minutes. Their entire diet consists of vegetables and fruit. <deleted>

[willyumiii]

Maybe so in the cities where fast food is so popular. I do not know.

I do know that in rural villages like mine, fruits and vegetables are a huge part of the diet.

A lot of rice.

Fish, chicken, and pork in lesser amounts.

The fruit on my trees does not even get ripe before people take and eat it.

I strongly question the statement that Thai nationals do not eat enough fruits and vegetables!

Again, maybe true in the cities, but most of Thailand is not city!

Hummm...maybe they are counting only the processed, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables sold in the markets?

Edited January 17, 2014 by willyumiii

[arminbkk]

Vegetables yes, but no eat enough fruit?

My impression over many years is that Thais eat a lot of fruit.

[willyumiii]

Absolute rubbish, that's all most Thais do eat, plus rice and fish and a bit of meat.

I am sure you can invalidate the study without having seen any of its details. Wish I had such great powers of deduction as you.

Rice.. sure Thais eat it a lot (but that is not a fruit neither is it a vegetable). Other then that some do eat a lot of vegetables and others not, depending on where they are and what they eat. I can't say that I have complete overview of all Thais but the amounts of vegetables in the bought fast food is not that much (not talking mc donalds but the streetfood)

Can't argue with that!

What you eat has a lot to do with what you eat!

and that is a fact!

[Jingthing]

The results do not contradict the assertion that SOME Thais eat enough fruits & veg..

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[slipperylobster]

Vegetables yes, but no eat enough fruit?

My impression over many years is that Thais eat a lot of fruit.

Come to Udon...they eat plenty of green, leafy vegetables, fresh fish, fruit 3 times a day...yes papaya is fruit. The fish is not fried, its mostly BBQ. Then go to any farang restaurant and look at the heart attack menu.

I think the OP is confused.. or perhaps only sees a limited amount of Thais in a multi cultural place such as Pattaya. Noticed all the fat farangs and the thin thai's....somebody figured out a good way to keep the weight down, and it was not exercise.

[englishoak]

Absolute rubbish, that's all most Thais do eat, plus rice and fish and a bit of meat.

I disagree. I see them eating mostly rice and a bit of meat.

Roger is correct,

Vegetables here are used sparingly, they are garnish mostly.

If you dont believe me the next time your ordering on a menu try finding the vegetable dish options.

Nearly all thai dishes are 80% rice or soups with a side of rice some meat yes as meat is cheaper than vegetables are in quantity and more filling.

The diet here isnt like meat and two veg as the west, go out for a western meal and find the vegetables on the plate.

They eat loads of seafood loads of pork lots of fish and mostly always in soups or with rice, a few cut up bits of veg for colour thats it.

Fruit, you will have to get it fresh they dont use fruit much in dishes apart from papaya in som tam. they do consume a lot of fruit though

Edited January 17, 2014 by englishoak

[slipperylobster]

With Thai friends, we usually have some "geng" (curry) and separate fish or meat dishes. Salads (yam) in restaurant are usually full of spicy stuff and things like squid, and no green stuff. Vegatables dishes are rare ..., and usually the vegs are fried in oil. My 10 cents: vegetables are "juud", that is, tasteless, compared to most Thai dishes. Som tam is an exception, though ... Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

No papaya salad, eh? Come to my town, they love piling fresh picked vegetables and greens. Everyone I see is eating salads. Locational difference eh?

[khunPer]

Absolute rubbish, that's all most Thais do eat, plus rice and fish and a bit of meat.

Not too sure. When money begins to come to house, vegetables are less attractive, as it’s “poor mans food”. But reading without the study or more info, it's difficult to see what it covers.

Edited January 17, 2014 by khunPer

[namdocmai]

There is an organic market in Chatuchak called the farmers market.

In the or-tor-kor market (next to chatuchak) is a big vegy-shop from the Royal Project OTOP. They sell excellent vegy and i think it is all organic. It is always busy there and they have reasonable prices. Who will buy vegy from the street if you can buy it cheaper and better in the OTOP?

I also think the Thai don't eat enough vegy. In fried rice is nothing at all except a slice of cucumber/tomato. I never see Thai order a nice salad and if they do it needs loads of sauce with it. In Sizzlers they eat vegy though but many Thai are picky in what they will eat.

Vegy is also expensive on local markets. It is cheaper and fresher in Foodland but i guess they have never been there. Tops is terrible for vegy, they won't show the price or packing date and ask high prices. I grow my own hydroponic vegy since a week, it's very easy and now we know what we eat.

[GreenSnapper]

With Thai friends, we usually have some "geng" (curry) and separate fish or meat dishes. Salads (yam) in restaurant are usually full of spicy stuff and things like squid, and no green stuff. Vegatables dishes are rare ..., and usually the vegs are fried in oil. My 10 cents: vegetables are "juud", that is, tasteless, compared to most Thai dishes. Som tam is an exception, though ... Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

No papaya salad, eh? Come to my town, they love piling fresh picked vegetables and greens. Everyone I see is eating salads. Locational difference eh?

Most "studies" are done by people who wouldn't find a job if they could not regularly produce "studies" with alarming consequences.

The WHO and many other international organisations, NGOs and such are full with that kind of hysterical crap.

[Jingthing]

Or perhaps the response to a study like this should be more hysterical than it will be. Realistically there will be no action taken in response to it at all. Yes it does seem credible to me.

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[Route21mkII]

One other aspect, apart from not differentiating between large (fast-food) city vs rural habits, is eating at home vs eating out, as I suspect that the results would be significanty different.

Route21

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[Loles]

This absolutely FALSE that's pretty sure.

They eat enough vegetable and fruit daily, much more than EU or American population.

I just see my colleges, they eat always fruit as snack, and almost in every Thai food are many veg.

[3NUMBAS]

and they dont get enough exercise and eat too mut fatty food no wonder theyre so unfit

[Route21mkII]

Who said Thais don't eat enough fruit and veg? Here's what my wife picked from our garden for tonight's evening meal!

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[Jingthing]

Veg is the bigger issue probably by far. One person's wife isn't all Thais.

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[slipperylobster]

Who said Thais don't eat enough fruit and veg? Here's what my wife picked from our garden for tonight's evening meal! Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yes. And my gal does quite a bit of growing fruits and vegetables right here at home as well. In fact, she has a large family and they all have fruits and vegetables....so unlike western countries. Her sister brings over fresh fruit a few times a week. The eat pineapple, papaya, bananas, grapefruit daily (just to name a few)

What in the hey are they selling in the market......? Fruits a plenty and vegetables galore.

Look at their restaurants....the all you can eat S BBQ.....all the vegetables are laid out and you get the big kit on the table to steam them in water and bbq small slice of non fatty meat (no steaks or burgers or ribs).. and seafood.

Healthier than our restaurants by leaps and bounds.....

damn good and damn healthy, for the most part. They jog around nong prajak park in udon by the herds, and drink fruit smoothies and eat the bbq fish or s bbq with all those heaping mounds of fresh vegetables.

some posters just need to get out more and look at the market.

[theslime]

All I see is Som Tam, Rice and Pork, Rice and Fish, Rice and Chicken,maybe some weeds also, very little amount. Okay some slices of Cucumber. As Rice is a Carb, doesn,t it turn to sugar in the body, which would explain why Diabeties is on the rise. As all the kids get lollies or sweet drinks every single day, plus the Rice Carbohydrates which is more sugar.

[boomerangutang]

Absolute rubbish, that's all most Thais do eat, plus rice and fish and a bit of meat.

We're talking about what's on their plate, as opposed to what's at fresh markets. I've been coming to Thailand for 33 years. They eat small amounts of fruit and vegetables - compared to rice and meat. Granted, I observe more in restaurants than in homes, but going by that, here's my assessment:

>>>> 82% white rice (the most starchy, denatured, least nutritious type of rice. Basically starch you might use for a kindergarten paper mache project.)

>>>> 14% meat, including bones and skin and lots of gravy packed with MSG and who knows what else.

>>>> 3% veges, overcooked, over-spiced so therefore nearly devoid of nutrition. Again, heaps of MSG.

>>>> 1% fruit

[robertthebruce]

Any Vegetables they eat, is normally loaded with ''Salt or Sugar'' which really defeats the purpose .....

if they could educate themselves a bit more about ''Healthy Eating'' , then they would reap the benefits..

Will agree also, they do eat lots of Fruit, but once again, its normally sprinkled with sugar...

[boomerangutang]

Who said Thais don't eat enough fruit and veg? Here's what my wife picked from our garden for tonight's evening meal! Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Sounds like you've got a gem for a wife. However, she's very atypical of Thais, in regard to what they actually ingest.

You could also say all the veges she picked are organic, and that's probably the case for your home garden scene. Yet, organic veges are a staple on perhaps 0.003% of Thai peoples' diets.

I can say I eat avocados every week and reside in Thailand. Does that mean most farang eat avos every week? I also eat grapefruit 7 months of the year, and no one else (Thai or farang or Asian or Hill Triber) residing in Thailand eat grapefruit. Not only that, the grapefruit I eat is pink and seedless. How do I do it? I planted it in my yard, 15 years ago.

[Ulysses G.]

I would like to see how eating more mostly sweet fruits contribute to less diabetes. As well why should help fruit much for heart and cardiac related issues.

Those fruits contain plenty of fiber and do not raise blood sugar much. Just check the glyemic load measurement. Most fruits are very low.

[funcat]

As most of the posters mentioned,the Thai food is mostly rice and "something"...They don't it veggies for healthy reason,only for some taste and color....and fruit is basically a dessert after the meal,that means nothing to the body....

....fruit needs to be eaten before the meal,at least 30 min,so it can be absorbed by the body.....

....well,it's all lack of education and understanding how this works.For most of people the "good food" is what "tastes good",not what actually "does good" to you...

....it's sad,because it is actually very simple...only not always what we "want"....and this is what I hear most of the time around my family..."I want this...because it tastes gooooood".....

[h90]

Maybe the Dr. should also do a study on cancer thats related to all the pesticides that are used in agriculture here .

What I think is more shocking is the Thai people with overweight especially young kids , some can barely walk anymore , what future they have ?

Who says the two are not connected.

I juice / eat loads of veggies but i wash them well.. the chemicals here are dangerous that is for sure.

Some pesticides (example onion) are systemic (spelling??) so in the plant, washing doesn't help.

That is bad news indeed.. it wont keep me from my veggies.. but bad news. There is not much checking of vegetables on pesticides here.

At many shops (big BigC) they have organic and royal project organic veggies.....Even if they cheat sometimes it should be better than conventional...

[h90]

I would like to see how eating more mostly sweet fruits contribute to less diabetes. As well why should help fruit much for heart and cardiac related issues.

Those fruits contain plenty of fiber and do not raise blood sugar much. Just check the glyemic load measurement. Most fruits are very low.

???? yes and now you explain me, how the Banana after the coke will reduce the risk of diabetes.

And how the fiber helps the heart? Yes it reduces cancer but a fat guy who it way too much sugar won't be any better off if he adds a mango because someone told him to eat more fruits.

[sdanielmcev]

Another insanely moronic "study" designed to panic the blubbering idiots.

[Route21mkII]

Who said Thais don't eat enough fruit and veg? Here's what my wife picked from our garden for tonight's evening meal! Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Sounds like you've got a gem for a wife. However, she's very atypical of Thais, in regard to what they actually ingest.

You could also say all the veges she picked are organic, and that's probably the case for your home garden scene. Yet, organic veges are a staple on perhaps 0.003% of Thai peoples' diets.

I can say I eat avocados every week and reside in Thailand. Does that mean most farang eat avos every week? I also eat grapefruit 7 months of the year, and no one else (Thai or farang or Asian or Hill Triber) residing in Thailand eat grapefruit. Not only that, the grapefruit I eat is pink and seedless. How do I do it? I planted it in my yard, 15 years ago.

My wife is, in this respect, quite typical of members of her local extended family and their neighbours. Having lived abroad for many years, she is also very competent (self taught) in food presentation and international cuisine (UK, European, Japanese) including cakes, pies, puddings and other bakery items. Veggies are always cooked "al la dente".

I would not consider extrapolating what my wife or our families/neighbours do to Bangkok or others who, through pressures of time/work have to fall back on the fast-food solution.

The veggies in our garden are planted and watered only. They are neither fertilised nor sprayed with any form of chemical pesticides - they are just left to grow on their own.

As said in my previous post, we are around 50 kms from the nearest true fast-food place and very much further from a McD's. Our preference would more likely be an MK or equivalent.

Route21

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[Ulic]

Not sure about Thais but I eat a lot of street food and really struggle to get enough vegetables in my diet. I get lots

of fruit at the grocery store, pommelo, pineapple. papaya and mango as they are easy to snack on. But vegetables

I find difficult. Sometimes find myself picking up a couple of chicken wraps after a night out because I am craving

the vegetables.

[Jingthing]

Another insanely moronic "study" designed to panic the blubbering idiots.

That's just garden variety anti-intellectualism. This study actually is further confirmation that Thailand has entered the globesity club.

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