The Fattening of Thailand
By Luis Garrido-Julve


Photo: Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University

BANGKOK: -- Thailand is well-known for its unique cuisine – from its vegetable-packed curries to spicy papaya salad, or somtam. It has food that’s not only tasty, but usually considered healthy as well.

But in recent years, the nation's changing appetites, habits and lifestyles are starting to catch up with its famously lithe physiques.

In recent years government warnings have become more frequent about the rise of the country’s average weight. The Ministry of Public Health argues that Thailand is among the top five countries in the Asia with the highest number of obese citizens, and it estimates around 21 million will be overweight by next year.

The fact that people become overweight, or even obese seems to be commonly accepted. The World Health Organization advises that the world’s fattening problem today isn't with hefty North Americans but increasingly extends into the developing world. [read more...]

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/09/04/fattening-thailand


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2014-09-04

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Yes, because so many youngsters now lead a sedentary lifestyle, couch potatoes, computer freaks, no exercise, eat high sugar, high carb, quite high fat. The looming obesity epidemic will overwhelm the health system and cause much personal suffering and tragedy. It should be high priority for the incoming govt.

Genetically altered by unwelcome Farangs !

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

Yes, you are right.

When I was young, I was force fed by my parents as they thought I was thin.

I never pushed my kids to eating more than what they wanted, always trying to ban Coke, crisps or unhealthy food.

Times are changing and people are more aware of the obesity hazard.

People can do it, but how many listen to the warnings?

Genetically altered by unwelcome Farangs !

Can we put you down for contributing your fat genes, as well as lowering their IQ?

At the risk of sounding insensitive, I don't really care how fat the adult males get, as long as the women continue to look really good in a skirt. I do agree that the children need some guidance.

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

So by your reckoning only people with money are fat? Sorry but that's rubbish

How do you explain the obesity in poor people in the west then?

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

There is less obesity in poorer countries, but in wealthier countries there's a strong link is between poverty and obesity - you're most at risk if you're poor but in a rich country.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

I think people are starting to see that education was the cause of the problem. There has been a huge emphasis on reducing dietary fat when the emphasis should have been on reducing sugar.

The single best step you can take immediately to ward off obesity - stop drinking soft drinks and fruit juices.

Genetically altered by unwelcome Farangs !

Can we put you down for contributing your fat genes, as well as lowering their IQ?

Can we put you down for a charisma bypass...... Or just put you down altogether ?

"considered healthy food?"

if they mean deep fried,loads of sugar and plenty of white rice than it is really healthy...

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

Well, even without being educated it is possible. There are a lot fat Thai girls who want to be beautiful and diet away the fat without much clue what they are doing. Just eating less.

That might be unhealthy and unpleasant as you are more hungry than necessary (or eat some stupid pills).

The brute force solution...just don't eat works.....

The number of obese kids waddling around nowadays is frightening. Part of the problem is that people are indoctrinated to believe that only 'farang food' is junk food and only this causes obesity. All 'Thai food' is healthy, including the deep-fried and sugary garbage sold on the street. People need to be properly informed about the nutritional value of what they're eating and exactly what constitutes a healthy diet.

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

I agree but i think the no. 1 problem for thaid is that you must WANT to change but as always all of us can find a ways to justify our overindulgences.

for thais i notice that absolutely all food inbibed must be ARROY and in children this excludes anything of any health benefit

try giving an Isaan kid anything green, or food not deep fried,covered in chilli,fish sauce,pla rah ect.

sad to say but some of the habits even Isaan parents passing onto the kiddies, they call

this northern thailand culture.Pork fat covered with adjinomoto msg , dried and then deep fried in more pork lard ewww

i have even see them deep fried chicken skin dipped in the fermented fish sauce and this kinds of stuff all eaten with no guilt or thoughts that it might be unhealthy

very frightening!!

Yes, because so many youngsters now lead a sedentary lifestyle, couch potatoes, computer freaks, no exercise, eat high sugar, high carb, quite high fat. The looming obesity epidemic will overwhelm the health system and cause much personal suffering and tragedy. It should be high priority for the incoming govt.

But won't be because the joy of this kind of addicted, overweight, consumer is that the next "joyous" step is medicating....and we know how far up government medical lobbying goes. They spend to get fat and then spend to get thin.....wonderful.....if you're at the top.

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

So by your reckoning only people with money are fat? Sorry but that's rubbish

So is your ability to reckon!

Everybody has the ability to become fat. Its just the opportunity presents itself to those with lots of choices far more often. In Thailand you do not find very many (if any) poor families tucked into a 4000 calorie Big Mac, Fries and a Coke. Even I, a non-adventurous westerner, can eat for days from street vendors, for the cost of just one BigMac "Set". And if I were a local willing to eat the unidentifiable witches brew sitting out at room temp all day, spooned over a bowl of rice, I bet I could eat for a week for the same price. Healthy food here is cheap and convenient.

On the other hand, to give you the obvious answer to your question, In the west, the most expensive diet is the healtiest. A diet replete with Fruits and Veg is much more expensive than a high fat, processed, convenient diet. In the US, you see many poor families in the McDonalds' and Pizza joints. One can eat quite healthily, and maintain a tight budget, but that takes education about what is healthy as well as how to manage money. One of the reasons the poor remain poor is that they are not good decision makers, especially about money.

Sugar is the problem - and Thailand is one of the worlds top producers.

Sugar breaks down in the liver into Very Low Density Lipoproteins which is the worst form of fat.

Check out the YT video lecture: "SUGAR THE BITTER TRUTH"

Edited September 4, 201411 yr by Chopperboy

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

There is less obesity in poorer countries, but in wealthier countries there's a strong link is between poverty and obesity - you're most at risk if you're poor but in a rich country.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

I think people are starting to see that education was the cause of the problem. There has been a huge emphasis on reducing dietary fat when the emphasis should have been on reducing sugar.

The single best step you can take immediately to ward off obesity - stop drinking soft drinks and fruit juices.

Bingo. Yes. It's all about money.

Affluence aside, the wealthy spend twice or three times more than the rest on food. They eat only organic high quality food. They are not fat.

Poor people in wealthy countries, and now Thailand, eat garbage food full of sugars and fats. A simple recipe to loose weight is to double (or triple) food expenditure and eat only the best.

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

I agree but i think the no. 1 problem for thaid is that you must WANT to change but as always all of us can find a ways to justify our overindulgences.

for thais i notice that absolutely all food inbibed must be ARROY and in children this excludes anything of any health benefit

try giving an Isaan kid anything green, or food not deep fried,covered in chilli,fish sauce,pla rah ect.

sad to say but some of the habits even Isaan parents passing onto the kiddies, they call

this northern thailand culture.Pork fat covered with adjinomoto msg , dried and then deep fried in more pork lard ewww

i have even see them deep fried chicken skin dipped in the fermented fish sauce and this kinds of stuff all eaten with no guilt or thoughts that it might be unhealthy

very frightening!!

Of course you need to want to change.. if you don't want it it wont happen. Then once you get rid of the weight then you need to keep it off that is step two. As you say many people don't want to change and only want to eat and drink (don't forget the alcohol) what they like.

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

I agree but i think the no. 1 problem for thaid is that you must WANT to change but as always all of us can find a ways to justify our overindulgences.

for thais i notice that absolutely all food inbibed must be ARROY and in children this excludes anything of any health benefit

try giving an Isaan kid anything green, or food not deep fried,covered in chilli,fish sauce,pla rah ect.

sad to say but some of the habits even Isaan parents passing onto the kiddies, they call

this northern thailand culture.Pork fat covered with adjinomoto msg , dried and then deep fried in more pork lard ewww

i have even see them deep fried chicken skin dipped in the fermented fish sauce and this kinds of stuff all eaten with no guilt or thoughts that it might be unhealthy

very frightening!!

The more affluent the people are the more they will spend on unhealthy food and get overweight or obese.

Look at the difference between Malaysia 44% obese, and Viet Nam or Cambodia, 10 to 12% obesity.

Malaysia being the richest country in the area Viet Nam or Cambodia the poorest.

America and Europe still have not found any remedy to the problem, although they are spending billions to educate the people as to what healthy eating is.

Sometimes, wealth doesn't help our health issues and I don't foresee any change for the future.

Almost everyone who wants to can control their weight. However you do need to be educated what is good for you and what is not. That is often the problem.

I am in The Netherlands and see my old friend and acquaintances many of those (but not all) lots of them are overweight. I was the same until i took control of it 3 years ago.

People can do it but it wont happen overnight or without changing some things.

I agree but i think the no. 1 problem for thaid is that you must WANT to change but as always all of us can find a ways to justify our overindulgences.

for thais i notice that absolutely all food inbibed must be ARROY and in children this excludes anything of any health benefit

try giving an Isaan kid anything green, or food not deep fried,covered in chilli,fish sauce,pla rah ect.

sad to say but some of the habits even Isaan parents passing onto the kiddies, they call

this northern thailand culture.Pork fat covered with adjinomoto msg , dried and then deep fried in more pork lard ewww

i have even see them deep fried chicken skin dipped in the fermented fish sauce and this kinds of stuff all eaten with no guilt or thoughts that it might be unhealthy

very frightening!!

I would say the pork lard is one of the better quality things in the mix. Cheap old palm oil is worse. Eating too fat is surely a problem. But a much bigger problem is the sugar in everything.

Biggest problem is of course everything sweet loaded with sugar, washed down with coke AND full of fat. The icing on that cake is the chemicals that are similar to Estrogen making people even fatter.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, I don't really care how fat the adult males get, as long as the women continue to look really good in a skirt. I do agree that the children need some guidance.

Here in the company, the girls are often very fat....little elephants. The males much less

Sorry for the double post!

But so many other issues unique to thai. They have no shame or not embarrassed about being huge. Kids do not tease others in a nasty way those who are fat like they do in the west. Some would even think it is high status to consider someone who eats 4x as much as a normal person-must be very rich!

You once hear the old school thai people talk about not taking more than you need from the earth. They must shudder to see how the next generation is going

People can eat anything and not be obese--it's the portions that do people in. One slice of pizza is not unhealthy. Five slices of pizza is unhealthy.

They never should have let super-size fast food into Thailand.

Seen at MAYA

The Thai diet is unhealthy, sugar seems to be added to everything, even savory dishes. Deep-fried foods abound. and then all the 7/11 rubbish which is all very popular and indulged in by just about everyone. Faces stuffed with doughnuts at every opportunity. Exercise is seen as eccentric, few people even walk very far. Even slim looking Thai girls are rather soft with zero muscle tone. There is no doubt that Thai people are getting fatter, and will continue to do so.

I would contend though, that compared to the truly massive size of the average western expat, most Thais still look like 12 year old gymnasts.

People can eat anything and not be obese--it's the portions that do people in. One slice of pizza is not unhealthy. Five slices of pizza is unhealthy.

They never should have let super-size fast food into Thailand.

Yup; people can eat whatever they want......in moderation, and that's where the real problem is as almost everyone eats too much. This seems to be a particular problem here because Thai's like to eat about twelve times a day !

At the risk of sounding insensitive, I don't really care how fat the adult males get, as long as the women continue to look really good in a skirt. I do agree that the children need some guidance.

the birds in this country are getting fat as pigs. at least one in 3 is obese now. 30 years ago you might have seen 1 overweight Thai a day.

To me an unhealthy way of life and no exercise are the biggest problems, how often do you see someone run, walk or even move ? Thai's are born on a motorbike or in a car and will not walk for more then 100 meter. They even try to park where they have to be , preferably on the sidewalk or inside the shop !!!