Healthy eating in Thailand shouldn’t be a problem should it because on the face of it the local preference for using fresh ingredients as opposed to preserved stuff, with plenty of fruit, vegetables and herbs combined with small amounts of meat and plenty of fish is just the sort of diet nutritionists recommend.
Unfortunately however using healthy ingredients does not necessarily equal healthy eating since food preparation and additives also play a role in creating a healthy diet.
Use of Palm Oil in Thai Cooking
A huge amount of the food produced in Thailand is fried in Palm Oil which can be high in saturated fats depending on the quality and refinement of the product.
If you live in Thailand at the moment you may be aware that there is currently a major shortage of Palm Oil which is also used to produce bio-diesel. Quite why there is a shortage is debatable but suggestions including political corruption and hoarding.
This has led to panic buying and rationing in many of the shops that still have stocks. It has even led to suggestions from some quarters that perhaps this is a good opportunity for Thais to change their eating habits. Opting instead for steamed or boiled food rather than fried.
………a comment made by former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, who said that perhaps it is high time for us to start eating more boiled and steamed food.
For that, Mr Chuan has been mercilessly ridiculed by some commentators. I am no friend of politicians, but I was deeply offended by the thoughtlessness of those commentators.
It should be common knowledge that eating boiled and steamed food is more healthy than eating fried food, as cooking oil in general adds not only empty calories but also artery-clogging cholesterol. Bangkok Post
Perhaps the correspondent has a point because obesity in Thailand is not as rare as you might imagine. True there are plenty of petite pencil thin people you associate with Thailand but there are also a lot of obese people too. Recently the countries flag carrying airline, Thai Airways International, even had a go at its flabby cabin staff in an effort to get them eating healthy and shedding a few pounds.
Now I’m not suggesting that Palm Oil is solely responsible for this but when you look at the way Thai food is often prepared and the additives it contains then you might well consider that the Thai diet is not after all that healthy.
Additives Used in Thai Cooking
So what additives am I talking about? Well lets just look at the common ones, sugar, salt and mono-sodium glutamate. As I said above generally speaking nutritionists would tend to promote much of what you find in the Thai diet as a way to healthy eating, however in most cases they would also discourage the over use of salt, sugar and mono-sodium glutamate(MSG) when preparing food.
Unfortunately in Thai cooking besides the over use of Palm Oil you will also find the over use of these three food additives to be very common. Which might be understandable although not necessarily justified with street food where cheap cuts of meat and overcooked vegetables are often in need of a boost from a taste perspective. However their use is certainly not limited to food stalls since they are included in the basic ingredients of many Thai recipes.
Tasty Thai Food
Now don’t get me wrong, I love Thai food whether its from a street vendor, a shop house restaurant, food court or standalone restaurant the resulting meal is usually very satisfying and cheap. However I do sometimes wonder where Thai food fits in with the concept of healthy eating.
So, healthy eating in Thailand? I’m not so sure, what do you think?
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