Tag Archives: health

Street Vendors

Posted on by
Reply

Krungthep is a city that eats on its feet.  Thais have this snacking habit, unintentionally following the “five small meals a day” advice that so many weight-watchers hear.  Whether a mid-morning snack of khanom krok, little salty-sweet rice flour and coconut milk pancakes, an afternoon snack of freshly sliced tropical fruit, or a quick bowl of guaytiaw – rice noodles – to stave off hunger, there is always plenty to choose from along a Thai sidewalk.

P1220071

This picture accurately captures a dilemma that is increasingly common here in Thailand.  Alongside the plethora of street vendors is an equally-abundant number of convenience stores.  The difference between the two is not price – neither the 7-11 snacks nor the ones from street vendors will bust your budget – but quality.

“Fast food” when it comes from street vendors is made from fresh ingredients, is very rarely more than a few minutes (or at most a few hours) old, has no preservatives, and generally is more nutrient-dense than calorie-dense.  “Fast food” when it comes from the convenience stores and Western fast food chains that are increasingly common is quite the opposite, offering few redeeming values other than a quick way to expand your waistline.

And, sadly, that expanding waistline is just what we’re seeing.  Childhood obesity is growing rapidly in Thailand and especially here in Krungthep you see more and more children who are wearing X-Large size school uniforms.

In the months to come, I’d like to write more about Thai street vendors and snacks.  They are often a bit self conscious when it comes to taking pictures, but I’ll look for some opportunities to share with you more about the foods we eat here.

 

Updating the Nutrition Information Food Labels

Posted on by
Reply

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit public health advocacy group, is proposing changes in the way packaged food is labeled.  The CSPI, with whom I’ve had some disagreements over the years (disparaging movie theatre popcorn and in 1994 calling fettuccine Alfredo “a heart attack on a plate“), nonetheless has played a prominent role in bringing issues of diet and nutrition to the forefront of the public consciousness in America.

Their latest effort is around updating the nearly twenty-year old packaged food label.  This label is designed to provide consumers with the information needed to make health-conscious choices while standing in the supermarket aisle.  CSPI, though, says there are many changes needed to bring the labelling up-to-date and make it an easier tool with more relevant information.

Food Label Here is a look at the before and after versions of the labels.  Notice they remain the same size, so no additional space would be required on packages.  You can click on the picture to see the full CSPI graphic about the labels.

Here are the proposed changes I find most interesting:

  1. Calorie and serving size information is in much larger type at the top of the label.
  2. The ingredient list is much easier to read by printing it in regular type instead of all capital letters.  Also, bullets separate ingredients rather than allowing them to all run together.
  3. Similar ingredients are listed together and shown by the percentage by weight. For instance, sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and grape juice concentrate are all forms of sugar and would be listed in parenthesis under the catchall heading “sugars.”
  4. Products containing more than 20 percent of the daily recommendation for fats, sugards, sodium and cholesterol would use red labeling and the word “high” placed next to the percentage.  Easier to avoid foods that are high in these things.
  5. For items made of grains, the top of the lable would prominently display the percentage of whole grains contained in the product.

What are your thoughts about these changes?  I’m a firm believer that knowledge is power and that people are hungry (pardon the pun) for more and clearer information about the food they are consuming.  Updated labels could help give people the information they need to make healthier, more helpful choices.

Additional Links:

A timeline of food and nutrition labeling.
Full CSPI graphic of proposed changes and of the old and new versions of the label.
Original NY Times article that inspired this entry.

Why Don’t We Check You In Right Now?

Posted on by
Reply

Wednesday morning I awoke still feverish and with a worsening cough from deep within my chest.  Realizing that rest and plenty of fluids were proving insufficient to overcome this illness, I went to Bangkok Hospital to see a doctor.

Two hours, a chest x-ray, and a battery of blood work later, the doctor said that there looked to be a small infection in my left lung and that while she didn’t think it was pneumonia it would be best if I checked into the hospital right there and then so they could start an IV antibiotic.

I explained that right there and then wasn’t going to work.  For one thing, I had Tawn’s car with me, which he would need.  For another, I didn’t have my computer or any reading material with me and at the very least I would need to let my manager know that I was going to be out for a few days.  She didn’t seem to keen on that idea but she finally relented and gave me an oral antibiotic and instructions to return Thursday morning to check on the progress.

As she only prescribed me two pills and they are taken twice a day, I assume her intention is to check me into the hospital Thursday morning.

I’m not opposed to checking into the hospital if that’s the best course of action.  I am concerned, though, that her decision may be based both on taking the most aggressive course of treatment as well as a realization that my local insurance provider will pay for inpatient treatment but not outpatient treatment, so they stand to earn more by having me check in.

We’ll see how this plays out, but maybe I’ll be writing some entries soon about my first time staying in a hospital.

On an interesting note, the amount I paid for today’s chest xray, the blood work, prescriptions and doctor’s visit (none of which was covered by insurance since it was outpatient) was only US$57.  I think in the US my co-payment would have been higher than that.

 

Signs of Health

Posted on by
Reply

While in Taipei, I observed this sign:

P1200938.JPG

Looking at it for a few moments, I realized that comparing this sign to the common one used in the US to convey the same meaning says a lot about the eating habits of the two countries’ populations.

78036580.jpg
US “No food or drink” sign

What’s the difference?  Look at the symbol used to represent “food” – in Taiwan it is an apple, in the US it is a hamburger.

When it comes to relative rates of obesity, that pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?

 

Results of the Physical

Posted on by
29

Saturday morning was spent at Bangkok Hospital, undergoing a comprehensive battery of exams, tests, pokes and prods.  Hospitals here, in an effort to reach out to expatriates and more affluent Thais, offer a range of physical exams that include everything from blood tests to EKGs to chest xrays, packaged with spiffy names and discounted prices. 

Tawn and I met jointly with the doctor, an affable man in his late 30s whose jeans and Hawaiiam shirt said “weekend shift”.  We discussed options and agreed that a package that included an EKG and a stress test would be good, so that we can get a healthy baseline from which to measure in the future.

As for the chest xray, which seems less common in a routine physical in the United States, the doctor explained that because of the higher prevelence of tuberculosis here in Thailand, chest xrays are a standard practice to screen for the disease.  Given that a single xray only gives you the equivalent of five to ten days worth of passive radiation, it seemed a small price to pay for the assurance that I do not have tuberculosis.

First off, the measurements: height, weight, blood pressure (which was initially high but a few minutes later we retook it and it was normal), and samples of various liquids including blood.

P1100273 P1100283

I remember when I was a child, I absolutely hated getting shots or having blood drawn.  Then at some point in my life I decided that it wasn’t that painful – depends on the nurse or technician, though – and it was actually quite fascinating.  So now I don’t mind at all.

While the lab work was being done, we changed into our scrubs for the stress tests.  At first, I misunderstood the instructions and changed into the bottoms, too, but in fact only needed to change into the tops.  Stylish, huh?

I’ve never done a stress test before and it was quite interesting.  You get wired up with various monitors and a blood pressure sleeve.  The wires all run to a box that is strapped around your hips with a velcro belt, then the box is connected back to a computer.  Then you get on a treadmill and start walking.

P1100285 P1100290

Every two minutes the speed is increased and your blood pressure is taken.  This continues until you reach the target heart rate, which is (I think) 90% of your theoretical maximim heart rate, based on 220 beats per minute minus your age.  So I’m almost age 38, so my target was 164 beats per minute.  After eight minutes at ever-increasing speeds and angles of incline, I reached my target.  My blood pressure was taken again and then I started a three-minute cool down period.

The goal of the stress test is to measure not only how your pulse and blood pressure increases during exercise but how quickly they recover after the exercise is complete.

After we were done with that, we had an hour to wait until the lab work was done and we could review the results with the doctor.  So we went to lunch at the cafeteria, starved after having fasted for nearly fifteen hours.

During our visit, Tawn was assaulted by the hospital mascot, who was handing out brochures for some new service.  It turns out that there’s a man inside that nurse’s body, kind of a twist on what is more common in Thailand: a (female) nurse hiding inside some men’s bodies.

P1100293

When we returned to meet with the doctor, the results were pretty much as I expected:

P1100260 Kidney, liver, lungs, and heart all seem to be functioning fine. 

Cholesterol is a little elevated (235, target is below 200), which is lower than it was five years ago but has increased a bit in the past two years. 

Weight is a little high (102 kilograms, about 220 pounds) and the doctor suggests that losing about ten percent of my body weight would probably help with my post-exercise recovery, which is a bit slow.

Bottom line: start exercising more and stop eating as much of things like this quiche, which I baked on Thursday evening.  Considering how expensive cheese is here, that would probably help my financial health as well!