Healthy Eating in Thailand

As some of you might know, I have recently been diagnosed with crohn’s disease. As a result, I am  on a bit of a mission to try to eat as clean as possible along with avoiding dairy altogether (as it’s something that I’ve always struggled to digest.) I have already posted for my tips on staying healthy and living with crohn’s while in China. However today I want to write about my travels in Thailand as how I managed to stay flare free and healthy during my time there by healthy eating. I actually found healthy eating in Thailand very easy so I hope you find these tips useful!

1. Juice where possible (but pay attention to ingredients.)

I am a bit of a juice fanatic and it’s one of the things I’ve noticed makes a huge difference to my symptoms and general well-being. Luckily for me, due to the low cost of fruit it is cheap and easy to juice all over Asia. Juicing is also offered at my street food stalls as well as beach cafes. My tip here if you are health conscious would be pay attention to ingredients! Lots of the street food stalls in Krabi and Bangkok use blenders rather than juicers (for some this might seem pedantic, but if you are juice devotee you’ll know the difference!) and add ingredients such as syrups and sugar. If you just want pure juice, make this clear before you order. I know a lot more health conscious cafes that do pure juices are common in places like Chiang Mai and Ko Lanta.

2. Rice Rice and More Rice!

Rice is obviously a staple item in most Asian countries’ diet. The reason I mention it as it always my fail safe item! It’s great if you are suffering from a touchy tummy, traveller’s diarrhea, IBS or like me IBD. Of course while boiled options are good, there are plenty of other options- my favourite being this yummy pineapple rice below. If you are worried about travelling to Thailand and suffer from any of the above, worry not: there will always be rice so there’s no chance of facing a menu of totally unsafe foods!

 3. Fresh Fish

The easiest thing about travelling in Thailand was the abundance of fresh fish available. As I try to stick to low fat options, it was so simple to order a delicious steamed fish and rice for dinner each evening. Most places offer whole fishes for around 300 baht ($10) but these can often be shared among several people. I know usually fish can be a risky bet in some countries, but in Thailand it’s usually caught and prepared the same day and both myself and my travel companions remained healthy the entire trip.

4. Mango Sticky Rice.

As I don’t eat dairy, desert is usually a no go for me in most places (I’ve long stopped asking for the menu to avoid temptation!). However, in Thailand I discovered the greatest thing ever: Mango Sticky Rice. Now I know I’m not reinventing the wheel here and that most new travelers to Thailand are already familiar with this nice. However, it’s worth making you aware of what a great choice this desert is for vegan travelers or those suffering with digestion issues. The mango is obviously your five a day but as it contains tons of soluble fibre, it’s also easier to digest than tougher fruits such as pineapple and melon. Obviously I’ve just ranted on about  how easy rice is to digest, so together it’s the perfect combo! Although coconut cream is dairy free, it can be high and fat so it might be worth keeping an eye on the amount used if you are particular sensitive this.

5. The DONT’S.

Thailand has so many delicious things to offer but unfortunately this are things I found didn’t suit me! You might want to proceed with cautious in relation to these items should you be vegan or traveling with IBS/IBD.

SKIP the spring rolls that are offered by many beach sellers. They are beyond delicious but the fact they are fried make them an unhealthy choice. A better option is to go for the chicken satay that are usually barbecued as you watch (so you can control how much oil is used.)

SKIP the street pancakes on offer. I spent ages searching online; trying to determine if these delicious things contained butter to no avail. For me it wasn’t worth the risk but if you have found it is possible to get these vegan style then please let me know!

WATCH OUT for oil when ordering Pad Thai. There is no way I would ever recommend skipping this dish, it’s just far too good! However, if the chef is particularly heavy on the oil and you help yourself to a sizable portion of ground peanuts, it can end up really high in fat (fat can be a big trigger for IBS and IBD) To combat this, I often ordered with a small portion of rice or got the nuts on the side of the dish.

Overall, a found Thailand to be an absolute dream for the health conscious traveler. I was able to eat a variety of foods each evening and felt well for my entire trip! So rest assured, if you suffer with crohn’s or any other kind of condition that means you need to restrict your diet, traveling to this beautiful country is still very possible. Next on my list for later in the year is Singapore, Bali and Malaysia. If you have any tips to share about eating clean in these places, please let me know below or @globetrotterjen on twitter

Jenna x

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