fitnesschad
May 1st, 2006, 12:18 PM
Here's an article I just recently wrote about living in Thailand. It's a weird place, but really cool!
I obviously got a dose of culture shock jumping into a culture radically different from my hometown in Littleton, Colorado. The city of Bangkok was humming with traffic non-stop. The tropical climate offered a hot and humid atmosphere. And I discovered the cheapest place is the world to get a foot massage.
Although I enjoyed experience a new culture I quickly felt the withdrawals from some my western amenities, namely easy access to a weight training facility. After some asking around a creative thinking (like using elastic bands or dumbbells) I eventually found a few workout facilities that got the job done.
I then was a little surprised to see that most Thais don’t engage in structured exercise (especially weigh lifting). However the vast majority are extremely thin especially compared to my country’s waist line. To further perplex the situation I noticed that they really didn’t express a big concern about dieting. When I ordered an ice coffee it always came loaded with sugar. Most of their food dishes where loaded with fried items. Fried rice, friend chicken, fried noodles, fried anything Thais would eat it. Their alcohol consumption was also quite modest from what I observed.
So how does the country of Siam stay so skinny? It could be partly due to genetics but I really believe that this phenomenon comes down to four factors: food portion control, frequency meals, low stress and plenty of activity (I don’t mean just exercise).
One thing I immediately noticed in Thailand is that hot meals where readily almost everywhere I went. Small portable grills where up and cooking at the early hours of the morning. They would offer food of several varieties: fried chicken, fried sausage rolls (at least it looked like sausage), fried bananas, fresh fruit. There were also several small walk-in restaurants wherever you went. Most of them offered dishes that included combinations of rice, seafood, vegetables or poultry. Whenever I went to order a meal from one of these restaurants they would give me a small (but tasty) portion of food. I was tempted order more at first but learned to eat slowly and to stay satisfied with just one serving. Their restaurants were also consistently busy. Although I’m not sure that Thailand has a set three meals a day it seemed that people were eating much more frequently than that.
As for transportation getting around most Thai cities (especially Bangkok) could be a very frustrating endeavor that was further compounded by the language barrier. They seemed to have non stop traffic jams with cars, mopeds and motorcycles everywhere. Despite the chaos I saw people smile and wave whenever a potentially road rage conflict presented itself. Someone would cut off my Taxi cab and the driver would just smile. The same was true for off the road. Wherever I went people just smiled. They seemed happy to be living out lives. If they felt otherwise they wouldn’t readily express their feelings. I then compared this to my home country. Excess stress can negatively influence our hormone levels (especially cortisol). How many times have you become extremely angry and frustrated because you got stuck in a traffic jam. How many times have you felt impatient while waiting in a line at convenience store, grocery store, coffee shop, etc. How many times have you lost sleep over things that you KNOW are relatively unimportant? I’m not sure what causes this problem, but its definitely not tipping the scales in our favor..
As for activity I didn’t see very many Thai’s engaging in structured rigorous exercise. The weight gym facility I worked out at had a Ping Pong table which was much more frequented then the bench press. The biggest activity I did see Thai’s participating in was their national pastime: Muay Thai Kickboxing. Just to give you a little about Muay Thai it is an ancient martial art that has grown into an ultra competition international sport today. Training in Muay Thai requires that you have both endurance and explosiveness. Inadvertently Thais are using both slow twitch and fast twitch muscles when training in their sports. This aerobic/anaerobic combination burns a great amount of calories. A vigorous sessions of hitting punching/kicking thai pads can burn anywhere from 300 to 600+ calories an hour.
So what does this boil all down to? Well for the average person looking to stay in shape and have a relatively low bodyfat I would recommend the following:
1. Food portion control: Eat small meals of 400 to 600 Kcal depending on your body size. Overeating can cause insulin level spikes, an expanded stomach and puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your digestive system.
2. Meal Frequency: 5-6 six small meals a day, preferably spaced out every 2-3 hours. If you don’t have time to eat take a protein supplement in between meals.
3. Calm down: yes America is certainly stressful country. However life is by no means easier in Thailand and they manage to stay cool. Take a lot of deep breaths, get plenty of sleep and find effective ways. Remember that your work, your life and your choices are YOURS. Easterns don’t lose hair over trying to make a six digit income and you shouldn’t either.
4. Activity. I realize that not everybody has the time exercise, but almost anybody does have the means to be active. Take a walk on your lunch break. Better yet use that hour to workout at a local gym. The ideal workout routine would involve a combination of weights/cardio. If you are strapped for time try to find an activity the requires both aerobic/anaerobic exercise. A few recommendations would be structured aerobics classes that combine both weight training/cardio (most American gyms over some variety of this) or a martial arts program, I would personally recommend Muay Thai.
Another thing about Thailand it is that supplements cost a fortune out here. Protein supplements are about 2-3 more expensive. Fat burner products where outrageous. If you live in the U.S. buy your protein and supps before you leave.
I obviously got a dose of culture shock jumping into a culture radically different from my hometown in Littleton, Colorado. The city of Bangkok was humming with traffic non-stop. The tropical climate offered a hot and humid atmosphere. And I discovered the cheapest place is the world to get a foot massage.
Although I enjoyed experience a new culture I quickly felt the withdrawals from some my western amenities, namely easy access to a weight training facility. After some asking around a creative thinking (like using elastic bands or dumbbells) I eventually found a few workout facilities that got the job done.
I then was a little surprised to see that most Thais don’t engage in structured exercise (especially weigh lifting). However the vast majority are extremely thin especially compared to my country’s waist line. To further perplex the situation I noticed that they really didn’t express a big concern about dieting. When I ordered an ice coffee it always came loaded with sugar. Most of their food dishes where loaded with fried items. Fried rice, friend chicken, fried noodles, fried anything Thais would eat it. Their alcohol consumption was also quite modest from what I observed.
So how does the country of Siam stay so skinny? It could be partly due to genetics but I really believe that this phenomenon comes down to four factors: food portion control, frequency meals, low stress and plenty of activity (I don’t mean just exercise).
One thing I immediately noticed in Thailand is that hot meals where readily almost everywhere I went. Small portable grills where up and cooking at the early hours of the morning. They would offer food of several varieties: fried chicken, fried sausage rolls (at least it looked like sausage), fried bananas, fresh fruit. There were also several small walk-in restaurants wherever you went. Most of them offered dishes that included combinations of rice, seafood, vegetables or poultry. Whenever I went to order a meal from one of these restaurants they would give me a small (but tasty) portion of food. I was tempted order more at first but learned to eat slowly and to stay satisfied with just one serving. Their restaurants were also consistently busy. Although I’m not sure that Thailand has a set three meals a day it seemed that people were eating much more frequently than that.
As for transportation getting around most Thai cities (especially Bangkok) could be a very frustrating endeavor that was further compounded by the language barrier. They seemed to have non stop traffic jams with cars, mopeds and motorcycles everywhere. Despite the chaos I saw people smile and wave whenever a potentially road rage conflict presented itself. Someone would cut off my Taxi cab and the driver would just smile. The same was true for off the road. Wherever I went people just smiled. They seemed happy to be living out lives. If they felt otherwise they wouldn’t readily express their feelings. I then compared this to my home country. Excess stress can negatively influence our hormone levels (especially cortisol). How many times have you become extremely angry and frustrated because you got stuck in a traffic jam. How many times have you felt impatient while waiting in a line at convenience store, grocery store, coffee shop, etc. How many times have you lost sleep over things that you KNOW are relatively unimportant? I’m not sure what causes this problem, but its definitely not tipping the scales in our favor..
As for activity I didn’t see very many Thai’s engaging in structured rigorous exercise. The weight gym facility I worked out at had a Ping Pong table which was much more frequented then the bench press. The biggest activity I did see Thai’s participating in was their national pastime: Muay Thai Kickboxing. Just to give you a little about Muay Thai it is an ancient martial art that has grown into an ultra competition international sport today. Training in Muay Thai requires that you have both endurance and explosiveness. Inadvertently Thais are using both slow twitch and fast twitch muscles when training in their sports. This aerobic/anaerobic combination burns a great amount of calories. A vigorous sessions of hitting punching/kicking thai pads can burn anywhere from 300 to 600+ calories an hour.
So what does this boil all down to? Well for the average person looking to stay in shape and have a relatively low bodyfat I would recommend the following:
1. Food portion control: Eat small meals of 400 to 600 Kcal depending on your body size. Overeating can cause insulin level spikes, an expanded stomach and puts a lot of unnecessary stress on your digestive system.
2. Meal Frequency: 5-6 six small meals a day, preferably spaced out every 2-3 hours. If you don’t have time to eat take a protein supplement in between meals.
3. Calm down: yes America is certainly stressful country. However life is by no means easier in Thailand and they manage to stay cool. Take a lot of deep breaths, get plenty of sleep and find effective ways. Remember that your work, your life and your choices are YOURS. Easterns don’t lose hair over trying to make a six digit income and you shouldn’t either.
4. Activity. I realize that not everybody has the time exercise, but almost anybody does have the means to be active. Take a walk on your lunch break. Better yet use that hour to workout at a local gym. The ideal workout routine would involve a combination of weights/cardio. If you are strapped for time try to find an activity the requires both aerobic/anaerobic exercise. A few recommendations would be structured aerobics classes that combine both weight training/cardio (most American gyms over some variety of this) or a martial arts program, I would personally recommend Muay Thai.
Another thing about Thailand it is that supplements cost a fortune out here. Protein supplements are about 2-3 more expensive. Fat burner products where outrageous. If you live in the U.S. buy your protein and supps before you leave.