Has Your Filipina Gf Or Wife Changed Your Diet Or.....

[earthdome]

The only time I got sick was when I had not eaten tropical fruits daily like I do each day usually. I would recommend everyone eats plenty of tropical fruit each day. Diabetics might want to consult their doctor though!

As for rice, I managed to persuade my fiancee to try brown rice and she enjoys it. It is so much better for you than white rice. She still eats white rice but each time I have rice she makes sure we eat brown rice.

As for Filipino food. I have to admit I would never eat any food that is left open in buffets, in local soup pots etc as it can be a breeding ground for disease and bugs, even the stuff sold at food courts is dangerous for foreigners. Locals seem to have a tolerance for it. In fact I ate it at times in the past and never got sick but I was recently staying at a hotel in the city that offered a free buffet Filipino breakfast. Later that day on the bus ride home I had a bad headache. By the next day the headache was like someone smashing two bricks against my head non stop. It went for 4-5 days. I lost weight and could not eat properly. I have hardly ever got sick here over the 5 years I have visited the place. This time I had not eaten fruit for 5 days and I think that let my defenses down. The only other times I have been sick here was with the occasional 1 day general fever.

I have tasted first class Filipino cuisine at Greenbelt Manila, the food was as good or better than any western or other world cuisine. So Filipino cuisine can be top quality if it is cooked by top chefs believe me. The problem is there seems to be another way many locals make food to be extra sweet or have strange mixed and often sour or over sweet flavours that seem to have lost their direction. So I believe the Filipino food can be great if it is cooked to the original recipes and not lost with mixed spices, MSG, over doses of salt and sugar. I have tasted some pretty good dishes out in some remote provinces too.

My fiancee now makes some delicious soups and meals for us each day although I'm the main chef in our house since I was once a chef. She makes a delicious vegetable type of chop suey with noodles, i taught her how to use garlic and other natural ingredients to improve the flavor without the need for a lot of salt, soya sauce and those packaged chemicals that are used here. We threw all those things out long a go and now we are cooking and eating in harmony, I'm respecting her tastes and her understanding what I like.

We do have a problem though living so far from the city in that we are limited by the fresh food we can get so we are considering moving closer to the city just so we can eat better.

Wow... maybe you could do a class on healthy cooking for expats in the Philippines! Or share you recipes for cooking using items from the local market.

[GregZ]

When I arrived in Cebu back in April 2012 I had been losing weight intentionally and steadily through improved diet and exercise.

I started to gain weight back upon arrival because the exercise went away and my girl was BIG on MEAT and RICE 3 times a day. Over the last few months we have turned the ship slowly but surely and I am holding steady to losing weight (looking GWAPO where I am :nudie: ). I do a bit of walking and exercise at the house, eat TWO big meals a day with LESS MEAT and MORE VEGGIES, have fresh FRUIT for the third meal and snacks, and my girl has SLIGHTLY modified her cooking to my satisfaction (LESS fat AND salt).

That all said, I PREFER the way I ate BEFORE arriving here in the Philippines but don't see the ROMAINE LETTUCE, natural DRESSINGs, & CHEAP + TASTY fresh foods that I was thriving on; baby peeled carrots, tomato WITH flavor, and seedless grapes for 170 pesos/kilo just don't jump out at me here. When we get to the USA we'll be eating MORE MY WAY. While we are IN CEBU we'll be eating MORE HER WAY. IT just seems NATURAL. :thumbsup:

[Mike S]

Well I eat Filipino food every day but mostly at home I don't use salt or sugar so dining out is a big problem especially here in the land of the sugar and salt ..... salt can be added at the table and not dumped in the pot ...... but that is just me .... there are some Filipino foods that I just don't care for but they are few and far between .... very rarely do I eat rice or any other carbohydrate but I'm still plump :mocking: but then who cares .... not me ....

As far as where we buy our food .... just about all our meats and veggies come from the wet market but not the big ones like Colon rather the small local markets where everybody knows everybody and no they don't have DD meats (double dead) .... go very early (like before 6am) and fine the meat still warm from a fresh kill .... fish should be supple and the eyes bright and shiny ... not glazed over and dull looking ..... color is another thing if anything looks dull or bleached out avoid it ..... just some stuff I've learned along the way ....

Iif you think just eating supermarket meats are safe think again ..... fresh meats that have been sitting out to long are given a caustic soda bath and then frozen or ground up with better meat and sold ..... chicken is the worst offender when it comes to caustic baths ..... that is why most Filipinas will smell everything to make sure it is fresh ..... my asawa can smell things that I can't and will often wrinkle up her nose in disdain at supermarket meats .... and come back saying "that smells terrible" .....

Anyway to each his own if you feel safer eating grocery store meats .... go for it ..... just remember here in the Philippines they don't through away or waste anything .... yesterdays fish is tomorrows fish balls ...... and yesterdays chicken is now today's chicken sticks ...... :hystery: :hystery: :hystery: ...... :cheersty: ....... OH ... and anyone want to talk about canned meats ..... :mocking: .....

[Jack Peterson]

Okra?

What is Okra? A substitute for rice i guess, is a must, so I will have a go at Anything. Not had chance to ask Azon this ?? as I have just come home. and she is at work still The more I know, before I ask her, will be good, :thumbsup:

:tiphat:

[Old55]

Okra.

Edited September 13, 2012 by Old55

[Jack Peterson]

Okra.

Thank you! Wifey tells me, I will start on this tomorrow, let's see what happens. :thumbsup:

:tiphat:

[Curley]

A normal serving of rice is about 2.5 ounces which means that you get 12.8 servings per kilo. I think a kilo of white rice is about 37 pesos and brown rice is about 70 .... therefore a serving of white rice costs something like 3 pesos and a serving of brown rice around 5.5 pesos. I'm not sure how accurate my prices are but can anyone really not manage the difference in price? Even at 3 times a day it's less than 10 pesos a day and that's not taking into consideration the health benefits. How much do you spend on San Migoo each day?

[i am bob]

Ah but you forget! Brown rice is also more filling so you won't eat as much! And thus the cost per serving goes down!

Jack! You have got to learn how to do a little Creole cooking with Okra! A little Gumbo maybe? Hehe! Seriously, Okra used regularly in your diet is known to help reduce sugar in the blood system as well as reduce cholesterol. Another food that is considered on par with Okra is whole grain Oats! Has basically the same fibre quality for your diet. And as for the question on Mangos? They are great for your eyes and skin (pimple remover for the kids!), anti-oxident so good as a cancer preventative, great for diabetes (low GI count, also soak leaves overnight and then drink to help keep blood sugar levels low), will boost your sex life as well as your immune system, and will also soak up cholesterol too! So, Oatmeal for breakfast with a Mango Leaf Tea, steamed Okra with brown rice and a desert of mangos for lunch and then a little Filipino style Gumbo for your dinner will have you up and howling at the moon in no time! Did I mention that these foods will also help you lose weight? hehe! That's my need!

[Curley]

Ah but you forget! Brown rice is also more filling so you won't eat as much! And thus the cost per serving goes down!

I didn't forget ...... just didn't want to make it too complicated.

[Beachboy]

I'm very skeptical about medical advice given here.

Regarding your health, consult a doctor(s) and nutritionist. My wife died of diabetes. It's a silent and relentless killer. I learned a few things from her nutrition classes which might be useful.

The important factor is the total carbs you eat daily because this determines the amount of sugar then enters your system (the body converts carbs into sugar). The source of the carb is less important.

Refined and preprocessed starch (white rice, white bread, french fries, mashed potatoes) get processed into sugar very quickly and can cause sugar spikes. The body produces insulin to remove the excess sugar. But if not enough insulin is produced (as in the case of diabetics) the sugar stays in the blood and literally eats up soft tissue. Less refined starch (brown rice, etc) gets processed slower which makes it easier for the body to control the sugar.

But at the end of the day a carb is a carb and diabetics are taught to control their disease by limiting their carb in-take at each meal. 45-60 carbs per meal (the less refined the better) is the usual guide line. But rather than guess about your diet, and if you have access to inexpensive testing supplies, test your own blood sugar once a day (first thing in the morning before you eat). This will tell you if you need to make adjustments. (and it's a lot better than relying upon advice found in forums from people like me -- lol). Readings under 140 are considered OK, but given the potential inaccuracy of home tests, I'd aim for something lower. And get a lab test if you are unsure.

(If you have to ask what okra is, you're not from the South .. :cheersty: )