Comments on: Southeast Asian Food – Does a Body Good!

By: Anthony K

Anthony K — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:12:00 +0000

and doesnt rice(in a way) help you slim down/stay slim? because rice expands when wet so you feel full without eating a bunch of rice? i think that you eat rice and it expands in your stomach leaving you feeling full without actually eating a lot.
well it makes sense to me. if i'm wrong then oh well.

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:55:55 +0000

I'm half Korean and I have to say that I think Korean food is fantastic and very healthy. My mother (who's Korean) also likes Vietnamese food because she thinks many of the dishes are prepared similar to Korean dishes. Korean food consists of a lot of marinated barbecued meats and seafood and different types of fresh and pickled veggies (kimchi). It's also spicy if you're into that (and who isn't?)

By: Felicia

Felicia — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:27:07 +0000

hey..im a malaysian too..those food u mention just now..i can feel my stomach rumbling and screaming for food..but im not gonna eat it cause ive taken my meal..i always had this stupid habit of eating although i know im not hungry..but now..im got rid of this dumb habit

p.s-they should hv mention malaysia…

By: Felicia

Felicia — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:26:29 +0000

hey..im a malaysian too..those food u mention just now..i can feel my stomach rubling and screaming for food..but im not gonna eat it cause ive taken my meal..i always had this stupid habit of eating although i know im not hungry..but now..im got rid of this dumb habit

By: SRizz

SRizz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:17:36 +0000

The smaller the chilli pepper, the hotter it usually is, with the exception of the habanero, that's the hottest I think. For counteracting heat, the best cure is dairy products, the fat, casein, and lactose latch onto the capsaicin molecule and breaks the chemical bond that capsaicin has on your tongue!

By: SRizz

SRizz — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:04:03 +0000

If you like the flavors of SEA food but don't like the heat, try Cambodian food, it's basically the foundation of Thai food with the boldness of Vietnamese, without all the heat. Us Cambodians like a balance and harmony of flavors, sweet, sour, salty, and fresh without peppers incinerating our tongues and overpowering every delicate flavor we've worked to create in a dish. Those of us who like spicier food add the heat afterwards to customize to our own tastes. You can always ask the people at Thai/Vietnamese restaurants to leave out the spice in your food as well if you don't have access to a Cambodian restaurant, they aren't as common, unfortunately. SEA is the best and healthiest cuisine in the world for my money!

By: Jason the Chinese Guy

Jason the Chinese Guy — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:28:25 +0000

wow this is great, ASIAN FOOD are the best.. chinese, viet, and thai food are soo GOOD! I am actually currently living in a household that owns 2 vietnamese restaurant and 1 viet bakery. The landlord brings back food for me from her restaurant almost everyday since I started living here. I know, it's like a dream come true. You should definitely try korean food, that's even better!

Anyways, I've been following your site for about a year or so now, I am very grateful for your site, it has tons and tons of helpful fitness information on it. I even bought "Eat Stop Eat" and "Power to the people!" by Pavel Tsatsouline after being influenced by your blog. I have to say.. this is a very good site, keep up the good work!

By: Dave | The Intelligent Workout

Dave | The Intelligent Workout — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:31:17 +0000

Great post for getting creative with your diet. I love having chicken tikka masala as a cheat meal or Soba Noodles with a dash of soy sauce for lunch to keep my energy levels up in the afternoon.

By: Discount Sunglasses

Discount Sunglasses — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:14:14 +0000

Vietnamese food is the way to go. It is relatively healthy food, and more importantly, IT'S DELICIOUS! Its nice to get the French influence without all the french fats. Another great thing about Vietnamese food is that its usually pretty cheap. you can't beat that.

Great post. i look forward to trying other SE asian food.

By: rob

rob — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:14:19 +0000

I'm from north-east India, where the world's hottest chili pepper grows. They call it 'bhut jolokia' in the state of Assam. It's called 'raja mircha' in the neighbouring states which means 'the king of chillies'.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071026162420.htm

It's delicious. I think I should try to get some tonight. This post has made me crave it badly…

By: Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips

Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:52:32 +0000

Hey Rusty – Quite a few of my friends have tried Thai food and I have only heard good things. Still never had it myself yet but it sure sounds tasty.

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:04:00 +0000

Hey, you should try Korean food .
Things like Galbi (갈비), Samgyeopsal (삼겹살), Kimchi (김치), Bulgogi (블고기), Sanchoo (산추), Bibimbap (비빔밥), Meeyukgook (미역국), Gomtang (곰탕) and many more. Amazing food.
Oh yeah, you can't forget Soju (소주, a distilled spirit basically).
BTW yeah I'm Korean.

By: admin

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:45:46 +0000

Helder, The great thing about when I visit these places is that I will have friends like you giving me the "inside info". I don't mind a bit of tourist attractions, but I like to mix that with the best places where locals go. Arya You will love Southeast Asian food. I'll read your question about periodization again and maybe dedicate an entire post to your question. I get a lot of ideas from people like you who consistently ask great questions. BurritoKid, I love coconut milk as well. I have had some of those desserts and do enjoy them. Wilson, Hmm...I have a few Vietnamese friends that tell me they love going up to Vancouver and eating the Vietnamese food up there. I think their are good places, but the International District is big up there, so you do probably have to find the right place. Gina, Do you have an Asian community in Phoenix? We are lucky to have a huge Asian presence in Seattle (same with San Francisco and Vancouver on the West Coast). I bet you have a massive choice of Mexcian food (which I love as well). Joseph, Malaysian food is just tougher to find at this point. I will search it down because it sounds delicious! Bummer deal about the obesity problem. Caleb, Post your recipe! I haven't tried cooking Pho yet, but I'm curious as to how to make it. I like to put a ton of that red "Rooster Sauce" in it as well...until I sweat! Tuscany, I want to visit the UK. I am a huge fan of beer, I go to every brew-fest within driving range of where I live. I would love to have some great English beer and eat some crazy hot Thai food. Sounds good to me. Craig, Think more along the lines of a slight increase in calories, but a large increase in lifting volume. So you will do more sets and total reps for each muscle group (not what I typically recommend, but you are trying to add muscle). Continue to stick to 5 reps and you will gain mass at a slower rate, but it will be "hard" muscle...just do more sets and add another exercise for each body part. You also want shorter rest periods in between sets when you are trying to gain mass. You will also want to back of cardio a bit during this mass gaining phase. fitness-siren, I should talk about food more, because I'm a big fan! The problem is that all my fitness blogging friends have all of these fancy recipes and I'm not a good cook. The more I think about it though, maybe I should include my simple recipes now and then...for others who like to keep the recipes to 4 items or less. I have a little bit of exposure to Filipino food...I remember being a big fan of the stuff I had, but haven't had it more than 2-3 times. Kimberly, I've had Tom Ka Gai soup as well. Any time they mix in coconut milk with ginger I'm a fan. There are a few different dishes with that combo and they are all delicious! Micheal, Yeah, for mass you could do that workout with a 3 day split. If you do chose to do a 3 days split, then you can up the volume quite a bit because of the amount of rest each muscle group gets in between workouts. You are so lucky to live in Belgium. Good beer makes life a bit brighter and you have the best beer in the world. I love any version of Belgium Wit beers. Love that stuff. The Spaniard, Anthony Bordain (from the Travel Channel show "No Reservations") agrees with you. His favorite food in the world is in Spain. Now as far as finding authentic restaurants, there is definitely skill involved. What I have found is that you need to find native people from the country who live in the US. Ask them where their favorite restaurant is. There are a lot of places with overly Americanized foods, but mixed in are some great restaurants. del, Yeah...you never really want to go to failure. You can get stronger without ever failing to complete a rep. hdtir1, I typically go light on the rice, other than that it is pretty darn healthy. Nothing wrong with "natural" fats that they use in this type of food. Dan, It is always a tough deal to put on muscle and lose fat at the same time. If this is your goal then increase you volume of sets and exercises for each muscle group. Maybe just do that cardio routine twice per week. BRUTHABADDASS, I do have to eat more Filipino food. As far as getting less spicy Thai food, just ask for "1 star" they will make it mild for you. Matt, Great tip on bringing friends who are the nationality of the restaurant. When I go to some asian places, the asain customers wind up with things that aren't even on the menu. At that point I walk over to the table and ask them what they ordered. love the authentic stuff the best. I hear Austin has a fierce music scene by the way. I need to visit for sure. Rod, What type of sweet foods are best for stopping a burning tongue? I once had ice cream and it helped. Is there anything more effective? I have only had a bit of Cajun food, but I am into anything spicy...so I am sure I would enjoy most of it. Thanks for the comments! Rusty

By: Rod Newbound, RN

Rod Newbound, RN — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:27:14 +0000

Hey Rusty,

Looks like you hit a home run with this post, and it certainly is tempting one. I especially appreciated your description of Vietnamese food and how it tastes so fresh.

I've had Thai food and do love it, but haven't tried Vietnamese food. After your description, I'll definitely give it a try.

BTW, the owner of a Cajun restaurant shared with me the secret of extinguishing the fire from hot peppers, and it's not beer… it's something sweet.

By: Matt at lifeofahero

Matt at lifeofahero — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:48:14 +0000

Hey Rusty do you like Chinese Din Ho? I have a lot of asian friends because of my line of work and I've found that the most authentic asian restaurants are the ones where the patrons are all native speakers and you don't know what the hell the menu says.

There are some great places here in Austin but I have to get my friends from the nationality of the restaurant to bring me so I know what is going on!

By: BRUTHABADDASS

BRUTHABADDASS — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:08:35 +0000

I have been to the Philippines twice and love the food and the way it is prepared…it is something I could make at home in a healthy way. Lots of fish and vegetables as well as beef or pork and chicken for meat–no steak or ground beef. And lots of fresh fruit. While I was there for a month I was in the leanest, muscular shape ever. I'm 5'3" so i fit right in with the filipinos but my frame was so well toned and cut i felt like The Hulk when I stood next to a native hahahaha! My question about Tai and Vietnamese food is how can I get the portions in a restaraunt/takeout not to be so spicy? I'm not a fan of spicy, hot food but I love the way southasian meals are constructed with lots of vegetables and soups are so tasty. What is usually the main spice that is used to make the dishes so extremely hot?

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:00:13 +0000

Big fan of Thai food.

Got a question on cardio.

I need to put some muscle on my frame, so I am going to up my lifting. However, I do want to get rid of some stubborn body fat.

Would doing this 3 days a week work well?

5 minute warm up on Treadmill

10 minute HIIT

20 minute Low Intensity Cardio

By: hdtir1

hdtir1 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:59:25 +0000

I love South East Asian food! I can eat them everyday. However, you have to be careful as most SEA food normally contain a lot of carbs (rice, noodles) and coconut milk, which is probably not so good if you're watching your fat intake and cholesterol level.

By: del

del — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:17:56 +0000

Hi Rusty, thanks for another insightfull expose on clean living, i have an unrelated question, when doing 5 reps of 5 sets and two exercises per body part, is it still the same thing if we do 5 reps of ten sets, making sure we dont go till failure, thanks for your life saving tips

By: The Spaniard

The Spaniard — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:35:17 +0000

I like asian food, but I have to confess that nothing beats spanish food (from Spain). Now, just like it happens with my food, unless you go to Asia you will never taste real Asian food…you know, they have to adapt the palette to american taste. The same thing happens with Italian food. It is funny because in Italy (like in Spain) you don't see the obesity you see here, and it is just because of the way they cook the food here and what they add. For example, a capuccino in Italy is strong espresso (not what you find in Starbucks) with foam…a capuccino in the States is waterdown espresso with foam, wheaped cream and cinammon (this two ingredients are the cause of the obesity). Just one last thing…when I say spanish food, I mean food from Spain (not Mexico), and if you ever visit my country you will understand what I mean. You will eat like you have never eaten before and you won't be obese…oh, and Spanish restaurants in the States suck.