tropical garden
Tropical gardens
November 16, 2014
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Thai food and alternative medicine

I will try everything once, and am very fond of eccentric Asian dishes, my favorite dish as a child was my mom’s backed chicken in pineapple sauce, I still remember walking into her front entryway, instantly smelling the deliciousness.

Nowadays I basically could live off Mediterranean food, but also always seem to have crush for Thai Food.

My earliest memory of adoring Thai food is with my father in Belgium. He was the one that would always take me and my sisters too trendy, entertaining and out of the ordinary places during the weekends.Here I was, just a kid thinking, wow, this is really cool!

Who else would bring me to these strange, uncommon, and good smelling restaurants?

Thai food isn’t about simplicity. It’s about mixing different ingredients to create a great finish. Like a complicated musical chord, as long as it has a smooth surface, it doesn’t matter what’s happening underneath. Simplicity isn’t the dictum here, at all. Lots of foreigners think it’s a jumble of flavors, but to Thai people it isn’t important, it’s the complexity they delight in it

Tom Yam Goong, Tom Kha Gai, Phad Thai, Mango served with coconut milk and sticky rice or stir fried chicken with cashew nuts, are among the most appreciated Thai dishes by westerners, but not often eaten by Thais. 

Most of the food served in Thai restaurants overseas, or in the big 4 and 5 stars hotels and resorts, are very different from what the Thais really eat.

I will always remember the facial expression, of my best friend who visited me in Bangkok, after my neighbor served him a portion of Goong D’ten (dancing shrimp), those shrimps are mixed with spices and herbs and served alive to the customer, we call them dancing shrimps because you can see them moving in your bowl.

Goong D’ten also known as dancing shrimps 

Thai food is known as being the healthiest food in this world, some of the spices and herbs used in Thai cuisine are also used to fight cancers.

Ginger for example, is a rich source of antioxidants ,ginger derivatives has long be used as a way to treat nausea and would slow down the progression and propagation of ovarian cancer cells and  promote Apoptosis cells.

Apoptosis is body natural way for removing deteriorated cells, however this mechanism is faulty in cancer cells.

The substance that gives gingers its spicy taste, also appears to inhibit the growth of human colorectal cancer cells and may prevent from diabetic kidney damage.

Ginger concoctions are often taken by elderly people in Thailand to keep them in a good shape, personally I consume two cups of ginger tea a day as well as two capsules of garlic oil since my health has been deteriorating, and feel much better now.

You might also try with wild ginger, I get mine directly from the Khao Sok national park, but it can easley be found all over southern Thailand.

Wild ginger plant, picture taken in the Khao Sok National park, in Suratthani Thailand

As a chef and owner of the Khao Sok Paradise Resort and culinary school, and as a fervent believer in alternative medicine, I always had a particular interest in Thai herbs and spices.

Ginger also well known for having anti-virus as well as anti-inflammatory properties is a nutraceutical that may benefit ovarian cancer patients.

Ginger, red chili, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, cloves, and turmeric are among the most used spices in Thai cuisine.

Chili pepper, which is another source of antioxidants, could seriously reduce the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Capsaicin, the compound that gives red chili pepper its well-known heat, inhibited pancreatic cancer cell development.

Turmeric is another spice widely used in Thai Cuisine, and has the ability to suppress the growth of malignant tumors.

Garlic which is medicinally used in orient for the past 5000 years is known for lowering blood pressure and has strong anti-bacterial properties.

Studies concerning garlic’s anti-cancer abilities look promising. Of 37 studies done to examine garlic’s effectiveness as a cancer inhibitor, 28 were successful.

Garlic oil capsules are widely available in drug stores all over Thailand and are often used in medical treatments in South East Asia.

Cancer cells after a garlic treatment.

Preliminary studies show an increased cancer inhibiting effect on prostate cancer and stomach cancer. Researchers believe that there are many factors in garlic’s ability to fight cancer.

One of my neighbors when I was living in Bangkok had a lung cancer and couldn’t stand the drugs that were administrated by his physician anymore.

Those drugs, had very strong side effects making him ill all the time and was causing mouth canker sores.

He was on oxygen most of the time and couldn’t get out of his apartment.

The poor man was waiting for his death until a Chinese doctor brought by his daughter, recommended him to start a cayenne pepper cure to kill his lung cancer.

After a few months, he started to feel much better and was not on oxygen anymore, he was even driving is car around during the weekends

Cayenne Pepper in big doses has the ability to kill cancer cells and is often use to cure prostate cancer.

Cayenne Pepper is not only good for killing cancer cells, but it is also helping to keep your heart in a good shape; the best way to take it is orally. Mix a half-coffee spoon of cayenne in purified water and drink it. The benefits are immediate.

Of Course all those remedies are not FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved and not given as an option to their patients by doctors in the west.

The reason behind it is that cancer is a multibillion dollar business for pharmaceutical groups such as Bayer, Roch or other big and powerful pharmaceutical companies.

A patient with cancer, will spend in average 50 000 dollars to get cured.

So believe me the last thing those guys want is to see their customers using natural remedies.

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