NeoPatrick

Here's a bit of an offbeat question. I'll be in China, (a little bit in Japan), Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. I LOVE noodle dishes from Pad Thai to soups or whatever. Having quick breakfast in a noodle shop in Japan is one of my favorite morning treats. But being diabetic (controlled with oral meds), I hate to carb out. Complex carbs or whole wheat pastas are perfectly fine for me. So my question is, how prevalent are whole grain noodles in those various countries? Are there specific terms I should look for? Or specific dishes which use whole grain noodles of some kind?

cruisinred

I think soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour, which is a whole grain. But I've only seen those in Japan.

Hanuman

For Thailand these are the main ingredients for noodles commonly found here:

White colour noodles - made from rice.
Yellow colour noodles - egg and wheat flour.
Translucent colour noodles - soya bean flour.

rhkkmk

i am in the same situation as are you and i try to limit my intake to once per day....and rice is even worse as you know...my wife counts out the rice grains for me..

NeoPatrick

I love wild rice and whole grain rice, but white rice has always seemed like a total waste of time and carbs to me. Not a good thing when traveling in Asia. I won't be bothered if I limit myself to two grains of white rice per day. LOL

cruisinred, yes, soba are the "good for you" noodles of Japan. I guess I'm curious if other countries use them but call them somehting else. Hanuman, that's interesting about the translucent ones being soya bean flour. But I'm really not sure that those are any better for me than the other types.

Hanuman

They, the translucent noodles or what we call "woon sen", are very popular with people on the Atkins diet.

Kristina

I think most of the noodles (bun) you'll find in Vietnam are made from rice. I have a Vietnamese coworker who swears that eating the noodles is "better" (less fattening according to her) than eating steamed rice because of the way the rice is processed to make the noodles. I have no idea if this is true, but it might be worth investigating if there is something which changes in how the carbs are processed by the body when eating the noodles.
It would be a shame to miss the bun cha in Hanoi.

dgunbug

NeoPatrick - why not ask a dietitian this question. Seems that the rice noodles are healthier than the carbs we eat at home - the Vietnamese are certainly none the wear for them and they eat them all day long. Look how skinny those people are! I agree with Kristina - would be a shame to miss the bun cha.

cruisinred

Interesting article about brown rice & diabetes
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0...e&ref=homepage

NeoPatrick

Yes, I knew that about brown rice which is why there is ONLY brown rice in my house, but that brings up another question. Do you find brown rice in Asia in restaurants? Or is it all white rice?

MichaelBKK

In Thailand, you have to look real hard to find brown rice in a restaurant. You'll only find it in vegetarian or health food places, which are quite few. It seemed to be getting more common around Ubud in Bali, though.

BTW, white jasmine rice has a higher GI index than a baked potato.

Cicerone

In my long experience here, you won’t find whole-wheat noodles or brown rice in restaurants in the places on your itin, other than in (western) health food restaurants, and of course in Japan as mentioned. That being said, in major cites, Western health food restaurants are not that hard to find, and you should be able to do so. (Try happycow.com for a list of vegetarian restaurants, which may lead to health food/organic restaurants.) Outside the major cities, if you are in a tourist area like Luang Prabang or Ankor Wat, you may also be able to find health food restaurants. If you go to or stay in hotels with a Japanese tourist contingent, you will find Soba noodles on many hotel menus, so it may be worth looking into that (i.e. the New Otani in Beijing). International chain hotels may also have whole wheat or brown rice options on their menus as well.

There is “red” rice and “black” rice to be found in Asia, which are the whole grains (i.e., unmilled), but these are generally served in deserts, and are highly sweetened, which you may not like or be able to have given the diabetes.