Living in Singapore now

[flanagan]

I've moved to Singapore for a couple years. I don't think we have any members out here but if anyone has any advice food-wise, let me know.

Thanks!

[ukbill]

You have both my admiration and jealousy. I have only passed through Singapore on my way back from Australia.. what a place!

My father was one of the last British servicemen to escape after the Japanese invasion. He was on duty in the radio room and heard the announcement that the japanese had arrived.. he got out on an open boat with 9 other service men.. all his mates who were off duty and in town were never heard form again.

OK as I'm sure you have realised by now a lot of the food there is sweet.. not as bad as in Thailand however which is just totally dangerous.. they put sugar in plain boiled rice and in fresh milk there!!!

Please let us know how you are getting on.

regards
bill A.

[flanagan]

Hey Bill,
Yeah, I would like to take a trip to to Thailand at some point but the food is a worry. Singapore has been disappointing food wise. Many of the dishes here are overly complex using ingredients that we can't tolerate. Compounding that problem, customer service is not geared towards making food to order. I'm slowly learning the tricks to be able to order exactly what I want and I've been cooking at home more as well. That being said, Singapore is a lovely country and there are western chain restaurants everywhere. Not exactly healthy but McDonald's nuggets helped me out in first couple weeks as a reliable standby.

I have been to India several times for business this year,... that presents some challenges with food as well. Hopefully will do some travel to Malaysia/Indonesia in the next month or so. Live and learn,...

With regards from Singapore,

Joseph

[ukbill]

Yes home cooking is good and safest and eating out can be a problem.
Hence my constant advice to parents NOT to give HFI children sweet flavoured foods to allow them to avoid the dangerous foods easier in later life.
When I am in Prague it is easy the food is so cheap if I cannot eat something (not often) I just order something else.. the staff get worried and off to help a lot so the second meal is always good.

Malaysia / Indonesia wow you are pushing the boundaries.. Visiting the USA will not be a problem to you.. I have to admit its one place I've avoided mostly because the food is all so damn sweet and my brother got run out of one town (in the GOD belt which is deeply ironic) simply for asking for a meal without any meat in it (he was Vegetarian)! Apparently it was a full on Top Gear type run for your life type event! That was the last time he accepted any work in the Southern states although he does go to Florida on holiday frequently.

Enjoy your travel (more than a little jealous) and keep reporting on the countries you visit and eat in. it helps parents to understand a "normal" life is posible for their babay when they have been given this worrying confusing diagnosis that they are trying to get their heads around.

[colormist]

Hi Flanagan!
When I first heard you were heading to Singapore, I'll admit I was quite a bit concerned about your food situation. I've had difficult times finding safe foods at most Asian restaurants--which I realize are Americanized--but the dishes are always so complex that I would imagine an HFIer would have to be fluent in the language of the region AND have a really good familiarity with the dishes. I'm glad you were able to find some safe foods to eat until you acclimatized yourself to the recipes.

I had to turn down a trip to India for work. It was a two week long trip traveling the country and visiting several health clinics to discover barriers to diabetes care. It would have been amazing, but I just looked at my manager with a really sad face and said, "I can't go. I wouldn't be able to eat anything." It's one thing to plan a two day trip in the states (where I can pack food and rely on a familiar menu and familiar restaurants) and it's something completely different to go to a country where I'm not very familiar with the menus or the languages and expect not to end up in hospital.

Do you have someone helping you that knows your condition well? Are you relying on one or two restaurants that are familiar with your ordering habits? What sort of recipes are you making at home?

Really hoping for this HFI Nutraceutical soon so we won't be tied down by our diets.

[flanagan]

Hey Bill and Colormist,

Bill - I booked up a trip to Vietnam in a couple weeks, so I'll see what I can forage around to eat there. I'm from the US, so I can't say that "visiting" would be a problem, lol. I actually just got back from a 2 week visit,... the eating back home was soooo good. Sorry to hear about your brother's experience, the Bible belt is not very sympathetic to some lifestyles. I know the top gear episode you are referring too, great episode.

Colormist - I have lived for a couple years in China long before I ever heard of HFI. That may have given me a bit of comfort in the fact that I think I may get sick, but probably not end up in the hospital living aboard. Also, I'm not as strict in my diet as I should be. I've heard you talk about your brother's nonchalant attitude, I am not that relaxed but maybe more in the middle between you and him (My brother is also stricter in his diet than I am). That being said, I have been thinking a lot more recently about improving my diet, I felt distinctly better after my two week visit to the states.

I am making a few things at home more regularly:
pasta with grilled shrimp and spinach tossed in
Cream of mushroom Chicken rice casserole
Suburban taco night (hard shell tacos, beef, cheese, sour cream)

I had a huge disappointment yesterday. I have been enjoying the local Singaporean coffee (called Kopi) which I had learned to order without sugar and only evaporated milk in the local dialect. Kopi is a cultural institution here and ordering was a fun and engaging thing to do. However, I just found out that the coffee beans are roasted with sugar :-( Even the coffee beans I had been using at the office in my french press had sugar listed as an ingredient!! I don't know how much of that sugar is making it through the roasting process but I'm going to lay off the Kopi for a few weeks and see how I feel. There is plenty of regular coffee to be had, starbucks are everywhere, but it's just disappointing.

India has been ok, I'm there for business, so mostly my breakfast and dinners are at the hotel. The hotels have a diverse menu and have been decent about accommodating any requests I have. To be honest though, Indian is just not a food I care for that much. My real problem has been the lunch catered at the office. Most of it seems like I shouldn't eat it. I've taken to just having yogurt mixed with white rice,.... but I'm still not sure that is sitting well with me. Maybe there is something added to the yogurt or rice that I'm not aware of.

[ukbill]

Yes there is they always mix sugar in the Yogurt in india.. well they do in the UK anyway and we have lots of indians here. sorry

Caramelized sugar if its cooked into the beans is not as much of a problem I do not get an instant reaction with it.. however it seems to break down into sucrose or fructose in the gut and i tend to get bad guts for days after but hopefully its only me. also in the UK (and USA I think) most commercial caramel is made from Fructose because it browns quicker, and at lower temperature than sucrose.

I used to eat onions that were cooked until they were dark brown. The colour change caused by caramelisation of sugars in the onion.. however found was getting gut problems when I did so gave them up ;( my guts have taken quite a beating over the years before I tidied up my diet. Now have to because they are saying enough's enough.. well not in words you understand but in gurgles, cramps and the resulting emissions! ;P

So enjoy while you can..

In Thailand they add sugar to plain milk and boiled white rice.. so be very careful in Vietnam they have similar tastes.

Keep smiling

[colormist]

Flanagan,
I have been so happy about my brother's latest developments. He's asked me about the beer I drink (german) as he noticed that he feels differently when he drinks a sugar-free beer. He also has switched to thin-crust pizza at Domino's because he thinks it tastes better. I guess my lecturing doesn't work as well as him being curious about what I'm eating/drinking and copying me. Oh, little brothers!

Your homecooked meals sound amazing! I still haven't figured out how to cook shrimp myself but I love to eat them when I dine out.

I have a few friends from India and they'd always try to get me to eat their foods. They knew all about my diet, though, and would agree that I shouldn't eat certain things after they offered. One day they offered these little baked rice snacks (like Goldfish cracker sized) that were coated in spices. I refused, they insisted, so I tried them and they were amazing and sugar free! That and Palak/Saag Paneer with Naan were about the only things I would eat from India--that's knowing that the Palak/Saag Paneer was made with onions. Worth it, though. I keep trying to figure out how to make that dish at home, but I don't know how to make the cheese.

If there is sugar in the yogurt, I don't think you'd notice it right away with all that lactose. It might not hit you for a few hours after eating it. I have this theory that our HFI stomachs/livers put off processing any fructose until it's the only thing left to work with.

The coffee sounds disappointing. I'm sorry. I hate it when something you love to eat suddenly turns out to be something that is making you sick. I'm really hoping that HFI nutraceutical comes through sooner rather than later.

[ukbill]

colormist by "Shrimp" are you meaning prawns (large and small)?
In the UK you can buy them either precooked (pink in colour) or raw.. if they are raw they are translucent to a light blue colour DO NOT buy them if pink tinged.. it means they are old.. and you do not want to be eating old shrimp, prawns or any shellfish!

TO reheat or cook them its very very simple and quick. I pan fry them most of the time and they are done when a nice solid pink on the outside and solid white or pink on the inside. For precooked all they need is defrosting or heating through thoroughly.

If I am making a fish stew or similar cooked white fish I usually add some for the colour and taste. I pan fry in a little butter the white fish for maybe 5 min turning it to get the heat into all the sides (if a "meaty" chunky type fish) and then add the prawns and saute them for a couple of min turning them over so they colour all over.

I then add mushrooms herbs (Bay, parsley etc) and milk to poach the fish and ensure the heat gets in all round the fish and prawns. It is important to lower the heat when adding the milk to stop it breaking. If it starts breaking add some cream or unsalted butter and stir it in on a very low heat then thicken with potato starch or cornflour starch.

I usually add one or two drops of a hot chili sauce, just enough to"spark" the taste a little.
Hope this helps?

Keep smiling

[colormist]

I was buying the precooked variety--known as cocktail shrimp--and recooking them. I don't know fish well enough to trust myself to cook it properly. They do not taste very yummy if you cook them twice, fyi.

I'll have to pick a day where I feel brave enough to cook them (with a stomach constitution to match). Cooking/prepping meat tends to activate my gag reflex.

[julienc]

I haven't been on these boards in ages! Just wanted to chime in that I've been living overseas now for 3 years (from the US), and I haven't let my HFI stop me for one second. I've traveled all over - Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Middle East extensively, etc. Europe is a breeze with food. I had the most incredible culinary experience of my life in Slovenia - they don't put sugar in anything! Days of pork, potatoes, and endless amazing food. Asia is no doubt the hardest, but I can always find something that works, especially when staying at major hotels with a full breakfast in the mornings. I always travel with packs of Saltine crackers if needed in a pinch. I'll be hitting up Cambodia here shortly and India later this year.
Travel is my passion, which can unfortunately be socially awkward when refusing food that new hosts are trying to nicely force on you. But I just roll with it.

Happy travels my fellow HFI friends!

[flanagan]

Hey Guys,
Just to update: I had moved back to the US for awhile but decided to move back to Singapore in September of last year. So I'm out here for at least the next several years.

Joseph

[ukbill]

Great news!
It is always hard to get through to parents of HFI children that HFI is only as restrictive as you let it be.
Personally I would have an issue I think, but then I have become ever so very much more sensitive as I have got older.

I think it is my intestines saying they have just had enough! However I may also have FM as well as HFi given how I react to digestible fibre.

If you start getting bad IBS type symptoms I would suggest cleaning up your diet a bit

An annual Liver blood test would be a very good idea and living in Singapore cheap enough to get done as well. That should head off any real damage, or at least give you a heads up so to speak..

Good luck and please keep in touch it is very useful to everyone to hear how you are managing.

[julienc]

Hi Joseph! I hope your "round two" in Singapore is going well. I'm still overseas (going on 9 years soon), and travling again in full force with the pandemic restrictions eased. I spent an amazing week at a tented camp in the Maasai Mara, Kenya in June. The wonderful staff running the camp called me "Julie no sugar". They were ready for me on arrival, and each night the chef made me my own incredible, fructose-free meal. Including my own "desert" cheese course, while everyone else ate sweets. I was spoiled rotten, and loved every second.

I've also recently added Nepal, Egypt, and Zanzibar to my travel list, and all went amazingly well in the food department.

So anyone reading this, please don't let HFI stop you from traveling! I always pack a baggie of saltines or shredded wheat to get me through any rough patches (i.e. 7 hours of transit with no access to fructose-free food), and 9 years in no issues. And honestly, some really beautiful moments, like in Kenya, where people really try to learn and help.
Happy travels, everyone.

[buywindex]

Hi all - I was reading about how a number of you have traveled successfully across the world. I just thought I would finally jump in and say that I am moving to Indonesia this month for at least 2 years. If anyone is in the region or wants to chat about living with HFI in SE Asia, just hit me up. My email is [e-mail]

[ukbill]

I have travailed all over Europe without any issues and in Australia too. however you have to be doubly cautious in places like Vietnam Cambodia etc.

In Some countries they add sugar to plain white rice and to cows milk too! Not good or easy to stay safe.

So long as you have a good interpreter who has their marbles and can understand you should be OK.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.