Hey folks, I'm moving to PP in a few months and I'm diabetic (type 2). I know Cambodian food has a fair amount of sugar. I was wondering if there are any other diabetics out there and how you navigate the food there to avoid too much sugar? Also, do UCare or Pharmacie de la Gare carry glucose testing supplies, Metformin, and insulin?
Any non-snarky tips? Thanks!
Being Diabetic in Cambodia
- Playboy
- 20,000 Posts; I need professional help !
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Almost every Khmer pharmacy in Phnom Penh carries Metformin, cheap and easy to find.
The larger ones carry insulin - but always check the exploration date on it.
The test strips can be an issue. I must have bought a dozen different test machines over the past few years. The pharmacy get a new make/model of machine in, with strips. Has a promotion on them, they then run out of the strips and you can never find the strips that fit that machine again. Then you buy a different machine and the strips, use that for another 6 months, then repeat the whole process. Then repeat. Then repeat ... you getting the picture here ??
Food can be tricky, it is almost impossible to avoid on Khmer restaurants. Learning to ask for them to cook something without sugar in it in the Khmer language is easy enough, but them listening or understanding the concept is a totally different thing ...
I eat out a lot, I am currently living in the middle of nowhere on the Vietnamese border for a project I am managing down here. I am living in a casino hotel, and have a fair amount of authority over the kitchen and F&B Staff - and it is still almost impossible to get them to cook me any Khmer food without them putting some sugar in it. So most of the time I end up eating western food in Cambodia - unless I am back home in Phnom Penh (another month to go on this project) where I can get sugar free cooked for me at home, or in a couple of Khmer restaurants that deal with a lot of foreigners and are owned by friends of mine.
It helps a lot that most Khmers food is fairly boring and bland, unfortunately. So after the initial phase of being excited to try something new and exciting, the urge to eat it drops off rapidly
17 years of diabetic living in Cambodia
LPB
The larger ones carry insulin - but always check the exploration date on it.
The test strips can be an issue. I must have bought a dozen different test machines over the past few years. The pharmacy get a new make/model of machine in, with strips. Has a promotion on them, they then run out of the strips and you can never find the strips that fit that machine again. Then you buy a different machine and the strips, use that for another 6 months, then repeat the whole process. Then repeat. Then repeat ... you getting the picture here ??
Food can be tricky, it is almost impossible to avoid on Khmer restaurants. Learning to ask for them to cook something without sugar in it in the Khmer language is easy enough, but them listening or understanding the concept is a totally different thing ...
I eat out a lot, I am currently living in the middle of nowhere on the Vietnamese border for a project I am managing down here. I am living in a casino hotel, and have a fair amount of authority over the kitchen and F&B Staff - and it is still almost impossible to get them to cook me any Khmer food without them putting some sugar in it. So most of the time I end up eating western food in Cambodia - unless I am back home in Phnom Penh (another month to go on this project) where I can get sugar free cooked for me at home, or in a couple of Khmer restaurants that deal with a lot of foreigners and are owned by friends of mine.
It helps a lot that most Khmers food is fairly boring and bland, unfortunately. So after the initial phase of being excited to try something new and exciting, the urge to eat it drops off rapidly
17 years of diabetic living in Cambodia
LPB
"We, the sons of John Company, have arrived"
Playboy, thanks for the helpful reply! Would you be willing to name some of the restaurants you know of in PP where you can get sugar-free food? Thanks!
Most of the bakeries use sugar in their breads - Toussant even puts it in the whole-wheat. Eric Kayser breads don't use sugar, and most are sourdough based/fermented.
- violet
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17 years of showing how it can be done .... Until the moment arrives.
All good for a person who doesn't much care when their time is up, but I figure a person asking such a question is wanting to prolongue their time on planet earth by more than 20 odd years.
All good for a person who doesn't much care when their time is up, but I figure a person asking such a question is wanting to prolongue their time on planet earth by more than 20 odd years.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch
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Type1 diabetes is a challenge here, have to keep the insulin cool , or it will perish, and finding fresh quality insulin is harder here, and expensive as well. Locals with type1 are ill situated.
Speaking from experiencing this first hand with an old mate of mine.
But they came out with a new product few years ago, that cuts the injection of the large dosis to half, and so only needed in the morning, and so one can go party death metal, without having to worry about passing out, and not getting the vital dosage in time.
All respect to those who are able to keep up with that disease, just terrible, but thankfully survival rates are much better today, thanks to the modern medicine.
Speaking from experiencing this first hand with an old mate of mine.
But they came out with a new product few years ago, that cuts the injection of the large dosis to half, and so only needed in the morning, and so one can go party death metal, without having to worry about passing out, and not getting the vital dosage in time.
All respect to those who are able to keep up with that disease, just terrible, but thankfully survival rates are much better today, thanks to the modern medicine.
violet wrote:17 years of showing how it can be done .... Until the moment arrives.
All good for a person who doesn't much care when their time is up, but I figure a person asking such a question is wanting to prologue their time on planet earth by more than 20 odd years.
Harsh comment, but not necessarily incorrect.
Kind of reminds me of Sun San.
Says I, as I pore myself another drink and feast on left over pork crackle from today's roast meal.
I refuse to go out with nothing more than a whimper followed by a small farting sound and a shit stain on my bed sheets..
Just thought I'd share that with you.
Just thought I'd share that with you.
- violet
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Harsh indeed but he's heard it before. He knows as well as you do.scoffer wrote:violet wrote:17 years of showing how it can be done .... Until the moment arrives.
All good for a person who doesn't much care when their time is up, but I figure a person asking such a question is wanting to prologue their time on planet earth by more than 20 odd years.
Harsh comment, but not necessarily incorrect.
Kind of reminds me of Sun San.
Says I, as I pore myself another drink and feast on left over pork crackle from today's roast meal.
Luckily my eating habits have not resulted in diabetes (yet)
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch
- Plutarch
If you have any complications There is a big hospital specialising in diabetes coming from pp city centre turning left at the second sky bridge on Russian Blvd. About 800meteres on the left.
It looks like a Korean or Japanese collaboration hospital so it might be all right.
It looks like a Korean or Japanese collaboration hospital so it might be all right.
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