Gotta Start Somewhere

Jip’s caregivers are trying to eat healthier. I have to smile listening to them talk about it. Right under their noses is somebody who always gets her 5 to 9 daily servings of fruits and veggies, who loads up on fiber every morning, keeps her total fat intake way under a third of her total calories, and regularly eats sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Jip could pretty much write the handbook on nutrition.

Yet for her caregivers, turning over a new dietary leaf means daily doses of chlorophyll liquid supplement. According to the label on the bottle, chlorophyll is a good “odor neutralizer.”

(To be fair: lots of Thai people have fallen into poor eating habits over the past couple of decades. Especially in urban Thailand, fast foods and suspicious snacks are much more readily available than during my first trip here in 1986, when I recall the opening of a Dunkin Donuts shop being a huge deal. Back then, more people ate more like Jip does now. Today, Ministry of Public Health Ministry people always tell our office that while they appreciate the U.S. assistance with infectious diseases, their bigger concerns are diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer.)