Is Thai green curry fattening?

Question

and, if so, then why are Thai people generally skinny?

Answer 1

A lot of this post is about coconut oil -- since it is the component of coconut milk that is getting a bad rap.
1) Curry pastes are almost always fried in a bit of the coconut cream. There’s no reason at all to use palm oil or any other oil.
2) Mary Enig, PhD has written extensively on fats (Google: enig skinny on fats). In reviewing studies done by Kaunitz and Dayrit (1992) on coconut eating societies she said "available population studies show that dietary coconut oil does not lead to high serum cholesterol nor to high coronary heart disease.” This is, of course, natural coconut oil: stay away from hydrogenated coconut oil -- like anything hydrogenated, it has trans fats and is not healthy for you.
3) Coconut oil, although high in fat, is not fattening. There are at least two books that use coconut oil as an integral part of losing weight: “Eat Fat, Lose Fat: Lose Weight And Feel Great With The Delicious, Science-based Coconut Diet” by Sally Fallon & Mary Enig, and “Eat Fat, Look Thin” by Bruce Fife.
Most of the fat in coconut oil consists of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), which act more like carbohydrates than fats in the body. When you eat an MCFA, it goes directly from the small intestine to the liver, where it provides immediate energy for the body: most fats need to be emulsified by bile and are much more likely to be stored as fat. There’s a school of thought that says coconut milk actually increases the metabolism, perhaps because it is absorbed so efficiently and quickly by the body in this way.
4) Natural Value makes an excellent canned coconut milk without additives of any kind. It is currently unavailable but should be available again within a couple months.
5) Up to 2/3s of the fat in coconut oil is Lauric Acid, which is also a major component of breast milk. In the body Lauric Acid becomes monolaurin, which is antimicrobrial, so it acts against enveloped viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi. The lauric acid in breast milk is one reason breast-fed babies are healthier: they get an immune system boost. You can get the same boost from coconut oil or milk, but not if you get the low-fat variety, which has much less taste, as well.
6) If you wish to learn more about coconut oil, I suggest you Google -- enig 21st century coconut oil -- read her article “In Support of Good Health in the 21st Century.”
7) Thai people do not eat curries all the time. They have a varied diet. But they do eat coconut in other forms as well such as soups and snacks.
8) One poster said “Thai food is very fattening.” If this were the case, you’d have a lot of fat Thai people: there are very few fat people in Thailand. I’ve been traveling there for 19 years. Lately you do see more fat people but it also corresponds to a rise in western foods, particularly white-flour products, which are becoming much more readily available.