Thailand’s Favorite & Dangerous Fruit – Durian

People talk about the appalling smell of this fruit, I talk about how unhealthy it is, regardless of the healthy monounsaturated fats it has.

Durian, the ultimate and infamously famous fruit of southeast Asia, is known for it’s smell.  They have a variety of Durian treats here in Thailand ranging from popsicle sticks, to chips.  This mammoth of a fruit houses an insane amount of calories; and if you eat a bunch of it, it could literally kill you.

Not sure if it’s a myth, but having beer and Durian can also put you to sleep forever, too.

Nonetheless, let’s look at some of the table of contents of this bad boy.

Nutritional composition of one small durian (602g)		Dietitian’s Comments
Calories	885
Total fat	32.1g (mostly monounsaturated fats)	● That’s nearly 50% of the daily nutritional requirement.
Cholesterol	NIL
Sodium	13mg	Low sodium
Total carbohydrates	163.1g	● That’s over 50% of the daily nutritional requirement.
Dietary fibre	22.9g	● Good. That’s 92% of the daily nutritional requirement.
Protein	8.8g

Percentage of daily nutritional requirements
Vitamin C	198%
Iron	14%
Vitamin A	5%
Calcium	4%

After having a range of discussions with my best friend in America, she says that carbohydrates are also sugar.  Carbs consist of three things (one of them being sugar), so if you were to eat even 200g of Durian, that would be 50+ grams of carbs already.  Terrifying, given the fact that carbs are also sugar (giggle).  The fat and the calories is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a fruit.  I’ll also have to say that Americans; yes, Americans….should eat Durian.  Why? Look at the fiber it has.  More than 20% of Americans suffer from constipation. 20%!  That’s 60 million people not being able to go to the toilet.

Am I a fan of Durian? No, but I sure love some Mangosteen! I guess I should make a blog about that one, too, huh? That’ll be next!