Last Updated on: 26th March 2020, 06:10 pm
Why food is the biggest concern for most patients?
Food is by far the biggest concern for most patients coming to Thailand. They usually don’t know what to expect, how different it is from their eating habits back in their home countries and there are always doubts as to whether they will be able to adapt to a new cuisine that is so radically different from the ones they are used to.
Luckily for patients, Better Being‘s nutrition department is one of the hospital’s biggest assets, led by Sarah Janssen who is always making sure Beike patients receive enough nutritious food. This allows patients to enjoy delicious food to their heart‘s delight.
Sarah, like many other Thais, is of mixed origin. Her father is American whereas her mother comes from Thailand. Earlier on in her life she became interested in cooking and this is a story worth telling. After graduating from liberal arts at the Thammasat University in Bangkok, she took a cooking course that ignited a passion that has lasted ever since. Once she got her diploma, Sarah decided to move to San Francisco (CA, USA), and concluded that cooking would be a useful skill to have while starting an independent life.
During her time in California, Sarah started taking a course on screenwriting, but she also worked at the same time in order to finance her studies and lifestyle. The first job she found was at a Fusion Vietnamese restaurant, led by a well-known chef. Shortly afterwards she switched to a French restaurant and throughout her entire time working there her passion for food and health increased. These experiences deepened her interest in the knowledge of nutritious cuisines.
Shortly afterwards, she took a course called “Nutrition Educator” at Bauman College in Berkely, CA which taught her the basics of health consciousness. Combing this with the French cuisine and cooking, her knowledge of healthy foods increased tenfold.
After finishing her education, she headed back to Bangkok, got a job at a cooking school for kids, started her own business and got a Masters in Anti-aging science from the Mae Fah Laung University in Thailand. In April 2012 she started working at the Better Being Hospital preparing the meals for the patients receiving Beike’s stem cell treatment.
Her main goal at the hospital is to provide the best food possible to the patients, so the stem cells’ regenerative function is augmented. This is an important cornerstone to the Functional Medicine approach of BBH. Sarah is oftentimes faced with the same misconception that healthy and tasty are two antagonistic adjectives that never go hand in hand and yet, time after time, she succeeds in proving this wrong. Her goal is to provide Beike patients with enough food that is both, healthy and tasty, during their stay at BBH.
The first day a patient arrives at the hospital, the staff does a blood test on him or her and based on the information Sarah gets, she determines what kind of nutrition someone needs. Being fully aware of a patient’s condition and needs, she fixes the food accordingly and modifies the diet to best fit any given condition. Not only that, most of the time, a patient will also be asked by Sarah to eliminate or modify certain aspects of their typical diet. Plus, patients and caregivers even get to learn how to make some of the dishes with Sarah in order to better continue this healthy lifestyle at home.
Beike Biotechnology and Better Being Hospital are fortunate to have such a committed and professional worker among their staff. Patients are more than happy to count on her on a daily basis and eliminate negative eating habits with her encouragement and advice. We are all thankful to have her on board!