Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
This whole week I am going to put a lot of focus on one of the most controversial topics in the nutrition community: milk and dairy products. Should we consume it at all? Is organic better? Raw or pasteurized? Homegenized or no? There are a ton of questions about dairy, and I am going to provide a lot of info, hopefully answering some questions (though not all, since they can’t all be) and coming to a comfortable resolution. This isn’t really going to be about the nutrients in milk and dairy, just the production and processing of it.
I have always been a big dairy consumer. I was raised on copious amounts of skim milk, non-organic, completely industrialized skim milk and I loved every minute of it. Be honest, who doesn’t still love the idea of a PB & J with a huge glass of milk? Through my evolution in this industry, and the learning process that I am continually undergoing, you read more, you learn more, and you question more. Throughout my college years and a little thereafter I didn’t believe any of the negative info about conventional dairy. Mainstream nutrition experts, the FDA, the ADA, and my professors all brushed any negative info aside, declaring dairy to be A-ok. The only people that seemed to be against it were the hippies. Come to find out, the hippies were right.
Reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma is an eye-opening experience to the scary process we call industrial food production. Unfortunately, it doesn’t produce real food, just items resembling and pretending to be real food. Conventional dairy farms are no exception, seeking to maximize production and minimize cost (makes sense from a pure business perspective, except it destroys the product) are huge, milk the cows nearly non-stop, feed them boatloads of corn to maximize milk yield, may inject hormones to do the same, smash them full of antibiotics to counteract the corn feeding which sickens the animals, and generally doesn’t give two shits about the actual quality of their product, just the quantity. It is a cyclical nightmare, and the biggest companies are the worst offenders (this same statement applies even to organic dairies).
One step in the right direction is organic milk. In order to be certified organic, the cows have to have access to pasture (which doesn’t really mean much), fed organic feed, no hormones, no antibiotics, get milked less, and generally live in more sanitary conditions with more room and better care. If you can find organic milk from a small, preferably local dairy, it is most likely even pastured/grass-fed cows producing the milk, which is even better, and for what is widely available, probably your best option. Huge organic companies, like Horizon, do not meet those requirements though. They are simply industrial organic, bending the rules but not necessarily breaking them, pushing their limits and generally not producing a better product than conventional milk. Last week I actually came across a fantastic resource on organic dairies, milk, cheese, yogurt, etc, that gave them scores based on surveys. It was quite revealing and I suggest you all check it out here. The good news is there are some great companies out there producing good products. If you are afraid of raw milk, and want the best “normal milk” that is widely available, Organic Valley makes some pretty good products and got pretty good ratings in that report.
The deeper you get into how your food was produced, the more you realize that there is a lot of shit you no longer want to eat. Conventional food production no longer seems remotely appealing, large organic corporations are not much better, their only real benefit being that at least they don’t contribute to our pesticide/herbicide/antiobiotic/hormone issues. I haven’t even gotten into the issues around pasteurization, ultra-pasteurization, homogenization, etc. This is a huge issue that I could never cover in its entirety in a few blogs, whole books have been written about it! I just hope to at least give some solid info on the topic and help people make better food choices. To Be Continued…
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
Recently on the Precision Nutrition blog there was a review of some research on the potentially adverse health effects of consuming artificial sweeteners like Splenda. I am going to give an overview of the study and discussion and give my take, but if you would like a more in depth look strictly at the research, check it out here. I also recently blogged about antibiotics and their effects on intestinal flora, right here.
This research focused on the administration of Splenda to rats to see the effect on their intestinal flora. Though not identical, the human digestive system is not all that dissimilar from rats, so results from this type of work usually translate quite well.
There were several different dosages given along with a control group not receiving any Splenda. The lowest treatment group had an intake below the expected daily intake of a human, based on the rats bodyweight so the percentage of sucralose to bodyweight would be the same. The next lowest group was above expected intake, but still well below acceptable levels for health concerns. The last two treatment groups were above the acceptable intake.
The study lasted 12 weeks and had some scary results. In the lowest treatment group, well below even the expected daily intake let alone levels considered to be the anywhere near the upper limit of safe, the amount of good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tracts had decreased by nearly 50%! Even after a 12 week washout period where no Splenda was consume, that lowest level intake group still had nearly 54% less good bacteria than before they began Splenda consumption. This effect was seen at all dosages and only got worse as the treatment does went up. That is some scary stuff right there, doesn’t make those artificially sweetened yogurts sound so appealing now does it? Talk about self-defeating!
This destruction of intestinal flora can weaken your immune system and cause plenty of digestion issues. There was some other interesting points in the article about weight gain. The lowest treatment group actualy gained weight from the Splenda, as did the third treatment group. The second and highest did not. Odd, but one possible explanation is that the body has what Helen Kollias called “threshold levels of compensation to sucraslose” (the artificially sweet part of Splenda). That is why there was weight gain in the lowest group, but not the next as the higher intake caused a compensation of specific proteins to remove it, the next highest dose didn’t trigger a higher compensation so there was some weight gain seen there, and the highest dose reached a new threshold where the removal proteins were upregulated yet again. This is a double edged sword that Helen goes into more detail about, some interesting stuff.
In conclusion, we need more research, preferably on human subjects, but still I suggest resorting to consuming as little Splenda, or any artificial sweetener at that, as possible. Focus on real whole food, preferably local, seasonal and usually organic. I understand it’s not easy, but your GI tract and your immune system will thank you.
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
After last week’s diversion from the norm, I am back at it again today with a fantastic food that is sure to stir up some controversy. Today I wanted to talk about the delicious, and incredibly healthy coconut oil. The organic extra-virgin variety. Just like with olive oil, or any oil for that matter, the processing makes a huge difference and we want it as unadulterated as possible. You could make that statement for all food, but that is another story for another day.
Some might argue that it is too high in saturated fat, blah blah blah. The fact of the matter is, there is little to no direct evidence showing a cause and effect relationship between saturated fat intake (especially a naturally formed, non-fried or damaged version) and heart disease, despite 30 years of science trying to prove it. Regardless, the saturated fat in coconuts is quite distinct, as it is made up of medium chain triglycerides. These MCT’s are quite unique as they are do not require bile to be digested (if you have had your gallbladder removed, you will appreciate this), they are more readily used for energy rather than stored as energy, and in coconut’s case, are made up of 44% lauric acid. This is significant because lauric acid is one hell of a fatty acid. Lauric acid is converted into monolaurin in the body and it is known to be antiviral and antimicrobial. There have been many studies demonstrating this effect, an example of one from Wikipedia:
“A laboratory study investigated the effect of monolaurin on primary and secondary skin infections compared with six common antibiotics.[14] In culture isolates from the skin infections, monolaurin showed statistically significant broad-spectrum sensitivity to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial isolates, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp. and Enterobacter spp.”
Interestingly MCTs are used in the treatment of people suffering from cystic fibrosis, AIDS, cachexia and childhood epilepsy. Not only that, there are many Pacific Island populations who subsisted on a huge intake of coconut, their diets being anywhere from 35-60% of calories from fat (mostly saturated), they were found to be nearly completely free of atherosclerosis, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, etc. For more reading on that topic, I refer you again to the Whole Health Source blog. He covers it in great detail.
Shredded unsweetened coconut is also a fantastic food, high in MCTs, fiber, potassium and more, so eat your coconut! Though some recommed many tablespoons per day, I think adding in 1-2 tbsp is more than sufficient. In conjunction with the extra virgin olive oil, fish oil, flax, nuts and the fat from animal sources, I think your fat intake will be taken care of.
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
My title for this blog may be a little dramatic, but it is well deserved, and you will see that I don’t pull any punches on this one. It is a little long, but bear with me, it is one of the most important discussions I have ever had on this blog, and I feel it is necessary reading for everyone.
At CP we have a ton of high school athletes, most of whom are struggling mightily to pack on size. We encourage some of these clients to have a protein shake either during or after their training, or both, then the rest of the time I highly encourage them to eat real food. Now some parents get a little bent out of shape about the protein shakes, and we don’t make kids take them, it is just a suggestion usually given to kids older than 15 to help them reach their protein and calorie needs. I do explain to the parent, if they are willing to listen, that there is no danger from these shakes. Protein in a powdered form was once protein in a solid food form. Whey protein is merely a dairy protein that has been extracted, dried and powdered. It isn’t some dangerous synthetic concoction made from petroleum and bull testicles. I understand that these parents are just concerned for their kids welfare, and that is all well and good, if they really dont want their child to take it, we don’t force the issue. The problem really arises when the parents claim they heard these shakes are dangerous, from no less authority than their child’s physician. (If their is a pre-existing health condition, obviously that is an entirely different animal). It truly pisses me off like few things can.
We recently had some athletes who have been with us for well over a year see their physician. Well Mr. Doctor who clearly knows nothing about nutrition, and most definitely has no formal education in nutrition, speaks his mind about these “dangerous protein shakes”. This is akin to me telling someone what is wrong with their car just because I can change my own oil. I may know a thing or two about cars, but I sure as shit am not a mechanic. According to the athletes’ mother, “Dr. X was very clear to eat food, not protein drinks. He explained about the toll it takes on the liver and kidneys which manifests years after the person has ingested the substance.”
Right. Physiologically this makes complete sense. Since we have researchers showing evidence that the body metabolizes high fructose corn syrup (a man made substance) exactly as it does sucrose(since they are off almost identical sugar composition), clearly a dairy based protein like whey would damage the liver and kidneys years after I have a shake in ways that complete dairy protein(whey and casein) does not. Yes sure, that follows. And where might I ask did this doctor find such inscrutable information? What research studies was he referring too? Absolutely none. There is absolutely ZERO research on healthy subjects showing ill effects from a high protein diet, whether from food sources or from protein shakes. If protein shakes actually lead to serious health complications there wouldn’t be hundreds of studies using them to test their efficacy, it would be considered unethical. We don’t do studies on human subjects using known harmful substances. We do know, from real research on human subjects that whey has actual health benefits such as: promoting weight gain (our goal), elevating glutathione levels (which in turn increase superoxide dismutase levels, a powerful antioxidant), and some types of whey, containing lactoferrin, can possess bacteriostatic and bactericidal activity against microorganisms that can cause gastroenteric infections and food poisoning. Not only has whey protein been shown to be safe, they are using specific kinds to prevent infection by food borne pathogens: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17293018?log$=activity.
Quotes like this are more ridiculous bullshit that come from nowhere. I remember in my Nutrition 101 class my ancient professor (I believe she was 88 at the time, no joke) mentioned in a slide that high protein diets can be dangerous. She went on to mention that there actually isn’t any proof for it, but that she kept it in her slide because it had always been there and that’s what she believed (and taught). It’s the same with the general statements about saturated fat and dietary cholesterol causing heart disease, a 70% carbohydrate diet being good for us, and that all vegetable oils are healthy(even the highly refined kind). We wouldn’t want to upset the status quo now would we. The American Dietetic Association is no better at giving information, since they are sponsored by big food industry and they wouldn’t want facts to get in the way of the needs and wants of their sponsors, but I digress.
And there we come to the crux of the problem. People, including doctors, regurgitating false information merely because it is what they had heard or what they had always said, regardless of the actual facts. It has been clearly shown in research and in surveys that physicians do not receive nearly enough training in nutrition to earn their degree, yet people continue to seek their advice, and physicians continue to give it, whether accurate or not. Physicians, by their own admission, are not nearly educated enough in the world of nutrition to give counsel to people, so why do they continue to do it? Who knows, but here are some interesting stats to prove my point:
- When surveyed 85% of physicians were dissatisfied with the quantity and 60% with the quality of their medical-nutrition education.
- In 1991 the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported that of 128 US medical schools, only 23% (29 schools) had a required nutrition course, with an average of <6 h of class time; 25% of schools failed to offer any formal nutrition education.
- The AAMC raw data for the 1997–1998 academic year reported that 26% of schools had a required nutrition course whereas 25% of schools still did not require or could not quantify nutrition education in their programs.
- This is sad.
A little more food for thought, the results and discussion from one of the studies given below:
In its 1985 survey, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) found that, overall, an average of 21 h of nutrition instruction was required in medical schools, but only 34 of the surveyed US medical schools (27%) had a separate, required nutrition course (3). The NAS report concluded that “Nutrition education programs in US medical schools are largely inadequate to meet the present and future demands of the medical profession.” This report has been called groundbreaking because it was the first comprehensive and systematic assessment of the status of nutrition education at medical schools that helped to identify the deficiencies. Publication of the report prompted the inclusion of medical education in the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 and emphasized the need for physicians to be educated on nutrition topics. Patients routinely seek physicians’ guidance about diet, and the relation of nutrition to the prevention and treatment of disease is well known. However, practicing physicians continually rate their nutrition knowledge and skills as inadequate (5). It also is no surprise that more than one-half of graduating medical students report that the time dedicated to nutrition instruction is inadequate
According to the 106 respondents of a 2004 survey, the curricula of 99 schools (93%) provided required nutrition instruction. Five schools (5%) offered optional instruction only, and another 2 (2%) reported that they did not offer any nutrition instruction. The schools requiring nutrition instruction provided an average of 23.9 (range: 2–70) contact hours. Remarkably, less than one-half (41%) of the responding schools provided the minimum 25 h or more recommended by the NAS in 1985 (3). Also surprising was the finding that 17 schools (18%) required only 
10 h of nutrition instruction.
An overwhelming majority (93/106, or 88%) of instructors indicated that students at their medical schools need more nutrition instruction, whereas only 8/106 (8%) said that they did not. Six of these 8 were at schools offering much more than the national average number of nutrition hours. The remaining 4% of schools responded that they did not know whether their students needed more nutrition instruction.
Is the national average of 23.9 h found in our survey adequate to properly train future physicians about nutrition? We realize that the definition of adequate is open to interpretation, but we used 2 major recommendations reported in the literature as a benchmark. The current 23.9 h fall just short of the NAS 1985 minimum recommendation and far short of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition (ASCN) 1989 recommendations. The ASCN recommendations were based on a survey of curriculum administrators and nutrition educators; the former group suggested 37 h (median: 32), whereas the latter suggested 44 h (median: 40) be devoted to nutrition instruction (9).
By either criterion, less than one-half of the surveyed medical schools (41%) provided the minimum of 25 h of medical nutrition education; compared with the later recommendations of 37–44 h, the percentage of schools meeting the recommendation falls below 20%. This means that roughly 60–80% of schools are teaching far less nutrition than is recommended. In addition, nutrition education typically occurs during the first 2 y of medical school when the basic sciences are being emphasized; nutrition does not appear to get much emphasis during the clinical years when nutrition concepts and skills could be applied more directly to clinical problem-solving. Because the number of schools requiring a nutrition course (32 versus 34) and the overall number of hours of nutrition teaching (23.9 versus 21) has changed little over the past 2 decades, it is not surprising that most medical students continue to assess the time devoted to nutrition as inadequate. From our surveys, it seems that instructors are even more dissatisfied with the hours of nutrition in the curriculum than medical students are. Thus, it appears that we are producing a pool of physicians who feel largely unprepared to counsel their patients about nutrition (6, 10–12) and to make appropriate clinical decisions on nutrition-related issues. Surveys in the literature show that practicing physicians feel inappropriately prepared to address the growing problem of obesity, particularly in children (13, 14). With the rising epidemic of obesity in the US population and the knowledge that prevention is more likely to be successful than treatment, it is clearly imperative to ensure that medical students are adequately prepared.
There are many famed medical doctors, Dr. Michael Eades comes to mind, who clearly state that classically trained physicians are completely unprepared to offer nutrition advice unless they are willing to seek out nutrition information, attend seminars, and participate in continuing education. So I urge everyone to stop asking their unqualified physician nutrition information, and actually ask someone who may know what they are talking about.
For more info, here are some links to some serious research on the topic.
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/83/4/941S
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3717071?ordinalpos=9&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/72/3/868S
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15165973?dopt=Abstract
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
Yesterday at CP I was speaking to one of our high school athletes who had recently returned to lifting after some extended time off due to illness. This particular client has an auto-immune disease that tends to make his illnesses take a slightly larger toll on him. He mentioned to me that he had been on antibiotics for over 3 weeks now, and his sinus infection still persisted, so his doctor was prescribing him some new antibiotics for another month! By the end of that he will have taken antibiotics for 2 straight months without a break. Over prescription of medications is a huge pet peeve of mine, and I’m not saying he doesn’t need it, but…
He also mentioned how his digestive health has not been tip top as of late (you know what I mean) and I asked if his doctor had mentioned he should increase his yogurt consumption while taking his medication. He said that not only had the yogurt not been mentioned, nutrition and dietary intake wasn’t discussed at all! This boggles my mind. How can a physician prescribe antibiotics, for 2 straight months no less, which utterly destroy all intestinal flora, good or bad, and not mention nutrition!
Intestinal flora is of utmost importance to health as we know it contributes to digestion and absorption of nutrients, prevention of harmful pathogens like E. coli and salmonella taking root, and keeping the immune system in optimal condition. Having that be completely destroyed and not mentioning anything to the patient about what they can do to prevent that really lights a fire under me. Especially a patient who already has an immune deficiency! You don’t need to be a nutrition genius to tell patients to consume more yogurt (at least one per day, preferably two) when on antibiotics. It’s not a cure all, but it will certainly help to try and keep the pathogens from taking root in your intestinal tract.
I have encouraged him to up his yogurt intake, actual yogurt like Greek, not fake Americanized versions, that contain a lot of live and active cultures for that intestinal flora. I also pushed him towards the Friendship Digestive Health cottage cheese for more cultures and for the inulin to give those cultures some food to attempt to solidify their hold on the area. It’s not a perfect solution, but it at least gives him a fighting chance to have normal digestive health while on his antibiotics and I wish more docs would at least attempt to do the same.
Filed under: Nutrition
If you know me like my fiance does, then you already know what will be discussed today. My favorite food, partly for its nutrient composition, partly for its versatility, but mainly for its ease of use. Today I am talking all about the glory that is cottage cheese. I specifically wanted to discuss my favorite cottage cheese, Friendship Digestive Health.
All by its lonesome, cottage cheese is clearly not the most appealing of foods. It has an odd texture and a rather bland taste. That bland taste though, allows for lots of creativity with recipes that can be used at any time of day. Cottage cheese takes on the flavors of whatever you add to it, making it a very versatile food. I use it as a base for lots of my recipes, and I often consume it at least twice per day.
Moving on to the nutrition of cottage cheese, this one in particular, there is a lot to discuss. First, it is a protein source of the highest quality. Dairy protein is top notch, consisting of 80% casein and 20% whey, a beautiful blend that supports growth. Friendship brand cottage cheese have the greatest amounts of protein and the least amount of sugars of any cottage cheese I’ve seen, another reason why I tend to prefer them. This one in particular has 14 grams per 1/2 cup, very solid.
Second, this particular cottage cheese is a good source of fiber. Not just any fiber, but a fiber that is also a prebiotic, helping to nourish the healthy bacteria in your gut that are so important for digestion and immunity. This particular fiber, inulin, and actually a specialized oligofructose-enriched inulin at that, has been shown to increase the absorption of of calcium and magnesium, and serves to fuel beneficial bacteria, like Bifidobacterium, stimulating its growth and activity.
Healthful bacteria like Bifidobacterium reside primarily in the colon. It is known to aid in the production and absorption of vitamin K and biotin among others, and utilize non-digestible fiber (like inulin) for food. Increasing the number of healthy bacteria in the gut serves to help prevent harmful bacteria like H. pylori and E. coli from getting a foothold while also increasing the absorption of nutrients and the overall health of the gut.
Cottage cheese is also a good source of calcium, riboflavin, phosphorus and the ever important, cancer fighting selenium. It is also low in lactose and is usually well tolerated by people with mild lactose intolerance, especially with the addition of inulin and bifidobacterium.
In summary it may not be the world’s superfood, but it is a solid addition to almost everyone’s diet, can easily be used as a base for many fantastic recipes and improves the health of our gut, an area we are discovering to be of more importance to our health than ever previously thought possible.
Bonus: Jen Heath’s Protein Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Friendship Digestive Health cottage cheese
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1.75 cups egg whites (12 egg whites)
- 2 scoops Vanilla Low Carb Metabolic Drive
- 1/2 cup water
- cinnamon to taste
- 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. This may take a while, and I suggest not putting in the oats and cottage cheese first, or at least separate them with the egg whites. The batter will be very thick. Add the blueberries after blending and stir by hand. Makes 6 medium to large absolutely delicious pancakes. Enjoy.
Nutrition Info (per pancake)
- Calories = 225
- Protein = 24.3
- Carbs = 25.1
- Fiber = 5.2
- Fat = 3.3
Filed under: Nutrition
There is a prevailing belief in mainstream media and actually in highly educated nutrition experts that in order for a fruit or vegetable to have maximal nutritrional benefits, it must be rich in color. In many cases this is completely true. When you are eating a fruit or veggie that is colorful, such as a strawberry, you want it to be a beautiful deep red. Unfortunately people have taken this to mean that plants that are naturally color free are low in nutrients and value. False.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. There are a lot of fruits and veggies that are not rich in color, that are absolutely tremendous for you. Cauliflower would be a great example. It is a member of the brassica family, which is like vegetable royalty, also including broccoli, cabbage, kale, and more. It is high in a powerful compound called sulforaphane, a powerful antioxidant that can help reduce cancer risk and is known to detoxify the liver.
Another example of a great, low color veggie are onions. Onions are one of my favorite veggies, containing a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory called quercetin, which is shown to help prevent some cancers and heart disease. Onions are a part of the allium family, which aso contains garlic, scallions, chives, and leeks. The sulfur compounds in onions, including thiosulfinates, sulfides, sulfoxides, and diallyl sulfide (which unfortunately cause the smell) help prevent stomach, prostate and esophageal cancer. Some very powerful stuff.
Clearly we can see that color does not define the health properties in all cases. These are just two of many examples, there are tons of other low color plants that are incredibly healthy such as artichokes, celery, bok choy, endive and more. This again returns to why I do not like the green veggies only idea. There are tons of other fruits and veggies, of all colors of the rainbow, including white, that promote a balanced, delicious, and healthy diet.
Filed under: Nutrition
This recipe is a take on the one Chris Shugart posted on T-nation a little while back. It is excellent and you can take it in a number of directions. This can be utilized at breakfast or as an awesome post-training meal. I am going to post the easiest way to make this recipe, so it is as user-friendly as possible.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup organic quinoa
- 1 cup water
- pinch sea salt
- dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice
- 1 diced apple
- 1/2 cup wild blueberries
- 1/2 cup organic raspberries
- 1/8 cup chopped pecans
- 1/8 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 scoops Vanilla Metabolic Drive
Directions:
Have quinoa cooked and ready (what else are Sundays for?), by bringing water, quinoa and salt to a boil, cover and simmer for about 12-15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Store in tupperware and have ready for recipes like this! Moving on, add in all other ingredients and stir. Add in small amounts of low-fat organic milk as necessary to make all ingredients mix. Makes two delicious servings that will knock your socks off.
As a final note for this week, my first article ever was published on thefitcast.com. It was nothing fancy, just a simple supplement discussion, but it’s up nonetheless! To check it out, click HERE.
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
Quinoa. It is just a beautiful name for such an incredible food. Pronounced keenwa, the Incas called it chisiya mama, or the mother of grains, though we know now it is technically a seed. There are lengends of Incan armies marching for days eating nothing but “war balls”, quinoa packed with fat.
My favorite aspect of quinoa is the fact that it is actually a complete protein. If you know me, you know that I love my protein, and quinoa is that rarest of all creatures, a grain or seed that has all essential amino acids. The main reason it is considered complete is because it is high in lysine, an amino acid traditionally limited in the plant world.
Another benefit is that it cooks in about the same time as pasta, so it is much faster to prepare than rice, and providing better nutrition than either. It is high in fiber, roughly 5g per serving, and very low on the glycemic index causing it to have a minimal impact on blood sugar. Compared to other grains like wheat and corn it is higher in many minerals including calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and particularly iron, of which it contains a respectable 8mg.
More great benefits are that it is gluten free, so it can be enjoyed by anyone that has Celiac’s disease, or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, whatever you want to call it. It is also a leafy seed, not a grassy grain, so it does not contain any of the allergens common to wheat, rye, barley, oats or corn.
In summary quinoa is an amazing little food that has very high nutrition properties, is a complete protein, is hypo-allergenic, has a low glycemic index and is high in fiber. What more do you want? Well, I just might post an absolutely delicious quinoa recipe later this week, so stay tuned!
If you want more ideas for eating quinoa check out two great cookbooks: Gourmet Nutrition by Dr. John Berardi, and The Healthiest Meals on Earth by Dr. Jonny Bowden, two absolutely fantastic resources that anyone serious about their health and fitness should own!
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
Those of you who remember my post a while back about the launch of the brand new Precision Nutrition V3 will be excited to discover that not only is this an upgrade on what already was the most comprehensive nutrition product available, along with its launch came the launch of some sweet complementary e-book add-ons.
The first one, and probably going to be everyone’s favorite, is the Gourmet Nutrition Desserts.
Healthy Deliciousness
Gourmet Nutrition Desserts, is a 44 page dessert cookbook complete with delicious “Precision Nutrition approved” dessert recipes, beautiful photography, and hints on how to eat the foods you love without the gaining the fat you hate. To download your FREE copy, click HERE.
The second complementary e-book is one that everyone who struggles with their weight should pick up.
How to Guide
The Precision Nutrition Strategies for Success provides a nice and simple overview of some critical PN strategies including: the rules of good nutrition, protein intake, balancing dietary acids, altering your eating schedule to make it more PN friendly, preparing foods, eating on the road, reving your metabolism, and more. To download your FREE copy, click HERE.
Lastly, I do want to point out that the newly improved Precision Nutrition is awesome. Especially for those of you who wonder how you can make the PN program work for you if you are a vegetarian, it is completely covered and laid out. It is also a great resource if you want to know how to do Warp Speed Fat Loss as a vegetarian (since I have gotten a lot of questions about that). All in all, it is a spectacular product and is perfect for anyone interested in utilizing nutrition to be as fit and healthy as they can. To learn more about PN V3, click HERE.
Posted on March 31st, 2009 by Brian St. Pierre
4 Comments »