Mother of all Grains
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!
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Posted on February 16th, 2009 by Brian St. Pierre
7 Comments
February 16th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I love this stuff. I don’t think I’ll ever eat rice again. It taste amazing with curry powder.
I look forward to eating much more of it once I start bulking.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
This makes 2 servings:
1/2 cup dry Quinoa (I like Inca Red
http://www.quinoa.net/145/154.html
1 cup water. (combine quinoa and water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, done in about 15 min)
add 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
add 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
add 1 oz raw cashews
add 1 tbsp of raw cacao nibs
stir
mixture will have cooled. take half and add 1 scoop of vanilla metabolic drive protein powder. stir. season with pinch of cinnamon and pinch of nutmeg
you have a great breakfast or post-workout meal.
put other half in fridge and just add protein powder when ready to consume.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Danny you are killing me. I was going to put up a similar recipe for Friday. Hopefully not too many people read the comments!
February 19th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
just put it up, I don’t need to be footnoted — you are the Jedi Master.
June 30th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
The recipe looks awesome, I can’t wait to try it. For a midnight snack, I’ll mix a package of flavored greek yogurt(peach usually), a cup of cottage cheese, and then some dry quinoa just to give it some crunch.
January 17th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
[...] better than a potato (at least in these measures). When you compare potatoes to other starches like quinoa for example (another fantastic food), it compares even more favorably, as quinoa is a good source or [...]
June 2nd, 2011 at 7:18 am
No matter the ending is perfect or not, you cannot disappear from my world.