WOW! Hardly anyone here talks about Quinoa! One of the absolute best natural foods!

**Halenstone** · 10-04-2006, 09:32 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa#Nutritional_value

That link will take you to Wikipedia's nutritional informaition on this seed/grain.

You can easily sub it for oatmeal in evening dinners, and prepare rice like dishes. I find that with a little tomato sauce and italian seasoning I have my own very healthy version of a pasta type dish.

You'll find it in most "Bulk item" stations at health food stores (whole foods market, etc.). ONE WARNING, wash it very well before cooking. It naturaly has saponin which is a bitter tasting coating. Here in the states most of it has been removed, but there is always a little left over. Trust me, wash it. If you don't trust me, get a pinch of the raw grains and pop them in your mouth, you'll taste the bitterness.

Best way to cook it is to first toast it. The saute it with a dab of olive oil and some onions. After that you can use water, or my favorite, vegetable stock to cook it. And it only takes about 15 minutes to cook.

It's all in Wikipedia.

I just wanted to let everyone know that even though oatmeal is awesome, (I love it), sometimes you want a little something different without throwing your diet out of whack, and I think Quinoa can be used as a step to help people get over some of the boredom associated with bodybuilding diets. I truly enjoy it, and use it when preparing dinner for a date, which keeps her from having to eat, or having to watch me eat oatmeal on the date!!

**brutesinme** · 10-04-2006, 11:53 AM

I tried it a while ago, just didn't take to the texture.

**usualsuspect** · 10-04-2006, 12:06 PM

Keep in mind that quinoa (actually considered a fruit in a botanist's world) is quite carb dense so anything over a 1/4 cup serving is going to pack a serious insulin response. It is also very heavily weighted towards the n-6 fatty acids...the n-3's exist at pretty trivial levels. If i were going to choose wheat or oats vs quinoa the quinoa would win hands down but like all grain type items the hutritional density is pathetic compared to other paleo type items such as a fruit, veggies and some tubers.