Everyone wants to live a healthy lifestyle; but you have to admit, its more fun cheat sometimes, or in my case all the time. This is what brings me to Quinoa. My mom is really big into health food, organics, and natural weight loss methods; she is one of the healthiest, older women I know of. A month ago when I was telling her about my new plan to get in shape and exercise, she started raving about Quinoa, and it’s VERY HIGH source of protein. This inspired to me to “nerd out” in front of the computer for a night doing research on Quinoa and where to buy Quinoa.
Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) was prized and considered to be sacred to the Inca’s and is an important food in the Andean region of South America for over 6,000 years. Now this is all interesting but the part where it gets good is the darn stuff’s nutritional value! Quinoa has a protein content of 12%-18% (of your recommended protein intake) making Quinoa an incredibly healthy choice. The best part is not only that Quinoa is tremendously high in protein, but the protein is a totally complete protein-meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Since Quinoa has a perfectly balanced profile of amino acids, it’s one of the best choices for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone keeping their protein intake adequate. Quinoa also has a very large amount of the amino acid lysine. Lysine is necessary for tissue growth and repair (i.e., looking young). Quinoa features a large supply of other health building nutrients. Quinoa is an excellent natural method of getting manganese, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus. This is especially important for people that suffer from diabetes, atherosclerosis, and migraine headaches.
More reasons to Buy Quinoa:
* Improved Cardiovascular Health.
* Significant Cardiovascular Benefits for Postmenopausal Women.
* Great source of Antioxidants.
* Great source of Lignans, which protect against Heart Disease.
Benefits of Quinoa and other organic whole grains:
*Lower heart failure – 29% based on a 21,376 participant study in the US
*Lower breast cancer risk – 52% based on a 35,972 participant study in the UK
*Lower risk of type 2 diabetes – 31% based on a 41,186 participant trial in the US.
So, I am sold… I want to buy quinoa! But where? I remember thinking, “Do they even sell it at the grocery store?” Well I checked, and to my surprise one of the grocery stores in town had a few kinds. I grabbed them all, and to make a long story short I was not very pleased with how it tasted. This basically meant, as much as I wanted to eat healthy, I think my Taco Bell Volcano Taco’s are going to make it to my stomach a lot more often. So as I was losing all faith in Quinoa, I decided to go to a local organic store. I asked the manager about Quinoa and she pointed me to “Bob’s Red Mill Organic Quinoa” and I decided to take the plunge despite the steep price. I got home and instantly fell in love with this. It’s a night in day difference, and I was 100% happy until I realized I had to go to the expensive specialty store to get this. I decided to look online and low and behold I can get 4 times at much for only 1.5 times the cost with free shipping!
I strongly believe everyone should give this miracle “grain” a try, and if you want my advice, go straight for the good stuff. It’s rare that it’s this easy and sinfully tasty to eat healthy! Here is what the Bob’s Red Mill Organic Quinoa
Quinoa
Serving size 1/4 cup (46g), Calories – 170, Calories from fat – 23, Total fat – 2.50g, Saturated fat – 0g, Tran’s fat – 0g, Cholesterol – 0.00mg, Sodium – 2.00mg, Total Carbohydrate – 30.00 mg, Dietary Fiber – 3.00g, Sugars – 0.00g, Protein – 7.00g, Vitamin C – 2%, Calcium – 2%, Iron – 10%
