Quinoa Health Tips

No matter how long you’ve been training, the issue of carbs is always a thorny one. Well-read bodybuilders know that even though processed grain products like white bread have their place in a diet (such as postworkout), whole grains, like oatmeal and brown rice, are generally the better choice for most meals. But what about “new” grains, such as quinoa? If it stood toe to toe with the vaunted brown rice, which would be crowned the champ? The winner-Quinoa.

Before we get to the reason, we want to clear up one tiny, niggling detail. Quinoa isn’t technically a grain. It’s the seed of the goosefoot plant, a relative of spinach; it’s been cultivated in the Andes Mountains for thousands of years-but because of its physically similar to grains and can be ground into flour, it’s called a pseudograin.

Quinoa dominates just about all the whole grains because it has lysine, one of the nine essential amino acids that you must get from your diet because your body can’t synthesize it. Other grains have some lysine content, but not enough to count; quinoa’s lysine content is sufficient for it to be considered a complete protein. If you make quinoa the side dish to a chicken breast, you’re not only getting all the benefits from a whole grain offers (no insulin spike, increased satiety, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, improved gastrointestinal health); you’re also getting an extra serving of high-quality protein.

If that were all quinoa had going for it, it would still beat brown rice hands down. But there’s more. In a study conducted in 2002, researchers found that eating quinoa was associated with an increase in insulin-like growth factor-1 levels. IGF-1 is intimately tied to muscle growth.

Quinoa also has higher levels of micronutrients that are implicated in muscle growth. Magnesium not only helps maintain the muscle you have, but also plays a role in creating more muscle. Potassium, a mineral that assists in pulling fluid from the blood stream into muscle cells (creating a pump), is also important to recovery after exercise. And folate, which is one of the B vitamins, is required for muscles to make new cells. That is exactly what it does after every workout

These tips brought to you by http://www.creatines.org, which provides useful bodybuilding resources and popular bodybuilding supplements

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Lemon Tilapia Fish With Organic Quinoa
By Zula Ron

This is a quick healthy meal that is loaded with good nutrients and protein. This meal will definitely boost your energy levels and tastes fabulous.

Ingredients
2 Tilapia Fish Fillets
2 Lemons
2 Teaspoons of Oil
2 Garlic cloves
1 Teaspoon of Basil
1 Teaspoon of Lemon Pepper seasoning
Dash of Salt
Butter
¼ Cup of Water
1 cup of Organic Quinoa (available at your local health food store or Trader Joes)
2 cups of Water
1 Chicken Bullion Cube
1 ½ cups of Broccoli
½ cup of corn

To start off you’ll want to make the marinade for the fish. Juice one lemon and place in a bowl with the ¼ cup of water and oil. Mince the garlic and add to the liquid ingredients, also add the basil, lemon pepper seasoning and the salt. Mix the ingredients thoroughly with a fork. Once the marinade is mixed, cover fish and allow to marinade for at least 2 hours. For best results marinade over night.

After the fish has marinaded, heat up a skillet on medium heat with about a 1/16 cup of butter (just enough to coat the pan). Once the pan is heated up enough add the fish and marinade and allow to cook evenly on both sides (5 mins each side). Turn heat down to low and let fish simmer for another 5 minutes to allow more marinade to soak in.

While the fish is cooking heat up the 2 cups of water to boiling and add the quinoa and chicken bullion cube. Allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes. You can also steam the broccoli and heat up the corn at this time.

Now that everything is done sit down and enjoy your meal.

Want something for dessert? For healthy dessert recipes and more like this one visit All day Energy recipes

For more information on All Day Energy visit All day Energy

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Having had some good success with using quinoa yesterday to thicken a soup I used it today in a Quinoa and Chicken Casserole. The recipe is a very simple slow cooker one that I have used for years. The main difference is that I used quinoa to thicken the sauce rather than flour, milk and egg.

This is very useful if you have an intolerance to wheat or dairy products.

quinoa and chicken casserole

The main ingredients in this recipe are

3 chicken breasts
1/4 swede
1 stick celery
3 carrots
1 onion
1 pint chicken stock
1 cup of quinoa
pinch of mixed herbs

It was served with new potatoes and brussel sprouts.

This recipe was so easy.

Leek and potato soup is a favourite of mine. Its a great winter tonic when the weather is cold and nasty. It warms you up and is very filling. The quinoa adds it own character to a very simple meal.

I went food shopping at 11.00 this morning and by 12.00 had prepared the soup in the slow cooker and gone out Christmas shopping. the soup just kept on cooking while I went through my day. I have just enjoyed this quinoa,leek and potato soup for tea - very tasty.
Normally you would use milk, eggs and flour to thicken the soup.

In this quinoa recipe the quinoa is the thickening agent. If it is cooked for a long time the quinoa will thicken soups and sauces quite well.

The ingredients are:-

• 2 very large leeks
• 1 onion
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 pints vegetable stock
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Method of cooking

• Warm up your slow cooker for 20 minutes on high setting
• Slice the leeks and potatoes.
• Chop the onion
• Fry these ingredients in a large wok for 2 minutes
• Add the stock and salt and pepper
• Bring the mix to the boil
• Add the quinoa and bring back to the boil
• Transfer the soup to the slow cooker.
• Cook on low setting for 5 - 6 hours.
• Just before serving purify the soup for 20 seconds.
• Serve on its own or with croutons

This quinoa soup recipe will be added to the quinoa cookbook for the next edition but for the moment get your leeks and get cooking.

If there were to be one very good nutritional benefit of Quinoa it would be that it is a complex carbohydrate.

Don’t go yet, I will explain how this works.

Two carbohydrate types

There are 2 sorts of carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. The simple carbs are made up of a mix of processed and refined foods that we see on our supermarket shelves such as in instant meals, white flour, white rice, processed meats etc. These foods contribute very little value in our diet and the majority of carbs are converted to fat.

Complex carbs work differently because they are digested into your body slowly. They are whole foods that have not been subjected to processing. They leave you feeling fuller for longer.
If you use Quinoa as an example it falls into this group - It is a whole natural product that has had nothing more done to it than being harvested, cleaned and packed. Quinoa carbohydrates are complex carbohydrates. There are a large number of excellent grains that provide similar benefits but for some you may want to check that they are labled whole grain or whole foods, to be certain they are complex carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates can be introduced early on into a low carb diet such as Atkins or Lighter Life as it is a pure, whole food. It is what these special low carb diets refer to as, good carbs. Not all carbohydrates are created equal but Quinoa is one you can rely on as being one of the good carbs. What about trying our Quinoa Diet?