Quinoa Is Fattening?
In conjunction with this whole video-shoot thing, I’m trying out the Fat Flush diet in an effort to lose the 5 or so pounds I’ve gained since gorging on all the bread, cheese, wine and pastries I want in France.
Anyway, Fat Flush is fairly easy to follow. A lot of cranberry juice and flax, but you do eat and it’s mainly proteins and veggies. It’s essentially the diet that you always hear about from supermodels and actresses, “Oh, I eat a lot of fish and vegetables.” It does work… if you keep doing it.
You’re not supposed to eat (fattening) grains and I’ve really gone from chowing down on pasta and rice 6 times a week to ZERO. Which is pretty hard—ask any Asian chick if it’s easy to give up rice!
But I’ve adopted quinoa as a healthy grain (seed, actually) that’s a complete protein (or something like that.) I make this amazing quinoa with fresh veggies and can eat it all in one sitting with my friend Tom, who’s as hooked as I am.
I’ll give you the recipe. With a caveat. My sister informed me today that quinoa is actually very dense and caloric AND is highly inflammatory, which essentially means that I shouldn’t be eating it, at least not in the quantities that I do. So I’m rather disheartened to find out that one of my favorite “healthy” foods isn’t really. But damnit, I’m not giving it up! I’ve already given up dessert and wine and bread and cheese… this week, anyway.
My Favorite Quinoa
Prepare half a package of quinoa according to the instructions
Chop these veggies up:
1/4 green pepper
6-10 grape tomatoes (You can use other kinds, but I prefer grap)
1/4-1/2 red onion
1/4 cucumber
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced (if you like a bit of spice)
Once the quinoa is ready, take about a tablespoon of tomato paste and stir it into the quinoa along with the veggies. Once it’s all mixed in well, the quinoa should have a slightly reddish tint. Add more or less, depending on your preference.
Add a bunch of your favorite herbs. Cilantro and chives are a must for me. Oh, sometimes I might chop up some scallions in there, too.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Drizzle some olive oil and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over it and stir it one more time.
Enjoy! It’s yummy and fairly healthy. Let’s face it, it’s healthier than my spaghetti and meatballs recipe.
What does your sister mean when she says that the quinoa is “inflammatory”? I don’t understand that.
She means that it causes inflammation in your cells, which is what ultimately leads to a host of problems in your body (so the theory goes…) Weight gain, aging, etc… That Dr. Perricone anti-aging book is about eating an anti-inflammatory diet so that you stay young. I believe it to an extent, but I’m not giving up my quinoa!
Your sister is ignorant. Quinoa is very healthy, so don’t give it up. It’s much healthier than rice.
Sonia-
All her sister said was that it is very dense, caloric and highly inflammatory. These are all true statements if you look at the nutrition facts. I don’t think you can conclude from that that she is ignorant.
The fact is that everyone’s body is different and even if too much glycemic load is bad for anyone, the amount that is too much is different for everyone. So, many people can benefit from a serving of quinoa while others may not react to it kindly due to its high glycemic load.
Author-
Eating a highly inflammatory food is not necessarily a bad thing.
High GI foods combine with foods of other GI’s during a meal and balance your GL load for the entire meal.
I could say a lot about this stuff but when it comes to inflammation, best thing is to simply eat a varied diet with vegetables and fruit and not overeat on anything, as overeating is the easiest way to up your daily GL.
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The current cock-crow, I received your web site through Bing, interesting topic.
Can someone please explain to me how quinoa increases inflammation in the body? Everything I have read about quinoa says the opposite.
To correct repeated misinformation, Quinoa is NOT inflammatory. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Noted health expert Dr. Andrew Weil recommends eating Quinoa as part of a balanced diet and the nutritional website, “Worlds Healthiest Foods” (which cites legitimate sources for information) describes Quinoa as high in magnesium (which helps with cardiovascular health among other things) and helps lowers the risk of diabetes while providing anti-oxidants.