⚡️Quinoa!!! ⚡️

🌞 Quinoa was the principle "grain" of the Incas. It was referred to as the Mother Grain. It was used in spiritual and household activities.

🌞 Quinoa isn't a true grain, since it doesn't belong to the grass family. Strangely enough it belongs to the same family as beets, spinach, and chard.

🌞 Quinoa is best grown above 10,000 feet and flourishes under extreme conditions.

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🌞 There are hundreds of varieties of Quinoa. Peru and Bolivia alone have over 1800 varieties stored in the seed banks.

🌞 Although, the most common commercial quinoa is a pale yellow and less commonly red or black, quinoa comes in many colors, including pink, orange, yellow, lavender, purple, green, black and white.

🌞 Quinoa is a high energy food. It's easy to digest and high in insoluble fibers, which increases the full feeling and feeds the beneficial bacteria in the colon.

🌞 Quinoa not only has a high protein content, but is also a complete protein, containing all 20 amino acids.

🌞 Quinoa also contains healthy fats and holds more calcium than cows milk.

🌞 Quinoa was used by the Incas as a powerful stimulant to the flow of milk for nursing mothers.

🌞 Quinoa contains the antioxidant, quercitin, which is important for it's ability to fight free radical damage related to a large number of diseases. In fact it contains one of the highest levels found in any food!

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🌞 Quinoa is beneficial for vegetarians since it's a complete protein and it's also gluten free and tolerated well by most celiacs.

🌞 Quinoa cooks in about 20 minutes depending on the variety, and can be eaten on it's own, or in soups and salads.

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Is Quinoa part of your diet? What is your favorite way to eat it?
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Mine is in a delicious soup I had in Peru. This week, I'm linking to my blog post from almost a year ago about the delicious Peruvian food (mostly). 😉