Food Glorious Food and Quinoa Info

So… I’ve been eating so healthy and I have LOVED the food I have been eating.  I know I have mentioned eating cleaner (just means trying to stick to whole foods).  It has been almost effortless and I’m absolutely loving how I feel and what I’m doing for my body as well as my little baby.  I do want to reach my weight loss goals, but I love making HEALTH my primary focus.  Basically I ask myself 1 question, “Is it food?”  Sounds crazy, but so much of what we put into our body isn’t actually food.  I will eat something occasionally that is processed or not completely whole or even something full of sugar, but I have been doing great at limiting this and I find that it is SO much more enjoyable when I use them as they are intended to be… an occasional treat, not a part of my daily routine.  Last night’s dinner consisted of salmon, quinoa, zucchini and watermelon.  It was SO GOOD and SO HEALTHY!  Try the salmon recipe I posted!  It’s the salmon recipe I almost ALWAYS use and it’s GOOD (keep in mind that’s coming from someone that doesn’t like fish).  I do make a few changes like double the lemon juice and use less olive oil since salmon is already extremely high in Omega 3 fatty acids.  So, last night was my first experience with Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa) and I LOVED it!  Try it!  I’ll post the recipe I used, but fist off go to the store right now and buy some Quinoa.

Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), and like oats, quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it a complete protein source, unusual among plant foods.^[12] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa)