The Pros and Cons of Quinoa

I wanted to start a thread about the pros and cons of quinoa and why we who dedicate hours at the gym should shove it down our throat.

It has the complete chain of amino acids just like meat.
It tastes like fluffy rice (depends on your taste if this is a pro or con).

It’s not filling either so it is a great way to boost carb intake.

I actually like the taste (just a little butter thrown in), although the non-filling thing can be a good, or bad thing. If you’re bulking it’s great. Wouldn’t suggest it for a cutting carb source though, it’s too dense numbers wise.

S

Has anyone tried the red type?

My parents killed me when i was eating 3 cups of Quinoa every 48 hours. The smell coming from my ass was unimaginable.

That and it changed my poop schedule to schooltime which is NOT ok. I stopped eating it for now.

Con^^

The quinoa-is-a-fine-source-of-protein meme may have some place amont the vegan crowd, but no place in a bodybuilding discussion.

The stuff has less than 15% of its calories from protein.

It is a carb source, if one likes it, and not better for carbs than any of many other things.

Add a very small amount of any good protein source to any other good carb source and you have quinoa beat hands down.

[quote]mallen5 wrote:
Has anyone tried the red type? [/quote]

I have. Texture, and taste are a bit different than the regular kind. Taste great.

Quinoa taste amazing with curry powder.

It also occurred to me to check into this claim on the amino acid profile of quinoa.

Here are the facts, using data from the USDA Nutrient Database. The table compares quinoa, eggs, milk, and top sirloin broiled
– in that order – for amino acid content per 100 g protein content.

While quinoa does have all the essential amino acids in reasonable quantity, actually it is not as rich in them as sources such as eggs, milk, or beef.

So not only is it low in protein percentage-wise, but you’d need a greater quantity of quinoa protein to be equal to common bodybuilding protein sources.

Tryptophan 1.2, 1.3, 2.3, 0.7
Threonine 3.0, 4.4, 4.4, 4.0
Isoleucine 3.6, 5.3, 5.1, 4.5
Leucine 6.0, 8.7, 8.2, 8.0
Lysine 5.5, 7.3, 4.3, 8.5
Methionine 2.2, 3.0, 2.3, 2.6
Cystine 1.4, 2.2, 2.3, 1.3
Phenylalanine 4.2, 5.4, 4.6, 3.9
Tyrosine 1.9, 4.0, 4.7, 3.2
Valine 4.2, 6.8, 9.0, 5.0
Arginine 7.8, 6.5, 2.3, 6.5
Histidine 2.9, 2.5, 2.3, 3.2
Alanine 4.2, 5.9, 3.2, 6.1
Aspartic acid 8.0, 10.6, 7.4, 9.1
Glutamic acid 13.2, 13.3, 20.1, 15.0
Glycine 4.9, 3.4, 2.3, 6.1
Proline 5.5, 4.0, 10.6, 4.8
Serine 4.0, 7.7, 3.3, 3.9

Quinoa vs oats? For bulking carbs.

would you just eat cottage cheese, or… I guess an egg?

Sure.

For example let’s compare, for a desired say 50 g of carbs and whatever amount of protein is in quinoa yielding that amount of carbs, quinoa to say yams plus no-fat cottage cheese.

(So as to keep fat equal.)

The amount of cooked quinoa giving that amount of carbs is 235 grams (26 ounces). Protein is 10 grams.

It will take 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of cottage cheese to yield this amount of protein, and 7 g of carbs. Leaving 43 grams of carbs to be gotten from sweet potatoes.

Which is, it turns out, 243 grams (just over 8 ounces) of boiled sweet potatoes.

(Actually I’d have to do another iteration to be more accurate, as the sweet potatoes contribute another 3 g of protein, but let’s not worry about that.)

I see no reason for a non-vegan to favor the quinoa over this. Certainly not the “complete amino acid profile” argument. This does it just as well, better actually, and without the gas.

Bill,

What is this apparent aversion to quinoa. You seem to be very anti this pseudo grain food. Can you please tell us why?

[quote]D Day wrote:
Bill,

What is this apparent aversion to quinoa. You seem to be very anti this pseudo grain food. Can you please tell us why?[/quote]

'Cause it’s oatmeal for sissy girls, that’s why!

[quote]D Day wrote:
Bill,

What is this apparent aversion to quinoa. You seem to be very anti this pseudo grain food. Can you please tell us why?[/quote]

You read things that aren’t written.

Read my above posts and you will see the reasons for what I said. If you avoid adding reasons then there you will have it.

wow, I didn’t think Bill would get so worked up over this,but he does have a lot of good points. I personally was looking into quinoa as a substitute for rice or pasta. While most of your average bodybuilding foods easily out protein it, things like wheat and rice don’t.

Of course I am one to concentrate on the large collection of little things to form one grand goal… lots of protein + iron = muscle.

I like quinoa and eat it occasionally. The fact that it is a complete protein source isn’t a negative but that is not the reason I eat it. I like the flavor and eat it in small amounts with lean meat and vegetables.

Christopher

[quote]Spencerulz wrote:
wow, I didn’t think Bill would get so worked up over this,[/quote]

What are you people reading? Is your ISP inserting added material to my posts???

Or is it just an assumption that if someone disagrees with what one is saying or believes, and gives backed-up reason for it, they must be “worked up” and/or must have an “apparent aversion,” etc.

Actually a friend cooked some quinoa muffins relatively recently that I thought were delicious. As she is a vegetarian, and while consuming some cheese and eggs doesn’t consume much of them, her view of quinoa as being especially valuable because of its amino acid profile made sense for her and for others in that situation.

For sure it made better sense than her nutritionist touting peanut butter as a protein source.

But in bb’ing, it doesn’t make sense to view quinoa as a protein source. For the reasons I gave.

I suppose if the only means of refutation available is to impute moods to me, then perhaps that will be done, but it doesn’t change the facts.

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Spencerulz wrote:
wow, I didn’t think Bill would get so worked up over this,

What are you people reading? Is your ISP inserting added material to my posts???

Or is it just an assumption that if someone disagrees with what one is saying or believes, and gives backed-up reason for it, they must be “worked up” and/or must have an “apparent aversion,” etc.

Actually a friend cooked some quinoa muffins relatively recently that I thought were delicious. As she is a vegetarian, and while consuming some cheese and eggs doesn’t consume much of them, her view of quinoa as being especially valuable because of its amino acid profile made sense for her and for others in that situation.

For sure it made better sense than her nutritionist touting peanut butter as a protein source.

But in bb’ing, it doesn’t make sense to view quinoa as a protein source. For the reasons I gave.

I suppose if the only means of refutation available is to impute moods to me, then perhaps that will be done, but it doesn’t change the facts.[/quote]

Dude, I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just saying from what you have posted you are very passionate when it comes to the negative aspect of having quinoa replace something like eggs or meat. That’s why i started this thread to see from both the positive and negative spectrum. I didn’t mean to offend.

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Spencerulz wrote:
wow, I didn’t think Bill would get so worked up over this,

What are you people reading? Is your ISP inserting added material to my posts???

Or is it just an assumption that if someone disagrees with what one is saying or believes, and gives backed-up reason for it, they must be “worked up” and/or must have an “apparent aversion,” etc.

Actually a friend cooked some quinoa muffins relatively recently that I thought were delicious. As she is a vegetarian, and while consuming some cheese and eggs doesn’t consume much of them, her view of quinoa as being especially valuable because of its amino acid profile made sense for her and for others in that situation.

For sure it made better sense than her nutritionist touting peanut butter as a protein source.

But in bb’ing, it doesn’t make sense to view quinoa as a protein source. For the reasons I gave.

I suppose if the only means of refutation available is to impute moods to me, then perhaps that will be done, but it doesn’t change the facts.[/quote]

Any dissenting opinion means you’re frothing at the mouth.

I didn’t know this, either. But I learned real quick-likes.

[quote]Spencerulz wrote:
Dude, I’m not disagreeing with you, I’m just saying from what you have posted you are very passionate when it comes to the negative aspect of having quinoa replace something like eggs or meat. That’s why i started this thread to see from both the positive and negative spectrum. I didn’t mean to offend. [/quote]

You didn’t offend. The thing is, you are inserting things into what I wrote that I did not say and are in no way implied by what I said.

Is it projection? For example, is it the case that you would not bother showing why something is not so and providing specific facts unless you are “passionate” against the thing? Therefore, if another person explains the matter, they must have the some emotional state that you would have to have had if you did so?

I don’t know if that’s why you’re doing it: I have no clue why you’re doing it. But you are reading things into there that are not there.