Quinoa... not as high in protein as i thought

Okay, so from what i've read on MFP lately, what i'll call the "Quinoa Craze" has died down a bit... I had tried it a while back, on it's own, and didn't like it. Tonight I decided to give it another shot, and put it in a stir fry with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms and a little teriyaki sauce. And I thought, awesome I need more protein and from what i've heard Quinoa has tons of it!! uhhh NOT REALLY. I was completely fooled. 5 grams of protein per serving. 30 g of carbs. that part snuck up on me. so, i guess i'm back to trying to find more foods that are high in protein (other than eggs and meat and obviously protein shakes). Anyone have any other ideas?

Replies

  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    Okay, so from what i've read on MFP lately, what i'll call the "Quinoa Craze" has died down a bit... I had tried it a while back, on it's own, and didn't like it. Tonight I decided to give it another shot, and put it in a stir fry with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms and a little teriyaki sauce. And I thought, awesome I need more protein and from what i've heard Quinoa has tons of it!! uhhh NOT REALLY. I was completely fooled. 5 grams of protein per serving. 30 g of carbs. that part snuck up on me. so, i guess i'm back to trying to find more foods that are high in protein (other than eggs and meat and obviously protein shakes). Anyone have any other ideas?

    Really, you've listed the things that are the best sources of protein in the "other than" category, which tells me that either you are already eating them (good thing) or you are avoiding them (not a good thing). However, given that there was chicken in your stir fry, I assume the former. ;)
  • StrengthInPain
    StrengthInPain Posts: 155 Member
    Okay, so from what i've read on MFP lately, what i'll call the "Quinoa Craze" has died down a bit... I had tried it a while back, on it's own, and didn't like it. Tonight I decided to give it another shot, and put it in a stir fry with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms and a little teriyaki sauce. And I thought, awesome I need more protein and from what i've heard Quinoa has tons of it!! uhhh NOT REALLY. I was completely fooled. 5 grams of protein per serving. 30 g of carbs. that part snuck up on me. so, i guess i'm back to trying to find more foods that are high in protein (other than eggs and meat and obviously protein shakes). Anyone have any other ideas?

    Really, you've listed the things that are the best sources of protein in the "other than" category, which tells me that either you are already eating them (good thing) or you are avoiding them (not a good thing). However, given that there was chicken in your stir fry, I assume the former. ;)

    Yes, i'm eating chicken, fish, meat, pork, etc. I try to have eggs as often as possible (admittedly, I often oversleep and don't have time to make them, orr, i'm just not in the mood.) I still feel like i'll never hit my protein goals unless i have 2 servings of protein powder per day (i only have 1 right now), and have like 10 servings of chicken/fish/steak per day (ok exaggerating a little)
  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
    It is a high source of protein for a plant. I am not sure those of us who eat it thought it was in the high protein category like animal products. My bag of quinoa is 6g of protein for a 46g serving vs. my brown rice which is 4g of protein for a 46g serving.

    ETA it is one of the only plant sources that is a complete protein. That is a bigger deal than the grams of protein per serving.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    Okay, so from what i've read on MFP lately, what i'll call the "Quinoa Craze" has died down a bit... I had tried it a while back, on it's own, and didn't like it. Tonight I decided to give it another shot, and put it in a stir fry with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms and a little teriyaki sauce. And I thought, awesome I need more protein and from what i've heard Quinoa has tons of it!! uhhh NOT REALLY. I was completely fooled. 5 grams of protein per serving. 30 g of carbs. that part snuck up on me. so, i guess i'm back to trying to find more foods that are high in protein (other than eggs and meat and obviously protein shakes). Anyone have any other ideas?

    Really, you've listed the things that are the best sources of protein in the "other than" category, which tells me that either you are already eating them (good thing) or you are avoiding them (not a good thing). However, given that there was chicken in your stir fry, I assume the former. ;)

    Yes, i'm eating chicken, fish, meat, pork, etc. I try to have eggs as often as possible (admittedly, I often oversleep and don't have time to make them, orr, i'm just not in the mood.) I still feel like i'll never hit my protein goals unless i have 2 servings of protein powder per day (i only have 1 right now), and have like 10 servings of chicken/fish/steak per day (ok exaggerating a little)

    I know the feeling. My protein intake is a bit over 200g per day. Basically, my macro profile is 55/15/30 (pro/carb/fat), so it can be a bit of a ***** to get in that much protein. I ravage the hell out of some chicken breast, eggs and extra lean ground turkey.