If you ever attempted losing weight, researched about health foods, assembled all the data, ate exclusively healthy but still saw not results? If this has happened to you, it’s not your genes to be blamed, not your BMR, and definitely not your luck. It’s the portion size you require versus the portion size you are ingesting.

A health food is healthy if ingested in suitable and appropriate proportions. Even a super food like quinoa needs to be eaten in the right portions.

There is a whole lot of science in planning a diet, the human body doesn’t act only as per the calories! To simplify, a small bowl of pasta is 200 calories and 1 bowl of salad too is 200 calories, and you may definitely want to relish the former one going by the number and calorie calculation.

But there is another level of calculation done by the body – the hormones it will secrete, the amount of calories it will take to digest the food, the satiety and fullness it gives to the person and many more factors are responsible.

In short, the essence of the health food is lost if its misused i.e., if an individuals requirement of calories is 1800 calories, they have utilized and exhausted it through the day (may be by eating unhealthy or may be by extra helpings) and then at the dinner they wish to eat healthy, so decide to have 2 bowls of quinoa – it won’t help their body at all.

1800 plus approx 400 = 2200, it exceeds the requirement, the complaint will be that in-spite of eating quinoa every day the weight loss didn’t happen, poor quinoa 😉

Let’s take a look what’s the quantity of quinoa or portion size is to be had for any kind of meal with substitutions to explain the portion size.

• Wheat ½ cup = 1/4th cup serving quinoa gives more protein and equal calories.
• Rice = 1 cup = 1 cup cooked quinoa, gives more protein and equal calories.
• 1 cup barley = 3/4th cup with more protein.
• 1 cup oats = 3/4th cup with more protein
• 1 Cup millet= 1 cup quinoa
• 1 Cup amaranth = 1 cup quinoa in protein and carbs less than half calories of quinoa
• 1 cup couscous = 1 cup quinoa in protein and 3 times more calories than quinoa
• 1 cup chickpeas = 3/4th cup quinoa in protein and carbs, 3 times more in calories in kidney beans than quinoa
• Lentils half cup = 1 cup quinoa approx 3 times more calories than quinoa
• ½ cup kidney beans = 1 cup quinoa approx in protein and carbs 3 times in calories
• 2 cups Green peas = 1 cup quinoa.

– Monica Magoo, Nutritionist & Diet Consultant