What are you eating: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference

Wednesday's What Are You Eating - My daughter's extensive list of unusual and changing food allergies has ruled my food life for almost two years. During these years, I've learned a lot about our Nation's food supply. My hope is to share a little bit of what I've learned so that awareness might increase about our food

I can't tell you how excited I am about the website I just discovered! I was searching for nutritional information about Quinoa because I made the most delicious Quinoa soup. Of course, I'm no photographer so the picture doesn't do it justice, but golly gee, it's tasty! And a SUPER allergy friendly soup....vegetarian, too. Perfect for Meatless Mondays.

So, I was going to write a little thing about how healthy quinoa is (It's healthy! Eat it!) and share the recipe. I'm soooooo excited about this new website, though, that the recipe will have to wait for another day (tomorrow!).

Have you ever heard of the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference? This is the website for you if you ever find yourself frustrated with standard nutrition labels. For example, on the back of the bag of organic quinoa, I'm only told that it contains 2% calcium and 20% iron. Past that, I wouldn't know it's any better or worse than any other grain.

Here comes this awesome website! It tells me that quinoa contains this:

Nutrient	Units	1.00 X 1 cup ------- 185g
Proximates
Water	g	132.48
Energy	kcal	222
Energy	kJ	931
Protein	g	8.14
Total lipid (fat)	g	3.55
Ash	g	1.41
Carbohydrate, by difference	g	39.41
Fiber, total dietary	g	5.2
Starch	g	32.62
Minerals
Calcium, Ca	mg	31
Iron, Fe	mg	2.76
Magnesium, Mg	mg	118
Phosphorus, P	mg	281
Potassium, K	mg	318
Sodium, Na	mg	13
Zinc, Zn	mg	2.02
Copper, Cu	mg	0.355
Manganese, Mn	mg	1.167
Selenium, Se	mcg	5.2
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	mg	0.0
Thiamin	mg	0.198
Riboflavin	mg	0.204
Niacin	mg	0.762
Vitamin B-6	mg	0.228
Folate, total	mcg	78
Folic acid	mcg	0
Folate, food	mcg	78
Folate, DFE	mcg_DFE	78
Vitamin B-12	mcg	0.00
Vitamin A, RAE	mcg_RAE	0
Retinol	mcg	0
Vitamin A, IU	IU	9
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	mg	1.17
Tocopherol, beta	mg	0.06
Tocopherol, gamma	mg	2.20
Tocopherol, delta	mg	0.20
Lipids
Cholesterol	mg	0
Amino acids
Tryptophan	g	0.096
Threonine	g	0.242
Isoleucine	g	0.290
Leucine	g	0.483
Lysine	g	0.442
Methionine	g	0.178
Cystine	g	0.117
Phenylalanine	g	0.342
Tyrosine	g	0.154
Valine	g	0.342
Arginine	g	0.629
Histidine	g	0.235
Alanine	g	0.339
Aspartic acid	g	0.653
Glutamic acid	g	1.073
Glycine	g	0.400
Proline	g	0.444
Serine	g	0.326

Come to find out, quinoa has EVERY mineral. That information is NOT on the package. You really should go do some fun searches....grass-fed beef v regular beef; Florida v California avocado. It's all there! So fun!