ollowing on from last week's story about sweaty hotpants, I've had another scary pants encounter.

This time at a spa where in preparation for a deluxe body peel, I was asked to wear a pair of paper knickers, manufactured to cover ... hmmm, how do I put this? Creases only?

Spa paper pants are by far the scariest form of underwear I have ever seen ? almost as scary as the treatment itself which was a bizarre form of torture involving removing the top six layers of my skin with gravel.

Or at least that's what it felt like.

However, I am now softer than when I was born.

A lot of other scary things have happened this week too. During her stay, I discovered that my Mum and I have matching pajamas (this has worried the husband significantly).

I also found and killed a cockroach in our bedroom (albeit at arms length with some environmentally damaging but entirely justifiable poisonous spray). And finally, I've just done some presentations for clients that include friends, which is somehow so much more worrying than presenting to strangers.

It's like doing a speech at a wedding, except without the advantage of everyone being too drunk to remember what you said. However, with the exception of the pajama revelation (which still concerns me) the other scary incidents have all been opportunities for self-development.

Now softer than a baby's bottom, I am also mean enough to kill a cockroach and brave enough to present to my friends without laughing or dying of fright.

Which just goes to show that it's a good thing to overcome your fears and branch out in new directions ? and (here's my tenuous link) I would argue that this is true for food too.

So, although I would draw the line at jellied eels or pigs feet, I usually enjoy trying out new food and am often surprised by the things that I was dubious about. Almond butter, tofu, pomegranate juice, sprouted pulses, hummus and olives are all things I was scared of trying, but now love.

One of my other favourite discoveries is a something called quinoa (pronounced keen-wah.) Although Quinoa is in the same food-family as leafy green vegetables like spinach, it actually looks and tastes like a whole grain.

In fact, it's often referred to as an "ancient grain" as it was a staple for the South American Inca civilization more than 5,000 years ago.

Quinoa looks very similar to cous-cous when raw, but when cooked it releases a small coil from the inside of the grain. The result is a really attractive side-dish and tastes like a cross between rice and cous-cous. It has a subtle, nutty flavour but also takes on the flavour of stock or tumeric if you want to liven it up a little.

Despite being part of the leafy green veg family, quinoa is actually best used as a starch when planning a meal.

It's easy to get into a boring three-day rotation of potatoes, rice and pasta so adding quinoa to your store cupboard adds variety. I've served it with stir-fry, curry, chilli and bolognaise. It's also great cold ? mixed in with olives, sundried tomatoes, cucumber and chicken as an alternative to a pasta salad at lunch time.

As well as being tasty and extremely versatile, quinoa has a multitude of health benefits.

Here are a few of them:

1. It's a slow releasing carbohydrate.

Because it hasn't been refined, quinoa releases its natural sugar nice and gently. This means that it provides lots of energy over a sustained period of time, without disrupting blood sugar.

2. It's high in protein.

There's almost as much protein in one serving of quinoa as in one egg. This makes it a great source of protein for vegetarians, especially when mixed with other vegetarian proteins like beans and lentils. The protein in quinoa is also extremely well balanced, containing all nine essential amino acids. This means that not only is it high in protein, but the protein is easily and well utilised within the body.

3. It's gluten-free.

This makes it a great choice for those with wheat or gluten intolerance, or for those who are celiac. If you find that pasta or cous-cous make you feel heavy or bloated, give quinoa a try instead.

4. It's alkaline.

Most other grains are fairly acidic. Including quinoa in your diet is a great way to help maintain the acid-alkaline balance within the body.

5. It's rich in magnesium, manganese and copper. Magnesium helps to combat stress and relaxes blood vessels ? great for combating migraines and heart disease. Manganese and copper are both co-enzymes for something called Superoxide Dismutase, a powerful antioxidant that helps to minimise free radical damage.

6. It's rich in lignans.

Lignans are nutrients that are converted by friendly bacteria in the digestive tract, into substances that protect the body from breast and other hormone-related cancers.

7. It's rich in Lysine.

Lysine is critical for tissue growth and repair.

To top it all off, quinoa is also fairly easy to find in Bermuda. Down to Earth, Harrington Hundreds and Lindo's in Devonshire all stock it ? usually a brand called Ancient Harvest, which is in a turquoise box and normally found alongside the natural or alternative food.

Give it a try this weekend.