LOADS of testing and found that I can make great tasting smoothies that actually LOSE their delight for me when I add cacao powder.
Other people say “bring it on” and they add heaped tablespoons of the stuff. To me it imparts a strong and sometimes bitter taste to my smoothie. Don’t get me wrong. I love cacao. But there IS a solution!
I have found that adding ¼ cup of cacao nibs made ALL the difference. Hey presto, wonderful chocolate smoothies that I believe are super-healthy. (Do your own experimenting.) I have put tasting notes along with a few recipes that have cacao nibs in them. You can use the powder if you like.
Generally though, if you’re not used to the flavor then start with a smaller amount of cacao than the recommended quantity of nibs.
Spirulina And Other Sea Greens
Spirulina for example has a fantastic profile with all the essential amino acids, GLA (an essential omega-6 fatty acid and the only green in which it’s found) works well in the gut to sustain healthy intestinal flora, has chlorophyll and beta-carotene, vitamin B (including B12 and folic acid, riboflavin and thiamine and more), magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and enzymes. I could go on!
You can choose to add a small amount of spirulina to any smoothie you wish.
Spirulina is a marvelous food and it does have a particular taste that may take some time to get used to. It could make a smoothie taste a little ‘too green’. Blended in small amounts you will ‘ greenify ’ your smoothie. Start with say, ¼ teaspoon (or less) and work your way up.
I have a very palatable mix of several greens together. My container (which I store in the fridge) has sea greens spirulina and chlorella along with barley grass and wheatgrass and then sweetened with some stevia.
Chia
If you were to break down chia seeds you would find a wealth of nutritional elements hidden in this plant food. I am not here to give you medical advice! However I can share with you some things I know about chia.
The jury is still out on how much chia one should include in one’s diet. So, remember as with anything, vary your intake of different foods. Don’t put chia into every single smoothie.
Remember for ANY nutritional profile to bear fruit (so to speak) those elements have to be bioavailable. It’s no good saying that something is packed with protein to find out that none of it was digested in the body. Take a read and decide how you’ll use chia. I use it from time to time (as part of my approach to a balanced food intake).
Chia seeds are very nutritious containing LOADS of omega 3 fatty acids. In fact they have been found to have the highest amount of these essential threes than any other plant. Amazingly it is also a “complete protein”.
Now while you don’t need complete proteins or their components every single meal (and as mentioned before, that theory is no longer accepted as correct) isn’t it great to know that you can use a simple humble seed in your food that can provide you with a great nutritional profile?
The truly great thing about chia is that it has NO FLAVOR. With no taste that means you can add it to any smoothie recipe and reap the benefits! Yippeeeeeee
OK, back to where chia is at on the nutritional scale! As I said, it scores very highly when it comes to omega 3s. It also has large amounts of iron, magnesium and calcium. It has phosphorus, zinc and both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. It has very high amounts of antioxidants too!
If you’re vegetarian or vegan then it’s very useful to know that you can get vitamin B12, Iron and Omega 3, folate and other essential dietary requirements in a neat little package. Hey, if you’re an omnivore it’s also useful to know! Ha! But those who are vegetarian or vegan do need to source their iron, B12 and Omega 3 particularly.
Here’s the skinny on using chia. As I said, because it has no taste you can choose to put it in any smoothie. (Note, I didn’t say that you