Hey You!
Do you like chocolate milkshakes?! OMG, ME TOO! Do you ever eat them for breakfast!? Of course you don’t. But you can now! OK fine, it’s not a milkshake, technically, but it is definitely breakfast material. Why? Because, this one packs a serious Omega-3 punch.
We need to eat our Omega-3s because our body doesn’t produce them naturally and they’re super important for maintaining and boosting our moods. Walnuts, flaxseeds, and chia seeds are all great sources of Omega-3s (More on those, here). I know a lot of people who hate on walnuts, and if that’s you, don’t worry, that bitter walnut taste is totally covered up! We also need magnesium which has been shown to fend off depression and this smoothie has a boost of it from cocoa powder, plus, who doesn’t love chocolate?! There are also bananas in here for two reasons: one, they contain pretty high levels of tryptophan which raises serotonin levels in the brain to boost your mood; and two, they make the smoothie so lusciously milkshake-like. For more on beating the winter blues and boosting your mood, read this.
So when you feel yourself getting a little down, try eating this for breakfast, or lunch, or for a snack, or whatever. The worst that can happen is that you got to have a chocolate milkshake (ok fine, smoothie) for breakfast. The healthy fats from the walnuts keep me full and energized until lunch so it’s perfect for a day when you know you’re going to be running around or if you’re going to a meeting and hoping to avoid the donut table… Don’t do it!
Ingredients
| Omega-3 Chocolate Mood-Boosting Smoothie | Print |
- 1. 5 Frozen Bananas*
- 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
- ½ Tablespoon ground flaxseeds
- ½ Tablespoon chia seeds
- ¼ cup walnuts
- ½-¾ cup milk of choice-I use unsweetened organic almond milk
- 3-4 ice cubes, optional*
- Pinch of salt-optional but helps to bring out the chocolate flavor.
- Blend everything together until smooth! I love my magic bullet, my mom uses an immersion blender for her smoothies, or any old blender will do! You may need to stop the blender and break up any frozen chunks that get clumped together. Just restart and blend until all ingredients are smoothly going through.
*I keep a tupperware container in the freezer full of banana halves. Sometimes you just dont want a whole one so I put the other half in a container for smoothies.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
