Chocolate smoothies are a great deal of fun, a great drink, and a really good way of getting some calcium into your kids. They work any time of year and are great for kid parties, get together or just if you just want to stop and relax of a few minutes during a hectic day.

Most people consider chocolate a simple way to gain weight but you can indulge in chocolate without adding the extra pound if you sensibly add chocolate to a smoothie, thus making a healthy drink that tastes chocolaty but also being healthy. If you want to be a little more extravagant then add chocolate, ice cream and a hint of mint to a smoothie as naughty treat for kids or adults of all ages. Chocolate contains caffeine, which serves to stimulate your senses as well as phenyl ethylamine which increases the endorphins and gives you the feeling happy. When you crave chocolate a chocolate smoothie is a simple and healthy way to fulfil the craving.

A simple and easy chocolate smoothie that you can make that requires only a small amount of preparation is the chocolate and banana smoothie. The only preparation is to slice and freeze a ripe banana a few hours before you want to make this smoothie, then place all of the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

1 sliced pre frozen banana
1/4 cup silken tofu
3/4 cup of almond milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
15-20gms high quality whey protein
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey

Or

1 cup crushed ice (~120 g)
3/4 cup light chocolate soymilk
1 ripe banana, frozen in small chunks
1 scoop good-quality chocolate whey protein powder
1 – 2 Tablespoons Stevia
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 – 3/8 teaspoon xanthan gum* (such as this)

A chocolate smoothie for breakfast may not sound like the best way for everyone to start the day but if you make sure that you add plenty of fruit such as strawberries or banana then you are getting 2-3 portions of fruit to start the day off and bananas are high in fibre which means that the sugars in your smoothie will be absorbed by the body slowly and you will not feel hungry until lunch time. Oatmeal is also a good additive to smoothies because again it helps the body to slowly absorb the sugars in the fruit.