Description

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 2 servings

Looking for an easy, healthy breakfast or a quick afternoon snack? A smoothie bowl is a delicious yet healthy treat. It’ll give you the texture and taste of a refreshing smoothie but also nutritious and filling toppings, such as chia seeds, fresh berries, coconut, granola, flaxseed, and dark chocolate. Feel free to get creative and combine your favourite flavours and ingredients to make a satisfying and healthy smoothie bowl.

Need some ideas? Give our easy blueberry protein smoothie bowl a try. It’s simple to make and contains these 3 nutritious superfoods:

Blueberries

Loaded with vitamin C and K, fibre, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc, blueberries have a range of health benefits.

Here’s how eating blueberries can improve your health:

• The nutrients in blueberries improve bone health by increasing bone density and elasticity. They also help maintain bone structure.
• According to research, blueberries can reduce the risk of heart disease by reducing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, and preventing arteries from clogging.
• Blueberries contain anthocyanin, which prevents oxidative DNA damage.
• The juice and extract from blueberries lower blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity. This makes them an excellent food for a diabetic diet.
• They also help to build collagen.
• Research published in Cancer Research shows that blueberries contain pterostilbene and ellagic acid, which help to prevent and treat cancer. They may also enhance the appearance of skin by reducing age spots, acne, wrinkles, and environmental skin damage.  
• Because of their high fibre content, blueberries support weight loss and healthy digestion. They also keep you feeling full and reduce belly fat.

• Thanks to the antioxidants they contain, blueberries may also can prevent or slow age-related eye conditions, such as myopia and hypermetropia, dryness, cataracts, macular degeneration, and retina infections.

Chia seeds

Chia seeds (scientifically known as Salvia hispanica) come from a flowering plant native to Mexico and Guatemala. Easy to digest, they’re a versatile ingredient packed with omega-3 fatty acids, protein, manganese, fibre, calcium, and antioxidants.

Why chia seeds are good for you:

• Because chia seeds contain fat, protein, and fibre, your body digests them slowly. As a result, they provide an enduring, slow-release form of energy that keeps your blood sugar stable.
• The high protein content of chia seeds makes them an excellent source of plant protein and amino acids in vegetarian and vegan diets.
• The fibre in chia seeds also increases satiety, helping you feel full longer.
• In addition, because chia seeds are high in omega-3 fatty acids, they have strong anti-inflammatory properties that boost heart and brain health. Note, however, that chia seeds contain the plant form of omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid), which is hard for the body to convert into its preferred form of omega-3 (DHA). So although chia seeds are still a great addition to a healthy diet, the conversion to DHA is minimal.

Dates

You may disregard dates as sugary-sweet treats. But in reality, dates are packed with nutrients, which makes them perfect a healthy diet. Grown on date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera), dates are high in a variety of nutrients, including fibre, sugar, iron, sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, sulfur, magnesium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin K, folate, and thiamin.

Here are just some of the health benefits dates offer:

• Because they contain simple sugars, dates can give your muscles and brain a burst of energy before exercise and intense physical activity.
• Hallawi dates contain more catechins than other types of dates. As a result, they may play a role in reducing cholesterol.
• Dates support prenatal development. The carbohydrates in dates help to meet the increased caloric needs during pregnancy, and the folic acid prevents neural tube defects.
• The high potassium content of dates helps the body excrete sodium and excess water This plays an important role in regulating blood pressure.
• Dates promote bone health. The vitamin K in dates supports bone mineralization, and the magnesium supports the structural integrity of bone tissue.
• The carotenoid antioxidants in dates minimize signs of aging and reduce UV sun damage to skin.

• Dates may also boost muscle development.

Reap the health benefits of dates by eating them whole or adding date molasses to smoothies and desserts as a sweetener. You can also use date sugar, which has a sweet, caramel-like taste, as a healthy substitute for white sugar in recipes.

Bonus superfood: Cinnamon

Our blueberry protein smoothie bowl is so nutritious that it contains an additional superfood: cinnamon. Because of its powerful, health-boosting properties, cinnamon has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.

Enhance your health and lower your risk of disease the convenient way with our Ceylon Cinnamon. It comes in a handy, easy-to-swallow capsule that you can buy right here.

See why our customers love it:

Enjoy the benefits of all of these superfoods in one easy-to-make meal or snack. Here’s how to make our blueberry protein smoothie bowl.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or preferred milk choice)
• 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
• ½ avocado
• ½ cup blueberries
• ¼ cup cashews (soaked and drained)
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 scoops vegan protein (or preferred protein choice)
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp chia seeds (soaked 15 minutes in water)
• 1 tbsp raw cacao nibs (for garnish)
• ½ banana, sliced (for garnish)
• ½ cup blueberries (for garnish)
• 2 tbsp walnuts, chopped (for garnish)
• 2 dates chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Combine the almond milk, cacao powder, avocado, ½ cup blueberries, cashews, frozen banana, vegan protein, and cinnamon. Blend on high speed until you get a smooth consistency (approximately 2–3 minutes).
2. Pour into a bowl. Add the chia seeds and stir to mix. Garnish with cacao nibs, sliced banana, blueberries, walnuts, and dates.

Tips & Tricks

1. When creating a smoothie bowl, it’s always better to use a frozen banana to achieve a creamy, smooth texture.
2. Before using cashews in your smoothie bowl, soak them for 2–3 hours. This gives the phytic acid in the nuts time to break down, which ensures proper absorption. Soaking also neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors in cashews, which supports healthy digestion. That said, be careful not to oversoak them. Soaking cashews for more than 3 hours can make them bitter, slimy, less nutritious, and less flavourful.
3. Soak the chia seeds for your smoothie bowl for 15 minutes until they achieve a gel-like consistency. Hydrated chia seeds are more bioavailable to your body, which means that they provide easier access to nutrients. When the seeds are hydrated, you also feel fuller longer.