Cocoa Banana Burst Breakfast Smoothie

As you likely know by now, we’re not only registered dietitians and personal trainers who love veggies, but we also have a sweet tooth. We like to blame our Grandma Bubby for it, who was sweet as could be and had a big sweet tooth, too! 😉 In fact, Lyssie even has a long left canine (in school she used to get teased about having a shark tooth) that is responsible for hers and she’ll stab ya with if you get in the way of her sweet! 😉

As you can imagine, we have many tricks up our sleeves to tame our sweet tooth– and our clients’– and yours, too! One of the best secrets? By including natural sugars like those in fruits (that also come with fiber and health-promoting nutrients) you can really prevent your sweet tooth from getting the best of you. It really helps to fight cravings! We find that many of our clients tame their sweet tooth if they give it a little healthy love at breakfast. That’s why we’ve created these smoothies: Blueberry Lemon Detox Smoothie, Matcha Green Tea Smoothie, Rise & Shine Delicious Smoothie Wake Up Smoothie and now this Cocoa Banana Burst Breakfast Smoothie.

This Cocoa Banana Burst Breakfast Smoothie is the perfect way to start our summer mornings- and squash a sugar craving! It’s delicious, refreshing and and provides the perfect burst of energy before a workout! It’s just the boost we need to help kick us into action in the heat because it’s a cool burst of bananas, cinnamon and CocoaVia cocoa flavanol supplement–to rev our workout. (We used CocoaVia cocoa and we were working with them and love it, but if you don’t have it, simply substitute cocoa powder or raw cacao powder–delicious and healthy too!).

Cocoa Banana Burst Breakfast Smoothie

This smoothie is hydrating and the banana provides energy-revving carbohydrates and potassium to aid in fluid balance and for preventing cramps; the protein in the Greek yogurt helps to stabilize blood sugar and give it staying power and the Cocoavia provides cocoa flavanols that help to keep blood vessels flexible so that nutrients and oxygen can easily be delivered to our muscles and throughout our entire body for optimal performance. Oh yeah! Running shoes on…Central Park here we come! 🙂

Makes 1 Serving

Ingredients
2 ice cubes
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 frozen over ripe banana
1 Tbsp cocoa powder or raw cacao powder (or 1 unsweetened Dark Chocolate Mix Cocovia)
6 ounce container nonfat Strawberry Greek yogurt
1 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk (or ½ cup and ½ cup water)
Stevia, to taste, optional
2-3 frozen pineapple tidbits, optional

Directions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (without optional pineapple tidbits): 273 Calories, 49 g carbohydrate, 3 grams fat, 17 g protein, 6 grams fiber

The Nutrition Twins worked with Cocoavia to develop this delicious smoothie.

Cocoa Banana Burst Breakfast Smoothie