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Dark chocolate is great for you – it’s high in antioxidants, can reduce blood pressure, improve circulation and elevate mood. Plus, let’s be honest, you crave it. By using raw cacao powder in this delicious vegan shake, you get all the satisfaction and benefits of this incredible super food without the processing or additives.
I use oat milk instead of soy milk because I’m concerned about the negative impacts of too much soy on the thyroid. I love tofu so I’m saving my soy intake for that. Almond, rice and hemp milk are great options too.
In a blender:
- 1 Banana
- 4 tsps Cacao Powder
- 3 scoops Stevia (white on cacao in photo, use scoop in package)
- ¾ cups Oat Milk
- 5-8 Ice Cubes
Customize your shake:
Matcha Powder: Add 1 tsp or less.
Matcha (photographed with ingredients above) is finely-ground green tea with a brilliant color. It’s used in the Japanese tea ceremony as well as cooking – if you’ve seen green tea flavored ice cream, you’ve seen matcha. Because you consume the entire tea leaf, matcha offers the health benefits of green tea in a much more potent form. But if you’re sensitive to caffeine, you might avoid this in the evening.
Raw Almonds: Add about 12 nuts.
A great way to make the shake a bit more satiating, almonds are a good source of Vitamin E and have a moderately anti-inflammatory effect.
Acai Powder: Add 1 tsp plus.
Rich in antioxidants, this will add some berry flavor but very little sweetness to your shake. Acai berries were the “it” food a few years ago and now we’re seeing a backlash to some of the more extreme claims such as miraculous weight loss. Still, as a potent red berry they have plenty of good stuff for you.
Maca Powder: Add 1 tsp.
This plant thrives in the Andes where few other plants can grow. It will add a slight malty flavor to your shake. Maca’s unique nutritional profile is optimal for supporting the endocrine system – in fact, Maca has a reputation for improving libido and fertility. My advice is think twice about adding this to your diet if you take birth control.
Cinnamon: Add .5 tsp.
If you like cinnamon, it tastes great in this shake and happens to have a whole host of health benefits including anti-inflammatory properties, lowering your bad LDL cholesterol, and helping to regulate blood sugar.
charlottealvina 
That shake looks like it is going to taste great.
I am still new at this can you tell me more about the stevia and oat milk?
Hi there : )
Stevia is also called sweet leaf and it’s a natural sugar substitute with no calories or impact on blood glucose. Some people put it into their tea or coffee – I do think it tastes enough different from sugar that it throws me off. But in the context of a more complex recipe like this shake it doesn’t matter, just balances the bitter of the cacao.
I can’t do dairy milk because of an allergy – but I’ve made this shake for my bf with regular milk and it definitely gains volume when blended so expect a different texture if you use dairy milk. So I’ve been using oat milk instead of soy milk in an effort to manage the amount of soy I eat – for my thyroid and for the very reason that you wrote about today: too much estrogen. Here’s more about the connection: http://www.livestrong.com/article/466919-the-effects-of-soy-milk-on-estrogen-levels/ Thanks for spreading the word, it’s a huge and growing public health problem!
Thank you again for sharing your knowledge