This is a recipe for a banana-based smoothie/icecream. I’ve included my own face so you’ll keep remembering who’s talking to you.. Like your conscience.

Warning: "BLAH BLAH Alert"

The "blah blah" begins this article on how to make one of the best smoothies you can get into your face-hole. If you’ve come only for the recipe, shame on you.. but scroll down until I say “stop”. Everyone else, read on.

Bathed in the miasma of recipes available for “power-foods”, “super-foods” and insert completely unoriginal hyperbole here foods, I think we’ve all become quite overloaded by the notion that some foods appear to be extremely beneficial to health.

Now, I can hear the shrieking, “Miasma’ actually pertains to ill-health!” As quoted early on in Sterner’s 2007 paper titled, 'A Brief History of Miasmic Theory', he relates the use of the term centuries before the birth of Christ in Greece. The obsolete medical theory proposed that it was bad air that caused disease and pestilence. I’m using the term in a sense that the prevalence of authors unapologetically using hyperbolic terms to describe beneficial foods is akin to a thick fog of disease infecting recipes unhindered. Meanwhile, we’re suffering from a chronic case of ‘too many superfood-itis’ and are looking for actual answers.

Keen readers of mine are well aware of my fondness of tangents. Even within the opening two paragraphs of a recipe you’ve found yourself breathing the putrid air of 460 BCE. Welcome to my writing, uninitiated.

I’ve recently made some changes to my diet (as of three weeks ago) and appreciate the benefits of a whole-food plant based diet, low in added and refined sugars and fats. I’ve been vegan for longer than five years or so but my diet hasn’t always been spectacular. I’ve plainly been quite arrogant and assumed that just because I don’t eat meat, dairy or eggs that my body is a million times better than anyone else’s. That’s a pretty stupid assumption to make – especially after I was introduced to the work of medical professionals who spend their time either running trials, observing patients or reading through the mountain of peer-reviewed literature about the benefits of not only a plant-based diet, but of the best plants to eat compared with those that are less beneficial.

I’ll certainly be writing more about this topic in future articles, but I wanted to point out that when the people closest to you begin to face realities of preventable lifestyle diseases, it would be careless and ignorant not to re-evaluate my own understanding of what constitutes healthy food. My recipe includes foods that I love eating. You may question the use of some ingredients, and it’s your right to do so. The food I’ve included that you might be wondering about (when you get to the recipe – blessed soul, you’ve not skipped ahead!) is flaxseed meal.

Unmilled flaxseeds/linseeds

According to the research, flaxseeds are incredibly nutritious. They provide a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids, have the highest lignin content available per unit weight, contain iron, zinc, copper, calcium, protein, folate and potassium. This is particularly relevant to women – a tablespoon of flaxseed meal per day dampens the effects of estrogen and can lengthen a woman’s cycle by one day over the course of the month, reducing exposure to estrogen and breast cancer risk (Source). I’m hesitant to label flaxseeds as a super-food. Or any food for that matter – regardless of their apparent potency. It’s because it ushers complacency and assumes that the rest of your diet can be underwhelming in terms of nutrition and somehow a “super-food” will rescue you from these dietary mistakes. These foods are just more dense in nutrient value than others and should always be consumed with a range of other seeds, nuts, whole grains, herbs, fruits and vegetables.

You may be wondering why I include both frozen bananas AND ice cubes. I’m only ever going to be able to speak for myself (is this the most redundant thing you’ve ever heard? Only politicians ever claim to be the voice of others and look how well liked they all are) but I revel in the various textures of a smoothie. My smoothies are anything but smooth (add seeds/nuts etc). Frozen bananas mean that any ice I add won’t unnecessarily prematurely melt due to the surrounding relatively warm ingredients. This is just entropy at work. The system is looking to equalise and if I add lots of cold ingredients, the tiny ice chips will stay in their crunchy, crystalline form keeping both my drink frigid and the mouth-feel optimal.

Cocoa’s in there because I love chocolate, but I’m not eating chocolate anymore. Well, at least not regularly. Cocoa is rich in antioxidants that fight free radicals. Add unrefined cocoa, and certainly not chocolate unless you’re not doing it for the healthfulness of the beverage. And what goes better with a chocolately drink than peanut butter? After my mother introduced me to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I’ve fallen head-long in love with this combination. This is just the optimal way of getting all the flavour with none of the unhealthy excess fat, animal proteins or refined sugar.

Final tip, before the recipe – When you are freezing bananas for this recipe or any other need for frozen bananas for that matter, wait until they’re REALLY brown, just before they start getting quite gross (this guide will help you) before you freeze them. This will ensure they’re rich in fructose which means you won’t need additional refined sugar.

“STOP”

Perfect. You made it. (If you want all the justifications for everything I do and why I do it, that’s all the text above that you so rudely skipped.)

The Stuff You Need

1. Ideally a Thermomix or high powered blender

2. 1 frozen banana (pre-peeled and cut, placed in a freezer bag and into the freezer overnight)

3. A small handful of ice (frozen, preferably)

4. 2 Tbs Peanut butter

5. 2 tsp flaxseed meal

6. 2 tsp cocoa powder

7. Some quantity between 50mL and 300mL of plant milk (I used soy) depending on whether you want to make icecream or a smoothie.

The Doing bit

1. Add the frozen banana chunks and the ice to the blender (I turn the Thermomix to speed 10 for about 15 seconds or so).

2. Scrape down the sides and add in your other ingredients, then pour in a small quantity of plant milk (to begin with) to determine the consistency you like.

3. Whizz back up on high (speed 6 or 7 is fine on the Thermomix) to incorporate everything.

4. Check for consistency. If it’s too thick and you’re planning on drinking it, I’d suggest you just add more plant-based milk to your liking.

5. Pour into a glass/bowl and drink/eat immediately.

If you’re interested as to why I use frozen bananas or why I use flaxseed instead of insert your favourite seed/nut here, do yourself a favour and read the whole post.

Thanks for joining me, yet again in my Steemit Space. I’m not worthy of the delightful comments I’ve recently received but I am certainly grateful of the time you’ve taken to read my work – whether you thought it was poop or as decadently delicious as the chocolate smoothie you’re now guzzling. Please tell me you’ve made it. No? Why are you still reading? Get the blender out!

All the best,
Nick

Dislaimer: This is not medical advice.

All content is original

References

A Brief History of Miasmic Theory

Just the Flax, Ma’am – Benefits of Flax Seeds

Nutrition Facts