February is Heart Health month and I’m going to tell you about how eating a smoothie bowl for breakfast can help reduce your risk of heart disease, which disease is one of leading causes of death in both men and women in the United States.

You may be wondering, what is a smoothie bowl? Aren’t smoothies supposed to be in glasses?

Smoothie bowls are simply smoothies you can eat with a spoon with lots of delicious toppings.

One version is made with mixed berries, a frozen banana, plain Greek yogurt, and unsweetened cashew milk. It was topped with oranges, hemp seeds, and pomegranate.

Berries, oranges, and pomegranate are packed full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Plus, they are naturally low in calories and high in fiber and water. Fiber helps lower your cholesterol.

Bananas are a great source of potassium, which helps manage high blood pressure by reducing the effects of excess sodium. When you eat more potassium, you lose more sodium in your urine. Other foods rich in potassium are avocados, beans, and potatoes.

Greek yogurt and cashew milk are both fantastic sources of calcium, which helps with muscle contraction.

And last but not least, hemp seeds are an excellent source of those healthy fats: omega-3 and rare omega-6 GLA. They are also packed with protein, iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin E, and riboflavin.

It’s really important to limit saturated and trans fats because they can damage your arteries and lead to heart disease. Load up your diet with omega-3 rich foods like hemp seeds instead!

There are so many variations of smoothie bowls you can make, so I’m going to give you a base recipe and you can create your own.

Step 1: Choose your fruit. Frozen fruit works best in smoothies because it makes it nice and cold.

Step 2: Choose your yogurt. Any kind is fine, but if you want extra protein try Greek yogurt. Try to stay away from yogurts with a lot of added sugars to cut back on calories.

Step 3: Choose your milk. Any kind of milk is fine. I always go for nut milk because it is a lot lower in calories. If you are trying nut milk, make sure it’s the unsweetened variety to decrease added sugars.

Step 4: Pick some optional add-ins: spinach, nuts, seeds, protein powders. Add-ins like spinach give you an extra serving of vegetables.

Step 5: Pour into a bowl and load up with healthy toppings like sliced fruit, coconut flakes, granola, and extra dark chocolate.

Go to Kellyschoice.org to see this recipe and more that were created by Rosemary Squires.