I can’t even explain how much I love this chocolate mousse smoothie. Its super new to my repertoire and ever since churning out the first one I have been making it every second day like clockwork. I often sit gleefully at my desk after my morning work out eating it out of the jar with a spoon.

This Chocolate Mousse Smoothie is not for the faint hearted. Its super chocolate-y (aka 2 tbsp. of raw cacao) and results in a thick mousse consistency that really requires a spoon over a straw. You will also notice that there is no fruit in this smoothie. The thick whipped consistency comes from the frozen zucchini and pumpkin. The roasted pumpkin is also the main provider of the sweetness, which continues to blows my mind each time I consume it. Seriously pumpkin, you are amazing.

I’ve been experimenting a lot lately with using vegetables outside the norm of kale and spinach in smoothies to create added texture and flavours. Often smoothies are made with banana to give them that creamy richness, so I wanted to explore outside the banana realm. Now, if you read my last post you will know that there is nothing wrong with bananas or fruit mind you. This exploration is about my eternal interest in recipe creations and also devising recipes that work well for many of our clients at the JCN Clinic in their early stages of gut care treatment.

I’ve also been inspired personally as I recently did the SIBO test to understand first hand how it is done and what the prep diet was like. It was a massive eye opener and super helpful in regards to imparting knowledge on to my clients. You can read more about that experience here.

The thing is, my test results came back in a few weeks ago and I was positive! To say that I was shocked was a bit of an understatement. I went through a few phases of emotions quite quickly. Shock, then anger, then understanding, then acceptance, and strangely lastly elation after talking it through with Carissa. Why? You see my digestive health is pretty good these days. I come from a past history (which I have discussed before) of too many gastro episodes to note due to some serious travel through Thailand, Malaysia and Turkey providing the worst grief.

I was in my early 20’s and had no idea about gut health. All I knew was that I had picked up (again) a serious bout of gastro and needed to make it stop. In Turkey I took some crazy pills from a local that to this day I have no idea what they were, but it stopped me running to every public toilet in hot sweats and cramps of bowel explosiveness, so that was all that I cared about.

Another time in Thailand I ate fish when staying in Chiang Mai. Rookie error. I had a few drinks and didn’t think until the fish came to the table. It occurred to me then that this fish would have come from the river. I just sucked it up and though ‘oh well, sure it will be fine’ and ate it. Nope. To follow was 3 -4 days of extreme gastroenteritis followed by a month of morning watery diarrhoea (I am not exaggerating the time frame).

Fast forward to today and after over a decade in the industry and self-care I am relatively a new woman. However, one of my personal pet peeves is being so sensitive. If I have something that is a reactive to me then I tend to get quite a strong response (this shouldn’t be the case) and most annoyingly, I am really sensitive to wine. If you knew me well, you would know that this is my achilles heal. My husband and I love wine. We bonded over wine. We plan to open a wine bar for Pete’s sake (another story). So not being able to enjoy a wine without feeling like I have been smashed in the head with a hammer the next day is simply not on.

Therefore, after discussing my results with Carissa our final assumption was that this could be the missing link. If I can get rid of a bit of gastroenteritis induced SIBO then ideally I’d be able to drink again! I think she is envisaging us cracking a bottle on a Friday evening, which I am quite partial to, so lets hope all goes well.

Food wise, it’s been actually rather easy. Food prep as always is imperative but I’ve come up with some wonderful new recipes inclusive of this Chocolate Mousse Smoothie. I’m am 3 weeks in now and at a stage where I will be diversifying out my food again, but these initial weeks have been a real eye opener and I wouldn’t change it for the world. As I said when I wrote my post about undergoing the SIBO test, really living in the shoes of your clients is invaluable in helping others on their health journeys.

To be continued…..(with Pinot in hand)

chocolate mousse smoothie

Print Recipe

serves

serves 1

preparation time

5 minutes

cooking time

nil

ingredients

• 1/3 cup pre roasted pumpkin, skin removed
• 1/2 cup frozen zucchini
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao
• 8 macadamia nuts
• 2 tablespoons plain protein powder of choice
• 1/2 cup water (or just 1/4 cup if you want it really thick)
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• small handful of ice

method

If you would like this smoothie sweeter, add 1 medjool date. 

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth and creamy. Drink (or eat with a spoon) as is or top with some nut butter and granola. I topped this one with my Pumpkin Pie Granola.

nutritional information

• This smoothie provides a complete meal thanks to the inclusion of the pumpkin to provide complex more sustainable carbohydrates. Often smoothies have protein powder as a protein boost, yet lack the fibre dense carbs for satiety and diverse gut bacterial food. Therefore, this smoothie will really keep you going for hours instead of leaving you hungry an hours after finishing.
• This smoothie is fruit free with its natural sweetness coming from the roasted pumpkin. The smoothie can be a great meal option for those needing some short-term restrictions around their dietary intake when healing the gut (especially pertaining to low FODMAP, yeast overgrowth and SIBO). Fundamentally the smoothie will tick all of the macronutrient boxes to keep you satisfied without triggering most people in the early stages of their gut health treatment protocol.

Jessica Cox

Jessica Cox is a qualified practicing Nutritionist with a Bachelor Health Science (Nutrition) and over 15 years of clinical experience. She is the founder and director JCN Clinic, published author and established recipe developer. Jessica is well respected within health and wellness space for her no fad approach and use of evidence-based nutrition.