Healthy fats from coconuts and chia seeds are beneficial to our skin. Not enough healthy fat in a child’s diet can lead to dry, flaky skin. One way to naturally improve the softness of skin, is to include more fats from whole foods sources like coconuts and chia seeds.
They’re called essential fatty acids (EFA) for a reason — your body needs them! And it doesn’t make EFAs on its own; you only get them from the foods you eat. Key elements in a natural skin care diet, essential fatty acids like omega-3s and omega-6s are the building blocks of healthy cell membranes. These polyunsaturated fats also help produce the skin’s natural oil barrier, critical in keeping skin hydrated, plumper, and younger looking. If you’re not getting enough EFAs in your diet, your skin may be dry or inflamed.
Both coconut and chia seeds are a good source of essential fatty acids. While many folks like to strip the coconut of all the other nutrients it’s packed with and just use the coconut oil, we prefer the whole coconut! Whole food sources of fat also contain other valuable nutrients, helping our body to use and absorb the best parts of the food.
So, this is why we are using coconut milk, flaked coconut, and soaked chia seeds. We want the most out of our fats!
For this Coconut Raspberry Chia Smoothie Recipe, we simply:
- Placed 4 tablespoons chia seeds and 1 cup of water in a bowl. Place in fridge and let soak overnight.
- Next day, combine chia seeds (including the liquid) 2 cups coconut milk, 1/4 cup shaved or grated coconut, and 2 cups frozen raspberries. Blend until smooth.
Top with fresh raspberries, extra coconut and chia seeds if your kids desire.
Then, drink up! This cute girl liked her smoothie in a coconut!
Grab some coconut milk, some fun straws, and some chia seeds and make this smoothie today!
We have lots of smoothie recipes! check out our smoothie category here, or even our 201 Smoothies and Juices for Kids book!
Really enjoyed making the smoothie would like some more recipes please
I buy coconut milk but I’m not sure how to store it. It thickens up so bad I thought it went bad (overnight) so I through it away. Am I wrong, how do you store it. Thank you
Refrigerated coconut milk does not last very long stella. I would throw it out if it gets thick or smelly.
Do we use fresh coconut flesh for this or can we use the dried coconut flakes
We used dried Flakes Juls
Great looking smoothie and easy to make too!
What kind of coconut milk do you use? I see it says full fat, but do you use refrigerated or canned?
Heidi- I actually have used both, depending on what I currently have on hand. I think you can’t go wrong with canned or refrigerated!
I love this idea! We are using chia seeds in all of our smoothies. What is the benefit of soaking them? Am I doing something wrong using them dry?
@Claudia- soaking them makes them easier for our bodies to absorb the nutrients- and acts like a thickener, making our shakes better!
How about letting the chia seeds soak in the coconut milk overnight? Have you done that before? I make this Coconut Chia Pudding and it calls for the chia seeds to be soaked in the coconut milk overnight, so I imagine the texture would be similar, except I’d have to blend it for the smoothie.
@Beverly! LOL- of course!! Not sure why I didn’t think of that!
Can you use coconut water rather than coconut milk?
Yes Jamie, you definitely could! You wouldn’t get the fat benefits, but it would taste good!
Have you tried it with other fruits? I don’t have raspberries on hand but I have frozen blueberries and a fresh mang and bananas…. I love smoothies, thank you for the recipe!
Oh yes Marie- It’s definitely good with all of those fruits!