Fall and winter are the perfect times to eat your roots! Eating seasonally is one of the healthiest ways to get fresh vitamin and mineral rich nutrients from your food. Plus if you are a woman they are doubly beneficial.

It’s time to eat those phytoestrogenic root veggies! Eating a largely plant based diet can help your body in estrogen metabolism.

Many root vegetables contain the plant version of your body’s natural hormones and can be very beneficial if you are fertility challenged or if you are in menopause or perimenopause (the 10 or so years prior to menopause).

There are a lot of root vegetables available at this time of year like yams, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and of course carrots. Burdock is a very useful root to add to soups at this time of year because it is also blood purifying.

Besides roots many dried beans contain phytoestrogens and are perfect for soup at this time of year and moving into winter. Some of the best beans are kidney, lima, black and aduki beans. You can combine your roots and beans into a very hearty and satisfying meal! Add some kombu, a great seaweed that helps break down the bean proteins to make them more digestible. Seaweed is also a good source of phytoestrogens. Add some onion and garlic for added flavor, these two also contain phytoestrogens.

One note of caution: If PCOS is the cause of your infertility, stick to carrots and yams which are lower on the glycemic index.

Here is a great root soup recipe from Allrecipes.com. I substituted coconut milk for half and half in the original recipe. Try it and let me know how you like it.

Winter Root Vegetable Soup

3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 celery root, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 turnips, quartered

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 (2 pound) butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 quart vegetable broth

1/2 cup coconut milk (if desired)

salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Combine parsnips, carrots, celery root, turnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Toss vegetables to evenly distribute seasonings.
Roast in the preheated oven until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork, 30 to 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in the celery and onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, uncovered. Stir in the roasted vegetables and continue simmering for 10 minutes. Puree the soup using an immersion blender. Stir in the coconut milk, and season with salt and pepper, if necessary. If the soup becomes too thick, add more vegetable broth.