Happy Halloween!

In honor of today’s holiday… I wanted to share with you my ALL TIME favorite recipe that I make every year at this time. 

PUMPKIN MAC & CHEESE

Yes, making a plant based cheese sauce using pumpkin. It’s a thing 😋

Before you scroll down to the recipe, I want to talk about WHY the different ingredients in this recipe are so beneficial for us. 

In order to build an optimal plate for health, supporting our detoxification pathways, etc we must first make sure we are adding in a combination of fats, protein, and carbohydrates!

Protein sources are optimal for health because those amino acids support our gut lining integrity and supporting the different phases of liver detoxification. 

We are exposed to many chemicals throughout our day. The EWG estimates that women put on an average of 170 chemicals per DAY!

The chemicals in our personal care products, make up, cleaning supplies, and more can have an impact on our health. How?

They are what we term “Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals”, or EDC’s, meaning they disrupt our hormonal system. They can do this by altering the amount of hormones our body’s produce. Why is this important to know?

Everything from gut issues to fatigue to infertility can be traced back to these. 

Here is an excellent PubMed article published in 2020 going into more detail, the effects of different environmental toxins, and where they are found. 

Not only are taking small, actionable steps to avoiding these important, but using nutrients to support our body’s detoxification pathways in eliminating what we are exposed to is just as important!

The different nutrients found in specific plant based fats help our body, for example: walnuts & avocados are an excellent source of glutathione (our body’s master antioxidant) needed for liver detox phases 1 & 2. 

And lastly… carbohydrates. I’m talking about those amazing nutrients found in plant sources. Not only are carbs important for energy (as glucose is our body’s main source) but by diversifying the amount of plant sources we eat… gives us a vast array of micronutrients our body needs to support many different detox pathways.

For example: magnesium in pumpkin seeds, omega 3’s in flax seeds, selenium in brazil nuts, b vitamins in grains… all help to support our gut & liver health.

Having gut issues? Hormone imbalance? Fatigue? Consider making some changes in your personal care routine and adding in diverse plant sources.

OK so you’re probably ready for the recipe… 😄 Which includes a little of everything we talked about!

Enjoy!

RECIPE:

🎃 ¼ cup cashews

🎃 1 cup packed fresh pumpkin

🎃 ¾ cup soy milk

🎃 3 tablespoons Foods Alive nutritional yeast (code WFPBDOCTOR for 15%)

🎃 ½ - 1 teaspoon garlic powder

🎃 ¼ teaspoon redmond salt (code DRPEACOCK FOR 15%)

Boil either one of my two favorite pastas: Tolerant or Explore Cuisine, according to package instructions. In a blender place all the above ingredients and blend until smooth. Place sauce over pasta, grate a little fresh walnut for "parmesan" effect, and indulge!

Happiness & health,

Dr. Steph

Instagram: @wfpb_doctor

YouTube: Thrive Kitchen

Website/consults: www.stephaniepeacock.com