Medicinal Mushrooms
Not “funny” mushrooms but Medicinal Mushrooms is what we are talking about today. In the last five years I have seen popularity of these powerhouses grow in the health market place. I first heard of these wonder shrooms on a Rich Roll Podcast where he interviewed Tero Isokauppila, the founder of Four Sigmatic a mushroom coffee, tea and elixirs company back in 2017. I remember driving through the mountains and being very taken with this man and his mystical wonder shrooms. Tero is from Finland, and grew up in one of the most fertile parts of the world where Mushrooms grow and flourish. Most of the country drinks mushroom coffees because out of need from the coffee shortages that started in WWII era. Tero grew up on a 13 generation owned family farm where foraging for mushrooms and berries and unique super herbs was apart of his everyday. He developed a specific interest in these mushrooms. Growing up in a place where the majority of the public consumes super foods on a regular basis and eating clean is a way of life made it easy to learn more. You can feel his passion for foraging and learning about these mushrooms and bringing them to the world in a safe and accessible way. He traveled country to country learning about these mushrooms and learned about the sacredness and the ancient holistic traditions of the Mushrooms.
Tero has gone so far as to develop a whole Mushroom Academy where you can learn all about these wonder shrooms and get the right information and how they can help in your daily life. The series is given by Danielle Ryan Broida a Registered Herbalist and a Certified Holistic Nutritionist. The class is free and fun! There are 13 lessons in the series and are so interesting. Click here to check it out.
If you want to dive in even further into Tero’s research he wrote a wonderful book as well called the Healing Mushrooms: A practical and culinary Guide to Using Mushrooms for Whole Body Health. Below I give you a short overview of these major mushrooms in the Medicinal Mushroom world. These are the most researched for safety and use.
Lion’s Main
Brain Booster- cognition, memory, concentration
Helps fight- Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis, parkinson’s, dementia, high cholesterol, depression, inflammation, ulcers, regeneration of damaged nerves, protects against cancer, stimulates digestion.
Chaga “The King of Mushrooms”
Antioxidant- anti-aging, inflammation, lower LDL
Helps- Lower cholesterol, combats oxidative stress, anti-cancer, recovery for athletes.
Cordyceps
Pre-workout Boost- energy, athletic performance, muscle recovery
Helps- body utilize oxygen efficiently and enhance blood flow, speeds up post workout muscle recovery.
Shiitake
Heart health- blood pressure, circulation
Helps- lowers cholesterol, fight infection, helps with cavities and oral health
Maitake
Immune system enhancer- antioxidant, longevity
Helps- lower blood pressure, cholesterol, prevents diabetes and obesity
Turkey Tail
Powerhouse Antioxidant- immune support, anticancer properties, prebiotic
Helps- prevent and treat many types of cancer, prevents tumor growth, digestive health
Reishi “the Queen of Mushrooms”
Multi tasker- sleep, anxiety, depression, focus, weight loss, calms nervous system
Helps- immune system, fights cancer cells, promote healing, protect the liver, blood suger balancer
Four Sigmatic has a very complete product line and you can be guaranteed that you will get great quality and safe products if you want to try and incorporate Mushrooms into you daily routine. There are other brands out there that have taken the time to properly source their Mushrooms and create safe products. Be careful though, these products are not regulated and you don’t want to buy something because its a good price. Look for quality, Non GMO, Organic and fair trade and hand foraged. Below are a few of my favorite brands.
Moon Juice is one of my favorite companies. This company is very picky about their ingredients and research they put into their products they have a great selection of powdered Mushrooms.
Laird Superfoods is a new kid on the block but they also cleared the lengthy process of getting vetted to be on Whole Foods shelves. The line includes coffees, creamers and much more.
Om is another brand that stands behind their products and cleared the stiff criteria that Whole Foods makes every brand they carry pass before it hits their shelves.
Wellmade by Thrive Market has quite a good selection of Medicinal Mushrooms mixes and other ethically sourced herbs and supplements.
I hope everyone digs in and looks into these wonder shrooms. They can help you deal with stress, be kinder to your circulatory system, brain health, heart, recovery, cancer prevention etc, etc… The list goes on and on.
Have a great Wellness Wednesday,
Shara
Sources:
https://us.foursigmatic.com, https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/best-medicinal-mushrooms-to-try#for-inflammation, https://www.culinarynutrition.com/guide-to-medicinal-mushrooms-types-best-uses-and-recipes/, https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/maitake-mushroom, https://www.verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-lions-mane-89474, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/chaga-mushroom, https://www.verywellhealth.com/turkey-tail-5093147,https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/best-medicinal-mushrooms-to-try, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/medicinal-mushroom, https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/mushrooms-pdq, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684114/,