Simple Ways to Incorporate Mushrooms into Daily Wellness
If you're looking for new ways to revitalize your wellness, achieve greater levels of energy, reduce inflammation and improve health markers, or simple feel better on a daily basis, keep reading. We've outlined some ways you can incorporate functional medicinal mushrooms into your daily life to help improve your whole system. The term "holistic," is a bit overused in today's health culture, but the term truly applies to medicinal fungi. They impact such a broad diversity of systems within your mind, body and spirit that they can have a deep and rich impact on total wellness.
Addressing Chronic Inflammation with Chaga
Chaga is predominantly one of the most well-sought after fungi. While it isn't technically a mushroom (it grows hardened bodies along trees) it boasts a bioactive antioxidant profile that supports tremendous potential to support the body. Currently, chronic inflammation is one of the key factors contributing to cardiovascular disease, fatigue, a foggy mind, poor digestion and the list goes on. We are moving into an age when chronic, or non- communicable disease, is threatening the wellness of our communities to such a degree that it is becoming a leading cause of mortality. Deeply rooted in daily wellness routine, the degree of chronic inflammation our bodies receive from pollutants, poor diet, stress and exposure to toxins, means we need to actively support our system with antiinflammatory protocols. Chaga is known to have an antioxidant profile that surpasses its predecessors cacao, wolfberries and blueberries over ten-fold. This fungi's ability to bind to toxins and help them remove them from the body is being used to help prevent inflammation, support healthy digestion and improve mood.* It is often associated with mood lift due to its ability to help support healthy blood flow to the brain while reducing inflammation within the body. Within a bioavailable extract, it is an ideal source of support for helping support the body with a healthy resilience to the inevtiable toxins we will encounter throughout our day.
Working through Stress with Reishi
Reishi mushrooms extend so far back into human history that we can see ancient Chinese paintings dating back hundreds of years portraying the exalted Reishi mushroom. If they were alive today and saw how easily we have access to such a magical mushroom, it would surely have a much higher market price. Reishi is considered a 'nervine,' an agent that helps regulate the nervous system. One of the beautiful features of living in a modern era is how easily our poorly adapted nervous system engages readily in stress responses to our environment. Chronic stress is directly linked with chronic inflammation and thus, the cascading effect of our psychological state ends up impacting our physiology much deeper than we may realize. Reishi has an ability to help nudge the body back to homeostasis, an intermediary state of a balanced nervous system - not too stressed, but not too depressed. When anxiety gets out of control, we may lose our ability to self regulate, and thus the spiral continues. No wonder it has traditionally been used in tandem with spirituality and meditation. With a proper extract, whether a dual extracted tincture, or even a simple cup of Reishi tea, Reishi has a noticeably soothing quality that may help provide you with a deeper sense of balance you might be searching for.
Revitalizing with Cordyceps Militaris
We are truly fortunate to have access to this incredibly potent medicinal mushroom. Two primary components are being evaluated for its potent medicinal values, namely adenosine and cordycepin. These two compenents are being evaluated for their incredible ability to help the body promote natural energy. This is one mushroom that you'll absolutely want to purchase either mushroom fruiting body powder, or better yet, an extract. The mycelium doesn't seem to have as high a potency in active constituents.* But I digress. What athletes and average individuals are finding with this mushroom is astounding. Its ability to help improve active energy via ATP production makes it a truly unique medicinal. Functionally, you may feel as though you simply have greater vitality. Used in tandem with athletics, users are finding a greater capacity to push their limits and meet their own potential. Traditionally used as an aphrodisiac, it can promote healthy sexual function and may support improved testosterone levels and hormone regulation in both men and women. Finally, its adaptogenic profile means it has a potential to help prevent stress. Improving energy while preventing stress? Look no further than a Cordyceps extract.
Superhuman Immunity with Turkey Tail
Turkey Tail may be one of the most underrated medicinal supplements available to the modern world. It grows in such wild abundance here in the Pacific Northwest and throughout so many other place in the world, that when you find it, you've struck a bit of gold. It's antiviral, antibacterial ad pro-immune supportive function can be such an effective and easily accessible tool for helping deal with seasonal flus and disease, it is shocking to me it isn't as popular as it should be. It even has a pleasant fragrance! It's a mushroom and it smells delightful! If you've ever cultivated Turkey Tail and have seen it compete with pathogens, it's a no contest, with an easy win for Turkey Tail almost every time. This mushroom's potential to support healthy immunity cannot be understated. In an age when we are facing increasingly concerning demands for new solutions for viral prevention and treatment, Turkey Tail should be explored in much greater depth. It is no wonder that this mushroom is one of the most well-studied and documented mushrooms for cancer treatment, viral treatment and so much more. Within an extract, its potential is that much deeper.
Functional, Bioavailable Extracts
I hope this simple overview helps to offer a few approaches I have found helpful in incorporating some of the most effective functional mushrooms into my daily regimen. When it comes to receiving optimal benefit, the research has determined that the highest concentration of both Beta- glucans as well as bioavailable terpenoids and other polysaccharides exists within the mushroom fruiting body. Effective extraction helps capture and condense these constituents so they are readily available to your system without having to break down the fibrous chitin cell wall. It also helps capture the essential qualities of these mushrooms via their taste, appearance and potency. We wish you well this new year and hope you find new ways to thrive in renewed wellness.