Health benefits of Medicinal Mushrooms

This is one batch of homemade mushroom tea.

Does the thought of drinking a mushroom tea scare you off?  Maybe you don’t know about thee mushroom teas and there’s some fear of the unknown.  Well, don’t be scared.  You are missing out on a powerhouse of a healing product that can give your immune system a boost sip by sip.  It can really help during the winter sickness months because it’s antiviral, antibacterial, and speeds recovery.

It’s very easy to make medicinal, healing, mushroom tea at home.  You simply need the medicinal mushrooms and a pot to brew it in. A crockpot works great but anything that can slowly simmer water will work.

Why should I make and consume these mushroom teas?

I looked up medicinal mushrooms on Wikipedia to see what they had to say.  The drug companies are sure interested in them.  You might not see it in the news but Big Pharma sees value in them.  If they see the value then maybe you should too.  Pharmaceutical research is being done on medicinal mushrooms to treat the conditions listed below.  You see, research is being done because these products have natural healing qualities about them.  Drug companies know these natural products work, just as mother nature intended.

Medicinal mushroom products are being used in research for:

Cancer

Antibacterial agents (antibiotics)

Cholesterol inhibitors

Antifungals

Antivirals

Immunosuppressants

Malaria

Diabetes, and more…

Research is being done on the effects of medicinal mushrooms on many other conditions too.  The moshrooms have the power to heal, that’s obviously why they’re studying them.

Natural healing powers of fungi

Ultimately, these effects are mainly due to the ability of medicinal mushrooms to stimulate the immune system.  This helps restore the body’s innate ability to restore homeostasis and regulate itself.  Medicinal mushroooms offer many potential health benefits- they can lower blood pressure (anti-hypertensive), have cholesterol lowering properties, protect the liver, stimulate the immune system within the gut wall (your 2nd immune system), anti viral, anti bacterial, anti parasitic, anti microbial, anti cancer, and they also make your actual quality of life better with their stimulating and recovery properties.

Who knew some ‘shroms can do all that? (Hint – Big Pharma does)

These are some common medicinal mushrooms.

The different varieties of mushrooms have different compounds within them that have different healing properties.  You can try taking just one variety at a time. Or you can try taking a  bunch of different ones at the same time- the choice is yours.  When you take a variety you can get what’s called the entourage effect.   That means that combining different mushrooms helps stimulate the immune system more than any one mushroom would by itself. I think it is important to have a variety.

Don’t take the same product every day, for months and months, and expect to have continued results. I think you could have some type of plateau in your treatment.  Start with one type of mushroom and switch it up after a couple of weeks and try another one.  Keep utilizing the mushroom teas but just choose a different mushroom (or mixture of mushrooms) every now and then have some variety.

Turkey Tail Mushrooms

         

Coriolus Versicolor AKA “Turkey Tail” means “multicolored”.  These mushrooms grow mainly in a stretch of land from Europe to China and the western United States. They grow in large bunches or colonies on the sides of trees that have fallen in the woods. The tree dies and when it falls it starts to degrade and breakdown. Mushrooms like growing in these conditions. The texture of Turkey Tail is different than other mushrooms I have found. Although it has a woody texture it also has a velvety/velour feeling to it at the same time.  it’s a beautiful looking mushroom, and you can see why it is called “Turkey Tail”.

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Turkey Tail has been effectively used against several cancers.  I must say this and this applies to all of the mushrooms. In combination with other therapeutic treatments, it has proven to be effective.  This is not a replacement for medical treatments.  I need to clarify that.  We are not treating diseases with these mushroom teas.  We are treating people.  Now, sometimes people have diseases, but we are treating the person not the disease.  Our goal is to help stimulate the immune system.  Leave treating the disease to medicine- we are treating the person. Get it?  Do you see the difference?

Anyways, Turkey Tail seems to make chemotherapy and radiation treatments more effective.  It also lessens the actual side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation. Using Turkey Tail increases chances for survival.  Research has shown that, if the person uses medicinal mushrooms along with their other treatments,  the cancer goes into remission a much higher percentage of time. Significantly higher. Research shows that using mushroom teas increases the production of interferon, and it might possibly inhibit HIV and other viral infections because of it’s antiviral capabilities.

Do you hear that Covid?  It’s antiviral.  Naturally.

Reishi Mushrooms

     

Once again we’re going to have to go back to China and the Orient to find these mushroms.  Reishi mushrooms have been used in Japanese medicine for centuries.  These things work.  We might want to pay more attention to the eastern medicine approach to healing.  Reishi mushrooms aren’t growing too much in the wild anymore so they are mainly grown comercially.  This actually helps, as you know exactly what you’re putting in your body.

Reishi is helpful for all things related to the blood because it drives more oxygen into the cells.  This is a huge benefit because with more oxygen we can make more energy.  Everything works better when the cells have more oxygen.  It could help with altitude sickness or traumatic brain injury.  It reduces the “stickiness” of the blood associated with toxicity and malnurition.  It has been used in cases of malignant Sarcoma cancer.  It stimulates the liver and the lungs.  Improving the health of the blood, and thus the immune system, is one of the main reasons medicinal mushrooms in general are being used. They all have these properties.

Cordyceps

   

The Cordyceps mushroom is another immune system stimulator for humans. It can reduce asthma symptoms and reduce kidney damage caused by drugs.  It improves quality of life and tolerance to chemotherapy.  It has been used to shrink tumor size in skin and lung cancers.

This mushroom stimulate longevity. Not just a long life but a healthy long life. That’s why we’re using it.  Healthy longevity.

Maitake-  AKA “Hen of the Woods”

     

Maitake is another Asian mushroom that has blood cleansing properties.  Is is an immune system booster that has anti tumor effects.  The anti tumor effects have been beneficial with PolyCistic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).  Many times PCOS causes infertility and that infertility is the underlying reason why ladies may start looking for these natural approaches.

Chaga Mushrooms

   

That black growth in the picture above is a Chaga mushroom growing on a Birch tree. Chaga likes to grow on Birch trees.  Birch trees have this white, exfoliating or “shaggy” bark. They are found throughout Asia, Canada, and the United States. Chaga is a very hard mushroom, almost like a rock.  You can brew this mushroom at least 4 or 5 separate times when making your teas.

Chaga has been shown to shrink cancer tumors, increase the function of the liver, and might have the highest antioxidants of any food. Chaga mushrooms have an Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) value of 146,700!  Let me put that into perspective. Blueberires, known for their high antioxidants, have an ORAC value of around 9,000. That means Chaga is very effective at neutralizing free radicals.  It has the power to neutralize a lot of them.  This helps you to live a longer healthier life.

5 Mushroom Blend – Tea kit

     

These 5 blend mushroom tea kits are pre packaged and are ready to go. They contain the 5 mushrooms listed above.  You will take the mushroom blend and simmer it at home using a large crockpot.  Any large pot (or dutch oven) will work as long as it is large and can be heated on a lower setting.  Place the mushrooms in the crockpot and simmer on low for a few hours.  The longer you simmer the mushrooms the more concentrated the brew will become.

     This is a strong brew of mushroom tea

Look at the color of the mushroom tea in the bottles above.  Look at how dark the color of the tea is and notice how you cannot see through it. Imagine the strength of it. This brew is actually a little stronger than I like.  I prefer the tea to be a little less concentrated.  You can dilute it with water if you want. I didn’t to do that with this one – I just consumed it strong this time.  The next time I brew the mushrooms I’ll just pay closer attention when I’m brewing it and take it off before it gets this concentrated.

I also add ginger, garlic, and cinnamon

     

Ginger is anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, it helps the heart and blood, etc.  You start getting the point.  Ginger is a good addition to this tea.  The healing powers of Garlic are the same way.

       

Cinnamon is another super spice. It contains all of the same abilities to promote life that the mushrooms, ginger, and garlic have.  Cinnamon also compliments the taste of the mushroom teas quite well. The point of adding these is that we are intentionally findings ways to use natural remedies to treat our health and we are adding them to our daily life.  These natural remedies lower blood sugar, which helps diabetics, which increases longevity.

If you don’t use these strategies for healing, well then you’re just not using them. Perhaps you’re not using them because you haven’t been exposed to them.  Now it’s time to take action and start using them.   Well, now that you know, perhaps you’ll give it a try and see what’s it’s all about.

Making the brew

I add the mushrooms I recommended, whole garlic cloves (I used about 10), and fresh ginger (I used 2 pieces each approximately the size of my thumb), and a stick of whole cinnamon to your crockpot and fill it with water.  Add any other immune system boosters you want to the mushrooms when you brew it.

I brew the tea for about 3 hours, on low, until I feel it is done.  I check the strength of the brew along the way.

Once the brew becomes concentrated enough it is done.  Strain the contents out and save them.  The tea can be rebrewed a couple more times before it is exhausted.  Store the mushrooms, ginger, garlic, cinnamon mixture in the freezer for another day.  You can brew the mushrooms as many times as you want.  If you can still taste the mushrooms in the tea then you can still brew it another time.  When you can’t taste the mushrooms anymore than they’re done.  Toss them and start a new batch next time.

I sweeten the mushroom tea with raw, unfiltered honey.  I might add a some liquid stevia to it as well.  After that, if necessary, dilute it to taste.  Store in glass jars in the refrigerator.

Drinking your tea

I drink 3-4 sips of the tea 3-4 times a day.  Each jar will last a week or so, depending on how much you drink. You can potentially get a 3-4 weeks worth of tea out of each kit.  There is no right or wrong way here!

Brew the mushrooms. Freeze the mushrooms for the next brew. Drink your brew. Repeat.

We have these mushroom kits available for a limited time.

Please, if you notice any health benefits while using them, let us know! Go to our Modern Chiropractic KY facebook page, become a friend of the office, and tell us the results you noticed.  Let us know what has happened!  Everyone needs to hear some success stories.

@modernchiropracticky