Healing mushrooms from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Mushrooms - we know the mushrooms, oysters, porcini mushrooms, chanterelles - oh yes and shiitake we hear quite often lately.
With the latter we are getting closer. Shiitake also belongs to the most effective medicinal mushrooms of TCM.
If you are also a fan of the Netflix series "Chef's Table", you might know the episode with the Korean nun, who also calls the mushroom the best meat substitute and believes that it gives us a holistic energy. By the way, medicinal mushrooms are also called vital mushrooms.
What is it now with these mushrooms on itself and which there are there actually?
Many of you probably know that the real power of medicine comes from herbs.
High blood pressure medications are made from cinnamon, Iberogast is a mixture of different, sometimes very bitter herbs to stimulate the stomach acid. It is not for nothing that there used to be herbal witches that cured many diseases.
Unfortunately, in our age of medication this has been somewhat forgotten, but that's exactly what we health food bloggers are for. We would like to show you that mine can successfully strive for a holistic health with his nutrition and his lifestyle.
Above all, we want to be honest with you. Many herbs, mushrooms and other medicinal plants have no scientific basis. However, we would like to point out to you that you should not be deterred by this.
We have both already had the experience that doctors have prescribed medications and co. for us, but have not listened to us properly. So we tried it out ourselves and came to the conclusion that you can often eat yourself healthy with the right nutrition.
My cosmetician and a friend of ours then brought us to the topic of medicinal mushrooms, which naturally met with great interest from us.
In addition, we were recommended the medicinal mushrooms by Terra Elements, to whose store opening we were invited the same evening.

Known Vital Mushrooms

Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
 Reishi is one of the most popular food supplements from the TCM. It is also called Ling Zhi which means "divine mushroom of immortality".
A number of the polysaccharides contained in Reishi have shown antitumorous and immunostimulant activities.
In TCM it is used for some diseases, but there are also different types of mushroom.
It can be administered as tea, tonic or in powder form. We find the powder form quite practical, because you can make your own tea with it, but you can also drink it in combination with a smoothie.

Active Ingredients:
 • with highly active polysaccharides 
• with potassium and magnesium 
• contains natural antioxidants


Maitake (Grifola frondosa)
The "dance mushroom" is used in Asia on the one hand as blood pressure and blood cholesterol-lowering agent and on the other hand as protection of the liver. 
Many medical studies have confirmed a strong cytostatic (inhibiting cell growth or division) and virostatic (inhibiting the multiplication of viruses) activity.
Maitake is said to be one of the most promising natural sources of immunotherapeutic products.

Cordyceps
Cordyceps is used in TCM as one of the most effective vital mushroom. In China the mushroom is also called Dong Chong Xia Cao, which translates into "winter caterpillar summer grass". 
The Chinese caterpillar mushroom is said to support the kidneys. According to TCM, this stores all our physical and psychological energy and is therefore regarded as the "root of life". Cordyceps gives strength, endurance and willpower. By the way, it should also positively influence the production of sex hormones. Its beneficial effect on the respiratory organs and the heart should also improve general physical endurance, support athletic performance and after sport the mushroom has a regenerating effect, as the muscle tissue should recover more quickly. This can even be reflected in the general physical condition. It is believed that Coryceps supports fat and beta oxidation and delays glycogen consumption during physical exertion.
On Top, it is said to additionally strengthen the immune system, especially the activity of white blood cells, macrophages and natural killer cells, and also has an antibiotic effect.

Effects:
• It is claimed that the effect of Cordycepin is similar to that of antibiotics.
• Activate the macrophages.
• The activity of the natural killer cells is to be increased.
• The liver metabolism is to be improved.


There are definitely many more medicinal and vital mushrooms, but for the time being we would like to limit ourselves to these three, because we naturally carry out a self-test.
We started with the Reishi and let me tell you, if you have a weak stomach, you should try the mushroom powder at home.
Anyway, my stomach talked to me, but not in a bad way. Rather, I find it interesting that I actually feel something right away. With other superfoods, you sometimes wonder if that really does help, because you can't immediately observe an effect. Honestly, I was upset afterwards - maybe it was my mood of the day or the mushroom - so I'm not quite sure how it's supposed to help me fall asleep. But that is still being tried out. Its taste is very bitter, so it's a matter of getting used to it. I make a Reishi infusion with 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp Reishi powder, 1 tsp coconut blossom sugar, 1 Msp cinnamon and hot water or with almond milk. Since I don't like hot drinks so much, I only fill half of my cup with hot water and fill the rest with colder water.
Whether the Cordyceps improves my sporty efficiency I will try now also equal times.
You see, we are not quite finished with the testing and this blog post yet, but we wanted to keep you up to date.
A big thank you to Terra Elements, who made the mushrooms available for us to test.
We can warmly recommend the brand to you, especially its chocolate mulberries - we could bathe in it.

Kindest regards
Alex & Feli
​♡

Addendum from 09.03.2018: 
I, Alex, have already tried the Cordyceps 3 times in sport and am fascinated. Anyone who has ever been to the gym with me or done sports knows that I have almost no stamina and give up very quickly. I can't explain why I'm much more powerful now, but it must have something to do with this mushroom. Since I personally assume that it has little to do with my physical condition (I did 0.0 sports for 2 months), I can only explain it by saying that the mushroom affects my mental state and has a positive effect on my stamina. Sometimes it's just the inner pig that has to be overcome.