Spring break in Europe was spent at my grandparent’s farm. A cute small house sitting half way up the road, surrounded by beautiful green hills, standing tall and nice like bodyguards protecting my little fairytale place, a place of joy and simplicity with no running water or electricity, but I didn’t miss it at all.
After a good rain, it was perfect time to pick up these “rain mushrooms”, and my grandmother, cousins and I would go up the green hills with little buckets and start searching for these fresh little mushrooms. Now as you probably guessed, there was no wealth involved so eating what you are working for was how it worked. The mushroom stew was a treat! A delicatesse I am often thinking about, but since I became domesticated, I am no longer relaying on my ability to pick up mushrooms without being afraid of the possibility of harm. What a loss, but still grateful that I, at some point in life was able to do it.
My love for mushrooms didn’t go away, more than that I got to be even more fascinated about it as I discover the power these fungi have.
Did you know that there are an estimated 2.2-3.8 million species of fungi, and only 120000 have been documented? Out of these there are some that share great benefits for human kind, but as I was telling in my story, you need to know how to pick the right ones.
Why I like mushrooms? They are packed with potent compounds and can be used for a variety of ailments, but can also be used for preventing ailments and honestly I am a big fun of preventing rather than treating. Time is limited and valuable, I choose to spend it in ways I enjoy and that’s not at a hospital for sure.
Now the brain consumes a lot of energy when used and this leads to not want to do much after work so I learned about this mushrooms, Lion’s Mane, that really supports the concentration even without the almighty morning coffee.
What is special about this mushroom? The combination of the active compounds such as sterols, erinacines, beta-d-glucans, and few more, have a neuro-regenerative and neurotropic properties. Lion’s Mane was actually used in China to strengthen the spleen and stomach, until 1990 when scientist and researchers start looking into it more. By now they found that it stimulates nerve growth factor synthesis, which improves cognition. A fair warning is that not all products on the market are the same. When something gets this type of attention, the producers cannot rely on what the forest is producing which means nothing else, but mass production. The technique is the key. Same with meats – grass fed vs industrial hormone pumped inhumane breeding. Sounds familiar? To have the desired results, must use the right product. It is not easy to find, takes time, lots of it, but if you read this blog, you are in luck because I already did the work and I am willing to share it.
What I learn is that mushrooms are grown either on grain-based beds (artificially created) or sawdust logs (natural way)
The difference between a real mushroom and mycelium grown on grain is important to understand. Mycelium grown on grain still contains its grain-based growth media when it’s harvested. If you can visualize the food product tempeh, that is what is being produced, but sold as a dried powder. The actual mushrooms that Nammex grows are not only harvested by hand but they also don’t have residue from the sawdust logs they grow on.
This means that a high percentage of mycelium grown on grain contains between 35-60% starch instead of beneficial fungal matter. In contrast, a real mushroom contains no starch at all. The starch serves as nothing more than filler and has no benefit from a medicinal perspective.
When using the real mushroom there few benefits noticed:
- Increase antioxidant activity in the body
- Decrease inflammation throughout the body
- Bolster the immune system by strengthening white blood cells
- Manage blood sugar levels
- Support brain health
- Improve energy levels
Real Mushroom is the way to go in my opinion. Give them a try. Drop me an email and will provide you with a discount code.
