Why mushrooms should be in your winter wellness toolkit

As the nights draw in and temperatures plummet, many of us are looking for ways to keep our immune systems at their best during the coming winter months. 

However, according to the wellness world, the must-have item that everyone should have in their toolkits this winter is actually mushrooms.

No, not that type of mushroom (before you get excited about being taken to a different plane of consciousness) – we’re talking functional fungi.

The health properties of functional mushrooms (types of fungi that have health benefits beyond their nutritional compositions) stem back thousands of years, with ancient Japanese, Chinese, Roman, and Egyptian civilisations having used them as medicines and natural remedies for a variety of ailments. 

It’s thought members of indigenous Tibetan communities used exotic medicinal cordyceps to provide energy on long mountain hikes, while the Japanese have used lion’s mane for centuries to help improve concentration, and historically to enhance focus during meditative practice.

Fast forward to 2022 and it seems that we might be finally catching up to our ancestors, with mushrooms hailed as the new CBD for health-conscious consumers.

You literally just add water ?‍♀️?? #instantcoffee #latte #morningroutine

Functional mushrooms are often split into two main groups: medicinal mushrooms (those that carry a heavy dose of healing compounds) and adaptogenic mushrooms (those that may help reduce the effects of stress on your body).

As medicinal mushrooms contain no psychoactive ingredients, they are fully legal and have a growing celeb fanbase. 

Elle Macpherson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meghan Markle are reported to spike their morning coffees with medicinal mushies (the Duchess of Sussex loves her shrooms and their benefits so much that she invested in mushroom latte brand Clevr Blends) and there’s even an adaptogenic mushroom coffee bar here in London. 

But what is all the hype about?  

Modern scientific analysis has discovered that mushrooms such as reishi, cordyceps, and lion’s mane are all rich in nutrients and active properties including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, nerve growth factors, amino acids, and antioxidants.

Reishi contains compounds which can enhance both REM and NREM sleep and it also positively interacts with the gut microbiome, supporting your wellbeing from the inside out.

For brain health, try lion’s mane, as this variety containins neuroprotective compounds which help promote cell regeneration.

Cordyceps, meanwhile, have traditionally been credited with improvements to cardiovascular health and optimising the functionality of the heart and lungs.

The renewed interest in fungus as a superfood means we could be seeing functional mushrooms – and products containing them – appearing in stores.

But what about for those of us who don’t fancy kicking off our day with a mushroomy coffee or living off bowlfuls of risotto in order to get our daily dose? Well, fortunately, mushrooms can also be taken in capsule form.

Brain-health expert and TEDx speaker Nicole Vignola has predicted that, as a result of a flourishing wellness industry that so many of us are keen to follow, a ‘medicinal mushroom supplement boom’ is on the cards – and rightly so.

She says: ‘Lion’s Mane, reishi and cordyceps have a range of benefits when it comes to cognitive and physical training, which is undoubtedly advantageous for sportspeople, but also for those dedicated to taking the first steps towards looking after their brain health.’

Grayson Hart, a former international rugby player and founder of CBD and natural wellness brand Puresport, has also launched his own range of single-strain, high-strength, medicinal mushroom capsule supplements as demand grows for fungi, dubbing them ‘the future of wellness.’

‘There is a very good reason humans have used mushrooms for medicinal and wellbeing purposes for centuries, with strong evidence of their use amongst some of the most advanced ancient civilisations in history,’ says Hart.

‘We’ve studied those ancient practices, tried and tested over hundreds of years, and married them to modern scientific techniques to create truly innovative, natural, safe, and effective wellness products designed for life.’

According to the sportsman, we should all be expecting to watch mushrooms become the supplement of the moment.

‘This is just the beginning,’ he said. ‘The potential of mushrooms to revolutionise the wellness market is astonishing.’

Bad news for anyone who doesn’t like mushrooms, but great news for folks who are fanatical about fungi.

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Source: Read Full Article