7 Mushrooms You Should Be Taking Daily

Did you know medicinal mushrooms can enhance cancer survival rates, boost cognitive function, and support immune health through bioactive compounds? In this 55-minute video, Dr. Josh Axe reveals how these fungi promote brain health, reduce inflammation, and offer tailored benefits for conditions like cancer and Lyme disease, backed by ancient wisdom and modern science.

Editor’s Note: The transcript that follows was automatically generated and lightly edited, so please be aware there could be typos or other small errors. The Stream is working toward a transcription service that does fast, accurate, and reliable work; thank you in advance for your patience!

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;17;28
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the doctor, Josh ax show. I am your host, Doctor Axe. And each and every week on this podcast, we dive deep into the science and principles behind how you can take your health to the next level physically, mentally, and spiritually. And today I’ll be breaking down the power of medicinal mushrooms. Also talking about psilocybin.

00;00;18;01 – 00;00;38;24
And share with you how my mom beat cancer. And one of the ways she did it was using mushrooms that we’ll get into. And there are so many benefits of mushrooms that people don’t realize everything from Lyme recovery to fighting mold to long Covid, to boosting the immune system, to repairing the brain and nervous system, even balancing your hormones and boosting energy.

00;00;39;01 – 00;00;58;06
And these mushrooms are backed by science. They’re used in longevity, in regenerative medicine clinics around the world. And all go through the best mushrooms for you to take for every condition you can think of and how to use them properly. Before I do that, though, do me a favor. Make sure to subscribe to the channel. If you’re not subscribed.

00;00;58;06 – 00;01;31;01
Also subscribe to my weekly wellness newsletter. You can find that in the show notes and you’ll get PDFs. You’ll get great content just once a week on a regular basis of the best of the best cutting edge content when it comes to nutrition, dietary therapies, supplementation, herbs and lifestyle medicine. So medicinal mushrooms are a special class of fungi that are used not just for food, but primarily for their therapeutic purposes, typically for cellular healing and their adaptogenic properties.

00;01;31;01 – 00;02;00;14
And these mushrooms have been used widely in medicine for thousands of years in Chinese medicine and invader and folk medicine. And they’re typically used for immunity, brain health, energy, and for longevity. And so what makes mushrooms so powerful and unique and in many cases, more powerful than any other food group out there is, they contain these really unique bioactive compounds and not just one, several number one being beta glucan.

00;02;00;16 – 00;02;31;03
These stimulate and bounce immune system. After that we have tried to rinse. These are sometimes found in essential oils but also they reduce inflammation and support liver function. Then you’ve got polysaccharides. These are antioxidants that protect your cells. And then ergo theanine. This is a rare antioxidant amino acid that protects your DNA. And then also we have neurotrophic compounds like NGF that’s Nervi and growth factor which stimulates molecules in the brain for regeneration and repair.

00;02;31;05 – 00;03;01;24
Now let’s start off with beta glucan. So think of these as the radar system that helps your immune system, find the threats. Okay. So imagine it as a as a sort of, radar system that is seeking out, cancer, Lyme disease, parasites in the body. So really, beta glucan also support cellular communication and they train the immune system to better detect viruses, bacteria and even cancer cells.

00;03;01;24 – 00;03;28;22
You I was recently in the airport traveling in the national airport, and they had a canine and there was a German shepherd, and he was, you know, going through everybody and kind of, you know, sniffing out for, for, for drugs and other, you know, other possible harmful substances. And when he was going through there, that’s very similar to what beta glucan is do in the body is they are seeking out and sniffing out these cancer cells and viruses and bacteria so your body can better kill it.

00;03;28;22 – 00;03;50;23
In fact, one of the reasons why cancer rates in the body is your body doesn’t know it’s there because it gets so poor at communication and so beta glucan are really powerful for this. And turkey tail and mighty Mushroom in particular have very high levels of beta glucan, which make them very, very strong at killing off a lot of different sort of pathogens that you might be exposed to.

00;03;51;00 – 00;04;12;00
Now, again, when we look at beta glucan, the biggest reason most people take them are for cancer recovery, for chronic infections like Epstein-Barr and Lyme disease and auto immune regulation. And they don’t just turn the immune system on. They actually help your immune system get smarter. That’s that’s why these beta glucan are so powerful. Number two compound. We talked about our tri turbines.

00;04;12;03 – 00;04;42;27
These are found at especially high levels in Ricci mushroom and chaga. They essentially calm inflammatory wildfires in the body. And they also support liver detoxification pathways which of course is your body’s main filter. So these, tri turbines in particular, according to the clinical studies, are great for autoimmune disease flare up. So if you have rheumatoid arthritis or irritable bowel disease and you have a flare up, well, taking higher levels of tri terpenes like in Ricci or Chagall will help with that.

00;04;43;03 – 00;05;13;14
Also, when your liver is overburdened, this happens if you have mold or, glyphosate exposure. Just generally if you’re toxic reishi mushroom in particular and then chaga after that are very, very helpful at that liver detoxification. They’re also very good for skin issues like eczema and psoriasis. These, mushrooms are these compounds. These try to act like a fire crew putting out inflammation in clearing this smoke and the fire that can happen within your own system.

00;05;13;16 – 00;05;41;00
and next up is polysaccharides. These are your cellular layer armor plating. These compounds form a protective shield around your cells, and they neutralize free radicals and reduce wear and tear, especially when we’re looking at chaga and shiitake mushroom and really protecting your cells and your, cell membranes of your cells. that your cell membranes start to get damaged when you age more quickly.

00;05;41;02 – 00;06;04;01
So polysaccharides, one of the biggest things they do is they support longevity and anti-aging. And they’re also great for skin health. They’re good for chronic fatigue syndrome, but they also support gut repair in order for your gut to repair like leaky gut syndrome. you need to have polysaccharides. And there are other foods like aloe vera, which of course is why it helps heal burnt skin that are high in polysaccharides.

00;06;04;06 – 00;06;29;02
But mushrooms have a a different type of polysaccharide that helps regenerate and heal different areas of the body. It actually especially helps support and heal your DNA, which is good for methylation. If you are a person with an FA gene variant, then these mushrooms help protect further damage and allow you to better methylation. Create certain nutrients like like methyl folate.

00;06;29;05 – 00;06;59;14
the next compound here is ergo Fiona Neem. And this rare amino acid acts like an internal electrician okay. It protects your mitochondria and helps repair wiring of your DNA when it’s under stress. Okay. So it really supports with this cellular energy production. this compound in particular is really powerful when it comes to brain fog neurons, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s in Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular illness.

00;06;59;16 – 00;07;20;07
And it goes straight to high demand organs like the brain, the heart, the liver and keeps the power lines running and the mushrooms highest. And ergo, theanine are my and shiitake. You know the great thing about my talking shiitake? They’re medicinal mushrooms that you can take as a supplement or honorable to your attention, but you can also use it in cooking.

00;07;20;10 – 00;07;40;13
And so any time I’m making an immune boosting soup, in fact, I have a recipe that, we make at my home. And anytime anybody gets a cold or flu, what we do is we do a basically a chicken vegetable broth, but it also is very high in mushrooms, garlic, onions and herbs. and so what I’ll do is I will take chicken and chicken broth.

00;07;40;16 – 00;08;02;13
We will do carrots, celery, parsley and then we’ll also add in a bunch of garlic and onion. And then I’ll add in a load of my talking shiitake mushrooms and addition. We’ll add in a little bit of sea salt. And another thing I’ll add in is miso. So miso is another sort of famed, in Japanese cuisine, immune boosting food because of all the soil based probiotics in there.

00;08;02;18 – 00;08;29;19
But again, these mushrooms you can also use as culinary mushrooms, even though they’re more in that medicinal category. And then we have the nootropic compounds that act as a kind of like fertilizer for neurological and brain tissue. Lion’s mane mushroom is the king of this list. It contains NGF that stands for nerve growth factor. So just think about the title their nerve growth factor.

00;08;29;25 – 00;08;49;19
It helps nerves grow. And if you know anything about, cellular regeneration, certain organs and parts of the body are much more difficult to regenerate. So we know that the liver as an organ can regenerate easily. In fact, we could cut off part of your liver tomorrow and it will grow back in months. You have a whole I mean, you’ll have a whole new liver.

00;08;49;21 – 00;09;13;02
However, nerve tissue like your brain and nerves have a very, very difficult time growing. And one way to do that is really to help saturate them with oxygen, which is why something like a hyperbaric chamber can be so therapeutic for people with who have gone through strokes or certain children with autism, where there have a lot of neural inflammation, or somebody who has, dealing with, concussion injury.

00;09;13;02 – 00;09;42;20
Right. So, so saturating those areas with oxygen are very helpful. The other thing along with that, that is the most healing and regenerative to neurological tissue is getting nerve and growth factor, and more blood flow in those areas. And and lion’s mane mushroom is the key mushroom that helps do that. So it acts as a fertilizer for your brain and your neurons, which can help strengthen your memory and your mood and help with certain, conditions like Ms..

00;09;42;21 – 00;10;09;08
It’s multiple sclerosis. It’s good for memory loss, anxiety, depression, nerve damage like post stroke recovery, and generally just being more creative and more, having greater level of focus at work. So when I am working on writing a book or putting together a podcast or doing anything creative, innovating a new product or t or supplement line, I will take Lion’s Mane Mushroom and so I will take that.

00;10;09;08 – 00;10;33;23
Now sometimes I add some other things to it. I’ll do a little bit of MCT oil. I’ll do some matcha green tea. I will do typically some sort of like phosphate hydro choline, sometimes even ginkgo biloba. And I’ll kind of do those, some of those nootropics together. And it really is amazing. It’s almost like a natural ADHD medication without the side effects, of course.

00;10;33;26 – 00;10;54;10
with, with all of with only all of the benefits for bringing blood flow and oxygen and reparative compounds to the brain. But again, lion’s mane is really, really, wonderful. And if you have any family members and you want to help prevent them from getting or slow, any form of dementia, this is another one I would recommend you have them take.

00;10;54;10 – 00;11;23;02
But really any brain neurological issues? This is the mushroom you want to do. And again, these neurotrophic compounds like NGF are what make them so beneficial. I want to encourage you to think of these medicinal mushrooms as therapeutic tools for healing and optimizing the body, and not as just food. As we talked about, the biggest medicinal mushrooms that most people consume on a regular basis are reishi, lion’s mane, Cordyceps, chaga, turkey tail.

00;11;23;02 – 00;11;48;03
My toxin shiitake. And and they’re very different than culinary mushrooms like white button mushrooms, cremini or portabella. And listen, those mushrooms culinary mushrooms are great for you. They contain vitamins. Even some have vitamin D, they have certain minerals, they have some unique antioxidants, but most of them are in much lower levels of those therapeutic compounds compared to these medicinal mushrooms.

00;11;48;05 – 00;12;13;05
And so, you know, whereas white button or portabella, which of course, we knew we know is used in a lot of Italian cuisine, they’re just not near as powerful. And the immune boosting properties and the adaptogenic properties of lowering cortisol as something like a reishi or a chug up. So medicinal mushrooms, I would say have numerous benefits, but primarily they act as adaptogens, they act as immunomodulators.

00;12;13;05 – 00;12;44;19
So, so supporting everything from boosting the immune system to fight infections to even modulating the immune system to lower overreactions that can occur in autoimmune disease and supporting brain tissue and detoxification of certain organs. And so let’s really walk through some of these different, properties. And I’m going to get into each of the individual mushrooms. And then I’m going to get into the research, which is mind blowing on how mushrooms fight cancer, fight infections like Long-Covid and so much more.

00;12;44;24 – 00;13;13;03
So first off, most mushrooms act as adaptogens, okay, especially reishi and cordyceps, and adapt. You mean they’ll help your body better adapt to stress, both physical, emotional, and environmental? And they support something in the body called the HPA axis, which stands for hypothalamus. That’s part of your brain your pituitary and your adrenal okay. And it’s really this neuroendocrine connection.

00;13;13;03 – 00;13;34;22
So it’s your nervous system and your hormonal system the way that those are interacting together and impacting the body. So it’s impacting both your nervous system and your hormones. And we know that when you take medicinal mushrooms like reaching cordyceps, the first thing in the most important thing they do for most people is they normally these cortisol levels.

00;13;34;22 – 00;13;52;25
Now here’s what’s amazing about them is if your cortisol is too high, it’ll help lower it. But if it’s too low, it will help raise it. That’s sort of the definition of adaptogens is is is they’re not forcing your body to do something. They’re bringing your body back into balance so the body can do what it needs to do better.

00;13;52;27 – 00;14;15;20
But it’s going to help lower those cortisol levels, which if you want to age more slowly, if you want to have if you have any hormone condition, whether it be hypothyroidism, PCOS, endometrial osis, low testosterone, infertility, you name it, cortisol getting too high with most people is one of the biggest culprits. Insulin resistance, by the way, diabetes as well.

00;14;15;26 – 00;14;36;12
So if your cortisol levels are off, if you can bring those into balance it then helps balance out every single one of those other hormones. Okay. So cortisol balancing is really key in reaching cordyceps. Help do it. Now I want to mention this. My mom, the main blend of mushrooms she took when she first had cancer was diagnosed was a blend of Ricci and Cordyceps.

00;14;36;12 – 00;14;55;24
Now later on, we did a full multi mushroom blend that encompassed all of the mushrooms I’m talking about today. But overall it was just reaching cordyceps because we knew she had a lot of stress, fear and worry and we did everything we can to get her in that state of calmness. Because then your body can heal. When cortisol is high, you’re in a fight or flight response.

00;14;56;00 – 00;15;16;01
Your body is not healing and regenerating at that time. When cortisol is high and you’re fighting a flight response, that’s the opposite of regeneration, healing, digestion. you know, we kind of call it, fight and fight or flight or rest and digest. Okay. When you’re in the fight or flight mode, you can’t heal. Whatever condition you have will not heal when you’re in fight or flight mode.

00;15;16;05 – 00;15;39;06
When you’re in rest and digest where cortisol is lower, you can now heal and regenerate. And so these mushrooms, like reaching cordyceps, act as adaptogens can help you do that. They also help you improve stress tolerance, improve your mood. They reduce burnout, anxiety and fatigue. And overall they support adrenal health and hormone balance. And so loads and loads of benefits here for this.

00;15;39;06 – 00;15;59;04
And then of course, you know, this also improves sleep which is, which is, which is when your body heals the majority of the time. You know, when we talk about longevity, we usually think about diet, exercise and supplements. But what about your skin? Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and keeping it strong and resilient is key to how you age, both inside but even outside.

00;15;59;04 – 00;16;26;25
That’s why I love one skin. Their entire mission is centered on skin longevity, and their science backed approach sets them apart from anything else out there. They’re OS one peptide, works at the cellular level to improve skin health, reducing the buildup of senescent or zombie cells that contribute to wrinkles, sagging, and inflammation. These cells don’t just affect your appearance, they actually accelerate your body’s overall aging process.

00;16;26;25 – 00;16;50;10
Since I started using one skin, my skin looks healthier, feels stronger, and I love knowing that I’m proactively supporting its longevity at a deeper cellular level. Listen, if you’re looking to keep your skin youthful and resilient for years to come, you’ve got to check out One skin, go to One Skin Eco forward slash ax and use the code Ax for 15% off your first purchase.

00;16;50;10 – 00;17;20;21
That’s one skin eco forward slash ax to get 15% off today. Number two mushrooms act as immunomodulators, so they help make your immune system, increase the cellular intelligence. Many healing mushrooms, especially turkey tail Chaga and my Taki are powerful immune modulators. Meaning, again, they don’t just boost your immune system, they balance and regulate it. So which is really important for autoimmune disease and for cancer and for fighting infections.

00;17;20;23 – 00;17;50;16
Now they contain, as we talked about, beta glucan which interact with your immune cells, including your natural killer cells and dendritic cells and help your body. And so they’ll do this by defending against pathogens. So again being an immuno modulator means your immune system is going to detect the invader better. And you might know this. But if you have a parasite or Lyme or other infection in certain viruses, they will go and hide in different areas of your body.

00;17;50;22 – 00;18;09;24
Okay. And when your immune system’s healthier and when you take these mushrooms we’re talking about like turkey tail in particular, your body is better at going and detecting and finding the virus, the bacteria, the fungi and going and killing it. So that’s number one. It also enhances your immune intelligence and it knows when to ramp up and when to calm down.

00;18;09;26 – 00;18;31;21
And it also prevents auto immune overreaction and improves your surveillance. We talked about eye killing cancer. In fact there was a study published on Turkey Tail. And they found it has compounds like K which is used in cancer immunotherapy in Japan helping the immune system detect and fight abnormal cells. And so turkey tail prey, the most powerful of all of these as an immunomodulators and then nootropics.

00;18;31;21 – 00;18;53;03
What you just talked about brain and neuro regeneration. We found certain mushrooms like lion’s mane, like we talked about this nerve growth factor has been shown in clinical studies to fight against all timers, brain fog, neuro injuries, gut brain axis issues. So even good for your gut. So so so this is another one. If you’ve got gutter digestive issues.

00;18;53;07 – 00;19;19;03
Lion’s mane is probably the best for inflammatory bowel disease as well. So lots of benefits there. And there are so many other properties we could talk about with mushrooms the antioxidants that dog and reishi have, which is why they’re so good for anti-aging. The antimicrobial benefits of killing off Candida and other forms of, overgrowth of bacteria. You’re going to see in things like my taki and shiitake mitochondrial support for, boosting your cellular energy.

00;19;19;03 – 00;19;41;03
Cordyceps are incredible at that. And then turkey tail is also good for the gut. acting is a prebiotic, so it’s actually good for supporting the growth of probiotics in the body. And one way you should think of mushrooms is as biological software updates for your body. They help your system run more intelligently with more balance, better performance, and a longer life.

00;19;41;06 – 00;20;06;00
Now I want to walk you through the top seven mushrooms and what you should take for for what issues. So the first one here is reishi. reishi has been referred to for over 2000 years as the mushroom of immortality. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to promote longevity, even spiritual enlightenment. But overall, the big benefits of reishi is that it supports longevity.

00;20;06;01 – 00;20;27;27
And it does it because it’s an adaptogen at lower stress on the body. It is rich in antioxidants, which slow aging, and it just has loads and loads of benefits. It’s high and dry turbans that we talked about. Polysaccharides also these peptide glycans. So notice that peptide. It’s actually very high in peptides. And I did a whole episode on the power of healing peptides.

00;20;27;29 – 00;21;03;10
And reishi is high in most mushrooms in these really unique peptides which boost and modulate the immune system. Now when there’s a study on reishi and it’s a great study, this was done in the Journal of Medicinal Food. And they evaluated the effects of rising chronic stress. And they found that reishi had a massive impact. Their specific, quote was a significant reduction in anxiety and depression like behaviors in the control group, showing that reishi is very good for stress related mood disorders.

00;21;03;18 – 00;21;28;04
So it’s really beneficial there. But I think the biggest benefit for reishi is that it extends your lifespan, and adds years to your life and life to your year. So lots of benefits. And it’s the number one mushroom I take on a regular basis. Number two, lion’s mane. Lion’s mane was used in eastern medicine and was believed to confer nerves of steel and the memory of a lion, which I guess the memory of a lion is good.

00;21;28;04 – 00;21;46;21
I at least I hope it’s good. but the memory of a lion is actually part of what the, ancients would say about it. And of course, again, we know it is very reparative. The big thing it does that you’re going to the term that is typically used is neurogenesis. So genesis means beginning so and then neuro.

00;21;46;24 – 00;22;10;10
So neurogenesis means it stimulates the growth and repair of nerve cells okay. And and so we see this with this nerve aging grown fat growth factor. Also it’s it’s really unique here about the mechanism of action for lion’s mane is it can cross the blood brain barrier the compounds in it. And these promote the growth and regeneration of of the brain.

00;22;10;10 – 00;22;31;19
That’s how it can be so effective against patients that have had a stroke or children with certain, autism spectrum light conditions when they’ve got a lot of inflammation of the brain, which is causing overactivity, or kids with ADHD, or again, numerous issues that are related to the brain is why lion’s mane is so powerful. And there’s a study on this in young adults in performance.

00;22;31;21 – 00;22;56;17
And they found that people that did 3000mg of lion’s mane a day had much better levels of cognitive function. I mean, this was done actually on, on students. And so they showed that they perform better with their memory, their short term memory after taking the lion’s mane. So if you’ve got a you know, I often think about this, you know, when I was a kid, I got prescribed, ADHD medication.

00;22;56;17 – 00;23;19;14
When I was in high school, I got prescribed Ritalin. When I was in college, I got prescribed Adderall. Now I only took it for three days in college. And then I realized it was just changing my personality. And I didn’t like that, so I never took it again. But I wish in college I had a I really in high school I had very hard time concentrating and I wish that doctors knew that.

00;23;19;14 – 00;23;51;19
And here’s the crazy part. Most doctors still don’t do this and don’t recommend this. But. But I wish that doctors would instead of just running and prescribing Adderall, which which is very damaging long term to the body. We know this now. Ritalin. Adderall incredibly harmful to the body long term that instead there’s no reason that doctors today and of course I do this and other certain other functional medicine doctors do this, but across mainstream medicine, they should all be doing this, of putting together a new tropic supplement for kids to use instead.

00;23;51;23 – 00;24;22;12
Number one, getting them off sugar, getting them off artificial food dyes, getting them off all of the chemicals, the seed oils and the sugars. Get them off that the refined grains and have them eat a breakfast high in protein, high in berries and nutrients. High. High in, you know, healthy fats. That’s number one. But in addition to that, rather than taking riddling or Adderall, there’s no reason you couldn’t put a blend together of lion’s mane mushroom, Ginkgo biloba, you know, omega three fatty acids.

00;24;22;15 – 00;24;39;04
and you know, some of these other, you know, a little bit of MCT oil, those sort of things, and have kids take those instead. It would be much, much better in the studies prove this one study that I just went through as an example of that. All right. Number three here, Cordyceps now cordyceps were discovered discovered by Tibetan herdsmen.

00;24;39;11 – 00;25;14;17
And you may not know this, but this is such a unique fungus. It doesn’t grow on trees. It actually grows on the back of caterpillars in most cases. Okay. And so cordyceps were prized in ancient eastern medicine. And in fact, I remember reading once on the history of Cordyceps, and there was a emperor and he put out an edict and he said, only I can consume cordyceps, because what they started finding was cordyceps really increased testosterone, libido, in fertility for, for men.

00;25;14;19 – 00;25;34;20
And so a lot of the emperors, they wanted to be the most, you know, fertile and, and pregnant a lot of women. And so they would do a lot of cordyceps, and then they would have edicts of where they were the only ones that could take cordyceps, but also because the rarity there were very, very rare. And in Cordyceps, when you look at their biggest benefits, is, is their impact on mitochondria okay.

00;25;34;25 – 00;25;52;17
The mitochondria in your cells are the energy plants. They create energy for your cells and for all of your organs. And so oftentimes when I have patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, adrenal fatigue, hypothyroidism, but basically they’re just tired. You know, it tends to be a mitochondrial issue. And so we want to go into heal and repair the mitochondria.

00;25;52;24 – 00;26;19;11
One of the first things I put patients on when they have mitochondrial issues are low energy, are cordyceps. Again they increase ATP production by the cell. In medical studies they improve stamina and endurance. they also improve oxygen utilization. So it increases your oxygen uptake in efficiency, which of course is good at fighting cancer. And in fact, one unique other fact about cordyceps is they were used by the Russian Olympic team in the 1970s.

00;26;19;11 – 00;26;39;28
They did a lot of high doses of cordyceps to actually improve the performance of their athletes. And and so there are numerous benefits there of cordyceps and what it does in the body for athletic performance, for energy, for mitochondrial health, for anti-aging there as well. And of course, we mentioned for for even libido as well. And there’s a study on this.

00;26;39;28 – 00;27;07;27
There’s a study, that was published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition and examined the effects of mushroom blend specifically that are high in cordyceps on oxygen, anaerobic performance. And they did a study for three weeks. And they found that those who used cordyceps had higher oxygen uptake, more delayed fatigue. So it took them longer to get tired during high intensity exercise compared to the other group.

00;27;07;29 – 00;27;29;05
And so if you notice you’re working out, you just get tired more easily than you should or you just don’t. You lack endurance. Cordyceps are the most powerful mushroom for that. Our number four mushroom is Chaga. Now, Chaga has also been used for centuries, like Cordyceps in Russian and Siberian medicine, and Chaga is often consumed to promote longevity and reduce inflammation.

00;27;29;08 – 00;27;58;12
It. Of all the mushrooms, it is the highest in antioxidants, so it reduces oxidative stress and inflammation. And there is a study on chaga. This is an animal study. And they found that Chaga supplementation resulted in a 60 60% reduction in tumor size in mice, also suggesting it has a potent anti-cancer properties. And so and again, part of this has to do with it’s very, very strong, properties at reducing inflammation and oxidative stress.

00;27;58;12 – 00;28;15;16
One of the reasons people get cancer is oxidative stress. It starts to tear and wear down and damage your cells, which over time when you do that, especially to the mitochondria, nucleus and other areas of the cell, it increases your risk of cancer. So chaga is is is really great for that as well. Number five is turkey tail.

00;28;15;19 – 00;28;42;01
Turkey tail of course, is named for its beautiful appearance, its fan like appearance resembling a turkey’s tail. And if you could, you could go online and search turkey tail mushroom and look at the beautiful reds and purples and blues and greens and oranges and white color of turkey, tail mushroom. And of all the mushrooms, it is the most powerful at immune support, specifically at fighting infections.

00;28;42;05 – 00;29;11;20
Okay. It contains a compound called polysaccharide K that stands for which boost the immune system. It’s oftentimes used in cancer therapy. In other countries. It’s also an antiviral. So if you have a viral infection the top mushroom you should take is turkey tail. according to the research, the compounds in turkey tail boost your natural killer cells and T cells, which of course is very good for fighting cancer and viral infections.

00;29;11;22 – 00;29;33;27
and there’s one study we found in this. This is in 2012. It was found that, found that breast cancer patients who took capsules of turkey tail mushroom recovered immune function after radiation therapy more quickly than those who didn’t take the capsule. So we found that it fights cancer and actually helps improve recovery even if somebody is doing conventional cancer treatments with it.

00;29;34;03 – 00;29;55;26
And the last set of mushrooms is a six and seven, I’ll do these together. Are my taki and shiitake mushrooms. my taki in Japan is known as the dancing mushroom. If you look at, it’s sort of, it’s got a variation of kind of these feet or stools to it, and it’s got loads and loads of benefits for, metabolic regulation, cardiovascular health.

00;29;55;26 – 00;30;19;05
In fact, one of the very unique things about these mushrooms is they lower cortisol and can lower blood pressure. And so they’re very good for those, as well. And and of course they also have anti-cancer properties. I want to hit on one study when it comes to my Taki. And they found that in an animal study, it caused a significant reduction in high blood pressure and also improved metabolic health.

00;30;19;05 – 00;30;39;23
So loads of benefits there. all right, now I want to go through and we’re getting close to wrapping up, actually before I get into psilocybin. And this is the the most controversial part of this episode. Of course I save that for the end, but mushrooms for cancer. Okay. as I mentioned before, my mom fought cancer and beat it naturally.

00;30;39;25 – 00;30;58;18
And one of the biggest therapies and supplements she took on a regular basis, what were mushrooms? And, of all the mushrooms, I’m going to hit on a few here, for cancer. But in particular, I want to start off here with, with turkey tail, turkey tail, mushroom in medical studies, has been shown to kill cancer.

00;30;58;20 – 00;31;35;00
And did you know in Japan, it’s used as a therapy for, stomach cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer and lung cancer. And my question is, why don’t we do this today? and and by the way, just as the study here, let me let me hit on this the summary of the study. when you look at the studies on turkey tail in, in, in Japan, when people take it, it causes a significant, significantly longer survival rate of those who do it, okay.

00;31;35;00 – 00;31;57;23
When they’re fighting cancer, whether they go through chemotherapy or don’t. So again, every every cancer clinic across the globe, and especially in the United States, should be using turkey tail mushroom as part of the cancer therapy. But we’re not. Do you know when somebody goes in for cancer today, the only thing they’re recommended they get is chemotherapy and sometimes radiation and of course surgery.

00;31;57;26 – 00;32;26;29
Like I just had my cousin who who went in and is being treated for a brain tumor. And the only three things I talked to about, the only things they mentioned at all were chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. The only three things. And there are so many studies showing mushrooms like turkey tail, tumeric, green tea, certain types of diet, whether it be gherkin therapy or ketogenic.

00;32;27;01 – 00;32;50;14
But there are so many studies now proving that, you know, cancer fighting properties. a lot of IVs today, like vitamin C and mistletoe and ozone hyperbaric chambers. And yet when people go in for cancer therapy today, that’s all they’re recommended. And so their survival rate is very low. Versus if somebody does all of these natural cancer therapies we’re talking about, their survival rate goes up dramatically.

00;32;50;17 – 00;33;14;00
So again Turkey tail is one of my favorite mushrooms for cancer. It’s when my mom took in. My mom still takes a lot of these mushrooms today because she wants to prevent it. Number two is Rishi mushroom and inhibits tumor growth. In fact, there is a study found that it suppresses invasive breast cancer cells. So for breast cancer Rishi might be the most powerful.

00;33;14;03 – 00;33;35;26
it actually induces something called apoptosis which is programed cell death to cause tumors to die on their own. So again Rishi is very great at that. And then also my talking mushroom. This enhances your NK cells. Your NK cells are like your Navy Seal team that goes in and actually kills the cancer cells. And it’s been shown to be effective against breast cancer, lung cancer, and even liver cancer.

00;33;35;28 – 00;34;06;14
I want to dive into these infections. So there’s there’s mushrooms in cancer. Let’s talk about mushrooms for infections. one study on taking mushrooms for Lyme disease. This was a smaller study, but it was done in 12 patients. And they did a daily supplementation with my with shiitake mushroom. This was an eight week study. Participants who took shiitake mushroom had less fatigue, less pain, less cognitive difficulties, lower CRP markers.

00;34;06;14 – 00;34;32;29
So less inflammation on blood work and overall better improvements against Lyme disease. And so we see that, with, with shiitake. And there’s other studies on reishi mushroom also being effective with Lyme. And then we have Epstein-Barr virus. we found that certain types of mushrooms, specifically reishi, help fight Epstein-Barr. There are studies on reishi as well, fighting parasites in killing parasites.

00;34;33;01 – 00;34;56;24
in malaria there’s another one. And so in particular you’re going to see here with infections is really incredible as is Turkey tail. So if you have, any type of infection, doing a reishi turkey tail combo is where it’s out. There’s another study on reishi helping fight the flu influenza. it, it reducing recovery time and boosting your immune system.

00;34;56;27 – 00;35;22;11
and so when it comes to infections, mushrooms are really powerful. So I really like blending and doing it. If somebody has an infection. I like doing a blend of mushrooms, like turkey tail and Rishi along with certain herbs. Probably my favorite being, astragalus. Now, I also like cat’s Claw and a number of others too, but really astragalus mixed with mushrooms like reishi.

00;35;22;18 – 00;35;42;08
Very, very powerful for fighting infections long term. I want to go over some other benefits of mushrooms here as well. When it comes to the most, you know, the the biggest reasons why people take mushrooms. Number one, longevity. Okay. There is and listen to this is a big study. There is a study done on mushrooms and longevity.

00;35;42;08 – 00;36;07;15
This was done on over 15,000 Americans for 20 years. And they found individuals who included mushrooms in their diet had a 16% lower overall mortality risk compared to those who did not. This is not a life extension. So 16% lower chance of death over their life. I mean that that is incredibly significant when we’re talking about a longevity study.

00;36;07;17 – 00;36;34;04
There’s another study that found replacing one serving a day of processed or, processed conventional meat with mushrooms was associated with a 35% reduction in all cause mortality. So regular mushroom consumption is one of the greatest longevity. you know, things you could ever do in reishi. Remember, it’s called the mushroom of immortality. So either taking reishi or a multi mushroom blend is what you want to do for longevity.

00;36;34;04 – 00;37;10;17
The next year’s brain health. Of course we know lion’s mane is powerful for that. Number three, sleep quality reishi. Of course it is the top mushroom for getting better sleep. and improved non-REM sleep such as deep sleep, according to clinical trials. Number four Athletic performance. There’s a study on cordyceps and it increasing VO2 max by 11%. Listen, if you’re an athlete, if you’re a triathlete, if you’re a CrossFit, or if you’re a high school athlete of any type, or you’re you’re a weekend warrior, an 11% increase in VO2 max is really significant.

00;37;10;17 – 00;37;40;16
And cordyceps help people do that. In a study. Autoimmune disease. This is where I really like Mottaki shiitake. I would also say lion’s mane and reishi and even chaga. These mushrooms help balance out the immune system and keep it from overreacting from things like allergies, food sensitivities and autoimmune disease and chronic pain. And so, again, as we’ve talked about, mushrooms, are so incredibly beneficial for, for for numerous issues.

00;37;40;17 – 00;38;06;06
If you’ve been doing everything right, eating clean, exercising, but somehow you’re still not feeling your best, your energy is dragging, your memory is slippery. And it’s frustrating because you know there’s more to your potential. Well, what if the issue isn’t just in your routine, but it’s deep down inside your cells? You know your investing in the best supplements, working out regularly, and sticking to a clean diet.

00;38;06;08 – 00;38;28;28
But if your cells are stuck in what’s called cell danger response, all the hard work might not be paying off as it should. Think of your cells like a house under renovation, you can bring in the highest quality materials like the best supplements in clean foods. But if the workers inside the house or are on lockdown because of a storm, nothing gets done.

00;38;29;01 – 00;38;54;19
The material is just pile up unused. That’s what happens when your cells are in Cd-R. They can’t fully use the good stuff you’re giving them. Getting out of Cd-R, the cell danger response is the key to unlocking your body’s full potential. When your cells are no longer in protective mode, they can finally use the nutrients, hormones, and energy you’re working so hard to provide.

00;38;54;27 – 00;39;14;29
That’s when everything starts to click. Your energy improves, your workouts become more efficient, and you start to feel like your self again. Go to Beyond Blood work.com to learn how to break free from cell danger response and make that effort pay off.

00;39;15;01 – 00;39;35;11
Now I want to talk about psilocybin mushrooms okay. And I’m going to give you my personal perspective. I’m also going to give you a Christian faith based perspective. right after I get into just what the science says about it. So first off, let’s talk about what is psilocybin, okay. Psilocybin is the primary psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms now.

00;39;35;11 – 00;39;58;17
And historically people might call them magic mushrooms. but psilocybin, what happens is when you consume it, it’s it’s converted into a compound that then really interacts with your serotonin receptors in the brain. Okay. and of course, there are medications that do this in a very different way. We know SSRI antidepressants do that in a very different way.

00;39;58;19 – 00;40;22;00
but it interacts with serotonin. And we know serotonin is sort of this good mood hormone if you ever have a runner’s high. Right. And now those are also endorphins. But in serotonin the majority of it is actually made in your gut. Okay. Which is your second brain. now, when it comes to psilocybin, the, the interaction doesn’t just create these hallucinogenic effects.

00;40;22;02 – 00;40;46;19
It also reshapes, according to medical journals, it reshapes brain connectivity, creating more connectivity in the brain, which is something you want. It enhances neuroplasticity and quiets the default mode network, a part of the brain associated with self-referential thinking, ego and rumination. So essentially, most people get stuck in these these, these, these brain patterns of thinking the same thing.

00;40;46;21 – 00;41;12;18
And, and they have a hard time with, with maybe personal growth or spiritual growth or changing their perspective about what’s going on in life. And I’ve worked with thousands of patients. And when I have patients that get stuck with certain conditions, especially autoimmune disease, cancer and mood disorders, oftentimes what they’re roadblock in healing is not dietary. Oftentimes it’s their mindset.

00;41;12;25 – 00;41;34;21
It’s their mental and spiritual health. And and one of the things that we see here with psilocybin is that it helps with this neuroplasticity and resetting, sort of somebody thinking the same way over and over again. What’s interesting about brain cancer and tumors in Chinese medicine, they would say that brain tumor is one of the biggest things that causes it is having a closed mind.

00;41;34;25 – 00;41;54;04
So many that’s kind of in their state constantly going, going, going, and they’re never thinking creatively or kind of in a state of relaxation or spiritual growth. When somebody kind of is in this state of this box, it actually causes stagnation in the area, lack of blood flow, which makes them ill. We see the same thing in Alzheimer’s, right?

00;41;54;10 – 00;42;18;21
Alzheimer’s tends to be a lack of blood flow to the brain, which is why Ginkgo biloba works, is it sends more blood to the brain, which allows, you know, more, which which decreases that stagnation. So again, when we look at psilocybin, what it actually does in neuroplasticity is very important for healing. You know, when, when you when you look at what, when somebody has a condition they just can’t break through.

00;42;18;24 – 00;42;42;00
And one thing that can allow them to create a breakthrough is neuroplasticity. That’s creating new neural pathways. You know, if somebody is, you know, when we read up on these athletes that maybe get partially paralyzed because of, an injury, and the doctors tell them you will never walk again. And then two years later, you see them and they’re walking again.

00;42;42;02 – 00;43;04;10
Why does that happen? Part of the reason is their brain has been able to create greater connectivity via neuroplasticity, create new neural pathways in order to make their legs work, or their arms or their digestive system or whatever it is, where the nerve damage was. They’re creating these new neural pathways. And so psilocybin, in terms of the research, that’s some of what it might be able to help people do.

00;43;04;12 – 00;43;33;06
Now, there’s a study published in the, New Frontier Medicine Journal. And in this research was conducted by Johns Hopkins University, NYU, and the Imperial College of London. And they’ve shown that psilocybin at very low doses can have transformative effects on mental health. And so the thing I do want to mention here is that when you’re looking at these things medicinally, this doesn’t mean they’re doing again, I’m not talking about recreational whatsoever.

00;43;33;08 – 00;43;56;07
This is being used, after being prescribed from a physician in typically low doses. Okay. And here’s what they found in some of these studies that were conducted at some of these major universities, in treatment resistant depression. Again, what I mentioned earlier, the person has been treated for depression. They have been treated with medications. They’ve had counseling.

00;43;56;10 – 00;44;22;26
Okay. a single psilocybin session often leads to a 50 to 80% reduction in symptoms for months. I mean, that that is incredibly rare and powerful. Next one here, anxiety. And especially in patients with terminal illness, it can dramatically reduce their fear of death and improve peace. Addiction helps break patterns of addiction to alcohol, nicotine, and opioids by increasing awareness and self-sufficiency.

00;44;22;28 – 00;44;53;09
PTSD and trauma facilitates emotional release and reintegration when used in a guided setting and spiritual openness. Low doses have been linked to increased empathy, compassion, connection, and a purpose for their life. And again, I want to say this I am not a proponent. I’m not saying I recommend psilocybin. However, I am going through the most convincing research on when it’s used properly in low doses under the guidance of a medical physician and maybe even a Christian counselor.

00;44;53;12 – 00;45;18;00
When it’s done in that way for a short period of time. And again, the depression, it’s a single treatment. it can have powerful effects. You know, another thing I want to bring up about, well, you know, let me let me wait on this point, too, because I, I want to talk about the difference between psilocybin as a compound extract from a mushroom and and a depressant and anxiety drugs.

00;45;18;05 – 00;45;40;23
Okay. All right. Here’s what microdosing is, by the way. Some individuals take sub perceptual doses around 0.1 to 0.3 grams. Also for creativity, mood and emotional regulation. And while there’s while the early evidence it’s strong, I do want to point out there’s not a lot of long scale study, large scale studies about this or long term studies.

00;45;40;25 – 00;45;58;23
and the other thing I wanna mention about psilocybin, in most cases, it doesn’t it doesn’t numb the symptoms like pharmaceuticals do. Okay. That that’s what’s happening. I, I’ve taken care of so many patients with my my mom when she after she went through her first bout of cancer, when she did the convention right the first time, second time she did natural.

00;45;58;23 – 00;46;27;26
But first time she got prescribed and took for ten years. And it depressant drugs and anxiety drugs. She never got better. Her mood never improved. In fact, she got worse. She seemed more depressed, just a little bit more. Maybe not caring, but she got worse over time. When you’re using plant based medicine, whether it be lion’s mane, mushroom or some of these other compounds found in plants, they don’t work like pharmaceuticals do.

00;46;27;26 – 00;46;50;07
In most cases, they work more naturally and holistically with the body supporting it, not forcing it to do something it doesn’t want to do. Okay, now I want to go through how psilocybin works by biochemically. Okay. The first thing is serotonin activation. The compound in psilocybin. Psilocybin resembles serotonin and binds to its receptors. So it acts like extra serotonin in your body.

00;46;50;09 – 00;47;17;02
the second thing it does, it promotes neuroplasticity. It promotes something called brain derived neurotrophic factor. And it supports this sort of it’s called synaptic genesis. You have something called your nerve synapses. So it actually creates and connects more neurons, creates more of these connections, which creates more cellular communication, which is what you want to be healthy. it also, in higher doses, has been shown to help dissolve the ego.

00;47;17;07 – 00;47;36;11
One of the things people have shared is when they are going through and taking it, they start to see things. They feel like they have more of a spiritual awareness. And because of it, I think one thing that a lot of people realize is that they’re not the only thing in this world. They start to think that, well, oh, wow, things aren’t just material.

00;47;36;11 – 00;47;58;09
I’m not just flesh and blood. I’m a spiritual being. And what that does when you have somebody who believes their whole life that their physical, this world is ending when they die and when they finally have something, their first experience of something that feels spiritual, what the term they used in the medical study. And all I’m doing is quoting the medical studies here, as is it creates something called ego dissolution.

00;47;58;09 – 00;48;23;27
So that ego, where everything’s about me, me, me, they have a greater sense of awareness that there are things beyond them, things that are eternal, even, and also emotional processing. there are people that have said they’ve been able to revisit traumatic memories without emotional suppression, leading to deep integration and healing. Now, I want to talk about this from a Christian perspective, because this is my faith, and I’ve taken care of so many patients.

00;48;23;27 – 00;48;50;15
I take care of a lot of well known pastors and Christian musicians, and for myself and my family, our Christian faith is the most important part of our entire life. So I recommend everybody use caution and discernment. with using this again, I never recommend that be used recreationally. I do think that there is probably a place in medicine for using these under the care of a physician and a counselor, ideally together.

00;48;50;17 – 00;49;29;07
Now, I do want to mention that I think there are probably some Christians saying you should never use them, and I respect that. Understand that. And I think there’s a possibility. You’re right. I could be I could be wrong in this. but I do want to point this out when you look at if you are a Christian, you believe that it’s okay to take an in a depressant drug, or an anxiety drug, or an OCD drug or any type of psychotropic medication, but you don’t think it’s okay as a medicine to take psilocybin or cannabinoids or things like that.

00;49;29;09 – 00;49;48;16
then I think there is a lack of, understanding of of how different things impact your body. In fact, you probably already know this, but most medications, including even antidepressants, are taken from plants, and then they just go and synthetically create them in stronger, actually stronger doses and remove some of the other things. So you know what the exact dosages every time.

00;49;48;19 – 00;50;12;11
So, so so really when you’re talking about antidepressants and anxiety drugs, these have been taken from plants. And so it’s really they’re really the same thing but operating differently in the body in the very similar thing with alcohol. Alcohol is changing somebodies, demeanor and their, well, all the things we’ve talked about, their level of awareness, their mood, I mean, all those things as well.

00;50;12;11 – 00;50;37;22
So I think, I think the big thing now, I do have a warning for people that, again, using it recreationally because the Bible, when you when you look at Christianity, I think it I know it warns against practices that lead to escapism, loss of control or reliance on altered states. Okay. When you read Ephesians 518 in Galatians 520, there is valid concern about this.

00;50;37;22 – 00;51;05;17
You know, using psychedelics recreationally, seeking mystical experiences apart from God, opening oneself to deception or spiritual forces or demonic forces. I really believe that if somebody is doing these drugs outside of, trying to heal with the power of God in the Holy Spirit, I think that it’s going to actually bring them harm in the long term. However, I think it can be used possibly as a tool under the guidance of a doctor.

00;51;05;17 – 00;51;36;27
And a Christian who is guiding them to to heal. I believe that. So from a traditional standpoint, psilocybin use purely for pleasure, escape New Age enlightenment, of course, is going to fall into, you know, dangerous spiritual territories. And I think under a biblical lens, there is a growing body of Christian therapists and scholars and physicians exploring the use of things like psilocybin, in guided settings where we’re focused on God given healing.

00;51;36;29 – 00;52;04;06
and I want to give you example this because I have some friends who, I have a friend who lost, a very young child, him and his wife, and they went to Christian counseling. They they’re amazing Christian people. They did supplements. They they did all all the things. And they finally, they were having such a hard time of healing from this trauma.

00;52;04;09 – 00;52;23;06
And they did a session, under the guidance of, I think, another, Christian. And they felt like it was the most healing thing that they were able to do because they felt like they were able to cry and release and see things from a different perspective and see things in a different way and actually help them heal.

00;52;23;06 – 00;52;44;22
So. So I know people, patients, friends, people personally who have gone through and use this. And so again, I just want to be clear, I’m not condoning or recommending the use of psilocybin recreationally. I am saying from a research perspective, I want to see more research, and I am saying that I know people personally who have benefited from it.

00;52;44;24 – 00;53;08;16
with the right medical oversight, who have spiritual discernment and pastoral care when doing it. And again, I think the thing you just need to put in perspective is, you know, what’s the difference between medication alcohol, cannabis, psilocybin. And I would say a big part of it is your heart and the intent and the spirit under which you are moving forward and using it for healing versus recreational.

00;53;08;16 – 00;53;39;26
And, intoxication. And here’s a scripture I just want to mention. It’s Colossians 116. It says this. All things were created through him and for him. And I think that includes plants and fungi of the earth, which may carry, you know, these incredible healing properties if used only with reverence and wisdom. So remember, as we talked about mushrooms, mushrooms are probably one of the most under consumed super foods and therapeutic medicines.

00;53;39;29 – 00;54;03;26
that we don’t consume enough in the Western world. If you go to Japan and Asia like China, they’re consuming mushrooms constantly all the time. Very, very few people consume mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms in their cuisine and supplement with them on a regular basis. When we’re talking about the Western world today in the United States and Europe and Canada and Australia, we should be doing more and more mushrooms because of their powerful benefits.

00;54;04;00 – 00;54;27;22
So if you’re wondering where to start, I would recommend take a multi mushroom supplement and consider adding some more my talking shiitake and even lion’s mane to soups and stews, and to sauteed them up with burgers. I do that we should talk in my talk to you all the time and get the benefits that way as well. Hey, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode on the incredible healing power of mushrooms.

00;54;27;27 – 00;54;53;19
Now, each and every week I’m diving into the science and principles behind how you can heal physically, mentally, and spiritually. Also, make sure to subscribe if you’re not subscribed. If you’re not subscribed, you are missing out. We’ve got so many incredible interviews coming up, more topics on healing and longevity. And also thank you all of you who are in mission with me, who are sharing this on text message on your social media accounts.

00;54;53;19 – 00;55;10;29
More people need to know the truth about how to heal. And one thing I’m just so grateful for I see some of you doing, I had somebody here last week who took a picture that they were listening to the podcast. They took a photo of the on their phone, and they posted on their Instagram account. Every time you do that, you’re helping get the information out there on how to heal.

00;55;10;29 – 00;55;18;28
Without the use of drugs or surgery. You’re helping people heal. It’s a good work. So thank you, all of you who are sharing this as well. I can’t wait to see you on the next episode.