The God of Fungi, also known as Reishi mushrooms, boasts a bounty of nutrient-rich compounds and takes up an extremely small amount of space to grow. Reishi mushrooms are also known for their potential natural healing properties. During a SHTF scenario, when calling 911 is not possible, you or someone you love could benefit from the God of Fungi once the supply of modern medicine dries up.
This particular type of fungi houses three specific molecules that could be the reason Reishi are foraged and cultivated for alternative medicines: triterpenoids, polysaccharides and peptidoglycans. Although this fungi can be eaten raw just after being freshly picked, it is far more common for Reishi to be turned into an extract and then powdered for natural healing remedies.
#1. Natural Cancer Fighter
These delicious mushrooms contain beta-glucans, a set of complex sugars. According to a Memorial Sloane Kettering report, these specific sugar compounds could help stop the spread and growth of cancer cells.
The possible positive impact Reishi mushrooms may have on white blood cells could be yet another reason why this fungi is often heralded for its potential cancer fighting power. Reishi mushrooms could increase the number of white blood cells in the body, particularly for colorectal , breast, and prostate cancer patients. This type of fungi could help reduce both the size and quantity of specific types of cancerous tumors and help improve the quality of life for some patients fighting this wretched disease.
Related: How to Make Ginger Oil To Counter Prostate, Ovarian and Colon Cancer
#2. Stress Reliever, Depression, and Fatigue
Reishi mushrooms are not a sedative, but they may be able to help users reduce both stress and anxiety. Some folks who routinely ingest the God of fungi develop healthy sleep patterns.
Although testing is still in the preliminary stages, it is possible that Reishi mushrooms may help fight both depression and fatigue. One study on the topic revealed that fatigue reduction and overall well-being improved in the 132 test patients after only 8 weeks of taking Reishi mushroom supplements. A similar study found that fatigue was reduced in merely four weeks by the 48 breast cancer survivors participating in the test.
Related: 10 Health Benefits of Cinnamon That Surprised Even Us
#3. Arthritis
To help prevent the inflammation that is so often involved with arthritis , eating a plethora of fresh mushrooms may be able to help – especially if they are Reishi mushrooms. This type of fungi contains high levels of the natural antioxidant I-ergothioneine. This antioxidant does not break down when exposed to heat, so cooking the mushrooms into soups, stews, and casseroles is a great way to absorb them into your system. The beta glucans, a type of carbohydrate, in Reishi mushrooms and other varieties, also act as an anti-inflammatory agent to help reduce swelling from arthritis and various injuries.
#4. Diabetes
Some studies have indicated that the fungi has the capability to decrease blood sugar levels in animals. But, the results are mixed when some larger studies on humans reveal no noticeable improvement in fasting blood sugar levels. In some cases, Reishi mushrooms were able to lower blood sugar after meal consumption.
#5. Alzheimer’s
Reishi mushrooms are one of several varieties of fungi that could help improve brain function. Some of the naturally occurring bioactive compounds in mushrooms may enhance nerve growth inside the brain and therefore offer protection against neurotoxic stimuli and swelling that can pave the way for Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Reishi mushrooms and lion’s mane mushrooms specifically possess a nerve growth factor molecule, that is part of the regulatory growth, production, and maintenance of brain nerve cells.
#6. Immune System Booster
This species of mushrooms could help boost the immune system and help the body ward off viral infections like bronchitis, the flu, liver disease, asthma, kidney disease, avian flu, and swine flu. Reishi mushrooms might also possess antihistamine effects.
#7. Composting
One of the primary purposes of fungi is to decompose organic matter. The breaking down of this natural material is essential to creating cellulose decomposition, that is critical for natural nutrient cycling.
#8. Hardiness
Mushrooms are capable of surviving temperatures that range from 40 degrees to about 100 degrees. This broad range in temperature tolerance means Reishi mushrooms and all of its peers can be grown nearly anywhere on the planet.
#9. Heart Health
Consumption of Reishi mushrooms could cause an increase in “good” HDL cholesterol, while minimizing triglycerides in heart patients in some preliminary studies. But, the reaction and results of this fungi on heart patients is mixed, with some large studies noting no noticeable improvement after taking supplements.
Related: How To Make Sauerkraut – The Most Effective Probiotic
#10. Weight Loss
Reishi mushrooms might not technically be able to help you lose weight, but may be able to slow down the packing on of extra pounds by altering digestive system bacteria. Whether the slowed weight gain pace experienced in animal trials transfers the same way in humans, would require more extensive study and likely clinical trials.
Reishi Mushroom Dosage
How much Reishi should be taken depends on the type of the fungi being used: fresh or powdered. When using fresh Reishi mushrooms in a natural healing remedy, the average dose recommended for an adult is about 25 to 100 grams.
When the powdered version of Reishi mushrooms is used, about one and a half to nine grams per day is recommended for adults.
Reishi Mushroom Warnings
Using either fresh or powdered Reishi mushrooms could cause liver damage, when taken for long periods of time. While recommendations from different studies vary, the general consensus says that consumption is likely safe when used for several months at a time.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with a blood disorder, folks with low blood pressure, and anyone preparing to undergo surgery are encouraged not to ingest Reishi mushrooms. Reishi mushrooms may cause blood to clot more slowly.
These mushrooms also contain sterols that may act as precursors to hormones. Reishi also contain triterpenes which could possess anti-allergy reactions but also may cause a drop in blood pressure. People taking blood thinning medications or warfarin could experience increased bleeding risk, if they consume Reishi mushrooms.
This mushroom type is not recommended for consumption by cancer patients, who are undergoing chemotherapy. It is possible that Reishi mushrooms could cause some drugs prescribed during the chemotherapy process to become less effective.
Because Reishi mushrooms can stimulate immune system responses, anyone taking immuno-suppressant drugs should also not consume this type of fungi. The FDA has not approved Reishi mushrooms as a drug. I am not a medical professional of any type. The information presented here is strictly for research and entertainment purposes.
You should always speak with your doctor before using any type of natural remedy. It is possible the Reishi mushrooms could interact negatively with some prescription or over the counter medications.
Eating Reishi Mushrooms
In addition to the possible medicinal benefits of consuming Reishi mushrooms, they can also be eaten in a host of different ways.
Reishi Tea
Reishi mushroom tea has a great taste and can easily be made by steeping 1 teaspoon of the powdered mushroom into 1 cup of water. Either ginger or lemon – or both, are typically tea additives.
Reishi Soup
You can stir in 1 tablespoon of powdered Reishi mushrooms to a bowl of soup to infuse more nutrients into your diet – a big plus during a survival situation when food is scarce, but manual labor demands abound. It is not recommended to add more than 1 tablespoon of powdered Reishi to a bowl of soup because its slightly bitter taste can become overwhelming.
Reishi Stir Fry
Toss 1 cup of fresh Reishi mushrooms or about 1 tablespoon of the powder into a skillet with olive oil, onions, and garlic to create a tasty and nutrient-rich stir fry.
There are approximately 1.5 million fungi species in existence, but only a small percentage have actually been described and labeled. Reishi mushrooms have been used in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese medicine for centuries. All true fungi possess the following unifying characteristics:
Heterotrophic- Eukaryotic nuclei
- Absorptive nutrition
- Non-photosynthetic
- Chitin or chitosan cell wall
- Non-motile vegetative state
- Yeast growth
- Sexual reproductive spores
Related: Herb Farming at Home: a New Business?
Growing Mushrooms At Home
This species of mushroom grows extensively in central Maine, as well as in many northeastern regions of the United States. Most commonly, this shiny red mushroom is found growing on either dead or dying hemlock trees. As it matures, a Reishi mushroom tends to darken in color.
The Ganoderma lucidum and lingzhi – AKA the Reishi mushroom, thrives in growing environments that are both hot and humid. They have been at the cornerstone of Eastern medicine for centuries.
Cultivating fungi is definitely not as simple or inexpensive as planting a row of corn in the garden. A mushroom farmer often needs to purchase pasteurization equipment and create a climate controlled environment to get spores (fungi version of a seed) to grow. Once the spores grow inside their hot and humid environment, they turn into a cotton-like structure that is called mycelium, before it reaches maturity and can be harvested.
Reishi mushrooms are a great cash crop. You only need about 200 square feet of space to cultivate approximately 800 pounds of this fungi. Depending on market price fluctuation, a harvest of this weight could earn you around $15,000.
Mushrooms start to lose their potency to a degree of approximately 25% when they hit the six month mark. Storing them in an airtight container in the freezer can increase their potency over time.
Drying Reishi mushrooms (or any mushroom) is the best way to preserve them. Dry the fungi in a dehydrator set at about 95 degrees – keeping the temperature low is essential to creating a shelf stable source of food and medicine.
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In general these articles are informative and useful if not entertaining. However, this one has a lot of confidence building phrases that make me want to drop everything and run out to collect buckets of this ‘shroom. NOT!
Possible Impact
May be able to
May help
Could help
Might possess
It’s reminds me of Vince Lombardi’s speech to the Green Bay Packers when he took over as head coach. Until Vince, they were big time losers. Vince said “ if ifs and buts were candy and nuts we would all have a merry Christmas”.
If your lucky, you just might maybe get some possible benefit that could help you recover from disease by consuming this shroom because it might posses some sort of healing potential.
Right. Good luck with that.
You may be missing the point a bit. The FDA frowns on citizens making definitive statements about medicines. The writer is saying what he can safely say without putting himself in the crosshairs of the FDA. Surely you’ve noticed this approach before in other postings on the web.
My primary care physician is a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The primary use of herbs in TCM is to manipulate body heat, an approach to prevention and healing that makes no sense in European science but is useful to me because the part of my brain that regulates body temperature was damaged in a car wreck years ago. I also have had a life long interest in Southwest and Mexican herbalism and it’s clear there are a number of effective preventative and remedial treatments in that system that is, like TCM, thousands of years old.
That said, when the first modern antibiotics came into use they were hailed as Miracle Drugs for the simple reason that they worked ten thousand times better than anything in tradition.
SHTF will mean a lot more dying from minor annoyances like a scratch on the ankle, a sinus infection, or The Great Equalizer, as Churchill named it.
Before antibiotics deaths by “blood poisoning” were a common occurrence. Despite thousands of years of folk remedies involving herbs and plants, it was the invention of sulfanilamide that got the ball rolling with antibiotics. Folks think it started with penicillin, but it really started with sulfanilamide. Those of us in the Old Corps can remember the little first aid packet that went on our web belt that contained what was basically a kotex laden with sulfanilamide powder. The powder which corpsmen and army medics poured on wounds on the battlefield saved thousands of lives at a minimum.. In WWI besides dysentery, influenza and other communicable diseases, more soldiers died from infected wounds than any other cause. It was only with WWII that death from infection fell dramatically due to sulfanilamide, the first antibiotic. In the field it was called sulfa powder but it was the aforementioned antibiotic.
Inevitably, in an EOTW situation where miracle antibiotics have disappeared, we are once again going to be relying on herbs and poultices to cure infections which will be commonplace in such a circumstance.
Sixty-two years ago on Okinawa I got an infection in my arm. My arm was saved only by surgery which helped drain the infection and antibiotics which rid my body of the infection. Had there been no surgical intervention and relief by antibiotics, if I were lucky, I would now be left handed. If unlucky, I would have died at age 19.
More recently, for some weird reason I got a MRSA infection on two consecutive years from an insect bite. Once again sulfanilamide rode to the rescue otherwise I would be sans two arms and would answer to “Stumpy” or I would not be writing — well, I might be writing but with a pencil in my mouth and my posts would be much shorter. Some might say that would be an improvement.
To end this long monolog, while it is currently en vogue to castigate antibiotics and we certainly have abused their usage, without them there would be far fewer of us and life expectancy would not be nearly as long as it presently is. The simple scratch, the animal bite, the careless cut by a sharp instrument would all be cause for serious alarm. I am here and writing this only because of antibiotics and there are many reading this who can do so only because of antibiotics. In my opinion, they are one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind.
Just like any medicine I have found that to use it only when you definitely need it really enhances it’s effect. The overuse of antibiotics can lead to it’s ineffectiveness in that the the natural immune system is weakened due to over reliance on antibiotics . Sometimes these antibiotics can result in an antibiotic resistant strain if the full course is not taken. Antibiotics in some cases are really a Godsend and no mistake, but take them advisedly and bear in mind that they may not always be available, hence the benefit of this article. IMO
As a little girl, the queen anns lace was used as a brides
bouquet and the bridemaid had the little blue wild flowers
that is what we use to do with the flowers, the only thing
was we didn’t have a groom.
“Using either fresh or powdered Reishi mushrooms could cause liver damage, when taken for long periods of time. While recommendations from different studies vary, the general consensus says that consumption is likely safe when used for several months at a time.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with a blood disorder, folks with low blood pressure, and anyone preparing to undergo surgery are encouraged not to ingest Reishi mushrooms. Reishi mushrooms may cause blood to clot more slowly.
These mushrooms also contain sterols that may act as precursors to hormones. Reishi also contain triterpenes which could possess anti-allergy reactions but also may cause a drop in blood pressure. People taking blood thinning medications or warfarin could experience increased bleeding risk, if they consume Reishi mushrooms.
This mushroom type is not recommended for consumption by cancer patients, who are undergoing chemotherapy. It is possible that Reishi mushrooms could cause some drugs prescribed during the chemotherapy process to become less effective.
Because Reishi mushrooms can stimulate immune system responses, anyone taking immuno-suppressant drugs should also not consume this type of fungi. The FDA has not approved Reishi mushrooms as a drug. I am not a medical professional of any type. The information presented here is strictly for research and entertainment purposes.
You should always speak with your doctor before using any type of natural remedy. It is possible the Reishi mushrooms could interact negatively with some prescription or over the counter medications.”
Wow! That makes me want to run out and plow up the back forty to put in a bunch of these to go with my poison hemlock crop.
im planting mine between the morel mushrooms and my castor beans. i do have a weird plant growing from west africa that is used to make sodiumfloralacitate otherwise known as compound 1080!
if a force tries assaulting my place im going to send them straight to HELL!
Ok just to clarify, this mushroom doesn’t grow in soil. It is a wood lover so grows on logs or sawdust like shiitake does. For those really interested in a bit more knowledge check out Paul Stamets tome at the local library Growing Gourmet And Medicinal Mushrooms. I found it invaluable when I started growing mushrooms. Inoculating logs and stumps in he back 40 with Reishi plugs (dowels with mycelium on them) would give you a forest garden of them if you’re in the right climate.
also if someone comes begging for food etc, they better be prepared to inform me of the ages of their children and maybe what their wife is willing to do for me.
their attitude will determine if they get any help or not. not that i want sexual favors, just want to know how bad they want the food. i could just tell them to go to certain rock and look under it, or i might be willing to put them up in a furnished cabin for some skill they poses and when trust is built they could possibly come inside the main bunker. and yes, intrances and exits are booby trapped so if I do not place a pin in the proper place they will be either trapped and gassed or squashed like a bug! yes, im a sick bastard but extreme punishment is what kept the rape and murder rate low in past times!
You’re a daisy. Spending a little time with the Old Testament probably won’t cure your rabid soul but it would educate you a little on the prevalence of murder and rape throughout history.
Insane candycane,
Jesus!! Get back on ur meds!!!
Blah blah blah
These fungi look a lot like “chicken of the woods”. I wonder a) if they’re related, b) if “chicken of the woods” have similar benefits/caveats c) if these fungi, growing on hemlock, are somehow extracting/concentrating the properties of the hemlock itself.
Just some food for thought.;)
Just like any medicine I have found that to use it only when you definitely need it really enhances it’s effect. The overuse of antibiotics can lead to it’s ineffectiveness in that the the natural immune system is weakened due to over reliance on antibiotics . Sometimes these antibiotics can result in an antibiotic resistant strain if the full course is not taken. Antibiotics in some cases are really a Godsend and no mistake, but take them advisedly and bear in mind that they may not always be available, hence the benefit of this article. IMO
I would like to know where to get a start of this mushroom.
Look on eBay for plugs to insert into logs or, if you’re really interested, Petri dish or spore syringe. As I mentioned earlier Paul Stamets books are invaluable. This is not a super easy mushroom to grow if you’ve never done anything like it before. Oyster mushrooms are a good start before you go to the more difficult varieties.
northspore.com
Product will come with growing instructions
LLC, add in electricity and refrigeration and voila! you have longer life spans.
In 2002 I had a small brain tumor about 10 or 15 mm in size that was growing rapidly and would have killed me in a couple weeks. I started taking Vitamin D3 and Reishi mushroom along with an anti-viral called HERP-EASE. I beat the tumor but still have trouble with a viral infection smoldering in my brain. Daily Vitamin D 3 controls that.
Reishi activates the Hunter/Killer HK immune system. The problem is that if the tumor is too big, then we do not have enough HK cells to completely wipe out the tumor. After the HK cells are used up, then they cannot replace themselves fast enough. The tumor usually grows faster than it can be taken away. The trick is to quickly surgically remove the bulk of the tumor, then clean up any left over cancer cells that the surgeon leaves with the Reishi mushroom. They always tell you that they got it all but they never do.
After the surgery, hit the rest of the cancer cells with Reishi mushroom, Turmeric, Vitamin D3 and an anti-viral like HERP-EASE from Olympia Labs. At least that is what worked for me. Good luck and God Bless. It is a difficult disease.