7 Mushrooms You Should Be Taking Daily

Hey everyone, welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. I am your host, Dr. 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, 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. And these mushrooms are backed by science.

They're used in longevity, uh, in, in regenerative medicine clinics around the world. And I'll 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, uh, do me a favor. Make sure to subscribe to the channel if you're not subscribed. 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. And these mushrooms have been used widely in medicine for thousands of years, in Chinese medicine and Ayurveda 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, in, in many cases, um, 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-glucans. These stimulate and balance the immune system.

After that, we have triterpenes. 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 ergothioneine. This is a rare antioxidant amino acid that protects your DNA. And then also we have neurotropic compounds like NGF. That's nerve vine growth factor.

Which stimulates molecules in the brain for regeneration and repair. Now let's start off with beta-glucans. 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-glucans also support cellular communication, and they train the immune system to better detect viruses, bacteria, and even cancer cells. You know, I was recently in the airport traveling, in the Nashville airport, and they had a canine in there.

It was a German Shepherd, and he was, you know, going through everybody and kind of, you know, sniffing out for, for drugs and other, uh, you know, other possible harmful substances. And when he was going through there, that's very similar to what beta-glucans 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.

In fact, one of the reasons why cancer proliferates in the body is your body doesn't know it's there because it gets so poor at communication. And so beta-glucans are really powerful for this, and turkey tail and maitake mushroom in particular have very high levels of beta-glucans, which make them very, very strong at killing off a lot of different sort of pathogens that you might be exposed to.

Now again, when we look at beta-glucans, the biggest reason most people take them are for cancer recovery, for chronic infections like Epstein-Barr and Lyme disease, and autoimmune 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-glucans are so powerful. Number 2 compound we talked about are triterpenes.

These are found at especially high levels in reishi 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, uh, triterpenes in particular, according to clinical studies, are great for autoimmune disease flare-ups.

So if you have rheumatoid arthritis or irritable bowel disease and you have a flare-up, well, taking higher levels of triterpenes like in reishi or chaga will help with that.

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 or these compounds, these triterpenes, act like a fire crew putting out inflammation and clearing the smoke and the fire that can happen within your own system. Um, and next up is polysaccharides. These are your cellular 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, uh, cell membranes of your cells. Um, that your cell membranes start to get damaged when you age more quickly.

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, um, you need to have polysaccharides. And there are other foods like aloe vera.

Um, which of course is why it helps heal burnt skin that are high in polysaccharides. 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 MTHFR gene variant, then these mushrooms help protect further damage and allow you to better methylate and create certain nutrients like like methylfolate. The next compound here is ergothioneine, 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, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, cardiovascular illness. 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 in ergothioneine are maitake and shiitake. Now, the great thing about maitake and shiitake, they're medicinal mushrooms that you can take as a supplement or an herbal tea or a tincture, but you can also use it in cooking. And so anytime 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. We will do carrots, celery, parsley, and then I'll also add in a bunch of garlic and onion. And then I'll add in a load of maitake and shiitake mushrooms.

In addition, we'll add in a little bit of sea salt. And another thing I'll add in is miso. Miso is another sort of famed in Japanese cuisine immune-boosting food because of all the soil-based probiotics in there. 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 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 there— nerve growth factor. 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 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.

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 they have a lot of neural inflammation, or somebody who is dealing with concussion injury, right? So, 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 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, that'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 tea or supplement line, I will take lion's mane mushroom. And so, I will take that. 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 phosphatidylcholine, sometimes even ginkgo biloba. And I'll kind of do some of those nootropics together. And it really is amazing. It's almost like a natural ADHD medication without the side effects, of course, with only all of the benefits for bringing blood flow and oxygen and reparative Yeah.

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. But really, any brain neurological issues, this is the mushroom you want to do.

And again, these nootropic 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, maitake, and shiitake.

And and they're very different than culinary mushrooms like white button mushrooms, cremini, or portobello. And listen, those mushrooms culinary mushrooms are 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.

And so, you know, whereas, uh, white button or portobello, which of course we knew— we know is used in a lot of Italian cuisine, they're just not near as powerful in the immune-boosting properties and the adaptogenic properties of lowering cortisol as something like a reishi or a chaga.

So medicinal mushrooms, I would say, have numerous benefits, but primarily they act as adaptogens, they act as immunomodulators. 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, of certain organs.

And so let's really walk through some of these different, um, properties, and I'm gonna get into each of the individual mushrooms, and then I'm gonna get into the research, which is mind-blowing, on how mushrooms fight cancer, fight infections like long COVID, and so much more. So first off, most mushrooms act as adaptogens, okay, especially reishi and cordyceps.

And adaptogens 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.

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 Reishi and Cordyceps, the first thing and the most important thing they do for most people is they normalize cortisol levels.

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.

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, endometriosis, 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.

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, and Reishi and 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 reishi and cordyceps.

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 reishi and 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.

Your body is not healing and regenerating at that time. When cortisol's high and you're fighting a flight response, that's the opposite of regeneration, healing, digestion. Um, you know, we, we kind of call it, uh, 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. When you're in rest and digest where cortisol is lower, you can now heal and regenerate. And so these mushrooms like Reishi and Cordyceps act as adaptogens and 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. 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?

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Number 2, mushrooms act as immunomodulators, so they help make your immune system increase the cellular intelligence. Many healing mushrooms, especially turkey tail, chaga, and maitake, are powerful immunomodulators, meaning again, they don't just boost your immune system, they balance and regulate it.

So, and which is really important for autoimmune disease and for cancer and for fighting infections. Now, they contain, as we talked about, beta-glucans, 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 immunomodulator 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 and certain viruses, they will go and hide in different areas of your body. 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.

It also prevents autoimmune overreaction and improves your surveillance. We talked about it killing cancer. In fact, there was a study published on turkey tail and they found it has compounds like PSK, which is used in cancer immunotherapy in Japan, helping the immune system detect and fight abnormal cells. And so turkey tail, probably the most powerful of all of these as an immunomodulator.

And then nootropics, what we just talked about, brain and neuroregeneration. We found certain mushrooms like lion's mane, like we talked about, This nervine-grown factor has been shown in clinical studies to fight against Alzheimer's, brain fog, neuroinjuries, gut-brain axis issues. So even good for your gut. So, so, so this is another one.

If you've got gut or digestive issues, 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 chaga 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 maitake and shiitake. Mitochondrial support for boosting your cellular energy— cordyceps are incredible at that. And then turkey tail is also good for the gut, acting as 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. Now, I want to walk you through the top 7 mushrooms and what you should take for, for what issues. So the first one here is reishi.

Reishi has been referred to for over 2,000 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. And it does that because it's an adaptogen. It lowers stress on the body.

It is rich in antioxidants, which slow aging, and it just has loads and loads of benefits. It's high in triterpenes that we talked about, polysaccharides, also these peptidoglycans. So notice that pepti, it's actually very high in peptides.

And I did a whole episode on the power of healing peptides, and reishi is high in, 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 reishi on chronic stress, and they found that reishi had a massive impact.

Their specific, uh, quote was a significant reduction in anxiety and depression-like behaviors in the control group Um, showing that reishi is very good for stress-related mood disorders. So it's really beneficial there. But I think the biggest benefit for reishi is that it extends your lifespan, uh, and adds years to your life and life to your years. So lots of benefits.

And it's the number one mushroom I take on a regular basis. Number 2, 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. 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, and then neuro. So neurogenesis means it stimulates the growth and repair. Yeah. Of nerve cells. Okay? And, and so we see this with this nerve vine growth factor.

Also, it's, what'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.

That's how it can be so effective against patients that have had a stroke or children, uh, with certain, uh, autism spectrum-like conditions when they've got a lot of inflammation of the brain, which is causing overreactivity 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 and performance, and they found that people that did 3,000 milligrams 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 performed better with their memory, their short-term memory after taking 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. 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 3 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 a very hard time concentrating.

And I wish that that doctors knew then, and here's the crazy part, most doctors still don't do this and don't recommend this, but I wish that doctors would, instead of just running and prescribing Adderall, 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 certain other functional medicine doctors do this, But across mainstream medicine, they should all be doing this of putting together a nootropic supplement for kids to use instead.

Number one, getting them off sugar, getting them off artificial food dyes, getting them off BHT, 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 in, you know, healthy fats. That's number one.

But in addition to that, Rather than taking Ritalin or Adderall, there's no reason you couldn't put a blend together of lion's mane mushroom, ginkgo biloba, you know, omega-3 fatty acids, and you know some of these other you know little bit of MCT oil, those sort of things, and have kids take those instead. It would be much much better, and 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 discussed. Discovered by Tibetan herdsmen. 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 an 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, uh, and fertility for, for men. And so a lot of the emperors, they wanted to be the most, you know, fertile and impregnate 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 their rarity— they were very, very rare. And in cordyceps, when you look at the biggest benefits, is, is their impact on mitochondria. Okay? 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, uh, patients that are just tired, you know, it, it tends to be a mitochondrial issue. And so we want to go and heal and repair the mitochondria.

One of the first things I put patients on when they have mitochondrial issues or 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 and efficiency, which of course is good at fighting cancer.

In fact, one unique other fact about cordyceps is they were used by the Russian Olympic team in the 1970s. They did a lot of high doses of cordyceps to actually improve the performance of their athletes. And, and so there, 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, and of course, we mentioned for, for even libido as well. And there's a study on this. There's a study that was published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, and they examined the effects of mushroom blends specifically that are high in cordyceps on oxygen and aerobic performance.

And they did a study for 3 weeks, and they found that And what they found is 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.

And so if you notice you're working out and you just get tired more easy than you should, or you just don't— you lack endurance, Cordyceps are the most powerful mushroom for that. Our number 4 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.

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% reduction in tumor size in mice, also suggesting it has potent anti-cancer properties.

And so, and again, part of this has to do with its very, very strong, uh, properties at reducing inflammation and oxidative stress. 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 and nucleus and other areas of the cell, it increases your risk of cancer.

So chaga is, is, is, is really great for that as well. Number 5 is turkey 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. Okay, it contains a compound called polysaccharide K that stands for PSK, which boosts 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.

And there's one study we found in this, this is in 2012, it was 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 capsules. So we found that it fights cancer and actually helps improve recovery, even if somebody is doing conventional cancer treatments with it.

And the last set of mushrooms This is 6 and 7. I'll do these together. Are maitake and shiitake mushrooms. Maitake in Japan is known as the dancing mushroom. If you look at it, it's sort of, uh, it's, it's got a variation of kind of these feet or stools to it, and it's got loads and loads of benefits for, um, metabolic regulation, cardiovascular health.

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 maitake, and they found that in an animal study, it caused a significant reduction in high blood pressure and also improved metabolic health. 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 most— this is going to be the most controversial part of this episode. Of course, I've saved that for the end. But mushrooms for cancer, okay?

Um, as I mentioned before, my mom fought cancer and beat it naturally, and one of the biggest therapies and supplements she took on a regular basis were mushrooms. And, um, 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. Um, turkey tail mushroom In medical studies, uh, has been shown to kill cancer.

And did you know in Japan it's used as a therapy for, uh, stomach cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, and lung cancer? And, and my question is, why don't we do this today? Um, and, and by the way, just as the study here— let me, let me hit on this, the summary of the study.

Um, when you look at the studies on turkey tail, In, in, in Japan, uh, when people take it, it causes a significant, uh, a significantly longer survival rate of those who do it. Okay. 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.

Like I just had my cousin who, who, who went in and is being treated for a brain tumor. And the only 3 things they talked to him about, the only things they mentioned at all were chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. The only 3 things. And there are so many studies showing Mushrooms like turkey tail, turmeric, green tea, certain types of diet, whether it be Gerson therapy or ketogenic.

But there are so many studies now proving the, you know, cancer-fighting properties. Um, 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 care cancer therapies we're talking about, their survival rate goes up dramatically. So again, turkey tail is one of my favorite mushrooms for cancer. It's one my mom took, and my mom still takes a lot of these mushrooms today because she wants to prevent it. Number 2 is reishi mushroom. It inhibits tumor growth.

In fact, there is a study found that it suppresses invasive breast cancer cells. So for breast cancer Reishi might be the most powerful. It actually induces something called apoptosis, which is programmed cell death, to cause tumors to die on their own. So again, reishi is very great at that. And then also maitake 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. I want to dive into these infections. So there's mushrooms and 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 on 12 patients, and they did a daily supplementation with shiitake mushroom. This was an 8-week study. Participants who took shiitake mushroom had less fatigue, less pain, less cognitive difficulties, lower CRP markers, so less inflammation on blood work. And overall better improvements against Lyme disease.

And so we see that, uh, with, with, um, shiitake. And there's other studies on reishi mushroom also being effective with Lyme. And then we have Epstein-Barr virus. Um, we found that certain types of mushrooms, specifically reishi, help fight Epstein-Barr. There are studies on reishi as well fighting parasites and killing parasites. Uh, in malaria, there's another one.

And so reishi in particular, you're gonna 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 at. There's another study on reishi helping fight the flu, influenza, it reducing recovery time and boosting your immune system. And so when it comes to infections, mushrooms are a really powerful tool.

I really like blending and doing it, if somebody has an infection, I like doing a blend of mushrooms like turkey tail and reishi, 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, 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 Yeah. You know, the, the biggest reasons why people take mushrooms. Number one, longevity. Okay, there is— and listen to this, this is a big study. There was a study done on mushrooms and longevity.

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 out of 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.

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, uh, you know, things you could ever do. And reishi, remember, is called the mushroom Of immortality.

So either taking reishi or a multi-mushroom blend is what you want to do for longevity. The next here is brain health. Of course, we know lion's mane is powerful for that. Number 3, sleep quality. Reishi, of course, it is the top mushroom for getting better sleep, um, and improved non-REM sleep, such as deep sleep, according to clinical trials. Number 4, athletic performance.

There's a study on cordyceps and it increases VO2 max by 11%. Listen, if you're an athlete, if you're a triathlete, if you're a CrossFitter, 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. And cordyceps help people do that in a study. Autoimmune disease— this is where I really like maitake, shiitake.

I would also 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, uh, again, as we've talked about, mushrooms, um, are so incredibly beneficial for, for numerous issues.

If you've been doing everything right, eating clean, exercising, but somehow You're still not feeling your best. Your energy's dragging, your memory is slipping, 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, you're investing in the best supplements, working out regularly, and sticking to a clean diet. 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 and clean foods, but if the workers inside the house are on lockdown because of a storm, nothing gets done. The materials just pile up unused. That's what happens when your cells are in CDR. They can't fully use the good stuff you're giving them.

Getting out of CDR, 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. That's when everything starts to click. Your energy improves, your workouts become more efficient, and you start to feel like yourself again.

Go to beyondbloodwork.com to learn how to break free from cell danger response and make the effort pay off. 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 and faith-based perspective, uh, 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 It's a psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms. Now, historically, people might call them magic mushrooms, but psilocybin, what happens is when you consume it, 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 SSRIs, antidepressants, do that in a very different way, 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, and 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, 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, 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 their roadblock in healing is not dietary. Oftentimes it's their mindset, it's their mental and spiritual health. And, and one of the things that we see here with psilocybin is that it helps with Yeah.

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 tumors, one of the biggest things that causes it is having a closed mind.

Somebody 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?

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, uh, um, which, which decreases that stagnation. So again, when we look at psilocybin, what it actually does in, in neuroplasticity is important for healing.

You know, when I, when you, when you look at what, when somebody has a condition they just can't break through, and what one thing that can allow them to create a breakthrough is neuroplasticity. That's creating new neural pathways.

You know, if somebody is, um, you know, when we read up on these athletes that maybe get partially paralyzed because of, uh, an injury and the doctors tell them you will never walk again, and then 2 years later you see them. And they're walking again. 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.

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 am not talking about recreational whatsoever. 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's been treated for depression. They've probably been treated with medications. They've had counseling. Okay? A single psilocybin session Often leads to a 50 to 80% reduction in symptoms for months. I mean, that that that is incredibly rare and powerful.

Next one here: anxiety, 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-efficiency. 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.

When it's done in that way for a short period of time. And again, the depression, it's a single treatment. Um, it can have powerful effects. You know, another thing I want to bring up about— well, you know, 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 antidepressant and anxiety drugs. Okay. All right.

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. 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.

And the other thing I want to mention about psilocybin, in most cases, it doesn't, it doesn't it numb the symptoms like pharmaceuticals do. Okay, that, that's what's happening. I, I've taken care of so many patients with it.

My mom, when she— after she went through her first bout of cancer, when she did the conventional route the first time— second time she did natural— but first time she got prescribed and took for 10 years antidepressant drugs and anti-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, they don't work like pharmaceuticals do 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 biochemically. Okay, via— first thing is serotonin activation. The compound in psilocybin, psilocin, resembles serotonin and binds to its receptor, so it acts like extra serotonin in your body.

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 synaptogenesis. 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. 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 this 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. 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 they're 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, is it creates something called ego dissolution.

So that ego where everything's about me, me, me, they, they have a greater sense of awareness that there are things beyond them, things that are eternal even. Um, and also emotional processing. Um, 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. 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 these.

Again, I never recommend they 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. Now, Now, um, I do wanna mention that I think there are probably some Christians saying you should never use them, and I respect that and understand that. And I think there, there's a possibility you're right.

I could be, I could be wrong in this. Um, but I do wanna point this out.

When you look at, if, if you are a Christian, you believe that it's okay to take an antidepressant drug or an anti-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, or things like that, um, then I think there is a lack of, uh, 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 them in stronger, actually stronger doses and remove some of the other things. So, you know what the exact dosage is every time.

So, so, so really when you're talking about antidepressant and anxiety drugs, these have been taken from plants. And, and so it's really, they're, they're really the same thing, but operating differently in the body. And the very similar thing with alcohol. Alcohol is changing somebody's, uh, demeanor and their, um, well, all the things we've talked about, their level of awareness, their mood.

I mean, all those things as well. So I think the big thing— now, I do have a warning for people that, again, using it recreationally, because the Bible, 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 5:18 and Galatians 5:20, there is valid concern about this, 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 and 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 and a Christian who is guiding them to heal. I believe that.

So from a traditional standpoint, psilocybin used purely for pleasure, escape, New Age enlightenment, of course, is going to fall into 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.

And I want to give you an example of 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're amazing Christian people. They did supplements. They did all the things. And they finally, they were having such a hard time of healing from this trauma.

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 it actually helped them heal. So, so I know people.

Patients, friends, people personally who have gone through and used this. And so again, I just wanna be clear, I'm not condoning or recommending the use of psilocybin recreationally. I am saying from a research perspective, I wanna see more research.

And I am saying that I know people personally who have benefited from it, um, 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 intoxication. And here's a scripture I just want to mention. It's Colossians 1:16. 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 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 underconsumed superfoods and therapeutic medicines that we don't consume enough in the Western world. If you go to Japan and Asia, like China, Yeah.

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.

So if you're wondering where to start, I would recommend take a multi-mushroom supplement and Consider adding some more maitake and shiitake and even lion's mane to soups and to stews and to sauté them up with burgers. I do that with shiitake and maitake 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.

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 on mission with me, who are sharing this on text message, on your social media accounts. 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, uh, I, I had somebody here last week who took a picture that they were listening to the podcast.

They took a photo of it on their phone and they posted it on their Instagram account. Every time you do that, you're helping get the information out there on how to heal without the use of drugs or surgery. You're helping people heal. It's, 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.