Building Immunity with Medicinal Mushrooms
As the days grow shorter and we feel that autumn chill in the air, it is very important to start preparing our bodies for the colder seasons. Many herbal allies can play an important role in boosting our immunity and making us more resistant to catching seasonal colds and flu.
Last month, I wrote about elderberries. This month I want to talk about some of my favorite immune enhancing herbs, which in fact are not even herbs at all, but belong to the vast kingdom of fungi.
For thousands of years, medicinal mushrooms have been highly valued for their incredible healing properties. One of my favorite mushrooms, reishi or ganoderma lucidum, was referred to in the ancient texts of Chinese medicine as the “herb of immortality.”
Reishi supports and strengthens almost every organ system in the body, including the respiratory system and the immune system. These two organ systems are crucial to support to keep us healthy during the cold and flu seasons.
Many of the medicinal mushrooms are deep immune system tonics. In our bodies they work slowly and deeply to boost our immune reservoir and strengthen our resistance not only to colds and flu, but also to many other serious diseases like cancer.
For example, Reishi contains polysaccharides that have been proven to increase by five to twenty five times the body’s natural cancer fighting processes.
I recommend that most people at certain times take medicinal mushrooms for their health. For an average healthy person, this season is a good time to start incorporating them into your daily routine or diet. For people who have been chronically ill, medicinal mushrooms should play a bigger part in your life. In dealing with more serious disease, I would also recommend making an appointment to see professional herbalist like myself.
The power of medicinal mushrooms is amplified when they are in formula with one another. I have formulated a line of medicinal mushroom extracts called Power Mushrooms, which all have a baseline of five medicinal mushrooms- shiitake, maitake, oyster, reishi and turkey tails.
I have formulated my Power Mushroom Extracts to enhance certain healing properties of the mushrooms:
* The regular Power Mushrooms has astragalus to increase the immune enhancing effects of the formula.
* Power Mushrooms plus Liver Support has the additional herbs milk thistle and schizandra to offer an extra boost of protection and strength to the liver.
* Power Mushrooms Plus Turmeric has extra anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer fighting properties that come from the addition of turmeric to the formula. Available also with black pepper, which increases the bioavailability of the turmeric by up to 1000%.
* Power Mushrooms Plus Brain Support includes herbs like rosemary and rhodiola to enhances memory and cognitive functioning.
To order Power Mushrooms, visit Ancestral Apothecary’s online store.
Loving Lemon Balm, Part 2
Lemon Balm has so many great benefits, I had to write two blogs about it!
• Lemon balm also has anti-viral properties. It can be used topically and internally for viruses like herpes and shingles. It mixes well with another anti-viral herb, licorice. A suggested formula would be 3 parts lemon balm to 1 part licorice as a tea or tincture.
• Lemon Balm is good for your heart. It helps to lower blood pressure and can be mixed with motherwort to strengthen the heart.
• Lemon Balm is helpful for colds and flu. Drink hot lemon balm tea to help with the aches and pains that accompany fever. It can also help to induce sweating to break a fever.
• Lemon Balm also can lower the thyroid and is useful in hyperthyroidism. However, it is good to avoid too much use of lemon balm is you have a hypothyroid.
Lemon Balm essential oil has also been studied to be helpful with calming the agitated state of Alzheimer’s. To order the best, high quality organic lemon balm (melissa) essential oil, visit the Floracopeia website.
Tags: herbal medicine, Herbs, lemon balm
Loving Lemon Balm, Part 1
Spring is here and the Lemon Balm is flourishing in my garden. Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is in the mint family and a common weed in the Bay Area. It looks like a mint, but the leaves when crushed give off a lovely lemony scent.
Lemon balm is a great herb to introduce to your garden. It is easy to grow, (as a weed, it needs virtually no care) and it has a broad range of medicinal value. It has so many applications that I am dedicating two blogs to its uses.
USES FOR LEMON BALM, PART 1
• Lemon Balm is a nervine, which means it is a nourishing tonic to your nervous system. Taking lemon balm has a very centering, grounding & calming effect. It can help relieve anxiety and worry and even can help back off a panic attack.
• Lemon Balm also can help to lift your spirits and is mildly anti-depressant.
• In the digestive tract, lemon balm is also very useful. It helps with gas and intestinal spasms, colic in babies, & tension in the gut. Lemon balm can also ease a headache you get from eating too much or from eating food that you are allergic or intolerant too.
• Lemon Balm is a great herb for women too. It helps to regulate and balance the menstrual cycle. With its nervine properties, it is also helpful in PMS. In menopause, lemon balm can be combined with motherwort and used to aid hot flashes, night sweats and heart palpitations. Lemon Balm is also safe for pregnant women.
HOW CAN YOU USE LEMON BALM?
Lemon balm makes a great tea or tincture. You can make a tea of the fresh leaves, or dry and store them for future use. I prefer the taste of lemon balm tea from leaves slightly wilted or dry.
The best way to tincture lemon balm is from the fresh plant.
Lemon balm is also great for baths. It is a very healing plant and I have prescribed it in baths for women suffering sexual trauma.
Lemon Balm Aromatherapy: Just pick some lemon balm, rub it in your palms, and inhale! Its lovely lemon scent will pick up your spirits and clear you mind.
To be continued……stay tuned for more uses on Lemon Balm!
Tags: herbal medicine, lemon balm
10 Tips to Stay Healthy This Season
1. Slow Down. Winter is for slowing down, taking time to rest, and drawing our focus inward. Many of us continue to stay too busy this time of year when our body naturally wants to slow down and get more rest. Learn to pay attention to your body’s signals for rest and make it a practice to not push yourself (or grab another cup of coffee) when you’re tired.
2. Eat well. Nutrition make a big difference for the immune system. Refined sugar both depresses your immune system and also feeds viruses and bacteria, so limit your intake of white processed sugar. It is best to limit wheat products, dairy products and cold food (ice cream), which all create more mucous & dampness in the body.
As the days grow colder, it is better to eat more cooked foods than raw. This means eat less salads or raw fruit and more steamed veggies, apple sauce or fruit compote. The best foods to eat this season are warm, cooked, nourishing foods like soups and stews. Cook with pungent foods that nourish your respiratory system like garlic, onions, and leeks. To make my soups more medicinal, I like to to add my Wei Chi Vitality mix, a blend of medicinal mushrooms and herbs, to my soup stock. It’s a very easy way to eat your medicine!
3. Sleep More. People need on average eight hours of sleep per night. Most people are getting less and are suffering from a sleep deficit. Lack of sleep can depress the immune system and contribute to many physical and emotional disorders including depression, anxiety, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
4. Wash your hands thoroughly. A client of mine who is a nurse recently told me that to get rid of all pathogens on your hands, you must wash your hands for at least 15 seconds. Anything shorter than that can leave bacteria and viruses on your skin. Friction is also important, so scrub your hands well. Good old fashioned soap works just fine…. don’t contribute to the polluting of our waters by buying anti-bacterial soap.
5. Garlic. Garlic is one of our most powerful herbal allies. It has anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. With a strong affinity for the respiratory system, garlic has been traditionally used for colds, sore throats, coughs, and respiratory infections. When I feel the first signs of a cold I start eating lots of raw garlic- up to one clove 3-5 X/ day. My favorite thing to do is to cut it up and put on toast or on top of my food. You need to eat garlic raw to keep its anti-microbial benefits. To lessen garlic breath, chew on some fresh parsley or cilantro. Personally, I like the smell of garlic! For children and for people to whom garlic can be irritating to the digestive tract, a nice way to consume garlic is to make garlic honey or fire cider. Both garlic recipes can be found on other blog posts.
6. Elderberries. Elderberry brandy is a traditional wintertime tonic. Science has demonstrated that elderberries help protect the cell walls against viral attack. Daily consumption of Elderberry cordial can help prevent both flus and the common cold. For more elderberry recipes, see my blog post on elderberries.
Reishi (ganoderma lucidum) decoction.
7. Medicinal Mushrooms. Medicinal fungi like Reishi, Shiitake and Maitake mushrooms are amazing allies for our health. Mushrooms have been shown to boost the immune system and to help both prevent and treat many chronic illnesses, including cancer. Eating a few mushrooms (always cook them) every day or taking a Power Mushroom extract can boost your overall health tremendously. Click here to buy Ancestral Apothecary’s unique line of Power Mushroom medicinal mushroom extracts.
8. Vitamin D: I recently attended a panel on the H1N1 influenza virus. The panel consisting of a medical doctor, acupuncturist, western herbalist and a naturopath all unanimously agreed that boosting our levels of Vitamin D is one of the most important things we can do to support our immune system. A minimum recommended dosage is 4,000 IU/day and can be safely increased up to 10,000 IU/day.
9. Essential Oils. Most essential oils have amazing anti-microbial properties. This is because the essential oils are part of the plants’ immune systems. Over thousands of years, the plants developed these chemical compounds to protect themselves against bacteria, viruses and fungi.
To have the protection of essential oils when I go out in public, I like to carry an essential oil hand spray that I made to spritz my hands when needed. Good anti-microbial essential oils include lavender, rosemary and tea tree.
A good investment is an aromatherapy diffuser to infuse your home, car or office with the essential oils. I highly recommend the Community Immunity Diffuser Blend Series from Floracopeia. They blend together many plants of similar ecosystems to create powerful anti-microbial protection for your living environments. My favorite blend is called Forest, and smells like a good walk in high Sierra woods. Click here to visit the Floracopeia website.
10. Make an appointment with your herbalist and your bodyworker! The best way to create a health care regime that is custom designed for you is to work with a professional clinician. I may see several clients with the same condition, but I will treat each one with different herbs, based on each person’s unique constitution and set of circumstances. Also, as an herbalist I am trained to help guide and support you to make nutritional and lifestyle choices that will help you achieve better physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. I am available for appointments via phone, Skype or email for people who do not live in the California Bay Area.
Acupressure and Jin Shin Jyutsu® sessions can help to tune up your body’s energy, can help to release emotions stored in the body (which can lead to illness), can boost your immunity and vitality, and can leave you feeling calm, energized and totally rejuvenated. Many of my clients report that they “feel like an entirely new person” after receiving a session from me. For more information about making an appointment, click here to go to our website.
Tags: flu, Health, herbal medicine
Adaptogens, Herbal Allies for Stressful Times
As a clinical herbalist, one of my favorite categories of herbs are the adaptogens. I love adaptogens because they help us to adapt to all kinds of stress, including physical stress, emotional stress, and environmental stress. This means that they help the human body to adapt and better handle the stresses we face everyday, from being stuck in rush hour traffic, to a fight with our boss, to being exposed to countless toxins in our food, air and water.
“Adaptogen” is a term that was coined by a Soviet scientists in 1968. At this time in Soviet history, the Soviet Academy of Science was given an assignment to create a product that would help increase the performance of its top athletes, dancers, cosmonauts and military class. Their research led to an extensive study of herbal medicines that could help optimize the potential of the human body.
The first modern definition of adaptogen, as defined by Soviet scientist Nikolai Lazarev is:
1. An adaptogen is nontoxic to the recipient.
2. The adaptogen produces a nonspecific response in the body- an increase in the power of resistance against multiple stressors including physical, chemical or biological agents.
3. An adaptogen has a normalizing influence on physiology, irrespective of the direction of change from physiological norms caused by the stressor.
Modern adaptogens include plants and fungi that have been held in highest regard in different cultures for thousands of years. They include Siberian Ginseng (eleutherococcus), Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum), Ashwaghanda (Withania somnifera), American ginseng (Panax quinqefolius), Asian Ginseng (Panax ginseng), Schizandra (Schisandra chinensis) and Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea).
An excellent book on adaptogens is Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief, by David Winston and Steven Maimes. They cover the history of adaptogens and the physiology of stress and how adaptogens work in the body. The book also covers in depth many of the modern adaptogenic herbs and talks about how to use them in clinical herbal practice. I love this book and consider it one of my most treasured herbal referenced.
Tags: Adaptogens, herbal medicine, stress
Full Moon Herbal Medicine Making
San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA
