MARVELOUS, MIRACULOUS

Mushrooms By Lori Berezin

Mushrooms are popping up everywhere these days,

sipping lemon juice tea with mushrooms or munching

in everything from chocolate bars and hot cocoa to

on mushroom jerky to enhance wellness. Enjoy rich hot

beauty products, tea, and coffee. While they’ve al-

cocoa with reishi or cinnamon chaga tea. Powdered

ways been a great addition to pizza, omelets, and

mushrooms are also available to enhance drinks or

veggie burgers, they’ve recently experienced a surge

even brush onto your skin for a more vibrant look and

in status, starring in a variety of intriguing beauty elixirs

less acne, rosacea, and eczema.

and foods. Loaded with healthy antioxidants, mushrooms are Why this present rise in popularity? They’re incredibly

considered a superfood. These culinary superheroes

versatile, for one thing, with a delicious capacity to

are able to increase energy, reduce brain fog, and

blend in with a myriad of flavors. Hearty portobello

restore skin’s natural beauty in a few brushes or bites.

mushrooms, for instance, provide a great substitute for

Even the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates con-

meat, mixing well with tomato sauce and cheese.

sidered mushrooms anti-inflammatory and used them

They can even change the property of certain foods,

to cauterize wounds. There are many books outlining

transforming coffee into a smoother, less-acidic drink,

their medicinal properties, which include chaga, for

decreasing the need for additional milk or sugar.

shiny hair and less inflammation; cordyceps for increased energy; and lion’s mane to boost memory

Consuming medicinal mushrooms has long been a

and concentration.

mainstay of holistic medicine. It was only a matter of

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time before they started showing up in novel ways.

Although there are more than 38,000 varieties of mush-

Many varieties, such as reishi, cordyceps, and shiitake,

rooms, only about 20 species are actually edible. They

make our favorite foods even healthier. Lion’s mane is

offer a delicious, healthy option no matter how you

thought to slow the growth of cancer cells. Consider

incorporate them into your beauty regimen or diet. n

Calabasas Style