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
132
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