The Untold Story of a Silent Superpower: Chaga Mushrooms

The Untold Story of a Silent Superpower: Chaga Mushrooms

There is a new food superpower in our midst, and it has gained ranking for its superb antioxidant properties: Chaga mushrooms. With a mix of charcoal and gold hues, these mushrooms slag and sprawl like infected meteorites on the backs of dead birch trees. They are powerful, parasitic, and (almost) as promising as Wakanda’s Vibranium.

…except you can’t make an epic suit out of it. But with the innate properties of Chaga mushrooms, you won’t need to. Research shows that this fungus contains promising health benefits for people of all ages. Its high antioxidant content makes it superior to its line of competitors, such as blueberries, pomegranates, acai, and their likes.

I’m going to get a bit personal now. Although I’m a pharmacist and functional medicine practitioner, I, too, like to live life on the edge. I indulged in some reading recently—just a casual afternoon cuddling with research studies and medical journals—and shortly thereafter, I decided to commit to Chaga mushrooms, once and for all. So I woke up the next morning, dumped my regular smoothie, and settled with a cozy cup of Chaga mushroom tea. My first sip brought with it a whiff of familiarity. I know this taste. It was like the shy little sister of bold black tea: humble, mute, and vaguely visible. I sipped some more.

Twenty minutes later, I found myself busting into my running shoes and bursting out my front door. Something felt different. A transformation occurred—like I had morphed from a suburban, mother-of-two pharmacist and into an unstoppable Wakandan warrior. I must wear out this energy! I ran for miles and miles, hours on end, until my feet met a previously unpursued path. I had never run that far before, but I continued anyway. And when I returned home, my newfound endurance carried me through more weight lifting and into a work day with utmost mental clarity. It was a beautiful sensation. That effect—that energy boost, that unabated agility, or whatever you want to call it—lasted for days.

What exactly is Chaga Mushroom?

In two words: a fungus. It’s not the prettiest plant in the woods, but what a Chaga mushroom lacks in outer beauty, it makes up in medicinal aptitude. Chaga mushrooms have one of the highest Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity (ORAC) scores of any food, which speaks to their ability to protect the body from aging and fight disease-causing free radicals. Hmm, maybe they are just as good as Vibranium, after all?

What are some of Chaga Mushrooms’ superpowers?

  • Anti-Aging
  • Anti-Viral
  • Improve physical endurance
  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Prevents and treats cancers
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Boosts  immune system
  • Lowers inflammation
  • Lowers blood glucose

How do you consume this superfood?

You don’t need to be a Kimberly Snyder or a Dr. Mark Hyman to whip up a Chaga-infused concoction. The method is simple. Add two to three chunks of Chaga mushrooms to one to two quarts of water in a slow cooker/crock pot. Set the mixture on low and cover the pot while the mixture steeps for up to 12 hours. Drink it hot or chilled, as a base for flavored tea, coffee, or your favorite fruit smoothie. There are no rules! Chaga mushrooms are versatile enough to be bent to your preference, so be creative. For the little ones, blend half a cup of Chaga mushroom tea with ice and honey and serve! The kiddos will absolutely love it.

If you do give this superpower a chance, like I did, please share your experience with me in the comments below! I would love to hear all about it. Here’s a brand I really recommend.

6 Must-Have Supplements for Wellness and Vitality

6 Must-Have Supplements for Wellness and Vitality

In this pill-piling health industry, not all supplements are created equal. We’re here to teach you how to navigate the supplements aisle and make investments that matter.

Let’s be honest: the Standard American Diet is depleted of nutrients. And for every nutrient deficiency, we are sold a supplement to fill the void where food once belonged. This isn’t the sole fate of fast-food enthusiasts feasting from a drive thru; even health-conscious individuals are suffering. As it turns out, those bell peppers and kale bits starring in yesterday’s salad rank lower in nutrients than the ones our great-great-grandparents ate, leaving you curiously famished and raiding your snack cabinet before bedtime. There are many reasons for this epidemic, the first being our country’s mediocre agricultural practices.

Our farmers are racing the clock to meet the demands of bustling, industrial communities. In order to stock our grocery stores with glistening apples and picture-perfect apricots, farmers mass-produce their crops using old soils that grow stale with time. These old soils then produce crops that are inevitably depleted of essential vitamins, minerals, and microbes.

Crops are further stripped of their nutrient-potential after being doused in pesticides. These pesticides interfere with a plant’s polyphenol production—that’s nature’s secret trick to ward away bugs and pathogens threatening a plant’s growth. What happens when these plants are heavily covered in pesticides and herbicides? Their polyphenol production declines, along with their nutrient supply, leaving you, Dear Reader, famished and craving more.

Farmers try compensating for these agricultural practices and enhancing crop nutrition by using fortified fertilizers. Nutrition in these fertilizers, however, is minimal—just enough to keep the crops alive until harvesting, but not enough to support our health. What’s more, most plants are harvested prematurely; they are shipped for hundreds of miles across the country, finding temporary shelter in shelves, trucks, and counters for weeks before being eating. Their nutrient stores erode during this prolonged time.

This story ends with the rueful realization that we could all use some help with our nutrition. All of us, no exception. And while supplements are not a replacement for a healthy diet, they are back-up sidekicks when your diet falls short (and most often, it will).

Below are the six supplements I recommend to all of my clients—the holy grails of wellness and vitality. Let the listing begin…

PROBIOTICS: These live bacteria are key players in our digestive tract. Their benefits range from increasing our resistance to illnesses, to enhancing our ability to maintain a healthy weight. That’s just the physical stuff. Research suggests time and again that probiotics boost our mental well-being, countering symptoms of anxiety and depression.

OMEGA-3 FATTY ACIDS: These fats classify as essential—an intimidating and weighty word denoting their necessity for our bodies to function. Because our bodies cannot produce these fats on their own, we need to consume them through our foods and supplements. Sufficient amounts of omega-3s offer multiple benefits, too, including longevity, physical wellbeing, a leaner physique, a clearer mind, and softer, more youthful skin.

ZINC: This essential nutrient is nature’s elixir for the common cold. The body also requires zinc for basic body functions: to produce hormones, to grow and repair cells, to boost immunity, and to facilitate digestion. Like an antioxidant, it slows the aging process and restores hormonal imbalance. And to counter energy spikes and energy dips throughout the day, trust zinc to help you regulate your blood sugar.

MAGNESIUM: If we could give one supplement a Pharmacists’ Choice Award for Most Beneficial to Americans, it would be magnesium. About 80 percent of adults are deficient in this essential mineral, creating an array of health problems: muscle aches or spasms, poor digestion, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.

B-COMPLEX: This supplement contains all of the known, essential, water-soluble B vitamins that are absolutely needed for energy and healthy metabolism. Most Americans are deficient in these vital nutrients, resulting in energy slumps, a sluggish metabolism, and more.

VITAMIN D3: Most Americans are also deficient in this essential vitamin—an epidemic correlated with depression, insomnia, pain, osteoporosis, cancers, autoimmune diseases, hypertension, and many other health conditions. This sunshine vitamin is closest to what sunlight naturally produced when shining its rays on our skin. Stock up on this supplement if you have limited outdoor time, cover constantly, or are from the snowy state of Minnesota.

Six supplements. Six new superheroes in your journey toward health. Do yourself a favor and invest in these little capsules, because even the best of diets is bound to fall short sometimes.

The Dark Side of Antacids—What You Need to Know (PART II)

The Dark Side of Antacids—What You Need to Know (PART II)

In last week’s blog, we whisked you, Dear Reader, into a deep discussion about the dark side of antacids (PPIs). You know, those medications touted for suppressing symptoms of heartburn and acid reflux, returning calm to your dinner experience? Yeah, those. We wrote all about it here and want to continue the conversation in the space below.

Long-term dependence on PPI1 antacids, as you know, often triggers a host of dysfunctions in the body. This isn’t revelatory; PPIs work temporarily by suppressing the stomach’s healthy and necessary acid production to control the symptoms of heartburn. They are patchwork over a deeper issue, and unless we address the root cause of heartburn, we cannot expect to restore harmony to the body’s inner ecology. More problems will prop onto your diagnostics chart as the root problem is left untreated.

So what can you do? Should you quit taking PPIs cold turkey?

As with many things in life, quitting PPIs cold turkey isn’t recommended. The withdrawal agonies from quitting antacids are somewhat comparable to those of caffeine and sugar withdrawal (the former, or course, being many degrees worse). While quitting caffeine makes you irritable and lethargic and prone to a bad case of madness—snapping at your succulents from your bed at 1:35 p.m., wondering if you will ever have the energy to adult again—quitting antacids actually worsens your reflux problem. Having suppressed your stomach acid for so long, quitting PPIs cold turkey causes your body to produce high levels of gastrin, the hormone that stimulates the secretion of gastric acid by the parietal cells of the stomach. Your body overcompensates by producing larger-than-normal amounts of stomach acid which then translates into a worse case of acid reflux. It’s common that people who take PPIs for long periods of time grow addicted to them; when they decide to quit, their reflux is worse and more unbearable than it was when it started.

How to get off these medications?

It goes without saying: consult your healthcare provider! This is especially crucial if you are taking PPIs for conditions other than acid reflux and heartburn. Some patients take antacids for more serious conditions and need thorough consultation and evaluation of their condition before they can safely terminate their prescription. Most functional medicine doctors, pharmacists, and naturopaths might be able to wean you off safely and effectively. In any case, below are general pro-tips for weaning off of antacid pills:

FIRST, employ the principles of gradualism: decrease your dosage slowly and gauge your body’s response. If you are taking Omeprazole 40 mg, for example, reduce the dose to 20 mg. If you are taking a double dose daily, slash it to once-a-day. Keep at this for at least two weeks, and if you find that you’re managing, reduce the dose to every other day… and then to every third day… and if you are experiencing side effects (i.e. acid reflux, heartburn) on the medication-free days, try H2 blockers2 to relieve those symptoms. Switch over to a daily dose of H2 blocker if needed and then gradually decrease that in a similar style until you have no symptoms.

SECOND, with Jedi-like intentions, uncover the culprits undermining your gut health and develop drug-free strategies for restoring balance to the force. Or, more accurately, restoring health to your gut. Begin by eliminating processed foods, bad oils (vegetable, soy, corn, canola), processed sugars, and refined carbohydrates from your diet. Stomp them out like you would an infiltrating army of Stormtroopers: immediately and without question. In their place, load up on fresh and organic produce and their nutritious sidekicks. But avoid anything that may irritate your recovering stomach, such as citrus foods (tomatoes, oranges, lemons, etc.), deep fried foods, coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, chocolates, and soda pops. Keep in mind, too, that our generation of Americans is becoming increasingly sensitive to gluten and dairy products. So maybe pass on that latte and scone during your lunch break?

THIRD, begin a food diary documenting the foods you eat alongside any symptoms you experience—both their frequency and severity. You can even undergo a food sensitivity lab test for good measure. During this time, follow these basic food rules for preventing acid reflux:

  • Do not lie down right after you eat.
  • Always eat an early dinner, approximately four hours before you go to bed. Eating or snacking too close to bedtime is detrimental, not only to your stomach health, but to your overall health and wellbeing.
  • Eat smaller meals and chew your food thoroughly.
  • Find innovative ways to elevate your head above your chest while you sleep. Larger, fluffier pillows? An adjustable mattress?

FOURTH, sprinkle fermented food onto your meals like you would confetti at your friend’s wedding party! These healthy-gut-bacteria-restoring foods include sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, apple cider vinegar, kombucha, organic raw honey, among many others. Also, don’t succumb to commercially-sold yogurts; not only are they bereft of healthy probiotics, but they are also loaded with sugar—sometimes even more than your favorite tub of ice cream. While these yogurts masquerade as “healthy,” they often go through a pasteurization process which inevitably strips them of their good bacteria. Probiotic supplements and digestive enzymes can help improve your gut health too.

Another friend to your healthy-gut-bacteria-restoring ventures is Aloe Vera juice, which eases acid reflux symptoms by reducing inflammation in your gut. Drinking about one-half cup before meals helps prevent unwanted symptoms.

Ginger root is also extremely beneficial and far superior to lansoprazole, according to a 2007 study. It works amazingly well in blocking acid and suppressing bad stomach bacteria, including H Pylori. Drinking ginger tea, or just plain ginger water, half an hour before meals helps prevent symptoms.

Here’s one that will take you by surprise: melatonin. A humble supplement3 of this sleep hormone (3-5 mg) is enough to help you wean off your PPI medication, as it restores gut health and curbs gastrointestinal symptoms. Believe it or not, our stomachs produce 400 times as much melatonin as the pineal gland, making this hormone a key player in this discussion.

And that, Dear Reader, is your ultimate list of go-to strategies for tackling heartburn and acid reflux, medication-free. The time of chest-wrenching meal experiences is over. The era of smooth food indulgences (nutritious, of course) is about to begin. And in your pursuit of healthy gut bacteria and stomach acid balance, remember that PPI medications can have a role in your health narrative, but they shouldn’t budge as an all-star cast.

Foot Notes

1 Common Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) include: Omeprazole (Prilosec), Esomeprazole (Nexium), Lansoprazole (Prevacid), Pantoprozole (Protonix), Rabeprozole (Aciphex), Omeprazole/Sodium Bicarbonate (Zegerid).

2 H2 blockers include: nizatidine (Axid), famotidine (Pepcid), cimetidine (Tagamet), or ranitidine (Zantac)

3 Other effective supplements for GERD are L-Tryptophan, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Methionine, Betaine HCL Pepsin, Vitamin D, Glutamine, Slippary elm, and Astaxanthin.

The Dark Side of Antacids—What You Need to Know (PART I)

The Dark Side of Antacids—What You Need to Know (PART I)

Beside bloating and unbearable fullness, here’s another post-meal sensation none of us want to experience: heartburn. You slurped the last spaghetti noodle and savored every drop of saucy goodness, and you’re now preparing to break with the latest episode of The Crown. And then it begins—something like a flame furled in the pits of your stomach begins blazing up your throat. “It’s like throwing up burning coal that you can’t digest,” some describe it. Heartburn is a common experience, and one that usually ends up with handfuls of antacids added to your weekly pillbox organizer.

But there are many things about antacids that you should know:

  1. There is a popular class of antacids called “Proton Pump Inhibitors” (PPI), and they’re widely prescribed to treat Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) and other acid-related disorders.
  2. In 2016, they were among the top selling drugs in the U.S., prescription and over-the-counter, and made billions of dollars in sales.
  3. Patients often consume these antacids for a longer duration of time than recommended by manufacturers. And because these pills are available over the counter, they’ve become the quick pick-me-up for any acid related conditions, with little warning of their side effects (and there are many).

Now let’s explore the effects this drug has on the human body: when you pop that PPI pill, it absorbs into your system and quickly blocks your stomach from producing acid, thereby decreasing your gut’s acid levels. Sounds great, right? Not quite; medication effectiveness is hardly that linear. While PPIs provide the immediate relief of an acid-reflux-free meal and a cheerful chest, that relief comes with a heavy cost…

FIRST: ineffective food digestion, which decreases nutrient absorption, thereby increasing nutritional deficiencies. Like other elements of your physiology, your stomach’s acid serves a crucial purpose—that is, to activate digestive enzymes and break down food for digestion. PPIs disrupt this process by inhibiting your body’s acid production. And what follows can be dangerous. For example, you’re eating your favorite wings and a side of nacho bean dip on Super Bowl Night and decide to take an antacid for good measure. As you watch the Eagles completely obliterate the Patriots, you bask in the beauty of a heartburn-less food experience with your friends. This is the good life. Meanwhile, something else is happening in your body: the proteins from your saucy wings cannot break down into individual amino acids for absorption because your gut’s acid levels are too low. These undigested proteins then cross the intestinal barrier and trigger an array of problems, including food allergies and sensitivities.

Even more, when your body doesn’t recognize these unbroken proteins, it unleashes its stable of antibodies against them, which, in the long run, can lead to autoimmune diseases.

SECOND: nutrient deficiencies that ultimately evolve into other serious conditions. Long-term use of PPIs hinders our body’s ability to absorb calcium and magnesium—two critical minerals for bone health that, when depleted, wither our body’s bones into fragility and weakness. In other words, osteoporosis is another common side effect of long-term PPI use.

The dark nature of antacids doesn’t end there. With newfound magnesium deficiencies triggered by PPIs, the body could prematurely offset Alzheimer’s disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation, chronic pain, restless leg syndrome, depression, seizures, and more—all of which are linked with long-term magnesium deficiency.

THIRD: a jeopardized immune system. When you devour that first round of Super Bowl wings, your stomach acid acts as your first line of defense against harmful bacteria, virus, and parasites. It battles menacing microbes with more intensity than Nick Foles’ winning throws. And when you have an inadequate amount of gut acid, these microbes survive and thrive, sprawling into full-blown gut dysfunctions. It’s a nasty cycle, all because of an acid suppression that lasted far too long.

Another unspoken side of PPI use is its ability to trigger gastrointestinal infections, such as H pylori and candida. PPIs have also been shown to be potentially involved in cognitive decline and dementia risk, especially in elderly people. Testing in lab animals has shown that the use of PPIs increased β-amyloid levels in the brains of mice.  β-amyloid are the amino acids involved in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease, as the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer patients. Epidemiological studies in human show that patients who used PPI medications had a significantly increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease compared with non-users.

The bouts of heartburn interrupting your family meals, the persistent pain penetrating your throat, the chronic cough—you shouldn’t have to endure any of these. And a heavy reliance on antacids isn’t your only way out. In next week’s blog post, we will delve into the many ways you can wean yourself off of PPIs and swap growing medical bills with many drug-free treatment options. Stay tuned… the conversation continues!

 

Elderberry Cough and Cold Syrup for Kids

Elderberry Cough and Cold Syrup for Kids

This recipe is an amazing natural remedy for cold and flu relief that your kids will ABSOLUTELY LOVE! It doesn’t only treat cold, cough, and flu symptoms, but PREVENT them if given regularly as an immune booster.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dry organic elderberries
  • 2-3 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 piece of fresh ginger root
  • 5-6 Cloves
  • 5-6 Whole peppercorn
  • 1 cup raw honey
  • 5 cups water

DIRECTIONS

  1. Pour water into medium saucepan and add elderberries, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorn (do not add honey yet, because the heat will destroy many of its medicinal benefits)
  2. Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer for about an hour until the liquid has reduced by almost half.
  3. Take it off the heat, let it cool.
  4. Pour it through the strainer into a glass bowl (Make sure to really squeeze all the liquid form the pulp). Discard the pulp
  5. Add raw honey into the liquid, and stir really well.
  6. Store the Elderberry Syrup in the fridge in an air-tight glass mason jar, it will last several months!

Enjoy! Let us know if you have any questions or feedback in the comments and be sure to share this recipe with your friends and family! Photos courtesy of Makeen Osman Photography

What You Need to Know about Organic vs. Conventional Produce

What You Need to Know about Organic vs. Conventional Produce

Walking down the produce aisle at your local grocery store, you have a thought: maybe I should shop organic today. It is healthier, after all.

As you bag a stalk of organic broccoli, you catch a number blaring at you from the shelf below. Whoa. You lower your hand and recoil in hesitation. The price is much higher than you anticipated. On second thought… and just like that, you’re back in the congested yet familiar aisles of conventional produce and smaller prices, because you decided that you have many hungry bellies to fill and a finite supply of money and health is just too darn expensive.

Does that scenario sound familiar?

Let’s be honest, it is all too common for Americans to opt for conventional (read: inorganic) produce when their organic counterparts are a few bucks extra (especially with a tight wallet and an expanding family). This begs the question: are organic foods inherently healthier, so much so that they are worth the extra dollar? Before we explore the benefits of organic, let us virtually tour a conventional farm to how understand how inorganic produce is grown.

It begins just after the farmer buries the seeds in the soil. As the little plants grow, the farmer needs to ensure their survival from insects and animals nearby. So he slips into his protective gear—a white suit, gloves, and a face mask so thick, it resembles something like a hazmat suit from Stranger Things—and ventures out to spray several pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other powerful chemicals onto the plants. The farmer then harvests these crops and sends them off for your consumption. (This is when you enter the scene). After returning that organic stalk of broccoli to its shelf, you pick up its conventional counterpart and cook it that night for dinner, not realizing that broccoli isn’t the only thing your body will ingest. Those harmful chemicals, too, are part of your dinner menu.

Here are three facts to keep in mind during your next grocery trip:

  1. Studies have shown that organic farming and organic food production can boost key nutrients in foods. In fact, organic food has double the nutritional value of conventionally grown food.
  2. Another collection of studies examined the effects of organophosphate pesticides on children. Their results indicated that children with high levels of this pesticide are found with double the cases of ADHD than those with lower levels.
  3. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the world’s most widely used herbicide, glyphosate (also the main ingredient in Round Up), as carcinogenic (cancer-causing) to humans.

For the non-vegans reading this, know that the pitfalls of conventional farming also extend to animal agricultural. Those very animals that provide you your inorganic meat, dairy, and eggs are treated inhumanely in commercial farms, and the ills from their existence trickle into your own wellbeing. Picture this: commercially-farmed cows are injected with antibiotics, growth hormones, and disease-preventing medication while sentenced to immobility in confined barns. They do not graze in green pastures, as their biological nature demands; rather, green grass is traded for genetically-modified corn, which not only causes disease in cows, but also renders their meat and dairy to be disease-causing and nutrient-deficient. And to maximize human consumption of their milk, these commercial cows are separated from their newborn calves immediately after birth. Only a cow’s psychological distress can result from this early separation.

Unfortunately, commercial eggs aren’t any different. Most commercial eggs come from hens fed an unnatural diet of soy and corn, and when we consume these eggs, we are also consuming their pro-inflammatory and nutrient-deficient properties.

What if I can’t afford organic foods?

Big families and tight budgets are a legitimate reason to abandon the fantasy of an all-organic fridge, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try! Some produce items are worth the extra buck—namely the thin-skinned ones—because they absorb heavy amounts of toxic chemicals and pesticides. Avoiding them altogether would do better for your health than consuming them in their conventional form. Many websites coin these “The Dirty Dozen Foods,” and though the list changes annually, the top culprits usually include: strawberries, spinach, nectarines, apples, peaches, pears, cherries, grapes, celery, tomatoes, sweet bell pepper, and potatoes.

And if organic prices remain a hindrance, purchase more thick-skinned conventional produce, as well as produce with easy-to-peel skin, to limit your chemical consumption. Bananas, avocados, and pineapples are great go-to options! There is also a no-charge kitchen hack to buffer your contact with pesticides and herbicides: simply wash your produce using a ten percent salt solution. In a bowl, mix nine parts water and one part salt and let your produce party in there for a good ten minutes. Use that break to read more of our blog posts (for more free health hacks!), and when you return, rinse the produce with plain water before consumption.

Shaving bucks from your grocery bills can be tempting—we’ve all been there. But pause for a moment and recalibrate your perspective: preventative lifestyle changes are an investment toward long-term health. And that long-term health may translate to fewer medical bills in the future; to better moods and energy levels; to little need for over-the-counter pills and buckets of supplements lined up by your nightstand. A few bucks might seem like a lot now. Just know, an ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure.

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