Yesterday was a very mushroomy day. In the morning, we went to the Farmers Market and bought local wild mushrooms: Lobster, Cauliflower, and I think Morels. Delicious simply sautéed in butter. Then we bought Chaga mushroom, a topical skin care tincture with aloe vera and tea tree oil, I am hoping it will help my rosacea.
In the afternoon we tried to drive to Dorreen, a 100-year-old village that used to host a train station. Our GPS said were right on top of it, but no village, just a guy standing beside a truck where the road apparently ended. “You need a quad to go the next kilometer,” he said. “Or you could walk – 15, 20 minutes.” It was very muddy, and I am a bit of a princess, so….
I asked him about his Nova Scotia license, said we had moved here from Nova Scotia. “Oh, that’s my buddy, he’s out picking.” I asked him, “Berries or mushrooms?” He showed us some pine mushrooms. I asked him about the price and he said it was low, $15 a pound. “When we moved here in ’88, there were gunshots in the woods!” I said. He told us in 1988 the price was $300 a pound, guys were using helicopters to harvest.
Chaga mushrooms are anti-inflammatory; the picker/seller at the Famers Market had told us that a regular customer with eczema said it was better than any pharmaceutical.
For my rosacea, I had been taking Curcumin, an anti-inflammatory. It helped a bit. I was also starting a trial of Riversol, a BC-based skin care product, with “anti-redness serum.” It helped a bit. Then I was taking an antibiotic for another issue, and was suffering intestinal distress. “Get some probiotic,” the doctor told me. I did, and after I finished the antibiotic I continued with the probiotic – and my skin is clearing up rapidly. Like, near-miracle.
You have heard about the gut-brain connection. There is also a gut-skin connection.
This study, “Potential Role of the Microbiome in Acne: A Comprehensive Review” tells us, “Over the years, an expanding body of research has highlighted the presence of a gut-brain-skin axis that connects gut microbes, oral probiotics, and diet, currently an area of intense scrutiny, to acne severity.”
Jillian Cole does a great job of exploring skin problems and the gut microbiome.
Other than gulping down expensive probiotic pills, what else should I consume for a healthy gut? Mushrooms.
This study, “A Critical Review on Health Promoting Benefits of Edible Mushrooms through Gut Microbiota” tells us “Mushrooms are proven to possess anti-allergic, anti-cholesterol, anti-tumor, and anti-cancer properties. Mushrooms are rich in carbohydrates, like chitin, hemicellulose, β and α-glucans, mannans, xylans, and galactans, which make them the right choice for prebiotics. Mushrooms act as a prebiotics to stimulate the growth of gut microbiota, conferring health benefits to the host.”
“Mushrooms and Health Summit Proceedings,” (a must-read!) says, “Preliminary evidence suggests that mushrooms may support healthy immune and inflammatory responses through interaction with the gut microbiota, enhancing development of adaptive immunity, and improved immune cell functionality.”
Sautéed in butter.
References
Cole, J. (2020.) From https://www.jilliancole.com/the-blog
Feeney, M et al. (2014.) “Mushrooms and Health Summit Proceedings1,2,3.”
From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056650/
Jayachandran, M, et al. (2017.) “A Critical Review on Health Promoting Benefits of Edible Mushrooms through Gut Microbiota”
From https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28885559/
Lee, Y. (2019.) “Potential Role of the Microbiome in Acne: A Comprehensive Review.”
Char Can Cook Keto 