It’s been almost a year since I was diagnosed with a rare, malignant, invasive breast cancer. Rather than the recommended mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy, I decided to opt instead for Eastern and alternative medicine. For the past ten months I have been ingesting Chinese herbs three times a day. My Chinese herbs are made up of at least ten to twenty ingredients, six of which are in the mushroom family. Mushroom therapy is an age-old remedy in China and Japan. The most important is the “mushroom of immortality,” the Lingzhi (or Ling Zhi) mushroom, otherwise known as Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), identified for over 4,000 years as a medicinal mushroom.
High in B, C, and D vitamins plus calcium and phosphorus, Reishi’s cell walls are high in beta-glucan and triterpenes, known to support the body’s defenses. Reishi inhibits the proliferation of highly invasive cancer cells, enhances the immune system with its significant anti-cancer properties, and 
said to both prevent and treat cancer. Maitake (Grifola frondosa), known to detoxify, and Shiitaki (Lentinus edodes), known for immune-enhancing effects, are included in my Chinese herbs, in addition to Turkey Tale (Coriolus versicolor) used in Asian cultures for years to fight cancer, Agarius blazei (known to increase immune cells), and Cordyceps sinensis, a medicinal mushroom grown in Tibet said to lessen the malignancy of cancer. Because of pollution and soil contamination world-wide, many medicinal mushrooms are being grown in controlled environments to guarantee their purity; sometimes in brown rice, other times in Chinese herbs, as mushrooms absorb the elements they grow in.
Of course it goes without saying, but I’m required to say it anyway, that the above statements have not been evaluated by our understaffed, under funded Food and Drug Administration, so these mushrooms are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
That said, my personal goal was and is to strengthen my immune system to fight cancer and other diseases and get my body back in balance to enjoy the best health possible.
My Chinese doctor also prescribed “food therapy” which includes lots and lots of fresh, dried, and frozen mushrooms, as in “eat as many as you can.” She is emphatic in her belief that mushrooms have healing properties. So I try to eat mushrooms everyday. I believe, along with others, that mushrooms are the most powerful immune-supporting substances in the world.
Boletes can be a wonderful addition to anyone's diet!
Comments