Medicinal Mushrooms: A Practical Guide to Healing Mushrooms (Urban Homesteading) Paperback – August 30, 2020

As part of trying to reduce my meat intake, I have discovered the versatility of mushrooms and tend to regularly cook with mushrooms. I have not been brave enough to go and forage for mushrooms myself, but have several friends who have a regular habit of finding mushrooms in the woods and one friend even grows her own mushrooms. So this book really peaked my interest since I was not familiar with the medicine benefits of mushrooms. The author covers all types of mushrooms, including mushrooms that are sold in stores, so you do not have to go out and forage for mushrooms. In addition, the author provides a thorough introduction to mushrooms (brought back some memories from botany lessons a long time ago) as well as a brief introduction to the use of mushrooms as medicine. The author, in terms of medicinal use of mushrooms, has a strong focus on cancer treatments, in part because cancer treatments are often prohibitively expensive. I do not recommend that people currently receiving chemotherapy covered by insurance simply drop that treatment and seek cures through eating mushrooms, but I do suggest that using the mushrooms described in this book can be used after a conversation with the physician. Especially in non-western cultures alternative treatments seem to be gaining more traction and compared to the US, Europe also seems to be more open to alternative medicines. So I am certainly willing to entertain using mushrooms similar to other natural remedies to support the immune system and as a supportive tool in the fight against certain diseases. I am just not willing to make that switch nor recommend anyone make that switch without having a discussion with the responsible physician overseeing the current treatment.That being said, besides cancer, other diseases or ailments commonly seen in the book include high blood pressure or antimicrobial functions and both of those certainly are known to have supportive functions in the food people eat. So if you are struggling with blood pressure or have respiratory ailments, changes in diet can boost the immune response and often support the impact of medication you are taking. Again, talking with your physician before focusing on mushrooms or any other nutritional supplement or diet change is recommended. But I can certainly attest to the impact of nutrition on blood pressure or the procession of bronchitis.Overall, the book is well written and has a huge amount of detail included. To me, it was really eye opening since I have so far never heard of mushrooms being used for medicinal purposes. Unlike fruit and vegetables, mushrooms seem to often be an afterthought, but based on this book - should no longer be. If you are curious about alternative treatments or supportive treatments in terms of adjusting your nutrition to help you get better, this is certainly a book I can recommend.I received a free copy of the book for review purposes.

My wife and I went vegan 8 years ago, and because of that change we have tried vegetables and mushrooms that we hadn’t tried before. To facilitate our awareness of the different varieties of mushrooms, we signed up for a local mushroom CSA which gave us access to mushrooms that aren’t usually available in grocery stores. My wife and I love mushrooms and it was great to read this book and learn about the many medicinal benefits of mushrooms.This book is well written and has all of the references if a person is interested in going deeper into the details. There are numerous pictures of the mushrooms so that you know what they look like. I liked the way that the information was assembled and how clear it was to identify mushrooms that may benefit specific ailments.I bought Richard Bray’s book on Greenhouse Gardening and I’m currently growing my first crops in the greenhouse. Richard also has a book on Mushroom Cultivation which my wife is excited about – she would love for me to grow my own mushrooms.I believe that mushrooms, and fruits and vegetables have beneficial properties, so this book was very beneficial to me in helping me understand the benefits of different kinds of mushrooms. If you are interested in mushrooms for medicinal use, I believe this book would benefit you.As I had previously purchased the Greenhouse Gardening book, I was provided a free copy of this book for an honest review.

This book gives a lot of detail about each individual mushroom and explains the different parts of a mushroom and how it reproduces. It explains various types of medicinal mushrooms, how different parts of the mushroom are used to make medicine and ways to use them (i.e. tinctures, extracts, tea, powders and compounds). It goes into detail noting how different parts of the mushroom can contain different medicinal properties (i.e. increase antioxidants, support immune health, decrease inflammation, enhance cognitive function). There is also information about the nutritional value of mushrooms and active constituents.The book shows detailed charts with various beneficial information about mushrooms and plenty of images to go along with the topic. It also lists the names of medicinal mushrooms and the uses to treat specific illnesses, diseases and health related issues. Then it is broken down a lot more by organizing medicinal mushrooms by ailment. Going in a little more depth, the author lists ways to prepare your medicine and dosages by ailment.I feel that this book has a lot of very useful information about medicinal mushrooms. It is informative, well documented and easy to follow. I learned a lot about mushrooms that I did not know. I will take that knowledge and use it in my own medicinal practice.If you are interested in learning about medicinal mushrooms and how you can benefit from them, I highly recommend getting this book. It is a wonderful book and definitely worth the read!